NEW YORK – Twenty years later, the trash can is still crashing through America's window.

At the climax of Spike Lee's 1989 drama "Do The Right Thing," the eternal battle between love and hate teeters on a razor's edge. The young black man Radio Raheem has been choked to death by white police after a fight with a Brooklyn pizzeria owner. A seething crowd gathers in front of the shop.

Lee's character, Mookie, a black pizza deliveryman, stands between the crowd and the shop. He's shoulder-to-shoulder with Sal, the shop's Italian owner. They exchange looks of confusion, betrayal and regret.

The crowd stares at Mookie. He's on the wrong side. Mookie moves over to his brothers, rubs his face, wrestling with the weight of the moment. Then he decides.

"Hate!" screams Mookie as he hurls the metal can through the pizzeria's plate glass window. The dam bursts. The mob destroys the shop in a frenzy that was both inevitable and completely avoidable.

Much has changed since "Do The Right Thing" announced Lee's special gifts to the world. The police choke hold that killed Radio Raheem — a fictionalization of the real death of Michael Stewart in New York City — has long been outlawed. Life on the ravaged Brooklyn block where Lee filmed the movie has improved. Ronald Reagan has given way to Barack Obama.

But for every measure of undeniable progress, "Do The Right Thing" also points to the divides that remain.

In May, a black New York City undercover cop who was running after a suspect with his gun drawn was shot to death by a white officer. Boarded-up buildings, broken windows and jobless young men still populate that Brooklyn block. And Lee, who wrote, produced and directed the film, insists the racial disconnect at its heart still exists.

"White people still ask me why Mookie threw the can through the window," Lee said in an interview. "Twenty years later, they're still asking me that."

"No black person ever, in 20 years, no person of color has ever asked me why."

That question is what made "Do The Right Thing" so explosive. Some writers speculated, erroneously, that it would incite riots.

NOTE: VERY long article so I cut it down....if you want to read the whole thing here is the link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090629/ap_en_mo/us_do_the_right_thing_anniversary
[Edited 6/29/09 0:01am]

StillGotit...I just posted the same article, not realizing you had already posted it. Thanks. I'll get the mods to delete the one I posted.

"The trash can through the window" represent the declaration of war against The System that is responsible from keeping the non-rich people (of all skin-colors, especially black AND latino) down for too many years/decades/centuries.

"The Window" itself represent ALL things and/or ANY thing that is a part of that system (Wal-Mart, Microsoft, McDonald's, The Illuminati, all forms of man-made government, whatever).

To me, "Do the Right Thing" shows the ugliness in each of us, which can explode, given the right situation. Spike Lee's greatest talent is showing the true sides of people - his characters are spot-on.

The trouble is now that real racism is more subtle.

2elijah said:

Great minds.....

2freaky4church1 said:

I dont know if I would say its actually more subtle---although the form has changed and become more advanced for sure. There are so many things that happen that people on both sides wont talk about anymore, primarily because everyone knows its there and can feel it.....the tension is obvious as hell and the wrong situation will make things explode and roll the clock back again. There is no trust....and I dont there can be...to much has happened....too much keeps being repeated.

StillGotIt said:

My late father (would have been 85 years old) and I went to see this movie.
My father would have asked Mr. Lee, Throwing the trash can through the window proved or resolved what? Get a plan.....

I would ask him, "Mr. Lee: so much of your life seems to have been consumed with fighting racism against your people. Why is it then, that you don't see the irony in defending anti-Semitic stereotypes in your own work, as well as directing a music video in which you rubber-stamped (at the very least) the reinstatement of anti-Semitic lyrics?"

The trash can through the window was the result of the accumulation of things that happened, not only THAT day, but throughout history. The window to the pizza place, which was what Mookie felt was the genesis of the problems that day that eventually led to the death of Radio Raheim.

http://www.theroot.com/mu...?gt1=38002
Interview with Henry Louis Gates on DTRT.

Spike makes an excellent point when he says White critics were more concerned about the White-owned business being torn down than the Black life that was lost that caused the business to be burned down. Speaks volumes.

He also goes into Obama and Micehell's first date was to see DTRT and why Obama doesn't talk much about that (for obvious reasons), the racial tensions in Bed-Stuy, and the song "Fight The Poawer".
[Edited 6/30/09 13:31pm]

uPtoWnNY said:

Agreed. Man, I love this movie. It's easily Spike's best IMO.

2freaky4church1 said:

I work as an EO advisor and you couldn't have said it any clearer...and what kills me is that folks actually believe that because Obama is in the White House, racism no longer exists....

sad as hell....

reneGade20 said:

Yeah, that's gonna be the NEW credo for those that think racism is gone: "But Obama's the president"

MuthaFunka said:

I just taught a two week course for unit-level EO reps, and that's ALL I heard from them....

reneGade20 said:

Ignorant as fuck, ain't it?

MuthaFunka said:

Not nearly as ignorant as folks who still want to call Obama a "marxist, socialist, communist"....had no idea all three could occupy the same space at the same time....

...or that in this day and age, folks still believe there is such a thing as reverse discrimination....

...or that in this day and age, folks still don't understand the difference between prejudice and racism....

sometimes, I feel like Cassandra crying in the dark....

reneGade20 said:

PREACH THAT SHIT!