Racial Tension In Do The Right Thing By Spike Lee

Activist Lens
In 1954 Supreme Court unanimously outlawed segregation in public schools in Brown v. Board of Education. Spike Lee the director of “Do the Right Thing” was born a few years after the event of Brown v. Board of Education. Even though he did not experience much segregation he experienced the harshness of racial tension. The issue of racial tension was huge at the time Spike Lee created this film, despite that there was no slavery and segregation was banned, and African Americans were looked down on. In the film “Do the Right Thing”, Spike depicts the problem in society regarding racial tension to provide understanding of the suffering of African Americans and minorities. As the film escalates, bits of tension build in every character

Until this point, Mookie had just been watching everything and soaking it in, but it was too much for him to bear with (Doin it right). Mookie knew that what he did was not the best, especially because he had a good relationship with Sal, but he reflected and came to the conclusion that if he destroyed the pizzeria place, it would be nothing compared to the death of Raheem that Sal had caused. The discrimination towards blacks had the entire neighborhood angry and full of rancor that only African Americans understand. In Spike Lee’s interview with rolling stones, Spike asks him, “how long have you been black?” he answers, “I’ve never been black” then Spike points out that no black person has ever asked him why he threw the trashcan (YouTube). This is because they understand the hatred he felt from the discrimination and unfairness that black life’s had to white people. Although some readers may object that Mookie should not have thrown the trashcan, I would answer that his actions are understandable, because as he threw it, he yelled, “hate.” He was releasing his anger and he was doing what he believed was right.(little confusing not sure what this paragraph

The black man were ignorant to the fact that even though the Chinese family was light skinned, they too where minorities and suffered from discrimination. As the black man tried to attack, the Chinese man was yelling, “me no white” several times, the black man giggled at this. Then the Chinese man said, “me, you, same” offering to shake that black man’s hand. That act was very significant because the Chinese man acknowledges the suffering of the black and he is not racist towards them, in fact he thinks that they are the “same.” In addition, I observed that unlike other scenes were there were black and white, Spike Lee does not use a camera angle that looks down on the black nor up on the Chinese. This also suggests that both are equal and neither is inferior to another. The movie is not only about black and white, but about minorities as well. For the most part, this scene lets the audience know the amount of tension and anger the African Americans have because all of everything in the past the white had done to