My mother loves to tell stories about her past. She called those days the ‘Good Ole Days’ where she would get together with a group of friends (about thirty kids) and play on the street corner until sundown. She used to weave her tales about how the kids back then could leave their front doors open and no one would mess with their houses (a concept not shared nowadays) or how they would play “stoop ball” on the sidewalks in front of their apartments. Life was carefree and people could play in the street without fear of getting hit by a drunken driver, or they could bust open a fire hydrant and cool off because air conditioning wasn’t readily available. The wonder of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing is the preservation of the time period that my mother describes. I watched the movie with a silent, eager awe that made me wish I had a large group of friends that could hang out and that everyone in my neighborhood would know my name and call me out to play at will. I believe that this community “togetherness” is not often seen nowadays and I do wish that the “threats” of everyday society were absent and the carefree attitude could come back.

Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing also highlighted the great problem of racial tension of the time. The “colored” people and white people were not allowed to hang out with each other and in the movie, both groups stay separate.  There are also further tensions between the “colored” groups  of the Hispanics, African Americans, and the Koreans.

One great detail in the movie that I absolutely loved was the historical accurateness of New York during this era. In my People, Power, and Politics class, we learned about the Flatbush riots and the racial tension between the African Americans and Koreans in New York from the 70’s-90’s. African Americans boycotted Korean deli’s because they opened up rapidly and were consuming black neighborhoods. African Americans believed that the Koreans were government agents of racism and believed they were part of an anti-black conspiracy. In Do The Right Thing this racism is made apparent and is shown in perfect quality with the African Americans criticizing the Korean Deli owners. I believe that Do The Right Thing perfectly illustrates the time period of New York where there was heavy racial tension and changing neighborhoods.