1
00:00:05,005 --> 00:00:08,675
Dago, wop, guinea, garlic-breath,
pizza-slingin', spaghetti-bendin',

2
00:00:08,759 --> 00:00:11,509
Vic Damone, Perry Como, Luciano Pavarotti,

3
00:00:11,595 --> 00:00:13,505
solo mio non-singing motherfucker.

4
00:00:13,597 --> 00:00:18,767
High-jumpin', spear-chuckin',
360-degree basketball-dunkin'...

5
00:00:18,852 --> 00:00:23,022
Pointy shoes, red-wearin', menudo,
mira mira, Puerto Rican cocksucker.

6
00:00:23,106 --> 00:00:28,196
Chocolate-egg-cream drinking,
bagel-and-lox, B'nai B'rith, Jew asshole.

7
00:00:28,278 --> 00:00:32,118
Yo! Hold up! Time-out!

8
00:00:32,198 --> 00:00:34,238
Time-out!

9
00:00:34,326 --> 00:00:35,946
Y'all take a chill!

10
00:00:36,036 --> 00:00:39,286
You need to cool that shit out!

11
00:00:39,373 --> 00:00:42,713
And that's the double truth, Ruth.

12
00:00:42,793 --> 00:00:44,213
[film projector whirring]

13
00:00:44,294 --> 00:00:46,424
[man] Film is a very powerful medium,

14
00:00:46,505 --> 00:00:48,585
and it can take you to places
you've never been before,

15
00:00:48,924 --> 00:00:51,394
never knew about, never heard about.

16
00:00:51,468 --> 00:00:53,678
It can connect you with
things that you say,

17
00:00:53,762 --> 00:00:56,142
"You know what? That happened to me.
That's me there."

18
00:00:56,223 --> 00:00:59,853
You must define beauty for black people.

19
00:00:59,935 --> 00:01:00,765
[audience cheers, applauds]

20
00:01:00,853 --> 00:01:03,023
Now that's black power!

21
00:01:03,105 --> 00:01:04,105
Right on.

22
00:01:05,607 --> 00:01:08,187
- Right on. -[all chanting] Hell
no, we won't go!

23
00:01:08,694 --> 00:01:11,744
[man] Art goes out and affects
people you don't even know,

24
00:01:11,822 --> 00:01:15,992
who are moved so much that they
wanna reach out and tell you

25
00:01:16,076 --> 00:01:18,406
how the films have changed their lives.

26
00:01:18,495 --> 00:01:21,075
Dear Spike, It is because of your films

27
00:01:21,164 --> 00:01:24,214
that I'm now in a career that
I never imagined for myself.

28
00:01:24,293 --> 00:01:27,253
Your influence on me changed
the course of my life.

29
00:01:27,337 --> 00:01:30,377
[man] I'd never seen black
life reflected in a film

30
00:01:30,465 --> 00:01:32,675
so clearly before you came along.

31
00:01:33,927 --> 00:01:35,547
- [man] You've been had.
- [crowd applauds, cheers]

32
00:01:35,637 --> 00:01:37,137
You've been took.

33
00:01:37,222 --> 00:01:40,482
You've been hoodwinked. Bamboozled.

34
00:01:40,559 --> 00:01:41,889
Led astray.

35
00:01:41,977 --> 00:01:43,267
Run amok.

36
00:01:43,353 --> 00:01:46,823
[man] Historically,
films do not have a diverse perspective.

37
00:01:46,899 --> 00:01:48,979
And as a black filmmaker,

38
00:01:49,067 --> 00:01:51,947
I've always looked at
the world differently.

39
00:01:52,029 --> 00:01:53,159
There's something about you.

40
00:01:53,238 --> 00:01:54,488
-About me? -Uh-huh.

41
00:01:54,573 --> 00:01:56,833
- Good or bad?
- [laughs] I haven't figured it out yet.

42
00:01:56,909 --> 00:01:59,659
[man] I want to tell the
world, This is who I am.

43
00:01:59,745 --> 00:02:02,455
This is who we are. This is our story.

44
00:02:02,539 --> 00:02:04,709
- [woman 1] Dear Spike...
- [man 1] Dear Spike...

45
00:02:04,791 --> 00:02:06,001
- [man 2] Dear Spike...
- [woman 2] Dear Spike...

46
00:02:32,694 --> 00:02:34,914
[Lee] I come from a generation...

47
00:02:35,697 --> 00:02:38,277
where your parents told you...

48
00:02:39,785 --> 00:02:42,695
"You gotta be 10 times better
than your white classmates.

49
00:02:44,039 --> 00:02:48,669
You're a young black boy,
and if you're not 10 times better,

50
00:02:48,752 --> 00:02:50,252
you're gonna get left behind."

51
00:02:50,337 --> 00:02:52,967
I'd say, "Mommy, that's not fair."

52
00:02:53,048 --> 00:02:54,678
My mother said, "Fuck fair.

53
00:02:54,758 --> 00:02:57,508
This country's not set up for us to win."

54
00:02:57,594 --> 00:02:59,014
I mean, my mother was like [laughs]...

55
00:03:00,389 --> 00:03:02,059
She was radical.

56
00:03:03,141 --> 00:03:06,731
My mother was an English teacher.
She taught black literature.

57
00:03:06,812 --> 00:03:09,232
And she was also a cinephile.

58
00:03:12,150 --> 00:03:16,610
She would drag my brother
Chris and I to the theater.

59
00:03:17,072 --> 00:03:18,452
We didn't wanna go.

60
00:03:18,532 --> 00:03:20,832
We just wanted to run
up and down the streets.

61
00:03:20,909 --> 00:03:23,409
We would go kickin' and screamin'.

62
00:03:23,495 --> 00:03:27,875
So, I remember seeing Mean Streets.

