Touched by an Angel : Black Like Monica (1999)
Directed by Victor Lobl / Peter H. Hunt / Tim Van Patten
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
On the eve of the "Civil Rights Day" celebration in Aynesville, Illinois, Monica (Roma Downey) stumbles across the dead body of an elderly black man, apparently the victim of a hate crime. Over the protests of Sheriff McKinsley (John Ritter) and his black deputy James (Rick Worthy), the organizers of the celebration choose to hush up the murder so as not to spoil the festivities--and for good measure, they order Monica to be locked up in jail "for her own good" until the whole thing blows over. The next morning, Monica awakens to discover that she is no long an angel, but instead a human being...a black human being. The reason for this metamophosis has as much to do with Monica's attitudes towards race as it does with the events of the past few days, but she does not realize this until she meets the celebration's guest of honor, Rosa Parks (playing herself, and appropriately making her first appearance on a bus).