How the CW's TV Show All-American Deals with Police Brutality

During quarantine, many shows on Netflix have become popular. One of the most popular shows right now is All-American. Although the show is a hit within the football community, it also tackles real-life issues of race and class. All-American follows Spencer James, a high school football player at Crenshaw High School in Crenshaw, CA. After one of his games, the head coach at Beverly High School in Beverly Hills, CA, Billy Baker, approaches Spencer and wants him to transfer to Beverly. Spencer follows up on Coach Baker's offer and ends up living with him and his family in Beverly Hills. This proves to be a rough transition for Spencer since he's not used the Beverly Hills lifestyle, so he goes back to Crenshaw to visit his mom and brother often.

Billy Baker is an African-American male who grew up in Crenshaw. He's married to Laura Baker, white female who grew up in Beverly Hills. They have two children, Olivia and Jordan, who happen to be twins.

During an episode, Jordan goes to Crenshaw with Spencer to visit his family. Jordan drives a Mustang convertible, so they already kind of stick out in the neighborhood. While they were on their way back to Beverly Hills, they get pulled over. As the two white police officers exit their cruiser, you can see Spencer starting to tense up while Jordan is more laid back. While Spencer advises Jordan to just do as they say and not question them, Jordan ignores Spencer. This ends with the both of them getting dragged out of the car and put in handcuffs.

The next scene consists of Billy and Laura talking to Jordan about race and police brutality. Laura, who happens to be a district attorney, uses her power, gets them out of the county jail, and the police officers suspended. Even though Jordan and Spencer were lucky to have Laura get them out, Billy goes on about how he should've educated Jordan more about race, police brutality, and what to do when you get pulled over from the perspective of an African-American man who also grew up in Crenshaw.

This relates to Chapter 32 in our textbook, which is titled, Loving Across Racial Divides. In this chapter, Steinbugler discusses the experiences of racism between an interracial, same-sex couple. While one of them takes a "wait-and-see" approach, the other partner wants to be proactive and discuss instances of racism. (Steinbugler, 2014). This applies to Jordan's experience even though both of his parents kind of took the wait-and-see approach. Billy takes fault for this happening and makes it clear that he wants to educate Jordan on these things moving forward.

Artifact type: TV show

Works Cited

All-American Season 1, Episode 3: Jordan and Spencer Get Arrested. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KjOFcWEp6A

Steinbugler, Amy. (2014). “Loving Across Racial Divides.” Race, Class, and Gender: Intersections and Inequalities. Ed. Margaret L. Andersen, Ed. Patricia Hill Collins. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2019. 303-308. Print.