63
00:03:28,458 --> 00:03:30,668
Hold it. What's the matter with you guys?

64
00:03:30,752 --> 00:03:32,552
[Lee] The Godfather.

65
00:03:35,549 --> 00:03:39,139
And every time we went, we would
say, "You know, that was good."

66
00:03:39,219 --> 00:03:41,219
You can act like a man!

67
00:03:41,305 --> 00:03:42,675
What's the matter with you?

68
00:03:42,764 --> 00:03:47,854
[Lee] And so, my mother was the one
that taught me the love of film.

69
00:03:50,063 --> 00:03:52,363
My father hated movies.

70
00:03:52,441 --> 00:03:57,911
My father hated movies because he didn't
like the depiction of African Americans.

71
00:03:57,988 --> 00:04:00,908
Willie's here, baby. It's all right.

72
00:04:03,368 --> 00:04:04,288
[woman screams]

73
00:04:04,369 --> 00:04:05,749
[tires squealing]

74
00:04:05,829 --> 00:04:09,289
At the time, the time of the
black exploitation era films.

75
00:04:09,374 --> 00:04:13,214
[male announcer] He's got a
plan to stick it to the man.

76
00:04:13,295 --> 00:04:15,585
[Lee] So, he never went to films.

77
00:04:15,672 --> 00:04:18,882
And when I decided to be a filmmaker,

78
00:04:18,966 --> 00:04:23,256
I knew that I wanted to change the game.

79
00:04:28,185 --> 00:04:30,895
When I started film school at NYU,

80
00:04:30,979 --> 00:04:34,069
one of the first films
that was screened for us

81
00:04:34,149 --> 00:04:36,819
was D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation.

82
00:04:40,781 --> 00:04:44,371
And we were taught that D.W.
Griffith, is the father of cinema...

83
00:04:45,369 --> 00:04:49,749
and were shown the many film
innovations which he came up with.

84
00:04:52,459 --> 00:04:55,339
But the teacher left a lot out.

85
00:04:56,505 --> 00:04:59,755
The Klan was dormant
when this film came out.

86
00:04:59,842 --> 00:05:06,812
We were not taught this film was
responsible for the rebirth of the Klan.

87
00:05:07,683 --> 00:05:13,483
We were not taught that this film
directly led to black people being beat,

88
00:05:13,564 --> 00:05:17,694
lynched, castrated, hung and burnt.

89
00:05:17,776 --> 00:05:19,186
That was not discussed.

90
00:05:19,278 --> 00:05:23,068
And so, it was a very good wake-up call

91
00:05:23,156 --> 00:05:28,156
that there was no voice
for black people in film.

92
00:05:31,498 --> 00:05:33,628
I finished NYU in '82,

93
00:05:34,084 --> 00:05:38,514
and I kept thinking about,
"What do I wanna say?

94
00:05:38,589 --> 00:05:41,339
How am I looking in this world?

95
00:05:41,425 --> 00:05:43,675
What can I say that's different?"

96
00:05:44,094 --> 00:05:46,264
And I wrote She's Gotta Have It.

97
00:05:46,889 --> 00:05:51,189
In that film, Nola Darling has
three lovers at the same time.

98
00:05:51,268 --> 00:05:54,398
He wanted a wife, that mythic,
old-fashioned girl next door.

99
00:05:54,479 --> 00:05:57,609
But it's more than that.
It's about control.

100
00:05:57,691 --> 00:05:59,861
My body, my mind.

101
00:05:59,943 --> 00:06:03,113
Who's gonna own it, them or me?

102
00:06:03,197 --> 00:06:04,947
I am not a one-man woman.

103
00:06:05,574 --> 00:06:08,994
[Lee] So, for three years,
I was writing letters,

104
00:06:09,077 --> 00:06:14,037
writing postcards,
calling people up to invest in the film.

105
00:06:14,124 --> 00:06:18,054
I was doing Kickstarter and
GoFundMe before there was that.

106
00:06:19,546 --> 00:06:23,296
I barely got the budget
to do She's Gotta Have It.

107
00:06:23,383 --> 00:06:26,683
And so, it was a very, very quick shoot.

108
00:06:26,762 --> 00:06:30,522
Twelve days, crazy short amount of time.

109
00:06:30,599 --> 00:06:34,269
I had not intended to play
the role of Mars Blackmon,

110
00:06:34,937 --> 00:06:37,267
but I didn't have any
money to pay anybody else.

111
00:06:37,689 --> 00:06:39,189
And we just had to get it done.

112
00:06:39,650 --> 00:06:43,700
I knew that if I get the film made,
there was an audience for this film,

113
00:06:43,779 --> 00:06:44,989
She's Gotta Have It.

114
00:06:45,072 --> 00:06:49,082
It was funny, it was sensuous,
and for a lot of people,

115
00:06:49,159 --> 00:06:54,079
they had never seen black people
on-screen the way they were in that film.

116
00:06:54,164 --> 00:06:56,634
Spike Lee from Brooklyn
has created quite a fuss

117
00:06:56,708 --> 00:06:59,628
with his first feature
film, She's Gotta Have It.

118
00:07:00,754 --> 00:07:02,424
[Simmons] He received a
standing ovation for the film

119
00:07:02,506 --> 00:07:04,046
at this year's Cannes Festival,

120
00:07:04,132 --> 00:07:07,932
and it has become a box-office
smash, as they say.

121
00:07:08,011 --> 00:07:10,141
[Announcer] The mass appeal of
She's Gotta Have It has turned

122
00:07:10,222 --> 00:07:14,272
the sometimes quiet, introspective
Lee into a sought-after celebrity.

123
00:07:14,351 --> 00:07:15,641
You Spike Lee?

124
00:07:15,727 --> 00:07:17,767
-Ohhh! -[chattering]

125
00:07:17,855 --> 00:07:20,895
[Lee] And so, the film becomes a hit.

