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Nicole Sanchez

Individual and Cultural Diversity

Professor Wingfield

15 February 2022

Cultural Inquiry

Throughout the film “Do the Right Thing” by Spike Lee, one is able to take into account

the violence and racism that permeates today’s society. Mookie is an African American and he is

the main character in this film which is in a primarily black neighborhood. In this neighborhood

that he lives in there is a pizza parlor that is owned and run by Sal a white Italian man and his

two sons who play a crucial role in the film and also allow Mookie to work for them by

delivering pizzas. “Do the Right Thing” is able to show and encompass the hardships and risks

of what it means to be a person of color while in the same breath offering insight on how there is

a sense of refuge, and unity that manifests itself in black communities.

Very early in the film there is a scene that exemplifies an inconspicuous racist ideology

that plagues black communities. Buggin Out, a young black man goes into Sal’s restaurant for a

slice of pizza. During his time there as he is enjoying his slice he looks at a wall that has pictures

of a bunch of white Italian people and is unsettled by the fact that there are no black people on

the wall. Thus Buggin Out becomes very angry as he claims that the pizzeria makes all of its

revenue off of it’s black customers and they’re community as a whole. He then urges Sal to put

some pictures of black people up and this sheds light on Sal’s discriminatory views as he raises

his voice and him and Buggin Out get in a heated argument where he insists that he will form a

boycott against the place. In this moment it is clear that Sal is proud of the Italians on his wall

and although he is in a community full of black people he would never put up a picture of a black
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person because he does not believe black people to be worthy of going up on the wall. Sal and

the restaurant have benefited from this black community for various years and he has a

relationship with Mookie that is father-son like. However even through all his years there, one is

able to see his authentic feelings towards black people as he is very headstrong on the idea that

he owns the pizzeria and things are going to be done his way as he is only keeping Italians on the

wall. There was a lack of representation in the restaurant that Buggin Out was looking for to

serve not only to him as a reminder but to the entire community that they are respected and seen.

In the first chapter of Beverly Tatum’s “Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the

Cafeteria,” Cultural Racism: The cultural images and messages that affirm the assumed

superiority of Whites and the assumed inferiority of people of color– is like smog in the air.

Sometimes it is so thick it’s visible, other times it is less apparent, but always day in and day out

we are breathing it in” (Tatum, 2017, p. 87). In this circumstance, this “assumed superiority” is

evident in the ways that Sal handles the concerns of his customer Buggin Out. He is not open to

seeing why he should include pictures of black people on his wall and the positive impact it

would create. Instead he assumes this superiority because he is white and has prejudiced beliefs

on who deserves to go on his wall and who doesn’t. It is evident that he considers black people to

take on this role of assumed inferiority because he is not even considering adding a photo of

even an influential black person. The entire wall he has that glorifies white Italian people is

completely indicative of the fact that he sees himself as better than and more worthy of being

represented than any black person. In this case, Buggin Out happened to come across this

discrete racist ideology of assumed superiority and inferiority as it wasn’t something that was

necessarily that apparent, although like the smog it was something that day in and day out they

were breathing in.

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A crucial moment in the film was when two police officers are driving down the street

slowly and make intense eye contact with three black men sitting down on the block. The look

the police officers are giving these black men is not one of kindness and acceptance as they have

their eyes burrowed and a stern angered look towards them. As the policemen pass they say

“what a waste” towards the black men. One of the black men then goes on to speak and mentions

his dislike of the Koreans that are at the other side of the street because they immigrated not long

ago and already had a successful business up and running. He goes on to say that it’s either

because the Koreans are geniuses or they as black people were dumb and another one of them

joins in and declares it has to be because they are black. This statement shows a sense of an

internalized racism because through hearing themselves be called “wastes” by this white

authority they’ve started to believe that they are wastes and by calling themselves dumb as

compared to the Koreans they have internalized this inferiority. Tatum states, “ People of color as

well as Whites develop these categorizations. Even a member of the stereotyped group may

internalize the stereotypical categories about his or her own group to some degree. In fact this

process happens so frequently that it has a name, internalized oppression”(Tatum, 2017, p. 86)

