TV REVIEW : Turning Racism Into Question of Fairness

ABC’s worthy “Taking a Stand,” airing as an “Afterschool Special” today at 3 p.m. on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42, turns the issue of racism into a basic question of fairness.

A black family is about to move into an all-white, working-class neighborhood. Their home is sprayed with a racial epithet, an act witnessed by white teen Matthew (Timothy Griffin), whose testimony lands the perpetrator in jail and Matthew and his family in trouble.

The white district attorney (Dan Lauria of ABC’s “Wonder Years”) pursues the case in an impassioned belief in justice for all--and a desire to “make some headlines”--but Matthew is ostracized and beaten up; his nightclub singer mom (“Cats” Tony Award-winner Betty Buckley, whose singing here is a highlight) loses her job, his sister Elly (Jane Adams) is stood up for the prom.

When Matthew wavers, Buckley, with the best line in the film, simply advises him to say in court exactly what he’d say “if God was standing next to (him).”

What of the black family, a mother (Isabell Monk) and two little girls? Do they move in or not? We aren’t told. Bruce Harmon’s script, directed with restraint by Sandy Smolan, is chiefly a white story. Monk’s role is to bring home the universality of a parent’s concern over a child’s safety.

Michael Beach, as Matthew’s black boxing coach, makes the strongest contribution to all of the consciousness-raising. He points out sadly that the little girls now know what he learned growing up black--that “there are people out there just waiting to hate you.”