Spike Lee’s infamous 1989 film Do the Right Thing explores pertinent socioeconomic realities in America that are quite familiar to viewers today more than 30 years later. This article written by Justin Chang of the LA Times in July 2020 addresses Spike Lee releasing a video addressing the fragmented racial relationships brought to light by the BLM protests and series of public incidents of police brutality. The clip cuts between 2 infamous scenes from the American psyche, the police’s murder of Eric Garner and George Floyd, as well as a third clip; the fictional police murder of Radio Rahim at the end of Do the Right Thing.
Link to LA Times Article:
The article echoes the conversations of morality from both the contemporary incidents of police violence, as well as the discussion surrounding who does “the right thing” at the culminating murder of Radio Rahim and ensuing destruction of Sal’s pizzeria.
The article draws a parallel between the focus on the destruction of the BLM protests, Sal’s reaction to his pizzeria’s destruction, and the overarching lack of focus on the death of a black man by the police’s hands. Chang interviews columnist Glenn Whipp who notes in a conversation he had with Lee, both Whipp and the director noted how reactions to the film’s events often undercutted the film’s message.
Whipp highlights that immediately picking a side or group of characters to support in the film ignores the fact that nobody quite did the right thing. The film invites viewers into an uncomfortable place of conflict particularly teased out through the dichotomy of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X’s approaches to the civil rights movement. The resolution of the film’s main issue of racial conflict, namely the lack of black celebrity portraits on Sal’s Pizzeria’s wall of fame, results in destruction for all parties involved. The unwillingness of Sal to even engage with the racially driven conflict playing out in his store, leaves a powerful final message as a photo of Dr. King and Malcolm X is pinned to the wall of fame in Sal’s burned out store. This powerful warning to engage with issues of race rings true today and certainly in 2020.
