DirectorSpike Leeshared a short film with the world over the weekend. Lee has one question for everyone: “Will history stop repeating itself?” The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police has sparked outrage across the United States and the world. The director sees some direct correlations to the past when looking at current events, which gave him the idea to splice footage of his 1989 movieDo the Right Thingwith the deaths of Floyd and Eric Garner for3 Brothers.
Eric Garner was killed in 2014 by the NYPD over allegations of selling single cigarettes. Like George Floyd, his death was shot on smartphones and shared with the world. InDo the Right Thing, Bill Nunn’s Radio Raheem is also killed at the hands of law enforcement. Lee takes footage of the fictional death and carefully edits it in with the real-life 2020 death of Floyd and the 2014 death of Garner in his short film titled3 Brothers. The short is just under 2 minutes in length and it might not be suitable for all viewers, so consider yourself warned.
Thedeath of George Floydsparked protests across the United States. Many of them started as peaceful and then got violent as time went on, with looting and fires starting across the whole country. Protests in front of the White House started to get violent on Friday evening, which saw the President Donald Trump allegedly use the bunker below for the first time since September 11th, 2001. Spike Lee appeared on CNN to deliver his short film and had this to say.
“How can people not understand why people are acting the way they are? This is not new, we saw with the riots in the ’60s, theassassination of Dr. King, every time something jumps off and we don’t get our justice, people are reacting the way they do to be heard… We are seeing this again and again and again… This is the thing: The killing of black bodies, that is what this country is built upon.”
Spike Lee tackled race relations inDo the Right Thingin 1989. The comedy/drama stars Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, Samuel L. Jackson, Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez. The story explores a Brooklyn neighborhood’s “simmering racial tension, which culminates in violence and a death on a hot summer day.” The fictional Radio Raheem dies in the same manner as George Floyd and Eric Garner.
Protests, rioting, and looting lasted all weekend in the United States with many cities ordering strict curfews. It is unclear if this will come to an end now, but there are still protests across the country scheduled for today and this evening. As for the White House, it is believed that protestors will still be out today too. you may check out3 Brothersabove, thanks toSpike Lee’s Twitteraccount.
