Spike Lee’s neighborhood in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn drowns not only in a heat wave (represented by the red and orange color scheme of the film) but in a complexity of racial tensions as well. The predominantly black neighborhood manages to let in Italian Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Koreans but not with the most welcoming nature. One of the many ways that racial barrier is depicted within the film is by the ownership of Sal’s Famous pizzeria by a white Italian American. Salvatore “Sal” Frangione (Danny Aiello) and his two sons, Pino (John Turturro) and Vito (Richard Edson) don’t actually live in the neighborhood. By simply owning a pizza shop in Bed-Stuy, the financial stability of the whites is visible. This stability is contrasted by the struggles of blacks like Mookie (Spike Lee) who works under Sal and tries to support his family. Although less dominant throughout the film, the Korean shop owners are too considered outsiders. This is evident when the angry black mob turns to destroy their shop at the end of the film, and the shop owner struggles to explain that he is a part of them, “I no White! I Black! You, me, same! We same!”. The Puerto Ricans are another group of people who stand in contrast to the dominant race of the neighborhood. The tensions between these two groups are highlighted when Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) and the Puerto Ricans play their radios loudly at each other. Radio Raheem is a dominant and symbolic character in the film. He wears two brass-fingered rings of “love” and “hate” on each hand, and carries a boombox playing Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power”. His rings and blasting music represent the struggle between the races and foreshadow the end of the film when the blacks do fight the power and stand up for themselves. Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito), is the neighborhood member who sparks the conflict between Sal by demanding that his pizzeria’s Wall of Fame have black people as well since it serves the black neighborhood. Buggin’ Out’s demand and Sal’s refusal once again portray the racial issues that exist in the neighborhood and the inability of the two races to ignore the fact that they’re of different skin colors.
The racial relations of the neighborhood are obviously negative. Sal’s older son Pino hates the neighborhood and its black population, and tries to make Mookie’s life miserable. There is a specific scene in the film where Mookie and Pino begin arguing over which race is better. A powerful scene follows this argument where all the characters throw out racist comments right into the camera. Eye-level and close-up shots of the characters give a sense of transparency, as the people directly and bluntly spew out their racial remarks towards the audience. The relations of the neighborhood only go from bad to worse. Daily arguments elevate and a fight breaks out between Sal and his sons against Radio Raheem, Buggin’ Out and the neighborhood others. The choice of musical decline is interesting here. Throughout the film, some sort of music and sounds are used to keep a general flow. The local radio disc jockey, “Mister Señor Love Daddy” (Samuel L. Jackson) plays music and talks about the neighborhood. The “Corner Men” (Robin Harris, Paul Benjamin, Frankie Faison), discuss neighborhood events in particular. Radio Raheem and the Puerto Ricans blast their music. All of this loudness is suddenly forced to die down once one enters Sal’s pizzeria because we’re inside where Sal doesn’t allow for the boombox to be blasted. When Radio Raheem refuses to turn down his boombox (perhaps a form of “Fight(ing) the Power”), Sal breaks the boombox and a fight ensues. The refusal of playing music and the forceful act of cutting out the music gives way to the racial war that had been suppressed for so long.
Mookie is in the middle of owing loyalty to his boss vs. his brothers. Sal had after all given him a job, whereas Buggin’ Out and Radio Raheem were his friends, “brothers”. Mookie could’ve thrown the garbage can to simply take vengeance for the death of Radio Raheem, which is justified especially because he’s not hurting Sal or his sons directly. This lets us see why he might’ve chose to throw the garbage can at the pizzeria, because he diverts the attention of the mob from Sal and his sons to the destruction of the pizzeria itself.
