ONE WORLD: Do The Right Thing

I just finished watching Do The Right Thing by Spike Lee. It’s as full as a day spent in heat and life and love and a hope for…I think a hope for acceptance. It’s brilliant and I thank Mr Spike Lee for writing, producing and directing it.

As I watched it, I kept thinking about the many roles of society and culture. The Mayor spreading community, the Radio host spreading vibes, the Mother Sister cautioning, Jade spreading harmony, the Radio Raheem reminding us that we make choices everyday to Love or Hate and that there is a thin line. There are so many roles, so many people that we need to fill the void of humanity, to fill the gap of society. Conversation on the street corner and water fights and jokes and family and friends and - I think the movie is not only about one day in Bedstuy, but it is also a Polaroid of existence.

Spike Lee showcased the racism across all people, so many suffer the fate of being called “different” and thus shunned or mimicked or held down by oppression. Spike Lee showed the variety and in the end reminded that violence is not the answer (Martin Luther King Jr). But if you have to self-defend, that might just be intelligence (Malcolm X).

Watching the police brutality was like watching the news right now. So much hate and unlawful power - cruel and full of deliberate want to harm innocent people. In the end, Sal’s pizzeria was destroyed and his life’s work of trying to be a part of the community was for not. Did he really try to be a part of the community? That is the question of racism and separatism - are you doing enough and are you asking the right questions. Am I asking the right questions, doing the right thing?

I do know that Spike Lee said more in these 2 hours than a lot of history books can say as his film took you to one block in one city in the whole world and reminded us there is a microcosm of delicate communication and respect that, if lost, will destroy the delicate framework of the whole human race.

I hope we all do the right thing. And I hope all people of color get the love, respect, and freedom they deserve by the very right of being a human being on planet earth. We must do the right thing, we are one team, the human team, we must be kind to all our beautiful communities. We need everyone.

xxch