1989, 20 years later

1989 was funky summer. 20 years later, the summer is still… funky.

This past weekend, my namesake and I participated in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking film by Spike Lee, Do The Right Thing at the Fox Theatre. We had opportunity to meet the visionary icon of film and spend a bit of time in exchange with him. Apparently, not many people knew of his scheduled appearance at a bookstore in Atlanta so we enjoyed the casual accessibility.

Do The Right Thing is such an amazing film and I was reminded of my previous fixation with it and the anthem by Public Enemy that permeates throughout the movie. It was awesome to see Rosie Perez gyrate to the opening titles and share that experience with my son.

If you haven’t viewed the movie in a while (or ever), I urge you to check it out (regardless of your ethnicity). It is not a black movie. There were no reported race riots that immediately followed the release of the film as the irresponsible and fear-mongering media attempted to provoke. What there was was a dialogue between cultures and ethnicities that is still quite relevant today.

Spike Lee meets Kenn 2.0

“Elvis was a hero to most
But he never meant s** to me you see
Straight up racist that sucker was
Simple and plain
Mother**** him and John Wayne
Cause I’m Black and I’m proud” – excerpt from “Fight The Power” by Public Enemy

Published by kenn

author. developer. illustrator. Renaissance man.

One thought on “1989, 20 years later”

  1. Sam I Am says:

    I still can’t believe that there was not a huge crowd for this! Has to be on my best movie list. Especially since the movie industry is seriously lacking in films that make you think beyond an explosion, robots or a car chase.

    Somebody dropped the ball on the marketing for this or something. I would have loved to have been there. I remember the first time I saw that movie. Had to sneak and watch it.

    No YOUNG jokes please! 🙂

    “I said D! ” ha

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