This internalized oppression has to do with the idea that because people of color have for

decades been carrying this weight of being told that they’re not valuable and that their lives

essentially have no real importance because of the color of their skin, they begin to adopt and

internalize this ideology. Through years of this sort of oppression and conditioning, they start to

believe that they are lesser than and all of these negative racist absurdities which severely harm

and are of detriment to their mental and emotional and even physical wellbeing. Additionally, by

putting the Korean people that own the business in front of them on this pedestal and calling

them “geniuses” they are considering them to be this sort of “model minority.” In the article
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“The Culture Canard of the Model Minority Myth” it states, “In assuming a common and

exceptional Asian culture of bootstrapped success, the Model Minority Myth simply fails to take

into account the pan-ethnic (and indeed pan-racial) nature of the Asian American & Pacific

Islander identity, which includes multiple subgroups who appear indistinguishable with regard to

some socioeconomic metrics from Black, Latino and Native groups”( Chow, 2014). By coining

the Koreans who owned the shop in front of them as “geniuses” he is placing them on a higher

superior level and is assuming that they are a part of this “bootstrapped success”. The police

officers passed by them and called them a waste but did not make the same efforts to look the

other way and call the Koreans a waste which emphasizes this idea that “the Model Minority

Myth is an overt and potent tool of white supremacy used to justify structural racism against

virtually all communities of color (including Asian Americans)” (Chow, 2014). Referring to

them as geniuses undermines the struggles they’ve had to undergo as well and makes it as if their

“genius” was able to rid them of having to work as hard to get by and better their futures like a

lot of other minority groups.

Another moment which stood out to me was when Mookie pulled Pino, one of Sal’s sons,

aside who works in the pizzeria to sort out some issues. He asks him who his favorite basketball

player is, who his favorite movie star is and who his favorite rock star is. Pino proceeds to say

Magic Johnson, Eddie Murphy, and Prince. These are all black men. However, Pino has a lot of

contempt towards black people as he consistently uses derogatory terms and Mookie confronts

him about it saying that all he ever does is use derogatory language towards so many of his

so-called favorite people. However Pino claims that Magic Johnson, Eddie Murphy, and Prince

are not those disrespectful derogatory terms that he uses and that they’re not black or he doesn’t

consider them to be. He claimed that they were different and considered them to be “more than
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black.” In Tatum’s chapter one she describes that David Wellman describes racism as a, “ system

of advantages based on race” (Tatum, 2017, p.88) Because of wealth, class, and status a lot of

black people have been able to better their lives through hard work, opportunity, and sacrifice.

However, for the majority of quotidien people who don’t necessarily have a talent that can get

them out of their difficult situations it makes things like the process of building one’s wealth and

financial stability extremely difficult for black people. Mookie makes 250 dollars a week which

is not enough to pay for all of his necessities such as rent, take care of his child and so forth. For

a lot of people of color in disadvantaged socioeconomic statuses it is hard due to systemic

racism, to acquire and think about things like homeownership, affordable housing, equitable

education and employment resources. In this chapter it also states, “Racial prejudice combined

with social power- access to social, cultural, and economic resources and decision making– leads

to the institutionalization of racist policies and practices”(Tatum, 2017, p.88). Black people and

other people of color disproportionately face obstacles when they try to expand their wealth.

Additionally, because of the “institutionalization of racist policies and practices” the efforts that

are made to alleviate and reduce some of these barriers have served to benefit white people the

most (Tatum, 2017, p.88). Racial disparities in wealth and financial health are kept intact and are

ever present due to this kind of institutional racism in society which has been perpetuated by the

American law system.

In poor predominantly black or latino neighborhoods, heavy policing is greatly interlaced

into their daily life. For many reasons encompassing race and presumptions on class marginality

because of the way someone dresses, or how they walk and carry themselves certain black

people are labeled and categorized as potential threats. At the end of the film, Buggin Out, and

Radio Raheem enter Sal's restaurant and they demand that Sal put up pictures of black people on
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the wall. Sal then demands that Radio Raheem turn his boombox off, but he does not do so.

Buggin' Out then proceeds to disrespect Sal and his sons and this infuriates Sal to which then he

refers to Buggin' Out and the rest of the people in the restaurant the derogatory n word term and

destroys Raheem's boombox. A fight between Raheem and Sal then ensues until the police arrive

and apprehend Raheem and Buggin Out. Despite multiple pleas, one of the police officers

increasingly tightens his chokehold on Raheem and ends up killing him then they shoved his

body in the back of their car and drove off. The people around were infuriated and full of anguish

over Radio Raheem's death blaming Sal and his sons and then a riot started and the crowd rushed

into and destroyed the pizzeria. This circumstance is illustrative of the detrimental consequences

of police brutality. It is also one of the many that indicates how policing and justice doesn’t

equally distribute itself across races and classes. The policemen didn’t care to see why the

altercation had started and what Sal’s role was in all of it. Their main goal was to apprehend the

black men and the officer used brute force even after Raheem was rendered unable to resist or

even breathe. This kind of police corruption is dangerous because it consistently puts black

people at risk of abuse and death due to the fact that they are consistently targeted the most.

