Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” (1989) depicts a hot-summer day in Brooklyn, New York, that slowly boils into an explosion of racial tensions. Its wide cast of characters have many things in common: they all eat and shop in the same streets, they each endure the oppressive summer heat, they all have more or less the same economic background, and they all have that indelible New York identity. Unfortunately as the day goes by, small conflicts make them forget their similarities and make them only focus on their differences resulting in tragedy. When it was first released, several newspapers stated the film could incite black audiences to riot. Even though no such riots occurred, Lee criticized the critics for implying black audiences could not restrain themselves. As a white Canadian male who randomly saw the movie on TV in Quebec City two years ago, I can’t really speak to the racial tensions of the times in that part of the world. The most I know about African-American cultur...