Liam Spillane

First off, I would like to commend Mr. Spike Lee for his impressive interpretation of Ron Stallworth's autobiography, Black Klansman. I believe BlacKkKlansman was a very well made movie, and it was an effective way to address the very real problem of racism in our country. On the other hand, I was not impressed with the shots Mr. Lee took at President Donald Trump, as they seem to blame Mr. Trump for all of the violent protests that have been going on in our country. I am going to say here that I personally consider myself Right-of-Center, from a political standpoint. Now, if the idea of even reading what I am writing is just that intolerable to you, you are welcome to stop here. For those of you that are genuinely interested in my opinions, feel free to read on. As a Caucasian myself, I greatly appreciate how Mr. Lee addressed the issue of racism in both directions, even if that was not his initial intent. I believe that the references to the Black Panthers and the inclusion of Mr. Kwame Ture's rally were an excellent way to recognize that racism could go both ways. There were many other good, and even great, aspects to this movie, but as this is mostly meant to be a critique, I will just say that the portions of BlacKkKlansman that I do not address are, in my opinion, well produced. Now, as an American and a proud member of the Republican Party, I did not appreciate the way that this movie made allusions to my President in relationship to the hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. I will admit that there weren't very many of those allusions in the movie, but the few slogans that made an appearance seemed to be very targeted. Just as an example, I will use the background comment of one of the Klan Initiation attendees of "Make America great again". As I am sure you all know, this was a very popular slogan throughout Donald Trump's 2016 Presidential Campaign, and I feel that the use of this statement in a KKK setting was not politically appropriate and was intentionally inflammatory. Again, though, I will be the first to admit that there were only a handful of these potentially harmful remarks in the movie. The other issue I had with BlacKkKlansman was the use of footage of a Trump rally in the ending coda. There is no argument that Mr. Lee or anyone else would be able to make that would convince me that the use of this clip was not meant to slander President Trump and fully blame him for all of the far-Right rioting. I do not condone those protests, and neither does President Trump, as he has said on multiple occasions. From a totally moderate viewpoint, violent protests are being carried out on both extremes of the political spectrum, and none of them should be supported. So in closing, I believe that the issue or racism that Mr. Lee and Ron Stallworth partially address in BlacKkKlansman is a very valid one and it should not be taken lightly. Thank you.