126
00:07:20,983 --> 00:07:24,443
Nike's advertising agency saw the film,

127
00:07:24,528 --> 00:07:28,198
and it was their idea to pair
Mars Blackmon with Michael Jordan.

128
00:07:28,282 --> 00:07:30,082
My whole life changed after that.

129
00:07:30,158 --> 00:07:33,328
Money, money. Why do you wanna do
that to me? Why you leave me hangin'?

130
00:07:33,412 --> 00:07:36,962
And so, it was only with the
success of She's Gotta Have It,

131
00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:38,330
I got to do School Daze.

132
00:07:38,417 --> 00:07:42,127
[announcer] Movie number two for Spike Lee
is a musical comedy called School Daze,

133
00:07:42,212 --> 00:07:44,302
about life in an all-black college.

134
00:07:44,381 --> 00:07:47,431
-I want intensity! -Yeah!

135
00:07:47,509 --> 00:07:50,139
-I want reckless abandon! -Yeah!

136
00:07:50,220 --> 00:07:55,850
I want you to remember that
this is Mission College!

137
00:07:55,934 --> 00:07:56,944
Yeah!

138
00:07:57,019 --> 00:07:59,559
I cannot tell you how
many people have told me

139
00:07:59,646 --> 00:08:05,736
that they had never thought of going
to college until they saw School Daze.

140
00:08:05,819 --> 00:08:07,699
They didn't even know
there were black schools.

141
00:08:07,779 --> 00:08:10,449
-Gammites! -Greetings!

142
00:08:10,532 --> 00:08:12,582
Gamma men are real men.

143
00:08:12,659 --> 00:08:16,119
[Lee] And that's one of the things
people said have changed their lives.

144
00:08:16,205 --> 00:08:17,615
School Daze changed their lives.

145
00:08:17,706 --> 00:08:22,376
It made them want education at
a predominantly black school.

146
00:08:25,380 --> 00:08:29,050
[man] Dear Spike, I grew up in
Charleston, South Carolina.

147
00:08:30,219 --> 00:08:32,929
I knew I wanted to go to
college, but in my mind,

148
00:08:33,013 --> 00:08:35,683
higher education looked like
a college in Charleston,

149
00:08:35,765 --> 00:08:37,975
which was predominantly white.

150
00:08:38,059 --> 00:08:40,769
"I didn't know how I would
fit into such a place."

151
00:08:41,188 --> 00:08:43,938
Then one night, when I was 15,

152
00:08:44,024 --> 00:08:46,944
my uncle was taking his
soon-to-be wife on a date.

153
00:08:47,027 --> 00:08:50,527
And my grandmother asked
them to let me tag along.

154
00:08:50,614 --> 00:08:52,994
So, the three of us went to the theater

155
00:08:53,075 --> 00:08:55,825
to see the newest Spike Lee
Joint, School Daze.

156
00:08:58,413 --> 00:09:01,583
Watching this incredible
story of a fictional college

157
00:09:01,667 --> 00:09:04,837
where African Americans
dominated the space...

158
00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:09,260
"My eyes were opened and my
life was changed forever."

159
00:09:09,341 --> 00:09:14,931
A historically black college-- I had
never seen anything like that before.

160
00:09:15,013 --> 00:09:17,683
From the moment I walked
out of that theater,

161
00:09:17,766 --> 00:09:21,846
I knew I wanted to go to a historically
black college or university.

162
00:09:21,937 --> 00:09:24,767
More than that, I wanted to teach at one.

163
00:09:24,857 --> 00:09:29,317
So, I applied and was accepted at
South Carolina State University.

164
00:09:29,403 --> 00:09:32,073
I earned a PhD in higher education,

165
00:09:32,155 --> 00:09:35,775
and now I'm the 18th president
of Kentucky State University,

166
00:09:35,868 --> 00:09:38,698
a historically black college
in Frankfurt, Kentucky.

167
00:09:39,371 --> 00:09:44,001
"Each year, we screen your film
to the entire student body."

168
00:09:44,084 --> 00:09:47,804
To this day,
I've seen School Daze 204 times.

169
00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:50,050
204 times.

170
00:09:53,886 --> 00:09:55,046
That's a lot.

171
00:09:55,137 --> 00:09:57,007
And every time I watch it,

172
00:09:57,097 --> 00:10:01,807
it's as though I'm watching my life
and the lives of my students on-screen.

173
00:10:03,770 --> 00:10:04,770
Come here, doctor.

174
00:10:06,231 --> 00:10:08,821
- Mayor, I gotta go. I'm working.
- Come here, Doctor.

175
00:10:08,901 --> 00:10:11,491
- This is the Mayor talking.
- All right, all right.

176
00:10:11,570 --> 00:10:13,410
-Doctor? -Come on. What? What?

177
00:10:13,488 --> 00:10:14,778
Always do the right thing.

178
00:10:16,408 --> 00:10:20,078
After School Daze, I wanted to do this film

179
00:10:20,162 --> 00:10:22,872
that took place on the
hottest day of the summer.

180
00:10:22,956 --> 00:10:26,876
Mookie, don't work too hard today. The
man says it's gonna be hot as the devil.

181
00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,550
Everybody knows that when it gets
hot, I mean, things will jump off.

182
00:10:30,631 --> 00:10:34,091
Traffic, eight million
people on top of each other.

183
00:10:34,176 --> 00:10:37,506
So, the goal was to do a film
that takes place in one day.

184
00:10:37,971 --> 00:10:43,021
And as the temperature goes up,
things escalate into a riot.

185
00:10:43,101 --> 00:10:45,601
Hey, man, get the fuck out of here!
We're fuckin' closed!

186
00:10:45,687 --> 00:10:47,147
Fuck you!

