Do The Right Thing Response

The similarities between "How Bigger was Born" and "Do The Right Thing," was that the way Bigger was the fact that bigger was created by the angry people who surrounded Wright before he wrote "Native Son." When referring to how Bigger was created, Wright stated, "He is product of a dislocated society; he is a deposessed and disinherited man; he is all of this, and he lives amid the greatest possible plenty on earth and he is looking and feeling for a way out." (447) The film, "Do The Right Thing" connects to this quote because Sal and his sons were products of a society where most people were angry with the way things were going. Sal and his sons were also angry due to the way things were going in their lives because they did not like to be around people who were not like them. The anger in their lives were shown when Vito attacked Smiley and when Sali was so frustrated that he broke Radio Raheem's radio with a bat. Sal and his sons had anger because they were not content with the society they lived in and all of the resentful anger they had came out when Sali broke Radio Raheem's radio. These examples are different because even though Sal, his sons and Bigger had anger, they had anger for the opposite reasons. Bigger always had anger because of white people always putting himself down. Sal and his sons had anger because African Americans always bothered them in their restaurant.

My personal response for this movie was that I enjoyed the movie because of the way Spike Lee showed the different sides of races and their beliefs on a common problem in one area. Even though I have the most sympathy for Sal and his sons because the problem was not initially their fault, the problem would of never happened if Sal never lost his temper.I also believe that Radio Raheem did not deserve to die, but it was ultimately his fault in why he did because it was unecessary for him to come into Sal's restaurant blasting his boombox. In the end, no character did the right thing because if no one lost their anger, none of the problems amongst them would occur. I believe Da Mayor's actions when saving the children were the most humane because he sacraficed his life for a child on the street. I lost the most respect for Buggin' Out because if he never had a problem with the picture on the wall, Radio Raheem wouldn't of been killed. The selfish act of making someone put pictures on their wall to satisfy himself ruined many lives that were surrounded by Sal's restaurant. In the end, everything was lost. Lives were ruined, phyiscally and mentally but in the end Mookie and Sal learned that the only way to resolve something is not by doing it with violence.

Documents 7 and Document 8 on Power

Document 7 was a documented interview by McCoy, called Schools for the Community. The purpose of the interview was talking about the changes of the school from being controlled by the district, to then being in control by the community. The interview also stated that McCoy believed it was better for there to be more black educators teaching both white and colored students. Along with McCoy, other black leaders believed the problem in schools was not the problem of colored students learning to read and white, but the problem was the lack of education that was happening in the world around the students. Studies proved that black teachers are more prone to teaching students about what is happening in the world, other than white teachers who were more prone to sticking to only the reading and writing cirriculum. Question Three asked, "What, according to McCoy, were the most important things that schools needed to teach? Why did McCoy turn to Malcolm X and black nationalists for inspiration?" In response to the question, McCoy stated the most important thing schools needed to teach were current events because students needed to learn what was happening around them in order to learn about society. McCoy turned to Malcome X and other black nationalists for inspiration because they all believed by learning current events, it would make students understand that their lives have purpose to and they can change the world, just like black leaders have before in the past and in the present.
Document 8 was a document by the Racial and Prejudice committee, called The End of an Experiment. The document made an overview of the problems that were happening in the schools of New York. The problems consisted of whites and blacks being racist and also the problems of anti-semitism in the schools. The end of the experiment were of how blacks and whites treated each other in different schools as they were sent to the different schools. The key idea of this experiment were of how Jews and blacks would be together in one school and of how if it would work. Ultimately, this did not work out for either parties do to the racsim and anti-semitism. In response to question three, " The report of the mayor’s committee notes: “It is ironic that this conflict should develop so speedily and massively between Jews and

blacks—two groups who for many years have so successfully cooperated with each other inattempting to promote a higher level of human dignity, racial and religious understanding, and  equality of opportunity for men of all colors and creeds.”How do you explain the rapid escalation of this confrontation between two groups that had been

longtime allies? What do you think could have been done to mediate this confrontation? One could explain the rapid escalation between both groups because even though both groups have fought the same fight for a long time, they were both different groups. Although both groups in similar for what they wanted, they were still not the same group of people that went through the same past. When mixing any two groups that have different backgrounds and different beliefs, there will be fights in any area. Ways that this confrontation could be mediated is that these two groups should be educated by teachers on why they have been allies for a long time and that the groups are much more similar in beliefs then from what they originally thought.