Do the Right Thing, Bigger

In the process of creating their characters both Richard Wright and Spike Lee used their life experiences as molds for who they wanted these people to be.  Wright wrote about his experiences with people who did not care to obey the law, who preferred to live life the way they wanted to rather than succumb to the restraints set upon them by the white man.  Some defied Jim Crow, others fought those who oppressed them directly and physically.  Out of these actions came the birth of Bigger.  Lee created the characters Buggin' Out and Radio Raheem from whom he saw were the rebels of his time.  They wanted equality and would not accept life any other way than as autonomous to the white man.  The only way Buggin' Out knew how to get what he wanted (pictures of a black man or woman on the wall of fame) was through boycotting Sal's pizzeria.  But he could not do it alone, so he sought out reinforcements.  He found a partner in Radio Raheem and together they barged into Sal's to revolt.  These characters fought for what they believed was right, not what society told them was right.

A lot happened at the end of the movie: Radio Raheem was killed by the police, Mookie threw a garbage can into Sal's window, and the pizzeria was burned down.  The initial aspect I did not understand was why the policeman did not let go of Raheem as soon as he went limp or when he lost most of his strength.  Just because he was in the moment of defending Sal did not give him a reason to kill Raheem.  The policeman knew the possibility of him and continued anyway because his prejudices came to life when he observed Raheem on top of a struggling Sal.  Soon after he was killed Mookie threw a garbage can into Sal's window while yelling "HATE".  At first I could not comprehend why he would do such a thing, especially after Sal told him that he was like a son to him.  Then I began to consider the idea that Mookie saved Sal and his sons by doing so.  The only thing that didn't fit was that if Mookie did not throw the can through the window, the shop may still have been in tact.  In one swift act Mookie saved Sal, Pino, and Vito, and led to the destruction of the pizzeria.  He did what he believed was right, but it diverged into a positive outcome and a negative outcome.  Sal was innocent in the whole situation, but destroying the radio was not entirely necessary.  Radio Raheem was defending what he believed in when he died, but in the same token he died for minuscule reasons.  Buggin' Out was in the wrong for verbally abusing Sal for not having any black individuals on his wall of fame because the wall was reserved for Italian Americans, not whites specifically.  In the end not much right was done, but the chaos was necessary to teach the community the necessity of understanding and respect.

Robert Kennedy and the Assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

After King’s assassination Senator Robert Kennedy stated, “it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.” What did Kennedy see as the solution to the moral and political crisis in the wake of King’s assassination?


In the time immediately after King's death, it was necessary for the people of the nation to be kept under control.  At a rally for his presidency, Robert Kennedy, brother of John F. Kennedy, was given the job of presenting the horrifying news of King's assassination to the crowd.  "Just as an audience of nearly one thousand gathered, (John) Lewis learned of King’s assassination in Memphis. The staff agreed that Senator Kennedy would break the news of the tragedy to the predominantly black crowd."  Kennedy did his best to soothe the crowd in such a time of chaos.  He said "We can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend,and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love."  The citizens chose to express their grief in awful manners.  Many turned to violence in mass riots throughout the country.  It was sad for those pushing for peace because these riots went against everything King, as well as many others, stood for.  With the death of King, came the loss of peace.