187
00:10:47,231 --> 00:10:50,321
We're closing you guinea bastards!
For good, motherfucker!

188
00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:52,440
Sal, put the fuckin' bat down!

189
00:10:52,528 --> 00:10:54,818
- [man 1] Come on, Ahmad!
- [man 2] You guinea!

190
00:10:55,197 --> 00:10:56,947
[screaming, shouting]

191
00:10:57,032 --> 00:10:59,792
We went to Cannes with this film.

192
00:11:00,452 --> 00:11:03,462
And American press was alarmed by it.

193
00:11:03,539 --> 00:11:07,329
Spike Lee's new movie, Do the Right
Thing, is drawing some praise

194
00:11:07,417 --> 00:11:08,997
and arousing heated controversy.

195
00:11:09,086 --> 00:11:12,296
[announcer] Some critics have gone as
far as saying it could incite violence.

196
00:11:12,381 --> 00:11:16,301
[Lee] There was a certain part of the
American press who felt that this film

197
00:11:16,385 --> 00:11:18,845
was going to incite black folks to riot.

198
00:11:18,929 --> 00:11:20,599
[siren wailing]

199
00:11:20,681 --> 00:11:22,931
[police radio chatter]

200
00:11:23,016 --> 00:11:26,346
That when this film came out,
blood would be on my hands.

201
00:11:26,436 --> 00:11:31,146
And trying to stir up an hysteria
amongst white moviegoers,

202
00:11:31,233 --> 00:11:34,243
that if you went to the theater,
your life would be in danger.

203
00:11:34,319 --> 00:11:35,949
It was horrible.

204
00:11:36,029 --> 00:11:39,449
I really don't tell audiences what to feel.
I want them to think.

205
00:11:39,533 --> 00:11:42,913
I want them to think about the
serious issue of race relations,

206
00:11:42,995 --> 00:11:44,825
racism in this country today.

207
00:11:46,415 --> 00:11:50,375
The goal of the film was to
give people some insight,

208
00:11:50,460 --> 00:11:54,670
and at that time, in New York
City, a lot of race stuff going on.

209
00:11:54,756 --> 00:11:56,506
It was a very tense time.

210
00:11:56,592 --> 00:11:59,722
Another bold and vicious crime
apparently fueled by racism

211
00:11:59,803 --> 00:12:02,683
has led to an intense
investigation tonight in Queens.

212
00:12:02,764 --> 00:12:04,894
Police say three black
men were savagely beaten

213
00:12:04,975 --> 00:12:07,385
by a gang of white
attackers at Howard Beach.

214
00:12:07,477 --> 00:12:09,857
One of the victims,
a 23-year-old construction worker,

215
00:12:09,938 --> 00:12:11,358
was chased to his death.

216
00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:13,110
[crowd chanting] Howard
Beach, have you heard?

217
00:12:13,192 --> 00:12:14,612
This is not Johannesburg.

218
00:12:14,693 --> 00:12:16,283
Howard Beach, have you heard?

219
00:12:16,361 --> 00:12:18,241
This is not Johannesburg!

220
00:12:18,322 --> 00:12:20,782
[announcer] These residents
insisted that their community

221
00:12:20,866 --> 00:12:23,406
was being unfairly singled out.

222
00:12:23,493 --> 00:12:27,873
"Why," they ask, "don't you come
out here when blacks attack us?"

223
00:12:27,956 --> 00:12:29,746
Whoa, whoa! Bring that man back here.

224
00:12:29,833 --> 00:12:33,133
- [man 1] Off with the camera, man.
- [man 2] Hey, I can't.

225
00:12:33,212 --> 00:12:35,172
[chanting, indistinct]

226
00:12:35,255 --> 00:12:40,585
The stuff I wrote in '88
is still relevant today.

227
00:12:41,261 --> 00:12:46,771
In that script, I'm talking about
gentrification, police brutality.

228
00:12:46,850 --> 00:12:48,690
The film is still relevant.

229
00:12:48,769 --> 00:12:49,769
[shouting]

230
00:12:54,650 --> 00:12:56,110
[man] Dear Spike,

231
00:12:56,193 --> 00:12:58,783
I lived on the west side of Chicago,

232
00:12:58,862 --> 00:13:01,162
in one of the city's most
violent neighborhoods.

233
00:13:01,698 --> 00:13:04,738
When I was a teenager,
I founded a street gang.

234
00:13:04,826 --> 00:13:10,666
We sold drugs, robbed people at gunpoint
and got into turf wars with our rival.

235
00:13:11,291 --> 00:13:13,211
I grew up around crime and violence.

236
00:13:13,293 --> 00:13:15,253
"It seemed normal to me."

237
00:13:15,337 --> 00:13:19,047
And then, in 1984,
I was arrested and sent to prison.

238
00:13:19,132 --> 00:13:20,932
[siren wailing]

239
00:13:21,009 --> 00:13:24,929
When I was inside,
I had a lot of time to think.

240
00:13:25,013 --> 00:13:30,523
I began to realize the role that I played
in the destruction of my own neighborhood.

241
00:13:30,602 --> 00:13:33,522
And I knew I needed to do
something to make it right.

242
00:13:34,565 --> 00:13:38,935
I was hungry to get my hands on
anything to expose me to a better life.

243
00:13:39,528 --> 00:13:43,698
And I heard about a young black
filmmaker named Spike Lee.

244
00:13:43,782 --> 00:13:46,582
Let me tell you the story of right
hand, left hand.

245
00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:48,910
It's a tale of good and evil.

246
00:13:48,996 --> 00:13:51,666
- There it is, love and hate.
- ["Fight the Power" playing]

247
00:13:51,748 --> 00:13:54,838
I was immediately inspired
by you and your work.

