After the events of Thursday’s episode on Grey’s Anatomy, Miranda Bailey felt the need to have “the talk” with her son… but not the talk you are thinking about.
During the powerful hour, the doctors treated a 12-year-old African-American boy who was shot by police after he had misplaced his keys and was trying to go into his house through the window.
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Despite the team’s hard work trying to men his injuries, the child died on the surgical table, sparking a debate between police and the doctors about unconscious bias.
After the child’s devastating loss, Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and her husband Ben Warren (Jason George) decide to sit their child, 13-year-old Tucker, down for a talk.
In the heartbreaking scene, Tucker identifies himself and puts his hands up. His parents telling him how he should act if he’s ever approached by police. Emphasizing that he must be aware, act more respectful and be twice as mindful as his white friends would have to be.
“We are telling you this because we want you to always come home,” Bailey said.
“No matter what, no matter what! You never, ever run,” Warren says.
Grey’s Anatomy executive producer Krista Vernoff took to Twitter to discuss the scene, emphasizing that the scene is “unimaginably painful because it is real. it is what People of Color in our country have to tell their beautiful innocent children.”
I have never cried harder — while reading a script, at the table, on set, and in editing — than I did watching Bailey and Ben gives their beautiful boy “The Talk.”
โ Krista Vernoff (@KristaVernoff) January 26, 2018
My child is not much younger than Tuck.
โ Krista Vernoff (@KristaVernoff) January 26, 2018
#greysanatomy
That scene is unimaginably painful because it it real. it is what People of Color in our country have to tell their beautiful innocent children.
โ Krista Vernoff (@KristaVernoff) January 26, 2018
#greysanatomy
Until we acknowledge that bias exists, we cannot change it. Until we feel it, we cannot empathize with it. But my deepest hope is that this episode does for you what it did for me: helps you feel it and helps you acknowledge that it exists.
โ Krista Vernoff (@KristaVernoff) January 26, 2018
#greysanatomy
And I go on to hope that it might inspire you to raise your voice for change. Stand up for your community. Get involved. Stop denying that bias exists and instead work to change it. We ALL have bias. It doesn’t make us villains. But denying it makes us complicit.
โ Krista Vernoff (@KristaVernoff) January 26, 2018
#greysanatomy
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.