The show opens with Preston (Stephen James) getting a call. He goes to meet Ashe (Sanaa Lanthan), who is with Cory (Marqus Clae).
Cory tells them that he witnessed Joey Campbell’s murder. He says two cops held Joey down while an old white man in black military gear came over and shot hm. He also shares that he went into hiding because the same people tried to run him over, he didn’t know if it was because they knew he saw what happened to Joey or because they saw him talking to Preston.
Preston is now ready to call Julian Carroll about opening (Mike Pniewski) an investigation but Ashe says they can’t rush into it, because they need to verify Cory is a credible witness.
The two have a video call with Carroll, in which he asks about Cory’s background. Preston tells Carroll that Cory doesn’t have a record but he is a drop-out and African American.
Carroll doesn’t give the go ahead because he says the public won’t support a black man who dropped out of school as credible. When Preston tries to press the issue, Carroll says he is starting to question how the investigation of Jessie Carr’s death is going.
Ashe steps in to pull Carroll back to the subject at hand and says they want to place Cory in protective custody. He says he will think about it.
Over at Joshua Beck’s (Tristan Mack Wilds) house his son hears something outside and puts on his super hero cape and goes outside, causing the alarm to go off. Beck gets his gun and goes outside where he finds his son staring at the side of the house where someone has painted “Killer Cop” in red paint.
Preston and Ashe are at breakfast and they are at each other’s throats again over how Preston handled the situation with Carroll. She tells him he needs to trust her instincts.
Ashe goes to the college campus to find Jessie’s weed dealer. The guy she is told to talk to says Jessie wasn’t into weed and he wouldn’t have gone to the hood when his weed is just as good.
Preston goes to see Sheriff Platt (Will Patton) to ask for documents on all the officers who worked the Carr and Campbell cases. The sheriff says it will take a few days but Preston says he needs them immediately. The two have a brief exchange when Preston calls Platt out after he feels the Sheriff is telling him to know his place.
Outside Joshua’s dad has stopped by the sheriff’s office to let his son know he and his mother are going to mortgage their house to help pay his legal fees, but Beck turns him down.
Preston is walking out with the records when the Sheriff asks him to go for a ride. While out they pull over a pick-up truck with 3 white men. On the back of the truck is a sticker that reads “Armed.” Platt pulled the driver over for not wearing a seatbelt.
Once he has the men get out of the car he tells Preston to search them. The whole point of the exercise was to show Preston how hard it is to police people who do not like you. Again, Preston over speaks and accuses the sheriff of protecting officers who are killing innocent citizens.
A town hall meeting is being held on education with Governor Eamons (Helen Hunt). Shameeka Campbell (DeWanda Wise) arrives with Shawn (Kylen Davis). The governor acknowledges Pastor Janae (Aisha Hinds) and thanks her for bringing the issues of West Gate School to her attention.
In her address to the audience of mostly white citizens, Eamons talks about ow test scores and overcrowding. She says that she is ready to put $3 million dollars towards addressing the issues, the moderator asks her how will she fund it. Eamons announces that Arlington Cox and the Cox Group Financial have pledges the money. The announcement is met with a mix of sarcastic laughter and gasps of disbelief.
When the audience begins to speak they spew racist rhetoric. Stating they do not want the poor black kids coming to their school, and that they will have to install metal detectors at all the entrances. Shawn gets upset and walks out.
Preston and Ashe meet to go over the Carr case. Preston thinks Jessie was upset that his frat brothers sent him to a black neighborhood for barbecue and weed, after he was beat-up by a black guy. Ashe says that the shooting may not have been racially motivated, Carr may have simply had a bad attitude when confronted by Beck.
Preston points out that Lieutenant Breeland (Stephen Moyer) was the first cop on the scene for both Jessie Carr and Joey Campbell’s shootings.
Preston and Ashe bring in an elderly black woman who claims Breeland killed her husband. Says he harassed them for years, and then arrested her husband on bogus charges. He died a month later from the stress.
A white man goes to the apartment where Cory was staying. He breaks in and then opens fire with a gun that has a silencer on it. When he turns on the lights he realizes there was no one in the apartment and that he had actually shot into some pillows.
The scene switches over to Cory and his family being taken into protective custody.
Preston and Ashe go to the station to talk to Deputy Brooks (Beau Knapp) about Lieutenant Breeland. Brooks reminds them that Breeland is his superior and informs them that if they want to question him he will need a union lawyer present.
Governor Eamons goes to visit Arlen Cox (Richard Dreyfuss) to discuss the prison complex. After joking about the debacle of a town hall meeting she had, Cox hands out a report on his prison complex but wants to up the percentage of guaranteed inmates from 85% occupancy to 88%. Eamons won’t agree to raise the numbers, because it would require more stops, profiling and bogus charges.
In the report we learn the state will receive 50% of the profits from the prison, while Cox will be paid $30K per prisoner.
Preston and Ashe confront Lt. Breeland about racial profiling. Breeland is still preaching that he is doing what’s best for everybody and how parents call and thank him for his work. He then tells a story about his dad and how he thought he was a bad guy who was a horrible husband and father, but at his funeral people came to him sharing what a great guy his dad was and all the great things he did in the community. Breeland admits he no longer believes in good and bad because it’s all relative.
Breeland tell the two they don’t belong there and that Ashe is trying to make a name for herself, while Preston is trying to rid himself of demons…or vice versus.
Shawn is arguing with his mom about going to his new school. Shemeeka breaks down and says he has to go because she doesn’t want him to end up dead like Joey. Shawn hugs his mom and lets her know it is going to be okay.
Shawn and several other students arrive for their first day of classes and are surprised when they are welcomed by the students at Lofton. The kids come out with school t-shirts and introduce themselves to their new classmates.
Meanwhile, Governor Eamons is catching it from all sides. Katie (Madison Thompson), her daughter, calls her out for being a hypocrite. She tells her mom she can’t send her own daughter to a $30K dollar a year school while telling other people they have to deal with poor school conditions. Her husband doesn’t even want to consider the daughter going to school in a poor neighborhood.
There are over 600 strands of marijuana in North Carolina but the weed from the college guy doesn’t match the weed found in Jessie’s car, but Jessie’s weed matches the weed that was found in Joey’s room. This leads Preston and Ashe to believe the weed was planted because Jessie was nowhere near where Joey lived or allegedly sold weed.
Carroll finally agrees to open a case on Joey Campbell’s death and Preston and Ashe go out to celebrate. At the blue’s club Preston asks Ashe if she took this case because she is trying to atone for the kid she shot and killed. Ashe replies that she really doesn’t know.
Ashe gets up to dance and asks Preston to join her. Preston was moving a little too slow and another guy stepped in. The guy is being too aggressive and a brief moment of tension arises when his friend comes over after Preston tells the guy to back-off. However, in true form Ashe steps in and the guy and his friend think she is crazy so they walk away.
The show ends with Pastor Janae preaching about truth when a white family comes in and she welcomes them. Deputy Beck, his wife and kids are all in bed together, and Lt. Breeland is reviewing Ashe’s police files.
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Love & Blessings,
Tracy
Tracy L. Darity is the author of three novels, He Loves Me He Loves Me Not!, Love...Like Snow in Florida on a Hot Summer Day, and The Red Bear Society. Available in print and e-book. To learn more, visit www.TracyLDarity.com or Amazon.com
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