248
00:13:54,918 --> 00:13:58,508
By telling these stories
that no one else was telling,

249
00:13:58,589 --> 00:14:00,839
you were giving black people their voice.

250
00:14:01,383 --> 00:14:06,223
Your films made me truly understand
the importance of community.

251
00:14:06,305 --> 00:14:10,425
They made me say to myself,
"You have work to do."

252
00:14:10,517 --> 00:14:12,597
"'And you have to change
what you have done.'"

253
00:14:13,187 --> 00:14:18,527
When I was released from prison,
they gave me $10 and a bus ticket,

254
00:14:18,609 --> 00:14:20,779
and said, "Fend for yourself."

255
00:14:21,153 --> 00:14:24,873
Luckily, I had a strong
family support system.

256
00:14:25,490 --> 00:14:27,950
They helped me connect
with local organizers

257
00:14:28,035 --> 00:14:31,245
so I could find a way to
give back to my community.

258
00:14:31,330 --> 00:14:35,330
I am now an intervention
specialist with BUILD Chicago.

259
00:14:35,792 --> 00:14:39,052
We work to keep kids out of
gangs and away from violence

260
00:14:39,129 --> 00:14:41,339
and help them reach their full potential.

261
00:14:41,423 --> 00:14:44,803
[announcer] For Booney,
abandoning his roots is not an option.

262
00:14:44,885 --> 00:14:50,345
I had to come back to these places where
I was part of the problem for so long

263
00:14:50,432 --> 00:14:52,482
and be part of their solution.

264
00:14:52,809 --> 00:14:56,309
Every day I talk to the
kids in my old community.

265
00:14:56,396 --> 00:15:02,236
Everywhere that we at, we got violence,
we got drugs, everywhere we are.

266
00:15:02,319 --> 00:15:05,699
So, we gotta get those things back intact.

267
00:15:05,781 --> 00:15:08,831
Y'all gotta do it.
Y'all gotta put in the footwork.

268
00:15:09,826 --> 00:15:14,206
I tell them my own story and hope
that it will have an impact on them.

269
00:15:14,289 --> 00:15:17,079
And I use your films as a way to connect.

270
00:15:18,544 --> 00:15:21,844
I want to leave a legacy
of hope and empowerment,

271
00:15:21,922 --> 00:15:27,302
as I work to turn my community into a
safer and better place for everyone.

272
00:15:30,013 --> 00:15:30,933
[audience cheering, applauding]

273
00:15:32,099 --> 00:15:33,929
We've got five great films here,

274
00:15:34,309 --> 00:15:39,189
but there is one film missing from
this list that deserves to be on it,

275
00:15:39,773 --> 00:15:44,493
because, ironically,
it might tell the biggest truth of all.

276
00:15:45,821 --> 00:15:47,491
And that's Do the Right Thing.

277
00:15:50,284 --> 00:15:54,044
[Lee] Well, I think it's important
for Hollywood to recognize

278
00:15:54,121 --> 00:15:58,131
the gifts, the talents of people of color.

279
00:15:59,793 --> 00:16:02,963
Historically,
Hollywood did not want people of color,

280
00:16:03,046 --> 00:16:06,216
did not want black people,
specifically, and women.

281
00:16:06,300 --> 00:16:07,800
It had been a constant battle.

282
00:16:07,885 --> 00:16:09,505
[photographers] Spike! Spike!

283
00:16:09,595 --> 00:16:13,885
[Lee] After Do the Right Thing,
I understood that I had a little power.

284
00:16:14,433 --> 00:16:17,903
And so, I was bringing as
many motherfuckers in with me,

285
00:16:18,395 --> 00:16:21,895
especially in the various
jobs behind the camera.

286
00:16:24,902 --> 00:16:28,282
When I started, my film company, 40 Acres,

287
00:16:28,363 --> 00:16:32,873
from the very beginning, I wanted
40 Acres and a Mule to be a platform

288
00:16:32,951 --> 00:16:34,831
for people to get in the industry.

289
00:16:35,704 --> 00:16:39,294
People who were different,
who can give us some insight.

290
00:16:40,125 --> 00:16:43,875
Once this industry looks more like America,

291
00:16:43,962 --> 00:16:47,172
people start to see things differently.

292
00:16:47,883 --> 00:16:50,433
When you have a film about black people,

293
00:16:50,511 --> 00:16:55,721
automatically white
America thinks of rapists,

294
00:16:55,807 --> 00:16:59,647
murderers, drug addicts,
killers, all that stuff.

295
00:16:59,728 --> 00:17:05,688
Those are the images that
you've been led to believe,

296
00:17:05,776 --> 00:17:07,896
that we are as a people.

297
00:17:07,986 --> 00:17:09,566
To make real change,

298
00:17:09,655 --> 00:17:14,575
we have to tell our story from
our own particular perspective.

299
00:17:16,662 --> 00:17:19,212
[woman] Dear Spike,

300
00:17:19,289 --> 00:17:22,629
my father, Alan Wiggins, grew up very poor,

301
00:17:22,709 --> 00:17:25,879
but he persevered and became
a professional baseball player

302
00:17:25,963 --> 00:17:29,303
for the San Diego Padres
and the Baltimore Orioles.

303
00:17:30,467 --> 00:17:33,847
As a black player,
he faced prejudice and racism.

304
00:17:34,638 --> 00:17:37,808
That rejection contributed
to a cocaine addiction.

305
00:17:38,809 --> 00:17:43,109
He died of AIDS in 1991,
when I was just four years old.

306
00:17:43,981 --> 00:17:46,571
It was hard not having
my father in my life,

307
00:17:46,650 --> 00:17:51,360
especially when I'd find news articles
that only talked about his drug abuse.

308
00:17:52,364 --> 00:17:55,994
As a distraction,
I focused my attention on sports,

309
00:17:56,076 --> 00:17:58,496
and I fell in love with
the game of basketball.

