Do the Natural Thing

The violence seen in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing was instigated just as much by the decreasing power that Blacks had over Bed-Stuy as by racism itself. Brooklyn was changing; and Stuyvesant Avcnue was coming with it. Various forces were changing the area to the disapproval of its existing residents; yuppies, coppers, Koreans, Italians. This disturbed the residents of the area not because of racism, but because they were losing the stronghold that they had held on the neighborhood -- Bed-Stuy had become part of the Black identity (not unlike Harlem or Bronzeville). This is the only way that Spike Lee and myself will agree. I can't be too sympathetic to a disgruntled customer; but it would be indeed silly to disregard a group seeking preservation of their culture. Roger Ebert knows very well why we all "just can't get along."