January 28, 2004
11.6 Burn Baby Burn
In this very good episode (11.6), a detective is shot to death inside an apartment building. After some quick detective work, Briscoe and Green learn that the detective was shot while trying to track down a witness for a case he was working on. An informant led him to St Nicholas Place instead of St Nicholas Avenue, and the mistake cost him his life, as he was unexpectedly confronted by someone who either didn't want to be found or who had a grudge against police officers. A bit more work leads Briscoe and Green to identify the prime suspect: Lateef Miller, a former Black Panther who is now the successful director of a non-profit housing agency in the city, but who is also under suspicion for fraud he may have committed at the agency. Miller gets a lawyer and during his trial denies involvement in the shooting until Briscoe and Green locate a car service driver who can place him at the scene of the crime on the morning of the shooting. Miller than change his defense to one of justification, arguing self-defense. During his emotional trial, Miller says he saw "hatred" in the officer's eyes, and panicked when the officer aimed his weapon at him. Miller than raised his gun as well, and both men began firing, he says. The jury must decide whether Miller's defense -- that he was conditioned by a lifetime of facing racism and racist cops -- is valid or not.Racism is a major theme in the episode, even before it's clear that the shooting was racially motivated. While attempting to track down the suspect, Briscoe and Green are accompanied by some members of the victim's squad, who are overly energetic as they storm a predominantly African-American bar (in a scene very reminiscent of one in The French Connection. One of the detectives yells something like, "If you [something something], I'm going to kick your black ass." He does this in front of Green, who rightly confronts him immediately and in the aftermath. The two detectives nearly come to blows over the incident, until Van Buren shows up and settles things down.
Green's racial identity continues to be an issue as the suspect is identified. Many people around the suspect seem to feel that Green is a sell-out for going after the former Panther, but it is Green who is able to enter a mosque where Miller is hiding out, and earn sufficient respect their to walk Miller out without an ESU team or any violence or fanfare.
Law & Order has a tendency to deal with racial issues in a relatively sophisticated way, and this episode is no exception. The scripts are often very good at painting a complete, but complex, picture of race relations and motivations in this city. McCoy and Miller go round-for-round, trying to get each other to acknowledge the other's point of view, but both are unsuccessful.
A couple of casting notes: Al Sapienza, best known as Mikey Palmieri on a couple of seasons of the Sopranos, plays the detective who causes the commotion in the bar and argues with Green. Joe Morton, the talented character actor who has been in several episodes of Law & Order and Homicide, is Miller's defense attorney. Morton plays the leader of an African-American advocacy group in the episode "Conspiracy" and reprises his role as the lawyer Leon Chiles in "Vaya Con Dios," one of the best episodes in the history of the show. Clarence Williams III, best known for his role on the Mod Squad, plays Miller, in an almost-extraordinary performance.
The episode's title refers to a rallying cry of the Black Panthers during the civil rights movement.
Posted by adm at January 28, 2004 12:43 AM