Radio Indigo: Black Power through Sonic Space

As I began to work on our final project for this class I found myself repeatedly wanting to turn to Spike Lee’s 1989 film Do The Right Thing.  Lee plays the main character Mookie, a young, black delivery guy at the local pizzeria owned by Sal–an Italian-American.  It takes place on one block in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn over the course of the hottest day of the summer.  I first saw it when as a junior in high school for my American studies English class.  So, in looking for a quasi-productive way to procrastinate, I found the film on Amazon and watched it when I could in bits and pieces last week.  Many parts of the film were the same from what I remembered, it opens with a fun but aggressive scene of Rosie Perez dancing to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” which was written for the film.  However, I quickly found myself noticing different details and understanding characters more or even that my opinion of characters had changed from when I watched the film at 17.  When I watched DTRT in high school, I did not really understand Radio Raheem’s role in the film–played by Lee’s film school pal Bill Nunn.  He is a fairly quiet guy, with few lines, letting the blare of “Fight the Power” from his Promax Super Jumbo J-1 Ghettoblaster Boombox do most of the talking for him.  At the time, Radio’s–SPOILER–graphic death in the chokehold of a white NYPD Officer was surprising.  Lee uses a plethora of cinematic moves to play with the viewer’s anxiety, thus I always had the feeling that on the hottest day of the summer of 1989 the tensions on this Bedford Stuyvesant block were bound to boil over, but why Radio? Why not another character like Buggin’ Out, who represents a more militant-Malcolm X style of black activism?  

When I watched the film last week, Radio reminded me of Indigo from Ntozake Shange’s Sassafras, Cypress, & Indigo (1982).  Radio is rarely–possibly never–seen in DTRT without his boombox.  He only plays “Fight the Power.”  When asked why he responds, “It’s the only thing I like.”  In examining the way Lee and Shange utilize music through Radio and Indigo, we can see its importance as a form of Black Power.  In SC&I, Uncle John gives a fiddle to a disappointed Indigo. He explains the power and historical use of music to convey Black Joy, Power, and Love: 

Now, listen. Them whites what owned slaves took everythin’ was ourselves & didn’t even keep it fo’ they own selves… Took them languages what we speak… But the fiddle was the talkin’ one.  The fiddle be callin’ our gods what left us/be givin’ back some devilment & hope in our bodies worn down & lonely over these fields & kitchens.  

Shange 22

From this moment forward, Indigo diligently practices the fiddle although she does not have really any formal knowledge of how to play.  Both Radio and Indigo exhibit a passion for music that is reverently devotional as the music they play functions as a form of free speech and public art that white society suppresses and rejects.  One verses of “Fight the Power” proclaims, “Our freedom of speech is the freedom of death,” followed by the refrain, “We’ve got to fight the powers that be!” This line references Black American’s denial of their freedom of speech by white society.  It also alludes to the murders of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, both of whom exhibited command over and utilization of their 1st Amendment rights.  

In the scene leading up to Radio Raheem’s death, Radio and Buggin’ Out burst into Sal’s pizzeria.  Buggin’ Out yells over “Fight the Power” as it plays from Radio’s boombox–now louder than it has ever been before in the film.  He explains how he wants black people to be featured on Sal’s “Wall of Fame” which only includes framed black and white photographs of famous Italian-Americans like Frank Sinatra and Joe DiMaggio.  Sal ignores Buggin’ Out, yelling instead at Radio Raheem to “turn that jungle music off!” Radio remains silent.  Buggin’ Out replies, “Why it gotta be about jungle music? Why it gotta be about Africa? It’s about them f**in pictures!”  Radio’s refusal to turn off his music stands as a symbolic act of Black Power.  He refuses to not be heard.  Similarly, in bringing black culture into a problematic, white environment, Radio’s action proves to be rather radical as he operates within and refuses to conform to institutions of power.  Radio Raheem serves as a modern embodiment of Uncle John’s explanation of the fiddle.  Both Radio and Indigo let their music speak for them to convey their love for others in their community.  Their use of music not only lifts black voices and inspires Black Power but it is an expression of Black Love.  

Do The Right Thing is a great, rich film that is, unfortunately, still so relevant and emblematic of our culture.  If you can find it somewhere I highly recommend it, every time I have watched it I notice something different.  

Questions:

1. This is the link for the scene where Radio Raheem and Buggin’ Out walk into Sal’s, although it is towards the end of the film, it is pretty easy to figure out. As you watch this scene think about how it uses your sense of hearing and its use of sonic space. How does Radio Raheem’s domination of sonic space affect the scene? How does it affect your other four senses, are they weakened, heightened? 
   • If you have time, close your eyes and only listen to the scene. Do you notice anything different about how you feel? 
2. Do The Right Thing takes place over the course of one day on one block in Bed-Stuy and embodies our class conversation of Black Power revolving around the creation of place, belonging, and a neighborhood taking care of their own.  How does Sassafrass, Cypress, & Indigo foster a sense of community and place as it covers the three girls in different parts of the country with different goals?