Done the right thing!
TWENTY-FIVE years after Buggin’ Out called for a boycott of Sal’s and Smiley set fire to his pizzeria, director Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” was officially honored Tuesday.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams designated June 30 as “Do the Right Thing” Day during a Borough Hall ceremony at which the 1989 film was praised for eschewing easy answers.
“Many people don’t realize how profound and powerful the movie ‘Do the Right Thing’ actually was,” he said. “Spike created an image of Brooklyn that was beyond the headlines, beyond the stereotyping, beyond the negative images.”
The film traced one hot day on a Bedford-Stuyvesant block as long-simmering racial tensions boil over and a cast of characters including Lee as Mookie and the late Ruby Dee as Mother Sister struggle to endure the rising mercury.
“Do the Right Thing Day” will kick off Monday following a Saturday block party in Bed-Stuy, which Lee plans to emcee on Stuyvesant Ave. between Lexington and Quincy Aves.
“Can we still say Bed-Stuy do or die?” said Lee of the neighborhood’s unofficial slogan throughout the 1980s.
Councilman Robert Cornegy (DBedford-Stuyvesant) told him times have changed. “Bed-Stuy do or dine,” Cornegy corrected him.
“Do or dine?” asked Lee, whose rant against gentrification went viral in February. “Is that the new gentrification thing? We have tables on the sidewalk with white linen?”