If Lee was white he would be branded a racist and shunned for the rest of his life.
FORT GREENE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — Spike Lee had some harsh words for whites moving into predominantly black neighborhoods in New York City while speaking at a Black History Month lecture at Pratt Institute on Tuesday.
As 1010 WINS’ Carol D’Auria reported Wednesday, the director and Brooklyn native said that white newcomers to neighborhoods like Fort Greene and Bedford-Stuyvesant are doing the wrong things.
Lee told the audience that while he’s all for democracy, he doesn’t like that whites are trying to impose their standards and wealthy ideas on everyone and everything, D’Auria reported.
According to Lee, with white gentrification comes disruption. The entire rant was transcribed by New York magazine. Here’s an excerpt:
“Here’s the thing: I grew up here in Fort Greene. I grew up here in New York. It’s changed. And why does it take an influx of white New Yorkers in the south Bronx, in Harlem, in Bed Stuy, in Crown Heights for the facilities to get better? The garbage wasn’t picked up every (expletive) day when I was living in 165 Washington Park. P.S. 20 was not good. P.S. 11. Rothschild 294. The police weren’t around. When you see white mothers pushing their babies in strollers, three o’clock in the morning on 125th Street, that must tell you something.”
Some Fort Greene residents who spoke to D’Auria on Wednesday agreed that high-priced restaurants and bars that cater to whites could breed resentment.