cultural heritage and pride. Spike Lee positions this neighborhood as a city-like representation of contemporary African-American culture. Do Thing Right Thing is part of a tradition of Black films which show Black people using music that provides the key tool of conflict on diverse levels. Radio Raheem's music box is his weapon in the war of wills between him and the young Hispanics playing their Salsa and it also gives us (the viewer) the only person-to-person conflict with the Koreans. His box also establishes a tension between himself and Sal, and then it triggers a riot. When Sal ends his screaming fight with Buggin Out by snatching a baseball bat and smashing the box, then says "There, I've killed your music," the music not only is silenced but, African-American pride is silenced also. What is interesting in both Do The Right Thing and Summer of Sam, is when Spike Lee has characters talking into the video camera. In Summer of Sam for example, Spike Lee himself acts as a television newscaster named John Jeffries, and interviews the residents of Bed-Stuy (the same neighborhood represented in Do The Right Thing) concerning the Berkowitze killings. In doing so, there is extreme emphasis on one lady in particular, who says that she will give the "darker perspective" concerning the issue. At this point, the camera focuses in on her face as she stares into the camera commenting that, she thinks God that it is a white man killing white people instead of a black man killing white people. She further comment that there would be the biggest race riot in New York City if the killer was black. The characters in this scene are not only talking to John Jeffries but, they are also talking to us, the viewer. This signifies that there is a message behind these issues in the film that reflect Spikes Lee's views about the subject matter and how people actually think. With this in mind, Spike Lee illustrates how this is a film but, it is...
