Twenty-five years ago, Spike Lee directed and starred in a movie that shined a light on the racial tensions and the injustices located in a neighborhood in Brooklyn. In 1989, the film depicted the seemingly subtle racism that the people in the neighborhood. Although the issues of racism and representation still ring true today, the most shocking aspect of the film nowadays is the murder of Radio Raheem.

Radio Raheem, having been fed up by the lack of representation of the black people in the business located within his predominantly black neighborhood, Radio Raheem storm’s Sal’s restaurant and demands to see a black face on the Wall of Fame. Within a few short moments, the situation escalates to a brawl between Radio Raheem and Sal, the owner of the popular neighborhood pizzeria. The cops quickly arrive to calm to scene, pulling Radio Raheem off of Sal and putting him into a strong chokehold. For anyone who has seen Do The Right Thing and was alive to witness the murder of Eric Garner, Radio Raheem’s death was among the first things to come to mind. The resemblance between the murder of Radio Raheem and Eric Garner are uncanny.: both placed in chokeholds, both public deaths, both struggling against the strength of multiple police officers.

Spike Lee has been anything but silent in his opinions about the police brutality he faced by both men; he even went so far as to edit a video montage of the two murders.

Following Radio Raheem’s death, the neighborhood begins to riot. Shouting things like “ He died because of a radio!” and “All he wanted was a picture on the wall and he died!”, and “You see how they had him in a chokehold man? Fed up and tired of the lack luster treatment they so often received, the characters in Do The Right Thing began to destroy the pizzeria they frequented. We can’t deny that the riot depicted in Lee’s film bares a shocking resemblance to the riots taking place in America right now. Although only protests have taken place in New York over the death of Eric Garner, the same cannot be said for other cities. Currently, in Baltimore, riots are still going strong to vocalize the citizen’s strife over the death of Freddie Gray.

Although Do The Right Thing is an iconic movie that celebrated it’s twenty-fifth anniversary in the past year, I don’t think Eric Garner’s death was the proper or desired way of celebration. So do we think that Spike Lee is psychic? Or do we think that nothing has changed in the past twenty-five years? I’ll let you decide. (Hint: Nothing’s changed over the last twenty-five years.)