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a30 people & arts
Wednesday 10 June 2020

What makes an American a patriot? Spike Lee has some answers

By JAKE COYLE flict than Lindo's veteran.
AP Film Writer His character is a Donald
NEW YORK (AP) — Spike Trump supporter and sports
Lee was just 10 when Mu- a "Make American Great
hammad Ali, in 1967, re- Again" hat. Lindo initially
fused to be drafted into the balked at the idea. "I said
Vietnam. It wasn't his fight, to Spike, 'I'm a father. I don't
Ali said then. The Vietnam- want my son seeing that,'"
ese "never lynched me." says Lindo. But he came to
Ali's stand, and the sub- understand it as a result of
sequent vitriol that came his country's betrayal.
his way, made an enor- "These guys came back
mous impression on Lee. and just experienced the
His latest film, "Da 5 Bloods," same issues and problems
opens with footage of that regular black folks
Ali's speech. "Everyone is did except they had the
all lovey-dovey with Mu- added burden of hav-
hammad Ali now that he's ing a horrific experience
dead," says Lee. "But at in Vietnam," says Willmott.
one time, Muhammad Ali "Your blackness took over
was the most hated man in more than your service or
America." any other element of your
"Da 5 Bloods," which pre- life."q
mieres Friday on Netflix, is This image released by Netflix shows, from left, Isiah Whitlock Jr.,
the first major film to put Norm Lewis, Clarke Peters, Delroy Lindo and Jonathan Majors in Philadelphia editor
the experience of black a scene from the Spike Lee film "Da 5 Bloods." Associated Press
Vietnam veterans front resigns over ‘Buildings
and center. Lee bookends been quarantined with at 'Platoon,' 'Apocalypse
the movie with Ali and his wife, Tonya, and their Now,' black soldiers are
other black activist figures two children, Satchel and on the peripheries-slash- Matter’ headline
from the '60s, framing "Da 5 Jackson. The unrest follow- almost nonexistent," says
Bloods" as not just a war film ing Floyd's death — which Lindo. "I don't remember PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Inquirer's top
but an inquiry into what pa- for some recalled Lee's "Do whether I walked out on editor is resigning after an uproar over a headline la-
triotism means for African the Right Thing" — has yet the film but I do remember menting damage to businesses amid turbulent pro-
Americans. again made Lee's movies being completely disgust- tests denouncing police brutality against people of
"The narrative that's been all the more urgent. "Da 5 ed," he says. color, the paper announced Saturday.
painted of American hero- Bloods," his first film to con- The original script for "Da The newspaper said Stan Wischnowski, 58, was step-
ism is John Wayne," says front Vietnam, further ex- 5 Bloods," by Danny Bilson ping down as senior vice president and executive edi-
Lee. "So I felt it was appro- pands Lee's passionate, and Paul De Meo, was ti- tor.
priate that we have true righteous and essential tled "The Last Tour." It was The Inquirer had apologized for a "horribly wrong" de-
American patriots." survey of American history written for white veterans cision to use the headline, "Buildings Matter, Too," on a
Lee's timing is, as ever, pre- and race, a roiling body and first brought to Stone. column Tuesday about looting and vandalism on the
scient. His movie is arriving of work that already spans When that didn't go any- margins of protests of George Floyd's death in Minne-
just as millions have taken the '60s of Malcolm X, post- where, Lee was drawn apolis at the hands of a white police officer.
to the streets to protest Katrina New Orleans and to its connections to "The The backlash came as The New York Times was widely
endemic racism and the contemporary Chicago. Treasure of Sierra Madre," criticized for publishing an opinion piece by U.S. Sen.
death of George Floyd. The It's about African American one of his favorites, and to Tom Cotton advocating the use of federal troops to
time couldn't be riper for vets (Delroy Lindo, Clarke its potential. quell the protests.
a film that considers who Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr., "I knew from the get-go About 30 members of the Inquirer's 210-member edi-
"true Americans" really are. Norm Lewis) returning to that it was a great script torial staff called in sick earlier this week, and black
"American patriotism is Vietnam to search for but I wanted to flip it to staff members angrily condemned the headline. It
when you say: (Expletive) the remains of their fallen tell it from the perspective appeared over an article by architecture critic Inga
is (expletive)-ed up. People squad leader (Chadwick of black Vietnam vets," Saffron, who worried that buildings damaged in vio-
like Agent Orange who say, Boseman) and buried gold. says Lee. Willmott and Lee lence over the past week could "leave a gaping hole
'America, love it or leave The contributions of black scripted insertions of docu- in the heart of Philadelphia."
it' — they're un-American," soldiers have long been mentary footage but, once The Inquirer drew fresh scorn after it replaced that
says Lee, using his favored under-represented, but in the editing room, Lee headline online with one that read, "Black Lives Mat-
nickname for President their minor roles in films of would often be inspired to ter. Do Buildings?" Eventually, the newspaper settled
Donald Trump. "They're not the Vietnam War — the first add more. on "Damaging buildings disproportionately hurt the
patriotic. Anybody that tells conflict after the start of In flashbacks, "Da 5 Bloods" people protesters are trying to uplift."
black folks 'America love it the civil rights movement — captures the paradox of The Inquirer published an apology from senior edi-
or leave it,' they need to is especially egregious. Af- being a black soldier fight- tors. Publisher and CEO Lisa Hughes said in a memo to
get the (expletive) out of rican American troops ac- ing for the U.S. while the staff that the headline was "offensive and inappropri-
here because black folks counted for 11% of troops` Civil Rights movement ate" and said the newspaper needed a more diverse
built this (expletive)." in Vietnam (though only a raged back home. Deep in workforce.
Lee, 63, has never been fraction of officers). In 1965, the Vietnamese jungle, the Wischnowski had worked at the Inquirer for 20 years
one to mince words but they were 23% of all com- men are seen listening to a and was editor when the paper won the 2012 Pulitzer
he was especially inclined bat troops. radio broadcast reporting Prize for Public Service for an in-depth investigation
to say it like it is during a "We have been almost sys- the assassination of Martin into violence within Philadelphia schools.
recent interview by phone tematically disappeared Luther King Jr. He will formally leave the newspaper June 12. Hughes
from his apartment on the from those experiences. No character more fully did not immediately name a successor.q
Upper East Side where he's Vietnam, when you look embodies that painful con-