In the wake of nationwide protests over the murder of George Floyd, Spike Lee has shared a powerful short video to social media that splices together footage from his 1989 classic Do the Right Thing with footage of the killings of Floyd and Eric Garner by police officers.
The minute-and-a-half video is titled “3 Brothers,” and it poses the question “Will history stop repeating itself?” before jumping between the 2014 cell phone video of Eric Garner being put in a deadly chokehold by the NYPD, the riot scene from Do the Right Thing in which Radio Raheem (played by Bill Nunn) is put in a similar chokehold, and the recent footage of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin suffocating George Floyd by placing his knee on his neck.
3 Brothers-Radio Raheem, Eric Garner And George Floyd. pic.twitter.com/EB0cXQELzE
— Spike Lee (@SpikeLeeJoint) June 1, 2020
The director also appeared on CNN to discuss the clip and the protests with Don Lemon.
"The attack on black bodies has been here from the get-go," says filmmaker Spike Lee, responding to protests over George Floyd's death. "…I am not condoning all this other stuff but I understand why people are doing what they are doing." https://t.co/K5Gzn1gRT0 pic.twitter.com/sxnZJ9xRpi
— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) June 1, 2020
“What we’re seeing today is not new,” Lee said. “We’ve seen this again and again and again, and people are asking the same questions: ‘Why are people rioting? Why are people doing this?’ Because people are fed up and people are tired of the debasing, the killing of black bodies. That’s what this country is built upon.”
“I would just like to say this: this stuff is diverse,” he added, referring to the nationwide protests. “I’m seeing a whole lot of white, young people out there who are joining with us in this show of displeasure with this country.”
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