Racial Tension In Do The Right Thing By Spike Lee

Selma is a historical film that features Civil Right legend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (portrayed by David Oyelowo). The movie shows the activist as he leads the historical march to Selma, Alabama. In addition, movie lovers will see the brutality shown against the protesting, while fighting for their constitutional rights. The touching film also showed the power of the people. A few things from the Movie A Nation coming together After the nation saw the things happeining in the southern United States, many people went down south and joined King, and the other protesters.

Spike Lee portrays the main antagonist of the film Sal as a racist. He had written Sal out to be a racist throughout the film because of his constant spew of anti-black rhetoric. It is very apparent in his actions and speech that he is supposed to be a racist but when Aiello the man who plays Sal interprets the clearly racist character as “a nice guy,” “and he sees people as equal.” You start to think differently about what people consider racism and what they consider not to be racism.

Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing is a film made in 1989 depicting racial conflict in Brooklyn New York during the 80's. The plot involves a group of African Americans, Italians and a Korean couple who live in the same block. There are multiple themes that tie in together in the film, one being the animosity and racism the characters feel towards each other throughout the film. The director makes the theme clear in the film by the conflicts that arise between the characters. An example of this is when Radio Raheem is buying a pair of batteries for his radio at the Korean’s store.

Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, two authors, two activists who advocated different strategies to achieve a shared end, have since their deaths, transcended the local, pragmatic potency of their respective narratives of African-American resistance (Garrow, 1991). The film 's use of the metonymic figures “King” and “X” as well as the ethically divergent meta-narratives of which they are the cultural signifiers suffuses its dramatic structure with the ideological tension generated by the trope of “double-consciousness” (Garrow, 1991). The vehicle by which Do the Right Thing represents the black community reminding itself, so to speak, of the presence of these figures is the ubiquitous Smiley, a young man with cerebral palsy who earns money selling photographs of African-American heroes to his Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbors. The film calls attention to one image in particular: the famous photograph of King and Malcolm X shaking hands and smiling during their first and only meeting.

Rodney King Riots Rodney King was beaten by the police on March 3, 1991. The police tried to pull him over in Lake View Terrace in San Fernando Valley after he was speeding at 110 mph. He led the police on a short chase because he knew if he got pulled over it would violate his parole for a prior robbery. The police claimed that he was resisting arrest once he was pulled over. They officers said they believed he was on drugs, even though he wasn’t.

Do the Right Thing brings about many questions, while also leaving it up to the diverse audience to decide what they feel the right thing is. The movie also brings about the animosity that is forced between different ethnicities and races because of the way the culture in America has been

42 is a story about Jackie Robinson, the renowned baseball player who broke the colour barrier by becoming the first African-American to join the roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers (“42”). It portrays the struggles, mainly racism, Robinson had to go through while he was in the baseball team and how he managed to overcome them. The world is a constantly judgmental place. This can be seen through the segregation of the Blacks and Whites, media being dominated by the majority and racism against the Blacks.

It Bites Back In The End In the novel, The Hate U Give, a memorable quote states,“Listen!, The Hate U--the letter U--Give Little Infants F*** Everybody. T-H-U-G L-I-F -E. Meaning what society gives us as youth, it bites them in the a** when we wild out,”(Thomas, 32).

American society in the 1940’s was racially segregated. Public facilities including buses, theaters, and railroad stations excluded black patrons. Among many other parts of American life, baseball, like most professional sports, was equally discriminatory against African Americans. The major leagues only signed white players and denied any black man the opportunity to play professionally. They were restricted to their own Negro Leauges.

“I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something,” (Graham, Crash 2004). Is part of the quote said in the opening scene to the movie Crash released in 2004. The movie deals with many social topics that were big at that moment in time and still are thirteen years later in 2017. Three of the main topics are racism, prejudice, and stereotypes. Racism has been seen throughout years and is still being seen today in 2017.

In the play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry introduces a family trying to move up in the world but has trouble doing so because they are racially opposed by society. Starting in the 1890’s the Jim Crow Laws were used in the South as a way to oppose African-American giving them a status called, “separate but equal.” They mandated segregation of public schools, public transportation, public facilities including restaurants, bathrooms, and drinking fountains. In the 1950s African- Americans were starting to fight for equal rights and were starting to make headway.

Maria Ahmed 7th Period The movie Selma details Martin Luther King Jr. and his fight in the 1960s. More specifically the movie depicts the voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery. The blacks already the voting rights but because of laws like Jim Crowe segregation laws they were denied when registering to vote. The movie shows also what paved the way to the Civil Rights Act.

Dear White People, “a satire about being a black face in a white place”. Fiery characters, budding romance, race relations, and loads of conflict fill this 2014 film. This 2014 independent film is filled with fiery characters, budding romance, race relations, and loads of conflict. The movie focuses on four strong black college students who are struggling with their racial identity in vastly different ways. At the prestigious and fictional Winchester University we are introduced to a half black half white collage student name Samantha White (Tessa Thompson) who appears to have created this Afrocentric image of herself.

The play Fences is a drama written by August Wilson who was one of six children and also dealt with opeesrrions and racism when he dropped out of school due the struggles of racism. The play Fences presents the character Troy Maxson a person who has faced racism and discrimanation throughout his life. The Pulitzer Prize winning play is set in 1957-1965, a time when African-Amercians where hopeful for a better life. In Fences, racism haunts Troy Maxon’s life past and present. The play brings the view of racism in the world through Tory Maxson, family and friends.

The movie Selma depicts a number of conflicts and power influences that was part of the process that led to the passing of the Voting Right Act in 1965. In addition to conflicts and power the movie showed a number of occasions in which leadership effectiveness was successful. The influence of conflict on an organization can be positive or negative but understanding the power dynamics of leadership will lead to success. This paper will cover conflicts in organization and how power dynamics affect leader success through negotiation.