Brooklyn Honors Spike Lee With Do the Right Thing Day
Spike Lee's breakthrough film Do the Right Thing put Brooklyn on the cinematic map, and now the city is returning the favor by declaring June 30 "Do the Right Thing Day."
Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams made the proclamation on Tuesday, on the 25th anniversary of Lee's seminal film. The celebration includes a block party this Saturday in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the neighborhood in which Do the Right Thing is set. On Sunday, Brooklyn's BAMcinématek will kick off a 10-day retrospective of Lee's films.
Check out our exclusive interview with Spike Lee right here.
“Many people don’t realize how profound and powerful the movie Do the Right Thing actually was,” said Adams during the ceremony. “Spike created an image of Brooklyn that was beyond the headlines, beyond the stereotyping, beyond the negative images.”
The 1989 film, which was nominated for two Oscars, traced one hot day on a Bedford-Stuyvesant block as long-simmering racial tensions boil over and a cast of characters including Lee as Mookie and the late Ruby Dee as Mother Sister struggle to endure the rising mercury.
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(Photo: Spike Lee via Instagram)