Thursday's episode of "Scandal" is being praised for its stance on racial issues that have happened in the recent history of the United States. Obviously commenting on the Ferguson case, the episode follows Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington, and her involvement in a case where a blonde and white cop shoots and kills a 17-year-old black teen by the name of Brandon Parker.

The episode opens on Parker's body. Olivia is hired by the D.C. Police Department to hand the optics. When she arrives, Parker's father Clarence is very upset, carrying a shotgun and demanding to see the cop who pulled the trigger. A crowd starts to form and police are getting antsy, wanting to shoot Clarence.

Even though Olivia convinces the two sides to remain civil, Clarence's neighbor brings his a lawn chair so he can wait by his son's body to see justice being served to the cop. The cop in question claimed self-defense when he shot Parker, saying that he broadly fit the description of a suspect in a cellphone store robbery report. The cop further explained that the teen had reached into his pocket for a knife and charged at him, forcing him to shoot.

As Olivia is trying to work with both sides, she keeps noticing that the police are not cooperating like they should. When discussing her worries with U.S. House of Representatives Josie Marcus (Lisa Kudrow) she tells Olivia that because she helped elect a white Republican for two terms, she can't really play her "black card" on this one. Finally realizing that she has to take a side, Olivia joins the protestors surrounding Clarence.

The episode goes on to reveal that the cop had planted the knife on the teen. Security cameras show that Parker had been reaching in his pocket for his receipt of the cellphone purchase he had made instead of a knife.

Viewers have had mixed emotions of the episode, some saying they couldn't watch it while others praised it for addressing real-life issues the country is facing today.

"Scandal" airs every Thursday at 9:00 pm ET on ABC.