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Spike Lee Releases Video Juxtaposing "Do The Right Thing" With Murders Of George Floyd & Eric Garner
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 1, 2020
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David 'Dee' Delgado / Gothamist
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 1, 2020
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Spike Lee has posted a new short video juxtaposing the murders of George Floyd and Eric Garner with a famous scene from his iconic and prescient 1989 film Do the Right Thing. Titled 3 Brothers, it begins with a title card reading “Will History Stop Repeating Itself?", and then cuts between clips of Floyd and Garner's encounters with police, and Radio Raheem's death by strangulation from the film. You can watch it below.
“What we’re seeing today is not new," Lee told CNN while premiering the clip on Sunday. "We’ve seen this again and again and again, and people are asking the same questions, like: ‘Why are people rioting? Why are people doing this?’ Because people are fed up and people are tired of the debasing, the killing of black bodies. That’s what this country is built upon.” He also said he was happy to see such a "diverse" group of people protesting police brutality.
This is the second short film Lee has released since the start of the pandemic back in March—he previously released "NEW YORK NEW YORK," which he called a love letter to the city and its people during the coronavirus crisis.
Lee's next film, Da 5 Bloods, which is about four African-American vets who return to Vietnam to find buried treasure and the remains of their fallen leader, will be released on Netflix on June 12th. Check out the trailer below.
Tagged
short film
George Floyd
spike lee
eric garner
protest
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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