Some 30 years ago Spike Lee asked us to do the right thing. It's the simplest of advices but one that isn't so simple or easy to be followed, and when he
simply warned about such right thing it was a message directed to each and every one of us. Amidst the social and racial division of his film "Do the Right Thing"
he was giving a mirrored image of what was constant in America with prejudice, hatred and police brutality, true before his time, true then and strangely more true
now - not just America but in many other places as well. Lee made us aware of how apparently minor events that media doesn't pay much attention
can trigger a whole society and shake a whole world, which is the scenery we are living now.
In our current times of COVID-19 claiming thousands of lives and millions of cases the least we wanted to see and hear was about another case of police
brutality and excessive force against black people, because at the same time we evolved to be better than that and get united, some of us seem to have
failed to do so, we aren't evolving as much as wanted or as we could. Spike Lee has made a tribute to New York during pandemic in other short, and now he analyzes the reality
of George Floyd and Eric Garner's deaths along with the beloved character Radio Raheem (played by Bill Nunn) in Lee's feature "Do the Right Thing". The fictional
celluloid image - though Lee said it was based on a 1983 case - put next to the cellphones that captured the more recent deaths and with the three united we have
a whole similar experience of what the so-called zero tolerance policy means with chokeholds and cowardice acts of a group against one person, and what they simply
wanted was to able to breath. All three images reveal and echo the same action. True then, true now.
If Garner's killing wasn't enough for many to call attention, it was with Floyd that "I can't breathe!" while a cop was on top of his
neck that the commotion and awareness of screaming and protesting in desperation was heard. We had enough. What happened after wasn't just Black America showing us
that Black Lives Matter; all the other groups joined in marches and protests, and the turn of events was big enough to cities all around the world to march for
similar causes since police force criminal acts also are more directed towards black people outside of America, with a social and racial profiling that some
governments think and act as if needed, a requirement. But what's missing is the thought of who generated this whole division first back in some 500, 400 years ago.
To forgive is one thing; forget is never an option because that's how society deals with such issues, learn from everything that came along and soon we might feel united as the human beings that we are inhabiting the same planet. Humans are a variation of the same tune (flesh, blood and the possibility to strive for better life
conditions).
As for Mr. Lee, his short film is a powerful yet hard to watch collection of images and events that shows us how true artists can connect with the world in the best possible way considering that we have to stop the world for a while while there's virus out there. In the times of lockdown's and social distancing, Lee is showing us
that he hasn't changed one iota from his anger, his artistry and his way of demanding that the world that we live in must move first for a change instead of minorities
acting passively agressive in order to survive hatred, discrimination and act as if nothing is happening. He's right. He makes films, art, documentaries and that makes
us reflect about our dated condition that should disappear for good; the other common people keep up with their struggle and fight by marching on streets, occupying
historical places and asking leaders for the ultimate change in relations. The whole world watches and acts against this systemic division of hatred. We're just doing
the right thing. Spike asked us for it, the decades and century moved on, progresses were made but it's not enough. We are making the difference by pointing what's wrong;
now we need to feel the difference coming from the other side. It's up to them to change and do the right thing. 8/10
