Director Spike Lee challenges youth, Hollywood, history

Director Spike Lee discussed the Oscars, his start in film and education reform at the IU Auditorium on Saturday as the final event of the 27th annual ArtsWeek.

Lee, born Shelton Jackson Lee, was dubbed Spike by his mother, a remark on his
stubborn nature.

He began making films in the 1980s, with his first feature length film, “She’s Gotta Have It,” debuting in 1986.

Lee, along with United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, joined activist Jeff Johnson, whose task force is committed to putting 80,000 more black male teachers into classrooms because less than 2 percent of America’s teachers are African-American males.

Lee said there are more black men in prison and jail than in colleges and universities.
Lee said with this lack of positive black male role models for children at school, a vicious cycle perpetuates itself.

His speech focused primarily on teaching reform. Below are some of his comments from the evening.

On the Oscars:
“Tomorrow night are the Oscars, don’t look for me. I’ll be in Miami for the Knicks.” 
  
“There were 26 people nominated this year. Not one was African-American. We got a half a one (Matthew Libatique, the cinematographer for ‘Black Swan,’ who is
Filipino).”

“A couple years ago, in a so-called watershed moment, Halle Berry won Best Actress, Denzel Washington won Best Actor and Sidney Poitier won a Lifetime Achievement Award.”

“There was hoopla ... that a new day has dawned. We’d finally arrived. That so-called watershed moment did not happen.”

“Denzel Washington was robbed for Malcolm X. In basketball terminology.”

“The year Denzel was nominated, he was up against Al Pacino for ‘Scent of a Woman.’ Al is a great, great actor, and Denzel had already won supporting actor for ‘Glory.’ Al Pacino gets the Academy Award so (Denzel) gets robbed.”

“It was a makeup call. He wins for ‘Training Day.’ Scorsese doesn’t win for ‘Goodfellas,’ ‘Raging Bull,’ ‘Casino.’ What does he win for? ‘(The) Departed.’”

On becoming a filmmaker:
“I was a below-average student ... I was just not motivated. In the summer of ’77, between my sophomore and junior year, I came back to New York City.”

“I had no summer job, so what was I gonna do for three months?”

“And someone had given me a Super 8 camera the previous Christmas and a box of film. For some reason something told me, instead of just sittin’ on your black ass, do something.”

 “So I spent summer running around New York City with a camera. With (his film teacher, Herb Eichelberger’s) encouragement, I took the raw footage and tried to make a film out of it. I spent all fall semester.”

“In the spring I showed it to my class, and my class liked it ... When people ask me why did I choose film, I flip and say film chose me. Before I was a floundering C-minus student. After, I got A pluses at every class I took.”

On telling parents your major:
“Parents kill more dreams than anybody.”

On education:
“What’s criminal is that in young minds now they equate intelligence with being white and ignorance with being black.”

“Now when you talk about slavery, people’s eyes cloud over. 1865 was not that long ago. At one point we are willing to risk our lives for education.”

“Fast forward. You think you’re acting white if you’re intelligent? That’s genocide to me.”

On misinformation:
“We need to start telling the truth ... George Washington had sex with his slaves ... that is not taught.”

“Christopher Columbus — He discovered America? How do you discover something when there are people there already?”

A last bit of advice:
“You should not leave this campus without having read ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley.’”