310
00:18:00,122 --> 00:18:04,292
When I was 11 years old,
I went to see your film He Got Game.

311
00:18:05,043 --> 00:18:08,053
In the movie,
Denzel Washington is in prison.

312
00:18:08,130 --> 00:18:12,930
But as the story unfolds, you realize
there's so much more to his character,

313
00:18:13,010 --> 00:18:16,180
and that he shouldn't be defined by
the crime that put him behind bars.

314
00:18:16,597 --> 00:18:18,767
[man] What, you some kind heathen now?
You don't make no mistakes?

315
00:18:18,849 --> 00:18:22,099
You be out here shooting,
but you don't miss no shots ever? Ever?

316
00:18:22,186 --> 00:18:24,186
People make mistakes.
People veer off the path.

317
00:18:24,271 --> 00:18:25,481
So what? God forgives them.

318
00:18:25,564 --> 00:18:27,234
Has God forgiven you for killing my mother?

319
00:18:27,316 --> 00:18:29,066
I pray that he has, son. I believe he has.

320
00:18:29,151 --> 00:18:30,241
-When will you? -Never.

321
00:18:30,319 --> 00:18:32,239
[woman] This forced me
to look at my own life.

322
00:18:32,821 --> 00:18:36,831
I realized that there was so much more
to my father than just his addiction.

323
00:18:36,909 --> 00:18:38,739
Your movie helped me open my heart.

324
00:18:38,827 --> 00:18:40,907
"And heal those deep wounds.

325
00:18:41,330 --> 00:18:43,620
I came out of that theater
a different person."

326
00:18:44,666 --> 00:18:46,996
That day, it became clear to me,

327
00:18:47,085 --> 00:18:50,915
I wanted to become the
greatest player in the WNBA.

328
00:18:51,006 --> 00:18:53,626
I worked hard and never
lost sight of my goal.

329
00:18:54,092 --> 00:18:58,312
In 2004, I was offered a
scholarship to play at Stanford.

330
00:18:59,181 --> 00:19:04,141
Then my dream was realized
when I was drafted by the WNBA.

331
00:19:05,145 --> 00:19:09,815
After playing for several teams,
I found myself at the top of my game,

332
00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:12,529
playing for the New York Liberty.

333
00:19:13,278 --> 00:19:17,818
I remember telling the Liberty PR team
that I would know I had really made it

334
00:19:17,908 --> 00:19:20,738
when Spike Lee showed
up for one of our games.

335
00:19:20,827 --> 00:19:23,747
It was my secret motivation
to keep pushing forward.

336
00:19:24,665 --> 00:19:28,285
Months later, I was on the
court, warming up for a game,

337
00:19:28,377 --> 00:19:30,587
and I saw your picture on the jumbotron.

338
00:19:31,380 --> 00:19:34,880
Seeing you there gave me all
the motivation I could ever need

339
00:19:34,967 --> 00:19:38,007
to believe that anything is possible.

340
00:19:38,428 --> 00:19:41,098
That day, I played the
greatest game of my life,

341
00:19:41,181 --> 00:19:43,641
shooting a perfect four-for-four
from three-point range.

342
00:19:44,309 --> 00:19:45,439
Knowing you were watching

343
00:19:45,519 --> 00:19:48,729
was the highlight to my
entire professional career.

344
00:19:48,814 --> 00:19:52,154
I know there will never be anything
that can or will replace the void

345
00:19:52,234 --> 00:19:53,904
left behind from my father,

346
00:19:54,528 --> 00:19:58,778
but if this letter proves anything,
it's that one man can make a difference.

347
00:19:58,866 --> 00:20:01,116
"For me, that man is you."

348
00:20:06,456 --> 00:20:08,996
[applause]

349
00:20:09,459 --> 00:20:13,509
I, for one, as a Muslim believe that
the white man is intelligent enough.

350
00:20:14,673 --> 00:20:19,223
If he were made to realize
how black people really feel,

351
00:20:19,303 --> 00:20:22,893
and how fed up we are without
that old compromising sweet talk.

352
00:20:22,973 --> 00:20:26,483
Stop sweet-talkin' him.
Tell him how you feel.

353
00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,440
I learned that the great
director Norman Jewison

354
00:20:29,521 --> 00:20:33,861
was signed to direct a
film about Malcolm X.

355
00:20:33,942 --> 00:20:38,452
And I let it be known publicly, like,

356
00:20:39,406 --> 00:20:42,656
I don't know if Norman Jewison
was the right director for this.

357
00:20:42,743 --> 00:20:46,333
I don't feel that a Caucasian director

358
00:20:46,413 --> 00:20:49,793
could do justice to this
project, to this film.

359
00:20:49,875 --> 00:20:51,955
To do this film,
you need to have to do research.

360
00:20:52,044 --> 00:20:55,134
[stammers] I spoke to hundreds
of people that knew Malcolm,

361
00:20:55,214 --> 00:20:57,514
and no way are they gonna
open up to some white director

362
00:20:57,591 --> 00:20:59,341
coming around sniffing around.

363
00:20:59,426 --> 00:21:01,046
They're just not gonna do it.

364
00:21:01,470 --> 00:21:04,850
So, Norman Jewison and I
met, and he stepped aside.

365
00:21:05,724 --> 00:21:10,274
And I have to give pride to Norman
because he did not have to do that.

366
00:21:10,896 --> 00:21:13,516
[man] Roll 77. Take one. Mark.

367
00:21:14,816 --> 00:21:16,236
Quiet!

368
00:21:16,318 --> 00:21:19,198
-[murmuring] -[man shouts, indistinct]

369
00:21:19,571 --> 00:21:22,281
- [man 1] Roll sound.
- [man 2] Rolling. Quiet, please.

