Chapter Thirty-Seven

Previously on Boston Public: Nothing happened, apparently. But we do get a warning that tonight's episode will be full of coarse racial slurs, because it's going to explore "the inappropriateness of racial invective." Which is disingenuous, isn't it? It doesn't do the episode credit, I don't think, since the episode is as much about the inappropriateness of knee-jerk reactions to things regardless of context as it is about anything else.

Delineation Alley. Scott finds his way to Ronnie Cooke, and talks to her. He's heard that she's conducting a class project in which, in order to raise awareness about the plight of the homeless, she's having her students sleep in cars in their parents' driveways. This sounds pretty lame to me, but Scott is upset because one student seems to have taken it too far: "Natalie Stone was neither in her home nor in her driveway. She was picked up by the police last night during a sweep, under a bridge in Jamaica Plain." He asks if this was unforeseeable, and Ronnie says that it was, especially because the project ended three days ago.

Meanwhile, in Dick Teachie's classroom, students file in. A hot girl says hi to two friends, Jordan and JT, who are on their way in, and they smile at each other. Jordan's all, "See, I told you she was hot on me." JT counters, "Nigga, please. She was smilin' at me." Jordan's rejoinder is that "she way too fine for a nigga like you." JT is black, by the by, and Jordan is white. Having caught this exchange, another black student, Andre, suggests that they make less free use of that particular word. Jordan assures him that "it's just me and JT. It's cool." Andre shoves Jordan, and is all, "Oh, so, now you're gonna tell me what's cool?" JT tells Andre to chill out, incidentally referring to him as "nigga" in the process. Andre tackles JT. Everybody wrestles on the floor. Dick Teachie appears and breaks it up. "What are you doin'? Huh? Andre? JT? Jordan?" Yeah, we got their names. "I want an answer. What's goin' on?" Andre tells him they were just playing eenie meenie miney moe. Dick Teachie's like, "Whuh?" Andre says, "You know. Catch a nigga by his toe." Which was, in fact, how that rhyme originally went, before being updated to the more innocuous "tiger," which is offensive mainly to tigers and those who protect their toes.

Phat beats and jerky camera movement show us just how gritty and hip Winslow High really is.

In Dick Teachie's room, he's still trying to get a straight answer out of everybody about what happened. Andre's saying, "I told you. He called me a nigger." Teachie thinks he means Jordan, since Jordan's white, which is an assumption that is not unrelated to the episode's themes. After all, why is it less offensive if JT does it? JT draws the distinction between "nigger" and "nigga," the latter being equivalent to "brotha," at which point Andre notes that Jordan isn't a "brotha" at all. Which is a weird rebuttal, since it wasn't Jordan who directed the word at Andre in the first place. Anyway, leave it to Talk Time herself to clear things up. She explains the whole story to Dick Teachie, which I won't bother recapping because we. Just. SAW IT. Teachie takes a breath, then declares talk time open for the whole class, pushing the midterm back a day. Everyone applauds. Idiots. Anyway, no sooner has Teachie asked somebody to start when Brooke Harper raises her hand, while also opening her mouth: "I think if Andre understood the context and intent with which Jordan and JT were using the word" But Andre doesn't think that makes it okay. And even though he uses the word, and so do rappers he listens to, that's okay because he's black, and so are said rappers. Jordan finds that double standard racist. Everyone starts talking at once. Dick Teachie settles them down. "Do you guys ever feel that if a word stirs up so much hatredthen maybe the word has too much power?" Talk Time suggests not using the word at all, though Teachie points out that this is not, perhaps, entirely realistic. "Another solution might be to take away its power." How? "Well, Brooke mentioned intent, right? Jordan and JT are friends, right? Black guy, white guy, doesn't matter. Both niggas. Like homeboys. Or buddies." But everyone stops listening to him as soon as he says "nigga." Instead, they concentrate on shifting around uncomfortably. Maybe they saw him play the skinhead who shoots Tyra Banks, and makes Adam Goldberg lie on the ground, in Higher Learning. ["On the other hand, maybe they also saw Zebrahead, which would mitigate that somewhat." -- Sars] Andre says, "I don't like when Jordan says it. I don't like when you say it." Teachie asks what if a Harvard Law professor says it, or writes about it, and then he assigns them all to read Randall Kennedy's new book on the subject. Because, I guess, whoever published that book is owned by Fox.

