The life of Spike Lee

Brut America

His first film won at the Festival de Cannes. Now 35 years later, he makes history as the first Black president of its jury. And his fight for racial justice continues...   This is the story of Spike Lee.

Transcript

00:00My ancestors were stolen from Mother Africa in the year 1619,

00:08the first slave ship, and brought to Jamestown, Virginia.

00:14The first person to die in the first American war,

00:20the American Revolutionary War, was a black man.

00:23His name is Crispus Attucks.

00:25A lot of people don't know that history.

00:27And it proves the point that black people have been dying for this country.

00:35And we still don't have our full rights.

01:27When I saw the Jackson 5 on the Ed Sullivan show,

01:32I wanted to be Michael Jackson.

01:35I had the afro, the looks, but singing and dancing, that's where it stopped.

01:43So I grew up with, I'm just a year older than him,

01:48I grew up with Michael Jackson.

01:58I felt that it was my feelings when I first got there,

02:03I was looked upon like the only reason I'm in school

02:06is because I was fulfilling the quota.

02:27That film came out in 1989.

02:41I wrote it in 1988.

02:45When you see brother Eric Garner,

02:52when you see King George Floyd murdered, lynched,

03:01I think of Ray Rahim.

03:04And you would think and hope that 30-something years later,

03:11the black people stopped being hunted down like the animals.

03:23Who is Malcolm X?

03:25Malcolm X was this guy who they think was slaying all white people,

03:29blue-eyed devils.

03:31But then the course of time, you know,

03:34things have a way of turning around.

03:37And when a guy's been dead and buried 20 years,

03:40he's not that potentially dangerous.

03:53The black woman has a doubly hard, not only she's black,

03:57she's also a woman.

03:59And the only way I think to correct that,

04:01as far as cinema is concerned,

04:03is for more women people to be involved

04:06in the creative process of filmmaking.

04:08More women writing screenplays, more women producing films,

04:11more women directing films.

04:14Bush and Republicans, they don't care about poor people.

04:17And I think another telling tale about Katrina

04:21is that a lot of white people found out

04:25that Bush didn't care about them also.

04:27He doesn't care about white people,

04:29he doesn't care about Black people.

04:31He doesn't care about Black people.

04:33He doesn't care about Black people.

04:35So, he's not interested in Black people.

04:37He's not interested in Black people.

04:39A lot of white people found out

04:41that Bush didn't care about them also.

04:43He doesn't care about white poor people either.

04:47What do we want? Peace!

04:49What do we want? Peace!

04:51What do we want? Put the guns down now!

04:53Put the guns down now!

04:55We have to come out from under the tyranny

04:58of the NRA and the gun manufacturers.

05:01That's what it comes down to.

05:03And not vote politicians into office

05:06except money from both of them.

05:26If a ruckus had not been raised,

05:29I believe that Academy would not have made those changes.

05:36We want to connect a film that's a period piece,

05:50early 70s, with what is happening today in the world.

05:55That was our job as storytellers

05:58to make that connection for the audience.

06:01Too many people have been silent

06:04about what is going on.

06:06And it is my hope that this film, Black Plans,

06:11sparks conversation, or more conversation,

06:19about what is happening in this country.

06:23What keeps you motivated after all this work?

06:36Well, I'm one of the blessed people in the world

06:38who gets to make a living doing what they love.

06:42It's simple.

06:44Most people go to their grave,

06:46haven't worked the job they hated.

06:53I've seen so many young kids,

07:04where parents hold them in their hand.

07:07Parents are making the decision

07:09that their children need to see

07:13what is happening in the United States and America.

07:16And they want their children to be a witness.

07:19And they're explaining.

07:21They're not just putting out there,

07:22at the same time, learning.

07:24Education's happening.

07:26Because the kids are saying,

07:27Mommy, Daddy, what's happening?

07:29And these parents are explaining

07:32to their very young children

07:34what is happening, why they're out there,

07:37and why they brought them along too.

07:40And it gives me more hope that the large amount

07:43of my young white brother and sister out there

07:47who are joining us,

07:50join their black and brown sisters.

07:53It's really a mosaic.

07:59It's not just black and brown people out there marching.

08:03And in many cities,

08:06the black and brown people are the minority.

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