With THE GLASS SHIELD, acclaimed director Charles Burnett (KILLER OF SHEEP, TO SLEEP WITH ANGER) tackles the problematic issue of racism within the police force. J.J. Johnson (Michael Boatman) has wanted to be a cop ever since he was a kid. And now that he's just been promoted to the position of deputy in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office, he's going to learn what being a police officer is really all about. As the first black deputy in Edgemar's all-white Sheriff's station, he must learn to adapt if his new assignment is going to work out. Befriending the station's only other minority, the Jewish, female Deborah Fields (Lori Petty), J.J. soon realizes it's impossible to "get along" or be one of the "good guys" when police brutality, political corruption and rampant racism reign supreme. After discovering that a man he has helped to indict (played with ferocious intensity by Ice Cube) is, in fact, the victim of a monumental cover up, J.J. risks his future by butting heads with the powers that be. Shelved after conflict erupted between Burnett and the film's distributor, Miramax, THE GLASS SHIELD remains a provocative, tense thriller that addresses its sensitive subject matter with grace and intelligence.
