When the movie opened in Princeton this weekend, almost everyone in the audience was white.
The movie made $11,000,000 on its opening weekend. It will - and should - make much more.
All of us laughed bitterly when the Stallworth character scoffs at the idea that a racist could be elected President in modern times.
I personally wept at the end.
Here's what Lee had to say in an interview.
SL: Here’s the thing, my sister. If you look the civil rights movement, white people died in Mississippi, Alabama, Kent State during the Vietnam protests. White people have died for justice. So it was not a matter of saying, ‘I can’t put Heather Heyer at the end of the film because she’s not black.
First of all, she was out there protesting those motherfuckers. If you look at Charlottesville footage, those were not all black people protesting, those were good white people who we have alliances with. I didn’t tell those people in the film to scream and yell, ‘Black Lives Matter!’ They were doing it on their own. So I have no problem. Right is right and Heather Heyer is a martyr. She gave her life for justice.
At this moment, another journalist at my table chimed in, seeking clarity: So during the whole film, we see white men and women going against black people ...
SL: But that’s not true. It’s not the whole film. You can’t discount the Adam Driver character. He’s the co-star of the film and his superior! For me, I don’t think that ... I hope ... first of all we need allies. Susan Bro, she lost a daughter. Her daughter was murdered in a terrorist attack. That was a homegrown, American, terrorist act and we should respect that.
Charlottesville, that was not just black people out there. I had no hesitation at all showing her face the end. She was courageous. It’s not a black and white thing for me. Heather Heyer was on the side of truth, of justice. She was out there trying to say no to the Klan, no to alt-right, no to those motherfucking Neo-Nazis.
There were white folks out there in simpatico with us. In the film, we have white folks, yelling and screaming, ‘Black Lives Matter!’ That should be celebrated!
That same journalist from before mentioned Black Lives Matter beginning after the death of Trayvon Martin and then I added:
TR: The Klan is historically known to hate...
SL: Here’s the thing. I respect your opinion, but this is not about Trayvon Martin. Show me where I can show footage of the real David Duke commenting on what happened. Show me footage where I can have David Duke commenting on Trayvon Martin. Show me footage where I can have Trump, woops, I said his name, Agent Orange, talking about Trayvon Martin.
There was no need. This is current. Also, this film is opening on the one year anniversary of the uprising [Editor’s note: The Unite the Right rally and Heyer’s death happened on Aug. 12]. I wanted to make it contemporary and this guy in the office, he’s the one that’s bringing about the resurgence of the right. That’s why I did that.
TR: When it comes to white allyship, when someone like Lady Gaga gets on Twitter and asks what can white people do and she’s met with anger from the black community who has grown weary of explaining everything to white people, what can we do to help fix this impasse?
SL: Any time there’s been a movement, it’s been an alliance of people. Black folks don’t have enough votes to get Obama in the office twice. If every black person voted twice, that still would not be enough votes to get him in office. There’s things about alliances, people with the same goals and ideals come together and move forward. We can’t just do it ourselves. We have to have a bigger heart to embrace people who are righteous and wanna help us.
Spike Lee Wants Us to Respect Our White Allies: 'White People Have Died For Justice'
Spike Lee is one of the finest thinkers on the subject of race in this country; and it's not surprising to me as a fan that he gets it.
It should not be surprising that most White people hate racism. Most of us do. I can't say I know a single white racist - at least anyone who is openly racist - and I know a lot of white people.
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