The great day of summer has turned out to be the right day for Do the Right Thing, the plotline bound by racial tension. The film depicts an escalating tension between the black community and Italian American entrepreneurs in Bed-Stuy. Sal’s Famous Pizzeria, owned and operated by Sal, a respected entrepreneur, has been in the neighborhood for years. Pino (grumpy and aggressive) and Vito (who is constantly pushed around), Sal’s sons, are also working there. However, Pino no longer wants to be involved due to his hostility toward the local black community.

Mookie, the laid-back delivery guy, spends most of his time wandering around and trying to patch things up with Tina, the mother of his child.

Trouble begins when Buggin’ Out, a young black man, demands that Sal display pictures of African Americans on the Wall of Fame, which currently features only Italian-American actors and performers. Sal refuses, saying it is his place and he can showcase whoever he wants. Buggin’ Out pushes back, pointing out that people of color mostly populate the neighborhood, and without their support, Sal’s business would not survive. He argues that Sal should respect them by acknowledging their presence. After Sal refuses again, Buggin’ Out starts rallying people for a boycott.

Most of the time, this film does not resonate with critics and audiences on the subject of race. It is certainly not a mere angry political manifesto; it is simply a clear-eyed view of how race works in American life. Spike Lee is often dubbed yet another angry black man with a political agenda, but he seems to be streaming contrary to popular belief. Lee’s stories about African-American characters really distinguish him from most filmmakers. It is about relations among themselves.

On the issue of race, the film generally fell flat with critics and audiences. It is an objective assessment of how race functions in American society. By no means is the film an angry political manifesto. Contrary to popular belief, Lee is often portrayed as just another angry Black man with a political agenda. However, what sets Lee apart from most filmmakers is that his films about African-American characters always concern their relationships with one another.

Whether Lee’s films exhibit a particular bias or not is not what truly matters. What matters is his in-depth exploration of racial dynamics and their impact on society.

The dialectic in Do the Right Thing digs into the tragic mix of miscommunication and race. The film is a masterclass, pulling off something that’s both symbolic and realistic, harsh but funny, tragic yet playful. At first, the people in the neighborhood, including Da Mayor, Radio Raheem, Sal, and his sons, know each other well enough that nothing too serious is likely to happen. However, eventually, things fall apart: Raheem’s radio gets smashed, and Sal’s pizzeria is destroyed.

Sal is kind-hearted and runs a popular pizza shop that endeared him to the townsfolk; hence, the audience nevertheless sympathizes with Sal. However, that sympathy is not uncomplicated or guaranteed. After the complete chaos, Lee reverses the whole situation, not by making Sal into a villain but by showing why Mookie throws the trash can through the window: his friend had just been killed. It may seem like just a trivial act, but it has a profound meaning, as it reveals the complexity of emotions and choices that arise when tragedy strikes.

Lee presents an argument that forces us to consider racial tensions. It begins with a saxophone playing Lift Every Voice and Sing before Rosie Perez dancing to Fight the Power. The song calls to action in a fight against racism, akin to the Civil Rights Movement.

Throughout the film, Lee establishes conflicting viewpoints, allowing the audience to understand each character’s perspective. You get why Buggin’ Out demands Sal show respect to the black community by putting people of color on his Wall of Fame. However, at the same time, the way Buggin Out, Radio Raheem, and Smiley push Sal is not exactly smart either. Things explode when Sal lashes out with racial slurs and smashes Raheem’s boombox with a bat, throwing fuel on an already raging fire.

The movie concludes with quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, presenting their contrasting perspectives on the use of violence versus nonviolence in the face of intolerance and racism. By presenting these perspectives side by side, Lee does not provide us with an answer. Instead, he forces the audience to sit with the contradiction, asking us to think hard about whether change comes from peace, conflict, or somewhere in between.

Do the Right Thing pulls straight from real events that were shaping New York City in the 1980s. One of the biggest influences was the 1986 murder of Michael Griffith. Griffith, a young black man from Bed-Stuy, was chased and beaten to death by a group of white men. It all started when Griffith and two friends had car trouble and ended up walking three miles before stopping at New Park Pizzeria in Howard Beach, a mostly white neighborhood in Queens.

They used the phone in a sorted place and were told to leave again. There were no seats to use. Nearby, one person called the cops for “three suspicious black men.” The police came, but there was nothing for them to do, so the three left the place.

Unfortunately, outside, it got really ugly, forming a mob of about ten white men. With baseball bats raised above their heads, they surrounded the men, shouting racially charged slurs, insisting they did not belong there. Griffith and his friends were chased down by the group through the inner streets of Chicago, getting beaten as they ran. Griffith was then struck and killed by a moving vehicle while trying to escape.

In the film, the tragic incident unfolds in scenes set in Bed-Stuy and Sal’s Pizzeria. In his remarks, the New York mayor Ed Koch likened Griffith’s death to a lynching in the Deep South. That real-life horror sets and contextualizes the racial tension and explosive conflict that Lee brings to the screen.

Do the Right Thing was Lee’s most talked-about film when it premiered at Cannes in May 1989. While controversial, it was also well-regarded, receiving numerous nominations and awards. Lee and his actors welcomed their due credit. Nevertheless, Driving Miss Daisy won the Oscar for Best Picture. Meanwhile, Lee remains at the forefront of discussions about race, film, and how American history is portrayed on the big screen.

