A new year, another race-obsessed episode of NBC’s Law & Order.
Thursday’s episode, “Greater Good,” focused on a billionaire hip-hop mogul who is murdered in cold blood. The mogul is discovered to be a P-Diddy type predator who lured vulnerable aspiring singers into sex trafficking.
Both the mogul and his murderer are black, but the episode somehow makes racism and “a system created by white men” into the villain.
Vanessa Washburn (Karen Obilom), a black undercover police officer investigating sex trafficking, saw the victim shortly before he was killed. NYPD detectives Vincent Riley (Reid Scott) and Jalen Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) ask her questions about the night of the murder, but she is unhelpful. She despises the victim and does not want his murderer caught. While her reluctance is understandable, her dialogue’s strangely racialized view of police work is…
