After Clint Eastwood tells Spike Lee to "shut his face" regarding the lack of black characters in Eastwood's two World War II films, Lee responds in a mature, manly fashion.
"First of all, the man is not my father and we're not on a plantation either," he told ABCNEWS.com.
"I didn't personally attack him."Lee implied that Eastwood was a racist. Twice. I'd call those personal attacks.
Regarding that 'father' thing, I am reminded of the infamous You Tube clip of Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers demonstrating her similar daddy issues.
These people can afford to pay for psychoanalysis. But I guess than one would have to be not-crazy to realize that a shrinking is needed.
I was considering going to see Lee's film when it came out. Now I'm not so sure.
UPDATED: Former Spook (no, not that kind) says that there were some extras who were black in Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers.
If Mr. Lee bothered to watch Flags, he would find black Marines in a cutaway shot early in the film, and in a historical photograph that appears during the closing credits. Saying there are no African-Americans in the film is simply incorrect.Spook also details the Bronze-Star awarded courage of a pair of black Marines (in their combat support roles) but notes that they were not a part of the unit which raised the flag at Iwo Jima.So, why aren’t blacks featured more prominently in the film? According to Professor Latty (and USMC records), a total of 700 African-American Marines served on Iwo Jima during the battle. But her opinion piece omits an important point, those black Marines represented less than one percent of the 80,000 who fought to take the island from the Japanese.
And, because of segregation, they were delegated to support roles.
The battalion and its subordinate companies were all white—another product of the segregated Marine Corps of World War II.Eastwood was, of course, adhering to historical accuracy rather than PC.
But Lee has succeeded in publicizing his film--and probably in riling up those who probably don't even know that the military was segregated back then and that it was probably one of the first--if not the first--government institutions to desegregate, undoubtedly stemming from the performance of men like the afore-mentioned Marines, the Tuskegee airmen and the "Buffalo Soldiers" which will be portrayed in Lee's WWII movie. Too bad he is doing them such a disservice.
(Thanks to Phelps)
