Directed by Kim Manners
Airdate: November 1, 1987
Guest Stars: J.A. Preston (Principal George Messiah); Ned Vaughn (Mark); Gretchen Palmer (Nicolette); Alvin Alexis (Patrick)
Hanson and Hoffs are assigned to a High School where racial tensions are high. A group of white students are angry about interracial couples and integrated sports teams. Fuller's annoyed with Hanson and Hoffs dismissive attitude about racism, Hanson says, "The March on Washington was before my time." We learn Hoffs comes from an affluent Black family (and she thought Bernie Goetz was right), while Fuller grew up working-class. He points out there were few Black officers on the force when he was hired.
At the school tensions only get worse, racial slurs and physical intimidation are used against Black students, a riot breaks out. J.A. Preston plays the principal, who is black and holds an assembly laying down the law. Eventually the ringleader spewing the racial hatred is revealed after he fires a slingshot during a track event. The episode ends with Hanson and Hoffs appearing as a couple to diffuse a tense confrontation. Nothing is necessarily resolved by the end; there are no easy solutions. Over the end credits, Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech" was played.
The episode deserves credit for addressing racism in 1980s America, especially within schools. The attitudes of Hanson and Hoffs implies they no longer view race as an issue, but they learn that's not the case. The racists at the school are skillful in stirring up resentments, using rhetoric still used today, about white people losing jobs and opportunities because of affirmative action.
The title of the episode referenced the Ntozke Shange play, "for colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf."
There was also a subplot with Penhall trying to become a Stand Up-Comic, he bombs, but what an "80s thing. Also, at one point Hanson is tracking a bad guy in a boiler room, shades of Nightmare on Elm Street.
Final Report: B
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