Joan objects when Andre purchases a beeper. Although he insists that he needs it to keep his social life in order, Joan believes the beeper will make him a target for drug dealers or gang members. She orders him to get rid of it. Joan finds herself out of work after a series of layoffs by the school district.

Embarrassed by the prospect of going on welfare, Andre takes a loan from a gangster who was friends with his older brother Marcus. Joan is furious, as she fears that Andre is becoming involved with the same activities that led to his brother's death. She returns the money to the young man, and is outraged when he says that he thought of Marcus as family. She blames Marcus's gang lifestyle for his death, and declares that his fellow gang members cannot possibly understand the Moselys' pain. Joan is also disturbed by the fact that the man's mother is proud of him for hustling and dealing drugs. The woman doesn't care where her son gets the money, so long as he provides for her.

While working as a cashier at the local co-op market, Joan appears in a television news segment about black-owned businesses. Bobby, her boss, publicly declares himself a hero for providing employment to a down-on-her-luck woman who had been forced to go on food stamps. Joan is completely humiliated, and lights into Bobby for sharing her business with the whole city. Bobby insists that he simply wanted to generate good publicity for the co-op, but later apologizes for his insensitivity. Isaiah comes to the store and tries to take back the items Ujamaa is stocked with but Bobby talks him out of it. Tasha is distressed that she cannot attend track meets or hang out with her friends because she must watch Deion every day. He refuses to obey her, and begins to scream and physically attack her at one point. When Tasha takes Deion to a therapy session, his psychiatrist senses her frustration and gives her a chance to get some things off her chest. Tasha is happy when Deion reaches out to h