Reflections on "Black Lives Matter" and "Do the Right Thing"

It must be said because for too long our nation has not believed that “Black lives matter”. That’s a simple, yet true statement, but it’s also a complex one. The devaluing of black lives in our country is systemic in just about every institution of power. One, Hollywood, has for generations taken Black stories and allowed white filmmakers to tell them. One small thing all of us can do is listen to Black people about their experiences and life. One way to start, which is a very small step, is to watch Black films by Black directors.

I have been doing a daily movie recommendation since the shelter in place order began in Santa Clara county as a way to hopefully lift us up and as a reminder about the power of art both as a medium and an escape. The lists have been a great outlet for me to sing unsung movies, recognize the incredible female pioneers who continue to take on a sexist system and make their art, and this week, I have been highlighting Asian filmmakers. That being said, with everything going on right now, today does not feel right to recommend a film in the category I have been doing...

I wish I could say that Ahmaud Aubrey's modern day lynching and George Flyod's murder were surprising, but they are merely the latest examples of a history in this country of the violent and racist oppression of African-Americans.

In my belief system and faith, I believe that all people are inherently of value and that because we each possess inherent value and dignity that we must treat each other with respect and love. This does not mean I support the saying “all lives matter” because it was created as a means of silencing the expression “Black Lives Matter”. For too long in our nation, black lives have not mattered. But my personal beliefs in the sanctity and dignity of all human life has led me to believe in non-violence as a personal way of living my life. The one "fight" I've been in, I didn't fight back, because I don't personally believe in violence. That belief system, forged by the writings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Gandhi, led me for years to not understand the idea that there can be a justification for violence. Obviously people can cite the just war doctrine, etc, but there's a more personal, real-life reason.

A film began my journey towards this understanding: Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" which remains one of the great films of all time. "Do the Right Thing" takes place on the hottest day of the year, where as the temperature rises so do racial tensions in the black neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The local pizzeria on the block is owned by Sal, who is not painted as a villain, but a real flawed person. He has raised two sons, one overtly racist and the other attempting to fit in to the black neighborhood. Sal, himself, has several beautiful statements about how the kids on this block grew up on his pizza. Yet, Sal is racist. Despite being a good person, he is racist. He grew up in our society and our society is racist.

The conflict begins when one of the black youths who grew up on this block demands that Sal put some "black people" up on the wall of fame, Sal kicks him out. Yes, it is his restaurant, but the symbolism here is so important. What Bugging Out, the young man who asked for some "black people" up on the wall, wants is representation, recognition for the black community that is so often not represented. Sal saying no is not merely a person who has the right to decide how to decorate their own property, it is a refusal to understand that his business is only successful because of his black clientele. That they are in fact in this together.

Bugging Out starts by protesting, boycotting. These were the methods of Dr. King and the freedom riders; peaceful and attempting to change. You realize unfortunately how empty these acts are in this film. No one sides with Bugging Out and there is not going to be change.

Then, Radio Raheem, whose radio represents the voice of a black community, teams up with Bugging Out. The two of them make a stand, going into Sal's and refusing to leave, like the protesters sitting at the counters of white only establishments in the South during the Civil Rights movement. When confronted, Sal resorts to violence. He is the one who pulls out a baseball bat. A symbol of the violence that the system uses to keep black people down. He then resorts to using the "n-word" and destroying Radio Raheem's boombox. The destruction of the boombox is symbolic of shutting down black expression.

Music is incredibly important in the black community, tracing its roots back to slave hymns that were used a secret messages to tell family history or give directions on how to escape slavery. Almost all of the dominate American music forms have been invented by African Americans. The result is that music and sports are the two acceptable ways in our society for a black person to "make it". Notice how so many people wear jerseys of black athletes in this film. There is even the scene where Sal's extremely overt racist son, Pino, tells Mookie (Spike Lee's character) that Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, and Prince aren't black. Their success in music and sports have made them accepted into white society, partially because they can be pointed to as success stories and therefore any black person who is not as successful just doesn't want it. This is, of course, wrong and hence it uttered by the most overt racist character in the film.

Sal destroying Radio Raheem's voice for protesting (represented in destroying his boombox) ... what is he supposed to do? Violence is used to fight back against the system. Radio Raheem nearly strangles Sal, but the police are called, and they lynch Radio Raheem. The shot of Radio Raheem's legs in the air while he is being strangled by the police show the connection to lynching.

Radio Raheem's death prompts a riot. Mookie throughout the film has been challenged consistently to do the right thing. He grabs a trashcan and tosses it through Sal's window triggering the riot that destroys Sal's pizzeria.

When I first saw the film and for years after, I was applaud by the destruction of Sal's pizzeria. It was then someone told me a reaction, I believe Spike Lee, had to someone who asked him about the destruction of Sal's pizzeria. He said something to the affect of "anyone who sides with Sal's is valuing a white man's property over a black man's life." Wow... that hit me hard... it was what I was subconsciously doing. And it was an opinion born in privilege.

I then changed my understanding of the movie. I said, Mookie did the right thing by throwing the trashcan to divert the attention from the angry crowd from Sal to his pizzeria, and thus, saved Sal's life. But then I realized, I was doing it again. I was making this about Sal and his well-being rather than Radio Raheem's forced silence and death.

With my belief in non-violence, and for myself that is how I approach life, it took me a while to understand that looting and rioting actually mean. They are the expression of a group that has been put down so much; who are told that if they want to change their circumstances they can do it non-violently, but don't you dare resort to force. That's an easy attitude for those in power to have.

I grew up revering the Civil Rights movement. I still do. The sacrifice of those who marched in Selma, of those who participated with the Freedom Riders, etc. They sacrificed their well-being to change America and I thought it had changed. Certainly, laws were changed. The Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act were both passed. Anti-miscegenation laws were struck down (one of which had prevented my parents from legally marrying at first). So, there was some change, although many people found ways around housing laws or zoning or banking laws. But, in reality, it was not the change I believed had happened. I believed that there had been a cultural shift. That being overtly racist turned to being taboo and therefore changed was occurring. But, with the election of President Trump and his vocal supporters, what was taboo is no longer taboo. Overt racism has resurged as being okay because of political correctness. Attitudes were not changed, they just became taboo.

Now, I realize that Mookie did the right thing. Not to protect Sal, but to violently fight back after a lynching had occurred.

Throughout the movie is there is a theme of love and hate always being present. There is the theme that family contain moments where the heat of the day is cooled. There is the hate of the race rants that each character gives, but those are tempered with Senior Cool Daddy's love. Radio Raheem of course delivers his famous love hate speech directly to the camera. And at the end, a picture of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X is hung on the wall of fame as it is burning during the riot.

Spike is wise enough not to offer answers in his film. I am not sure there are any. I do know that for me, the start is empathy. Empathy only comes with education about the social realities of our society and also a desire to step out of your shoes and into the shoes of someone else. Do to do so without judgement or prejudice. Instead of condemning rioting, put yourself in the place of someone who feels like they have no other choice than to riot. It is in these realizations that I find my own privileged and the limitations of my philosophy. I will still live by my philosophy, but not judge those on the margins whose lives and struggles I only understand on an intellectual struggle.

It's as Father Greg Boyle says about the poor that we can also apply to any oppressed group, "rather than sit in judgement over the ways they deal with their burdens, sit in awe at how many burdens they have to deal with."

I would recommend watching "Do the Right Thing," but our society is living it right now.