Spike Lee was in town last night, but his speech at USF shied away from a discussion about film. For Lee, it was all about the politics.
Lee, the independent film pioneer and unofficial political activist, spoke at the Sun Dome Corral as part of USF's lecture series. The immutable film nerd inside me jumped at the opportunity to see the man behind such indie staples as She's Gotta Have It (1986), Malcolm X (1992) and Do The Right Thing (1989) — Lee's masterpiece. Plus, the event was free to current students.
Besides the occasional anecdote concerning studio funding, however, Lee did not broach his film career. In light of the Texas and Ohio primaries (occurring as the filmmaker spoke), he was understandably preoccupied with politics. He opened his casual speech with a declaration that "we could all wake up in a new world tomorrow." Of course, Lee was referring to the potential presidential nomination of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama — an obvious milestone in this ethnocentric superpower of a nation. He explained why nominating the first African-American presidential candidate means more than nominating the first female candidate. There are simply more sociological implications. In a way, Obama's nomination is the only event that could successfully retire 400 years of slavery, Lee said. The filmmaker paced back and forth on the stage with a tangible mixture of hope and excitement. He suffered through an exhaustive Q & A that made me ashamed of my fellow students and starstruck Tampa residents. Excuse the cliche, but Spike Lee clearly had larger fish to fry – and his demeanor showed it.
Alas, we did not wake up to "a new world" on Wednesday morning. It was Sen. Hillary Clinton who triumphed in the delegate-heavy states of Texas and Ohio. She also nabbed Rhode Island. Obama was left with one victory in Vermont., as well as an unchanged delegate lead.
Lee, along with millions of nail-biting Americans, may be disappointed for now, but Obama is still ahead in this race. Meanwhile, Lee will have no choice but to return to a kick-ass film career.
File photo credit: Danny Norton
This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2008.