Kimberle Crenshaw’s TED talk video “The Urgency of Intersectionality,” she starkly illustrated

in an exercise how many people in black communities that are killed due to police violence slip

through the cracks and become erased, nameless, and faceless. Black men and especially

women–as highlighted in the video– have their deaths go untalked about and silenced. In this

film, the fact that the police officers quickly put Raheem’s body in the back of their vehicle with

complete lack of respect and care and sped off is telling of the way that in our society black

deaths due to police brutality oftentimes get concealed in various ways and aren’t acknowledged

or given the respect the way they should.

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As a woman of color from a Dominican upbringing I’ve experienced this idea of

“internalized oppression” (Tatum, 2017, p. 86). Growing up and attending a public school where

the majority of students were white made me very hyper aware of the fact that I was different

and had a darker skin complexion as well as more textured hair and things alike. I didn’t think I

was worthy enough because of my distinct qualities and it made me consistently tear myself

down and be frustrated with the fact that I couldn’t just be white. In Dominican communities it is

very frequently seen where a lot of individuals don’t consider themselves black and they don’t

align themselves with their black lineage because of distorted prejudiced ideas of whiteness

equating being as white as being somehow better and being black as the opposite of that. There

are also terms used to describe the nature of one’s hair as being “pelo bueno o malo” which

essentially equates good hair or “pelo bueno” being hair that is closest to straight silky hair and

bad hair or “pelo malo” being really curly textured hair. Additionally, my family is not well off

and due to being of a lower socioeconomic background sometimes it was difficult for my parents

to make ends meet. However, from a young age they stressed the importance of education unto

me and I grew up with an understanding that it was the only way I could better my life. Seeing

teachers who looked like me was not something that I ever really experienced. Growing up only

until recent years was I exposed to teachers of color and like Buggin out, Radio Raheem and

others I too was looking for and yearning for this sense of representation around me. In regards

to police brutality, Crenshaw emphasized in the TED talk video that women of color are

consistently dehumanized and targeted. In my own personal life I am fortunate enough to have

not had to worry about being killed due to being a woman of color but through cases like that of

George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s that have raised awareness on the consequences of police

brutality it has become very evident to me that so many black men and women have had their
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deaths silenced and invalidated because of a system that maintains a rhetoric that has

invisibilized people of color. By the end of the film after Raheem’s death, the community of

people all feels the same pain and are mourning deeply as they are devastated that another one of

the people in their community has had their life taken due to racism and police brutality. Social

justice movements like that of the Black Lives Matter movement and others have contributed to

this sense of unity and refuge for black communities and I’ve been able to be a part of and

support them. The black experience is enriched with various factors and it is possible for one to

thrive and feel like they’re not alone. Overall, the film “Do The Right Thing” has been able to

show ways in which due to racist ideologies and prejudiced systems violence and other

detrimental effects really impede on a person of color’s emotional, physical and overall state of

being which is something that has impacted me and my perception of the world in different

ways.
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References

Tatum, B. (2017). Defining Racism. In Why are all the black kids sitting together in the

cafeteria?: Revised edition (pp. 83–97). essay, Basic Books.

Crenshaw, K (2016). TED Talk. The Urgency of Intersectionality.Retrieved February 27,

2022, from

https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality#t-112215.

Chow, K. (2014). The culture canard of the model minority myth: How racial gaps in

academics aren't due to cultural pathology. Reappropriate. Retrieved March 1, 2022, from

http://reappropriate.co/2014/08/the-culture-canard-of-the-model-minority-myth-no-racial-g

aps-in-academics-arent-due-to-cultural-pathology/

Lee, S. (1998). Do The Right Thing. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from

https://www.peacocktv.com/watch/playback/vod/GMO_00000000174786_01/a6ade05f-d6

43-32b3-b86d-082e11646a3d?paused=true.