Harvey's room. Some kid comes in and complains that Harvey ruined his life. "I ruin many lives. In what way specifically did I ruin yours?" Apparently, Harvey wrote an unfavorable letter that kept the kid out of Amherst. Harvey does not seem apologetic in the slightest.

Outside the Un-Geon, Ronnie is talking to Natalie, the girl who got arrested under a bridge. Natalie is saying that the assignment was lame, and all she was really trying to do was really experience the life of a homeless person. Ronnie takes a pause, apologizes for perhaps being insulting, and then asks Natalie where she lives. "With my mother." Where? "Look, I don't want you going there." Uh-oh. Looks like somebody lives in a van down by the river.

Meanwhile, Marla comes into Dick Teachie's room. "What's this I hear about you teaching your class to use a certain word?" Teachie tries to clarify, but Marla's not big on letting other people talk. Then she spots a box full of copies of Randall Kennedy's book, which is called "Nigger." Teachie says it's a good book. Marla's all, "What's the title?" "You see the title." "I also see that you're uncomfortable saying it." "I'm not uncomfortable." "Say it." "I don't want to." "Why not?" "Because in this context, you might perceive it as hostile." She asserts that it's a hostile word in any context, and that he doesn't get to explore it. He wants to know if that's because he's white, and suggests that Marla come to his class. She says she'll have a little chat with Steven instead, and he says she'll have to. Uh-oh. Looks like somebody might end up teaching in a van down by the river.

Delineation Alley. Marla and Steven stride along together, while she delivers one of her patented breathless monologues, that continues long past the point where the person she's talking to has already emphatically agreed with her. Steven promises to look into the Dick Teachie situation. She says he'd better, or various people will crawl up his ass, including her. No, really, that's what she says.

In the special meeting room, the parents of the kid who didn't get into Amherst, Mason, are meeting with Scott and, for some reason, Lauren. I guess because she's the official Lipschultz defender at the school. They are not happy. There's mentions of lawyers and whatnot, predictably. Blah blah blah fire-Harvey-cakes. Scott asks if Harvey has a particular ax to grind with the kid, and the parents hesitate a bit. Apparently, Mason is the one who ran Harvey's pants up a flag pole last year. Lauren asks a salient question, which is, given that animosity, "why ask [Harvey] for a recommendation." The other shoe drops: nobody did ask him.

Harry And Ronnie, Descending A Staircase. He is, after all, her Coach Kevin. Man, do I ever miss Milton Buttle. Anyway, she's bringing him up to speed on the Homeless Natalie situation. "You think she might actually be a homeless person?" Harry asks incredulously. Ronnie lists the reasons she's suspicious, and asks Harry to go with her to check out the spot under the bridge where the girl got arrested. He's reluctant. "If it were one of your students, you'd go!" BWA HA HA! He agrees.

Dick Teachie's room. He's showing his students a Chris Rock video. Chris is doing the routine about how there's a civil war going among black people: "There's black people. And there's niggaz." The students all laugh at the routine, and then Dick Teachie turns it off, and they all protest. "Clearly, people don't have a problem with Chris Rock using the word. But if Garry Shandling did thisyou'd all be sick." Talk Time suggests that this is because when a white person uses the word, it "smacks of bigotry." Andre says, "Chris Rock has pride in African-Americans. Chris Rock knows black history. And with that routineit's like he's challenging the black man to take responsibility for his image. It comes from a place. It doesn't put us down. When white people say it, it puts us down." Dick Teachie and Andre debate back and forth for a while, with respect and care, and each makes a number of intelligent points. Then Dick Teachie spots Steven in the doorway, glowering menacingly. Umokay. Are we supposed to think that Steven overheard something really damaging? The music seems to think so.