370
00:21:22,366 --> 00:21:26,536
-[man chants in Arabic] -[men repeat chant]

371
00:21:32,125 --> 00:21:33,205
Cut.

372
00:21:35,003 --> 00:21:38,593
Malcolm X was one of the great
experiences I've ever had...

373
00:21:39,967 --> 00:21:41,047
making a film.

374
00:21:41,134 --> 00:21:42,764
Where's he at? Oh, there you are.

375
00:21:42,845 --> 00:21:46,555
It was amazing to
rediscover this great man.

376
00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:48,810
This man who loved black people.

377
00:21:48,892 --> 00:21:51,772
This man who loved humanity.

378
00:21:51,854 --> 00:21:54,694
But what became a problem was the length.

379
00:21:55,399 --> 00:21:57,689
Warner Brothers wanted a two-hour cut.

380
00:21:57,776 --> 00:22:02,276
I needed three hours to
tell the story of Malcolm X.

381
00:22:02,364 --> 00:22:06,704
His entire evolution as a human being.
Two hours wouldn't get that.

382
00:22:06,785 --> 00:22:09,615
And so, we were shut down,

383
00:22:09,705 --> 00:22:13,325
and I was up shit's creek without a paddle.

384
00:22:14,376 --> 00:22:17,956
But I kept thinking about these two things

385
00:22:18,046 --> 00:22:20,086
which Malcolm always talked about:

386
00:22:20,174 --> 00:22:23,344
self-reliance, self-determination.

387
00:22:23,427 --> 00:22:26,967
We don't teach hate.
Mr. Muhammad teaches the truth.

388
00:22:27,055 --> 00:22:29,555
And he teaches that our people
should unite among ourselves

389
00:22:29,641 --> 00:22:31,351
and try and solve our own problems.

390
00:22:32,102 --> 00:22:34,062
And then, boom, it hit me.

391
00:22:34,146 --> 00:22:36,856
I know black folks that got money.

392
00:22:37,900 --> 00:22:39,230
Went down my list.

393
00:22:39,693 --> 00:22:43,113
Janet Jackson. Prince. Tracy Chapman.

394
00:22:43,197 --> 00:22:45,447
Miss Oprah Winfrey. Love you.

395
00:22:46,158 --> 00:22:48,038
Peggy Cooper Cafritz.

396
00:22:48,118 --> 00:22:49,448
Bill Cosby.

397
00:22:49,536 --> 00:22:51,036
Magic.

398
00:22:51,121 --> 00:22:56,711
Last person was the GOAT,
the greatest player of all time,

399
00:22:56,793 --> 00:22:58,213
Michael Jordan.

400
00:22:58,295 --> 00:23:01,835
And people are writing checks,
and they're happy to do it.

401
00:23:01,924 --> 00:23:06,434
These prominent African
Americans wrote big checks

402
00:23:06,512 --> 00:23:10,272
so Spike Lee could finish
Malcolm X the way he sees it.

403
00:23:11,975 --> 00:23:14,185
[announcer] Most of the young
people coming to this movie

404
00:23:14,269 --> 00:23:15,809
are brought by their parents,

405
00:23:15,896 --> 00:23:19,226
parents who earlier in the day
took their kids out of school

406
00:23:19,316 --> 00:23:23,606
and stood in long lines outside a
theater that would become a classroom.

407
00:23:23,695 --> 00:23:29,025
I believe that it will inspire a lot
of people to do better in their ways.

408
00:23:29,117 --> 00:23:32,157
Just... It's a powerful movie.

409
00:23:32,704 --> 00:23:35,464
[Lee] Art is powerful.

410
00:23:36,458 --> 00:23:39,918
And when a film really hits all levels,

411
00:23:40,003 --> 00:23:44,473
the cinematography, the direction and
the acting, it can take you there.

412
00:23:44,550 --> 00:23:49,300
It just lifts you up,
and you just have to say, "Damn."

413
00:23:49,388 --> 00:23:50,388
Damn. [chuckles]

414
00:23:53,559 --> 00:23:54,639
[man] Dear Spike...

415
00:23:55,769 --> 00:23:59,649
I'm a Pakistani immigrant who
grew up in Brooklyn in the 1980s.

416
00:24:00,607 --> 00:24:04,897
I was from an immigrant Muslim family
that struggled to make ends meet.

417
00:24:04,987 --> 00:24:09,027
My childhood apartment was as much
home to the mice of the neighborhood

418
00:24:09,116 --> 00:24:10,326
as it was to us.

419
00:24:11,243 --> 00:24:15,543
Like many other members of my community,
I thought I would end up becoming a lawyer

420
00:24:15,622 --> 00:24:17,462
or join some other stable profession.

421
00:24:18,166 --> 00:24:21,956
Being raised in a poor family
instilled a strong work ethic in me.

422
00:24:22,045 --> 00:24:25,295
It was this trait that led
me to an Ivy League school.

423
00:24:25,757 --> 00:24:28,887
In 1989, I left for Dartmouth College.

424
00:24:30,512 --> 00:24:32,062
It was a wonderful school,

425
00:24:32,139 --> 00:24:35,349
but I started to feel isolated
and lonely on this campus.

426
00:24:36,059 --> 00:24:38,809
So in order to feel some personal power,

427
00:24:38,896 --> 00:24:42,726
I began to cling to my ethnic and
religious identity more and more.

428
00:24:45,485 --> 00:24:48,775
I found a special connection to my
spirituality outdoors in nature,

429
00:24:49,364 --> 00:24:51,994
but at the same time,
the more religious I became,

430
00:24:52,075 --> 00:24:55,285
the more alone and isolated I
felt from everyone around me.

431
00:24:56,496 --> 00:25:00,126
Instead of faith being a
bridge, it became a wall.

432
00:25:02,127 --> 00:25:04,757
That all changed in 1992.

