Spike Lee speaks to hundreds for Black History Month

Samantha Foster
Spectrum Editor

Forty-eight years to the day after Malcolm X’s assassination and 21 years after his documentary on the activist’s life, the director, author and actor Spike Lee spoke at VCU to a sold-out audience about his work and rise to fame as a black man in the film world.

More than 400 students, faculty, staff and alumni filled the Commons ballroom last Thursday to hear the chosen Black History Month Speaker under the VCU chosen theme, “Blacks in Film.”

“Well, here we are, Black History Month, (during) the shortest month of the year,” Lee said to start his speech, which lasted an hour, allowing for questions from the audience during the last hour.

Questions could be about anything they chose, as long as they were not about the Knicks, how to end racism or the recent film, “Django Unchained,” for which Lee publicly stated his distaste.

As a child growing up in Brooklyn, New York, Lee said that he did not know that he wanted to become a film director.  He attended movies with friends, but did not consider that people were behind the making of the films.

When Lee graduated high school, he knew it was expected of him to attend a college, but did not have a major in mind. His parents and grandparents had all gone to college, despite his great-grandmother having been a slave. Lee attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, but almost failed out of college during his first two years.

“This is a cautionary tale,” Lee said. “I almost flunked out of Morehouse, but the fact that I was legacy let me slide. I was a C minus student, D plus (and) C minus student (for) my first two years at Morehouse. It wasn’t because I wasn’t intelligent. I was not motivated.”

After his sophomore year, Lee returned home to Brooklyn, but was told that upon returning to Morehouse College he would have to pick a major, as he had exhausted all of his elective options.

During the summer of 1977, Lee was unable to find a summer job, but found an activity for the summer, a Super 8 video camera, at his friend’s house. Lee asked to hold the camera and was instead given it as a gift.

“So now I had something to do,” Lee said. “I just spent the whole summer running around New York City, shooting stuff with the Super 8 camera, not because I wanted to be a filmmaker, but I had nothing else to do.”

Upon returning to Morehouse College, Lee knew what he wanted to do. He majored in mass communications, which included radio, television, print journalism and film. Since Lee was now doing what he loved, his grades went up, which he attributes to being motivated.

“People say they discovered film. I say film discovered me,” Lee said.

While studying film, Lee said that he was told by adults to find a better job. There were, they said, no black filmmakers. Lee’s family supported his choice, however, a feeling that Lee believes is not common in black households.

“If you choose an artistic path, … you get that funny look. Especially if that’s your major. … it’s a tough spot,” Lee said.  “If you can be strong enough, don’t succumb. If you choose a major based on what your parents want you to do, that’s not a good look.”

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Morehouse College, Lee was admitted to New York University based on a review of his film portfolio. Within the film program while Lee attended NYU, there were 50 students, four of whom were black. By the end of the four years, two of the black students had dropped out.

During his speech, Lee discussed his mother, who encouraged her children to be better than the other students. Since having children, Lee now understands why his mother acted in such a way.

“We could not just be as good as the white students. We had to be 10 times better,” Lee said. “Growing up, I could never tell why my mother was always on my ass. If I got an A, she would say, ‘you should have gotten an A plus.’ … Nothing I could do was good enough, and it used to bother me.”

Lee attributes much of his success to his supportive family. His grandmother saved her social security checks for her grandchildren to get an education. Lee used the money for school and as seed money for his first two films, “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads” and “She’s Gotta Have It.”

“I think a lot of times, when you hear successful people, they do a disservice to young people because they don’t tell them about all the other people that helped them to get there,” Lee said. “You may see me here, … but there’s a whole lot of people that made it possible for me to be here tonight.”

Lee also found family support from his mother, who exposed her children to a spectrum of arts and culture around Brooklyn while growing up.  Now, Lee and his siblings are all successfully involved in artistic careers.

“We were all exposed to arts at a very young age. … We were exposed to everything,” Lee said. “You could have a great gift.  … but if you’re not exposed … then your gift will never be seen.”

Lee said that he is glad to have been exposed to the arts and specifically the film world at such a young age, but knows that some students are still
discovering what they want to do
after college.

“I’m blessed because I love what I’m doing,” Lee said. “The key is to get a job that you love. If it’s a job you love, then it’s not a job. Hopefully, you have chosen a major that you love. Now, I haven’t done a scientific study, but I going to take a guess that 90 percent of people on this earth go to their grave slaving at a job they hate.”

In addition to his work in the film industry, Lee works at NYU as a professor and artistic director for the graduate program.

He also discussed the reality that black Americans could not attend certain colleges until recently.

“Let’s be honest.  There was a time when you couldn’t come to VCU,” Lee said. “It (wasn’t) that long ago either.”