Do The Right Thing

Lisette Pelaez
English 1101
September 7, 2017
Prof. Young

In the Script, Do the Right Thing, by Spike Lee it demonstrates the tension between the different racial groups. During the 1980’s and even before that time, many citizens who were not considered Americans, experienced stereotypical issues. Specifically, the African Americans suffered more from political brutality than any other ethnic group. The blacks were treated unequally by the police. For example, in the script, Radio Raheem died because the cops began to kick him like a sack of potatoes while he laid on the ground, which caused his life to be taken away. When this occurred, the police became the public enemy and riots started to burst out towards the community. Causing the disproportion of peace, within the town, to be destroyed. Like what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Violence destroys the community and makes brotherhood impossible.” This quote perfectly sums up the aftermath of the boycott that occurred in the script. When the fight between Sal and Radio Raheem began, the cops showed up and they only initiated action towards the Radio Raheem and Buggin' Out. But the strength of six cops was not enough to stop Radio Raheem from killing Sal, so one of the cops decided to choke hold him which ended up killing him. After the death of Radio Raheem everyone’s anger exploded towards the community. Specifically, the black people went against others who were not considered the same as them, like the Koreans and the Italians. Mookie decided to hurl a garbage can through the glass window of Sal’s Pizzeria, which is where he works. The rest of the crowd followed in his footsteps and destroyed the entire business by putting it up in flames. They did not stop there, instead they decided to go against the Korean Store Owner. The black community was tired of getting unequal treatment and for once they decided to defend their honor. Since the police never seems to touch the other racial groups, they decided to take action in their own hands. By taking these actions they thought they were doing the right thing, which is defending what they love. But all this aggression and violence is just destroying the community rather than uniting it together. One thing that Dr. Martin Luther King said, that stood out to me was, “Violence creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.” The survivors in this script is the community, who witnessed the killing of Radio Raheem and the destroyers are the policemen who allowed this to happen. With all the rage that expanded in the black community, the police enforcements decided to use violence to stop them. They sprayed them with fire hoses, to silence the crowd instead of finding another solution. The characters in the script like, Mookie, Radio Raheem, and Buggin’ Out thought violence was the answer but it did not solve anything. Specifically, at the end of the script, Radio Raheem did think violence was the only answer. When Sal broke his most prized possession, the boombox, he went all crazy and put his hands around Sal's neck until he wasn't breathing anymore. I think when it comes too protecting something you love, in this script, violence seems to be the first thing that pops into their heads. At the end of the day, violence is never the answer to anything. No matter how hard the situation may be, there is always a better solution to resolve it. In my opinion, violence is not doing the right thing. Like what Dr. Martin Luther King says, violence comes from hatred and these characters fought because of their disgust towards police brutality and the unequal treatment of the people.