With racial and police tensions at an all-time high in the U.S. right now in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a clip from the classic sitcom “Family Matters” has surfaced that teaches us a lesson that everyone needs to see.
The clip comes from season 5 episode 15, which aired in January of 1994 and is titled “Good Cop, Bad Cop.”
In the episode, Eddie is arrested for a traffic violation after his police sergeant father Carl Winslow had repeatedly warned him about being out late at night.
Because of these warnings, Carl refuses to accept Eddie’s claims about being “a black kid in a white person’s neighborhood,” and the father and son proceed to get into a huge argument.
It’s only when Carl meets with the two officers that pulled Eddie over at a coffee shop that he realizes his son was right all along, as the senior cop is reveled to be a nasty racist.
In the below scene, you’ll see Carl teach both officers a lesson about racial profiling that neither of them nor the audience will ever forget.
Reginald VelJohnson spent nine years playing Carl Winslow on “Family Matters,” which aired from 1989-1998.
During that time, he humanized black police officers in a way that had not been done on television before, but playing a cop was nothing new to him.
Just one year before the sitcom that he would be most remembered for premiered, you might recall that VelJohnsn played Sgt. Al Powell in the Bruce Willis classic action movie Die Hard.
On top of that, he also played cops in the 1980s movies Ghostbusters and Turner & Hooch, so it’s no wonder that the show runners behind “Family Matters” decided to cast him as Sgt. Winslow.
“I don’t know what it is about me and this cop thing, but I get a lot of cop offers,” VelJohnson told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015.
“Everyone always assumes that I’m someone on the force, but as long as they are paying me, I will play a cop until the day I die.”
Given the racial and anti-police tensions that are boiling over right now, we need shows and movies that humanize cops more than ever.
Thank you, Reginald VelJohnson, for delivering realistic and heartwarming performances of police officers that continue to be relevant all these years later!
This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com and is used by permission.
Read more at UpliftingToday.com:
Fans Stunned as Sean Hannity Divorces His Wife of Over 20 Years
Disturbing New Video Shows George Floyd Struggling With Cops In Squad Car
Wife of Ex-Minneapolis Police Officer Arrested for George Floyd’s Murder Files for Divorce
The opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Steve Gruber.
Join the Discussion
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.