I just watched Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee’s masterpiece, for the second time (my wife is doing an interview with Rosie Perez, so this was technically “research”). I had first seen it maybe 10 years ago, and I remember being annoyed at the time about how the only Asian characters, the Korean American grocers, speak painfully pidgin English and come across as money-grubbing jerks. This time, however, it didn’t bother me so much. The portrayal is less than flattering, but that goes for all the characters in the film — from Sal the pizzeria owner to Radio Raheem the Public Enemy fan. The truth is, men and women like this exist in real life.

I agree with Roger Ebert, who points out that the brilliant achievement of Lee’s film is that there are no clear-cut heroes or villains. Every one of his characters is depicted sympathetically at some point in the film. Every character is also shown to be capable of vicious hate and racism. For Sonny the grocer, both come at once, at the incendiary climax of the film. Waving his broom violently to keep the crowd from his store, Sonny insists, “Me no white! Me black!” It’s a hopelessly naïve remark that shows how little Sonny knows about his African American customers, but also reminds us (and the crowd, which gives up on burning down his store) that he — a downtrodden immigrant struggling to survive — is also worthy of our empathy.

On this second viewing, it made perfect sense to me that Mookie (Spike Lee’s character) throws the trash can through the window of Sal’s pizzeria at the end of the film. Mookie is the character we most empathize with in the film, and someone we expect to “do the right thing.” His actions show the very human anger he feels at the death of a friend. They also remind us how all of us — even an intelligent, thoughtful man like Mookie — add our portions to this boiling pot of racial rage in America. No one is blameless in Lee’s film, and no one comes out unscathed. Just like in real life.

It’s sad but true that so many years after Lee’s film, the racial incident that inspired Do the Right Thing — the 1986 assault of three African American men by local teenagers in Howard Beach, New York — was replicated last year in the very same neighborhood. (The trial started this week.)

Victor Tan Chen Victor Tan Chen is In The Fray's editor in chief and the author of Cut Loose: Jobless and Hopeless in an Unfair Economy. Site: victortanchen.com | Facebook | Twitter: @victortanchen