There are TV episodes that the former "Jump the Shark" website used to classify as "Very Special Episodes." All in the Family and it's spin-offs were notorious for having them. M*A*S*H used to have them on an irregular basis as well. With others, it's a little less common. On "Family Ties," you had Tom Hanks playing as Alex Keaton's uncle who turns out to be an alcoholic. "The Hogan Family" episode where David and an ex-girlfriend seek their first sexual encounter. Or the episode of "Gimme a Break" where Katie Kanisky suffers a bad reaction to an I.U.D. device that sends her to the hospital. No episode of the Brookwell-McNamara team's previous major sitcom "Even Stevens," had any episode that was nearly as heavy-handed as this. Sad endings, yes(most notably "Sibling Rivalry"), but nothing that dealt with real issues.
Raven and Chelsea are both interested in jobs at the Abercrombie & Fitch-type clothing store. During their evaluations, Raven proves to be good at her job, and Chelsea turns out to be humorously horrible. Yet it's Chelsea who gets hired and not the self-proclaimed fashion expert Raven. Then she has a shocking vision; The only reason the manager of the store hired Chelsea is because she's white, which clearly means that the only reason she turned Raven down for the job was that she was black!
During their discussion about incidents of racism in their lives, Eddie mentions having a white friend in second grade who's father punished him for playing with a little black kid. I once created a back-story for a cartoon character exactly like this, but the boy was white. Raven mentions that she heard about racism, but never knew how much it hurt. I say it's amazing that somebody could get away with it in a city like San Francisco, which has such a reputation of being so tolerant and accepting of other cultures and ideologies.
Of course, an episode like this would have to have it's share of humor. Much of it comes in the form of Cory having trouble with his African-American History essay, and being visited by Frederick Douglass and numerous other historic figures played by the cast and crew. Unfortunately, there are some historical inaccuracies, such as Garrett Morgan being credited with inventing the traffic light. There were earlier varieties invented by white people, and Morgan's versions are scarcely found on the roads these days. Otherwise, that shouldn't diminish the accomplishments of African-Americans. And though the outcome is fairly predictable, that doesn't mean it's not worth seeing. It involves one of Raven's trademark disguises and a local news reporter, but I won't spoil the ending any more than you can already figure out for yourself.
