Can't say I was shocked to see Donald Trump hammering Spike Lee for Lee's Oscar acceptance speech urging folks to choose "love versus hate" in the 2020 election.
But it showed yet again how thin-skinned, self-centered, and, yes, racist Mr. Trump is.
Mocking Lee for reading from notes was sort of a low blow. I noticed it too; and I'm guessing Lee was pretty near-sighted. I too try not to use notes; but sometimes when you have an extremely limited time and a lot to say, notes are prudent. (At a poetry reading or other setting where I use notes, though, I print 'em 16 pt instead of 12, which sure helps, particularly in uneven lighting.)
Trump doesn't use notes, but he also has the privilege of rambling somewhat mindlessly.
Lee didn't mock Trump (a great target, with his obesity and comical hair) or even mention him, but did say what he felt. Praising "our ancestors who helped build this country" and thanking his grandmother, who sacrificed to put him through college, may seem racist to folks who are willfully blind to what that means, but it's real and honest. You don't hear Trump thanking his father, who started Trump off with millions and bailed him out a few times when he screwed up. Not sure whether he feels no gratitude or figures it'd be bad politics to remind folks. In any case, the contrast between Lee, who struggled against racism and marginalization in the modern world, and Trump, whose enterprises repeatedly went bankrupt and who was given so much, is clear, and not too complimentary to Donald.
Note also that while Lee created movie ideas and struggled to make them into films and get them seen by a wider audience. Trump was a performer. A ghost-writer wrote the book that established Trump's image as a savvy business guy, which he never was; and then when clever TV folks saw the potential, Trump was a performer. I suppose he did it well. (I never saw his show, nor wanted to. Never even knew of it until one day a huge line of people were waiting outside a building on Battery Street, in San Francisco, to audition for his show, and we had to let one of them in to use the bathroom in our office.)
Lee's shout of "Let's do the right thing!" -- referencing his 1989 film -- reminded me of seeing that film. Don't remember who I was dating, but we saw it with a Chinese-American friend I'd gotten to know in Hong Kong. To me, the rhythms and language and sights of the ghetto were pretty familiar; but to Dan they were a revelation. It was a good film -- but marginalized because of its setting and realism. Lee had made a good film; but if Trump had made an inferior film, a comedy or love story set among wealthy white kids, it likely would have outdone Lee at the U.S. box office.
I think of Nothing but a Man, which is on my mind because Robert M. Young, who made it in 1965, visited Las Cruces recently, though I didn't get to see him because of other commitments. That film was an excellent view of the U.S. South through the eyes of a black man, just trying to be a man. He doesn't have any rebellious agenda, he's not organizing folks, he just wants to live and maybe look people straight in the eye instead of looking deferentially at the ground around white folks. (I still recommend that film to anyone who wants an unvarnished look at the time and place, not at all over-dramatized -- even understated, as I recall. (I did get to thank him for it in person, in the early 1980's, when he made The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez.)
But that film brings to mind the lingering effects of racism even during my lifetime, even now. Most folks are aware of it now, though I don't guess Donald gives it much thought. Spike probably helped make white folks a little more aware of it -- despite themselves, in some cases.
Is it overstating the contrast between these men to notice that while Lee's film, BlacKKKlansman, is about that lingering racism, which many would deny, Trump appeals to just the kinds of folks who holler white supremacist slogans at marches, and likely say worse in private? If one looks honestly at Donald Trump, and treatment of blacks during his business life, or his reference to "shithole countries" populated by non-whites, -- Lee's suggestion to choose love over hate doesn't seem a bit overstated.
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President Trump on Monday lashed out at Spike Lee after the director used his acceptance speech at the Academy Awards to urge viewers and attendees to choose "love versus hate" in the 2020 election.
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