After Cannes, the movie sparked a dispute about Lee’s statement. Some worried it could provoke riots identical to those shown in the movie. Others objected to the summer release date, fearing it would inflame tensions already brewing in American cities.

However, controversy or not, Lee emerged as a powerful new voice for black audiences, becoming a leader in what many referred to as the Black New Wave. Raised during the Civil Rights Movement, this generation of filmmakers pushed black stories into the mainstream. Do the Right Thing sealed Lee’s place in film history, with its bold storytelling grabbing the attention of both critics and audiences for how it tackled race in America head-on.

Do the Right Thing jumps between different Bed-Stuy characters, building tension through the back-and-forth of racial conflict that runs through all of Lee’s stories and themes. The film feels both theatrical and documentary-like, with the entire neighborhood, streets, shops, and people serving as both the stage and the reality of the action.

Instead of sticking with one character for long, Lee moves between short scenes with Mookie, Sal, Buggin Out, Radio Raheem, Vito, and even Smiley cooling off by the open fire hydrant. The cuts are not jarring; Dickerson’s camera glides from one moment to the next. When new characters step in from different corners of the block, the camera shifts smoothly, keeping the flow alive and maintaining sharp focus.

Some of the most powerful scenes employ mirror editing, particularly during confrontations, which effectively intensifies the conflict. The mix of visuals and sound intensifies the tension, revealing when things are about to boil over in Bed-Stuy.

Beyond the obvious heat of the story, Do the Right Thing also layers in “mirror arguments.” It is not just Mookie and Pino going at it; we get a cut to a montage of racial slurs, where characters speak straight into the camera. Lee breaks the fourth wall, letting Mookie, Pino, Puerto Ricans, white cops, and Korean grocers all hurl insults at someone else. For example, Mookie calls Pino a “garlic” and a “guinea pig,” while Pino fires back with digs about Africa.

This sequence shows racism as bigger than just black vs. white; it runs across races and ethnicities, breaking down the idea of a simple binary. Even though it briefly pulls us out of the story, it highlights the social environment that fuels these stereotypes. Love Daddy’s voice on the radio, then slides in like a mediator, grounding the scene by calling out the racial tension that’s running through everything.

Radio Raheem’s monologue about “love” and “hate” is one of the film’s most memorable scenes. Raheem throws shadowy punches at the camera while telling a kind of mystical street story, holding up his gold rings, “hate” on one hand and “love” on the other, during a brief encounter with Mookie. Each punch means how one force can win the war.

The scene is adjusted from The Night of the Hunter. In the film, Robert Mitchum’s character reveals a story about good and evil while twisting his fingers. In addition to paralleling the friction between the two, Lee transformed the scene that fit Raheem’s presence, hip-hop culture, and the Bed-Stuy neighborhood.

Much like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., who are quoted at the film’s conclusion, Radio Raheem is at the heart of the tension that embodies the conflict between love and hate. Raheem becomes a victim in the climax, caught between two opposing perspectives. Both the characters and the audience are affected by this moment. His departure serves as a pivotal moment and a symbol of the film’s overarching theme.

After the chaos, the next day closes the film on a quieter but equally tense note, raising the question of Mookie’s guilt. Mookie shows up to ask Sal about his paycheck from the week before. They argue over whether Mookie should be paid, since Sal blames him for the destruction of the pizzeria. Mookie fires back, reminding Sal that he will get insurance money to rebuild. In anger, Sal throws $500 at him. The bills bounce off Mookie’s chest, and he tosses the cash back onto his $250 paycheck before walking away to see Tina and their son.

Some viewers might contend that by directing the mob’s ire toward the pizzeria, Mookie protected Sal and his sons from the violent crowd. From that perspective, Mookie continues to get paid while Sal gets to rebuild. However, it is not that easy. The restaurant’s devastation acts as an allegory, illustrating the deeper conflicts that exist not only between the white and black communities but also with immigrants. It also acts as a catharsis for the characters’ development. The film highlights the complexity and unresolved nature of racial relations, highlighting their messiness.

Do the Right Thing reflects on what it means to understand, assess, and determine what is right and wrong. In itself, Bed-Stuy becomes a living mural filled with images and sounds that consider morality. Because racism itself still destroys identity everywhere, not just in America, the issues raised in this film do not simply disappear. Instead, they remain open like wounds.

Lee sparked this discussion with subsequent films like BlacKkKlansman and Da 5 Bloods, where he forced the film industry to confront issues of race and ethnicity with disturbing and urgent urgency. He consistently offered audiences something cathartic while breaking from the safe Hollywood formula.

References

  • Curry, R. (1991). Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing: A Study in Race, Rhetoric, and Resistance. Journal of Film and Video, 43(4), 15–28.
  • Diawara, M. (1993). Black Spectatorship: Problems of Identification and Resistance. Screen, 29(4), 66–79.
  • Guerrero, E. (1993). Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film. Temple University Press.
  • hooks, b. (1996). Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies. Routledge.
  • Lee, S. (Director). (1989). Do the Right Thing [Film]. Universal Pictures.
  • Lee, S., & Jones, L. (1989). Do the Right thing: A Spike Lee Joint. Simon & Schuster.
  • Levy, E. (1990). Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film. New York University Press.
  • Roberts, S. (1986). Black Man Dies after Beating by Whites in Queens. The New York Times.