Spike Lee at UCA

Spike Lee spoke at UCA last night and if you didn't catch it then it was your loss. Regardless of your opinion of his films and his politics (I think the former are brilliant and the latter hit or miss), his lecture was one of the least divisive things I've heard in a long time. He touched on the lack of and need for more black, male teachers ( and as someone pointed out during the Q&A male teachers in general). His other big topics were hard work, having a supporting family, and self reliance (I'm sure my GOP readers loved to hear that, although shouldn't we all?).There was also a great surprise during the Q&A time when Lee found out that Minnijean Brown-Trickey of the Little Rock Nine was in the balcony and he had her come down to the stage to a standing ovation. It was definitely a big moment for both of them and the pressure was on from the audience for him to make a Central High film.

Hearing Lee's story firsthand about how he became a filmmaker, and then having it followed by Miss Brown-Trickey was inspirational. He mentioned with sadness how back when he was growing up, intelligence wasn't something that was frowned upon among black youth. Those with brains were as respected as those with basketball skills, or those who could "rap and talk to the ladies" as he said.  I don't care what you think about his views, the black community could use a few more Spike Lees and a few less Jay Zs (although dude can flow, I'm not hatin'), and so could our nation. I'm pretty sure that those 9 men and women who made a stand for education would agree.