433
00:25:04,838 --> 00:25:08,338
The day I saw Malcolm X, I was transformed.

434
00:25:08,425 --> 00:25:11,755
In your portrayal of Malcolm's
life, I saw my own journey.

435
00:25:12,513 --> 00:25:15,773
"I realize that like Malcolm
X, I had a choice to make."

436
00:25:15,849 --> 00:25:17,519
I had a choice to make.

437
00:25:17,976 --> 00:25:20,596
Would I live my life under
the shadow of expectations

438
00:25:21,188 --> 00:25:22,898
or would I embrace a new path

439
00:25:22,981 --> 00:25:25,901
based on true self-empowerment
through authenticity?

440
00:25:27,361 --> 00:25:28,741
"'Cause of you and your film,

441
00:25:28,820 --> 00:25:32,280
I walked away from one familiar
path and chose another."

442
00:25:33,659 --> 00:25:36,909
[man] I blazed a trail out west
to pursue a career in filmmaking.

443
00:25:38,121 --> 00:25:42,131
I am now a published author,
professional screenwriter and producer.

444
00:25:42,209 --> 00:25:44,879
Spike, you have had such
profound influence on me,

445
00:25:44,962 --> 00:25:47,592
both as a filmmaker and as a human being.

446
00:25:50,884 --> 00:25:53,144
- [man on phone] Who am I speaking with?
- This is David Duke.

447
00:25:55,764 --> 00:25:57,564
Did you just say your name was David Duke?

448
00:25:57,641 --> 00:26:01,651
I consider you a true white American hero.

449
00:26:01,728 --> 00:26:03,438
Is there any other kind?

450
00:26:03,522 --> 00:26:05,192
-[laughing] -No, sir. [chuckles]

451
00:26:05,983 --> 00:26:09,033
I'm just happy to be talking
to a true white American.

452
00:26:09,111 --> 00:26:10,401
Amen.

453
00:26:10,946 --> 00:26:13,316
[Lee] I think I've gotten
better as a filmmaker.

454
00:26:13,407 --> 00:26:16,447
I'd better be,
I'm going into my fourth decade.

455
00:26:16,535 --> 00:26:19,905
But still a lot of work needs to be done.

456
00:26:19,997 --> 00:26:24,077
And it's a matter of
finding new stories to tell

457
00:26:24,168 --> 00:26:27,878
and finding new ways to
tell those new stories.

458
00:26:29,506 --> 00:26:31,426
With BlacKkKlansman,

459
00:26:31,884 --> 00:26:36,104
we wanted this to have the look
and feel of a period piece.

460
00:26:36,180 --> 00:26:41,520
I mean, the '70s, but also that
was contemporary at the same time.

461
00:26:41,602 --> 00:26:44,942
David Duke,
current grand wizard of the Klan,

462
00:26:45,022 --> 00:26:46,692
but he's always in a three-piece suit.

463
00:26:46,773 --> 00:26:49,533
Never seen in a hood or a robe in public.

464
00:26:49,610 --> 00:26:53,410
That's what Duke is peddling now.
It's becoming mainstream.

465
00:26:53,488 --> 00:26:56,988
[Lee] There are people who think
this happened a long time ago.

466
00:26:57,075 --> 00:26:58,235
Not true.

467
00:26:58,327 --> 00:27:02,077
Hail Trump. Hail our people. Hail victory.

468
00:27:02,164 --> 00:27:04,754
[cheering, shouting]

469
00:27:04,833 --> 00:27:10,133
Real warriors. Real America, the America
that our ancestors fought and died for.

470
00:27:10,214 --> 00:27:13,134
-America first. -America first.

471
00:27:13,217 --> 00:27:16,007
[Lee] There's an urgency to this film.
It's a call to action.

472
00:27:16,929 --> 00:27:20,639
The 2020 presidential
election is around the corner.

473
00:27:20,724 --> 00:27:24,194
Let's all mobilize.
Let's all be on the right side of history.

474
00:27:24,269 --> 00:27:27,649
Make the moral choice
between love versus hate.

475
00:27:28,565 --> 00:27:30,105
Let's do the right thing.

476
00:27:31,193 --> 00:27:32,783
You know I had to get that in there.

477
00:27:34,613 --> 00:27:39,203
Now, I'm a tenured professor and
also artistic director at NYU.

478
00:27:40,077 --> 00:27:45,667
And what I try to tell my
students, "Tell your story."

479
00:27:45,749 --> 00:27:48,749
No one knows your story better than you.

480
00:27:48,836 --> 00:27:50,706
Find your voice.

481
00:27:50,796 --> 00:27:54,006
People talk about,
"What is the takeaway of your film?"

482
00:27:54,091 --> 00:27:59,391
Well, you hope that people discuss
it, and it makes them think.

483
00:27:59,471 --> 00:28:03,481
Thank you for motivating me to
be the best version of myself.

484
00:28:03,559 --> 00:28:07,729
Thank you for giving me the strength
to allow my heart to guide me.

485
00:28:07,813 --> 00:28:09,653
Thank you, Spike, for inspiring me

486
00:28:09,731 --> 00:28:13,361
to become the university
president that I am today.

487
00:28:13,443 --> 00:28:17,113
Every person on this
God's planet is unique.

488
00:28:17,197 --> 00:28:18,947
We see things differently.

489
00:28:19,032 --> 00:28:20,742
You all have a story to tell.

490
00:28:20,826 --> 00:28:23,906
Thank you for your inspiration.
Sincerely, Booney.

491
00:28:23,996 --> 00:28:26,326
Assalamu alaikum, Kamran.

492
00:28:26,415 --> 00:28:28,705
Sincerely, M. Christopher.

493
00:28:28,792 --> 00:28:31,132
Sincerely, Candice.