Harvey's room. Lauren and Scott are trying to figure out why the heck Harvey told Amherst bad things about Mason. "They asked me. What was I supposed to do? Lie? I can't lie, my word means something." Apparently, Harvey is an Amherst alum, and they ask him every year for his opinion about the various applicants from Winslow. Harvey asks, reasonably, "Is there a rule that every recommendation has to be favorable?" He also mentions that there have been many Winslow students on the bubble whom he helped to get in. And, finally, he asks if it is not, in fact, in Winslow's best interests for him to be honest and candid with colleges. Lauren looks at Scott. Scott ponders.

Meanwhile, in Hoboville, Harry and Ronnie drive around looking for the bridge Homeless Natalie lives under. Man, I miss Stalker Daniel. A strange woman accosts them when they get out of Ronnie's car, and Ronnie gives her some money to get her to leave them alone. They approach the van that was described in the police report from the arrest, and knock. Natalie comes out. "What are you doing here?" Ronnie asks if this is where she's living, as though it's not obvious. Natalie wants to be left alone, and says that Ronnie has no jurisdiction over her private life. The strange woman is still lurking in the background, and now comes up behind Ronnie. "Natalie, you know these people?" Natalie orders Ronnie not to talk to the woman, and, in case we haven't already figured out that this is Natalie's mother, Ronnie asks, "Can you just tell me your relationship to this girl?" It's Natalie's mother.

Sanctum Stevenorium. Steven is instructing Dick Teachie to back off his current subject. Very calmly, he's saying, "The word stirs up too much hatred. And, no offense to your gifts as a teacher, you don't have the answers on this one." Teachie says teaching is about asking questions. Steven tells him not to ask this particular question. Teachie objects to the shutting down of dialogue. Steven is less calm now. "Drop this line of discussion in your classroom." Teachie would at least like a satisfactory explanation. "You want a reason? Here's the reason. I'm the principal, and I'm telling you to stop." What if I don't? "I will fire you." Teachie is skeptical, but Steven doesn't blink.

Once again, we're warned about the coarse racial slurs.

In the Un-Geon, Ronnie gets the lowdown on Natalie's life. She's been living on the street for about a year, though sometimes they get to stay in a motel. Ronnie tells Natalie that she could go to a foster home. "That's not an option. My brother is in a foster home, I never get to see him. Don't talk to me about foster homes." Ronnie wants to know how this happened. "It just did, like it does for a lot of people. My mom lost her job, and we couldn't pay rent. She got into an argument with the people we were sharing a house with, and they kicked us out." And so on. Sounds like the answer is "my mom screwed up several times in large ways," not "it just did." Ronnie wants to know why Natalie's mom seems a little odd. "Simple schizophrenia." But Natalie doesn't want anyone to know, and says that she'll be fine once she can graduate and get a job.

Somewhere, in some room, Dick Teachie is talking to a union rep. "Trust me, Danny, you'll lose." Apparently, this guy has been a union rep for a long time. We know this because he looks around for The Exposition Fairy, and, not spotting her, says, "I've been a union rep for a long time. If the school fires you for using that word, I don't care what the context, they will be upheld." Then he gives a bunch of examples of people using the word in relatively innocuous ways, and getting fired. "The context always gets lost in the firestorm. The uproar will be that you used it." Dick Teachie says, "We're teachers for God's sake." I'm not sure what he means by that. Maybe he's just trying to remind us that this isn't a show about lawyers. Union Rep says that schools always come down to politics, and suggests that Teachie choose another topic: "Something lighter. Like the death penalty."

Vice-Office. Scott is explaining to Ronnie why she cannot have Natalie live with her. "We have a policy." Why do schools always come down to policy? WE'RE TEACHERS, DAMMIT! Anyway, Ronnie points out that it's really cold outside, but Scott explains that it's hard enough for teachers to push students academically, and that she won't survive if she tries to fix their home lives, too. "Harry does." "Barely. And the truth is, I wonder." Ronnie isn't taking no for an answer. "She's living in a Volkswagen." Scott asks if the girl is in danger, and Ronnie says that she seems pretty well-adjusted, considering, and is attached to her mother, but stillScott suggests that Ronnie call a place he knows that might help them out with job assistance, that has close ties to Social Services. He gives her the number. She says thanks. He says, "Look inside any teacher, and you'll probably find a nurse." That's who's been eating all the nurses! No, but what's with Scott being the official utterer of pithy teaching truisms?