The year is 1989 and Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing has hit the cinema. Centring on the story of a pizza delivery guy named Mookie who lives and works in a neighbourhood in Brooklyn, eventually, the narrative leads to the police brutally murdering a young black man prompting the neighbourhood to riot and vandalise an Italian-American owned pizzeria.

Contextually, this narrative is parallel to 2020’s global protests against police brutality which was a catalytic reaction to the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Mapping Police Violence (a research and advocacy group) have compiled data from 2013-2019 indicating that a total of 7,666 lives have been taken by the United States police force. Disproportionately affecting African American populations with black Americans being 2 ½ times as likely as white Americans to be killed by the police (Aljazeera, 2020).  As a result of global protesting against police brutality, social media has found itself nostalgically reflecting on Lee’s Do the Right Thing. The parallels can not only be drawn between the film and the current state of America but, how traditional media have failed to communicate and respond in both contexts.  

Film critics at the time were divisive of Lee’s narrative with some indicating that it “accurately portrayed black America being pushed to the limit”… (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone, 1989). Yet,  others branded it a “rancid fairy tale” (Stanley Crouch, The Village Voice, 1989), positioning Lee as sensationalising violence and rioting, and some critics determining that Lee’s depiction of racial tension is “his fiction; it’s not life” (David Denby, New York Magazine).  

This divisive fumbling can be witnessed within the current state of news media coverage with traditional media platforms struggling to effectively portray the #Blacklivesmatter movement often providing a heightened focus on the destruction caused from the protesting, for instance, the focus on looting. This news rhetoric encourages and replicates traditional racialised imagery focussing on criminality and deviancy rather than an accurate portrayal of the peaceful protests. Arguably, this is reminiscent in the film critiques of Do the Right Thing providing prominence to the violence and destruction within the film.  

There is an added relevance to Do the Right Thing in 2020; as a white man of the so-called ‘Free world’ I must be aware of my own privileges society has provided me and provide support in not only the black lives matter movement but, I must exercise my privilege to educate myself and others. While I will never truly understand or experience multiple oppressions due to my skin tone. I must exercise my right to actively engage in protest to achieve an egalitarian future. This movement should not be another dose of slacktivism with Gen Z’s using social protesting as a method of enhancing social gain, it should be the opportunity to re-learn key moments within black history and educating ourselves on racial inequalities and white privilege.   

The film highlights the ‘sympathetic racist’ through the portrayal of Sal the pizzeria owner. The ‘sympathetic racist’ has resonated during the Black Lives Matter discussions of 2020, there has been a growing acknowledgement to re-educate themselves and become aware of the impact and benefits of white privilege. Yet, while there is a growing trend of ‘white guilt’ within current news reports it is integral that governments actively decolonise the education system on all levels from primary up to higher education. Racism manifests itself in numerous ways we shouldn’t view it as only an extreme action. Contemporary society has highlighted show racism operates covertly and is embedded within all levels of society (see diagram below).

However, we can all start by re-educating ourselves through consuming literature and media about racism taking one closer step to becoming an active ally of anti-racism. This is the start and it will not bring an end to institutional racism. Therefore, below is a list of 7 recommended films and documentaries to help better inform one another about racism:

Do the Right Thing (1989) – Available on Amazon Prime and iTunes

Pressure (1975) – Available on BFI Player

Blacks Britannica (1978) – Available on YouTube

Malcolm X (1992) – Available on Netflix, Amazon Prime and iTunes

City of God – (2002) – Available on Amazon Prime

Get Out  (2017) – Available on Amazon Prime

Queen and Slim (2019) – Available on Amazon Prime

Racism is systemic, society must exercise the technological tools at our disposal to re-educate ourselves and others. Social media has played an integral role in positive activism for the black lives matter movement but, this shouldn’t be an excuse to simply like and share a post and say you’ve ‘done your part’. The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others only acknowledges that society has not achieved the post-racial bliss it thought it had. We have work to do!   

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By Tom Rowland

I am an ambitious writer and have previously contributed to LSU Label Magazine, always looking for an opportunity to expand my journalism portfolio! I’m a final year Loughborough Media and Communications student and I’m eager to be starting a masters at Goldsmiths University this September in Promotional Media: PR, Advertising and Marketing.

During my time in quarantine I have been using writing as a project of mine starting two online blogs featuring a diverse range of topics spanning technology, film and culture.