Editing Do the Right Thing (section)

==Plot==
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summaries for feature films should be set between 400 to 700 words. As of July 21, 2021, the word count for this plot summary is 700 words. -->
Twenty-five-year-old Mookie lives in [[Bedford–Stuyvesant]] with his sister Jade, has a toddler son named Hector with his Latina girlfriend Tina, and works as a delivery man at a pizzeria owned by [[Italian-American]] Salvatore "Sal" Frangione. Sal's oldest son, Pino, is a racist who holds contempt for all the neighborhood blacks. Sal's younger son, Vito, is friends with Mookie, which Pino feels undermines their fraternal bond.

Other residents of the neighborhood include friendly drunk Da Mayor; Mother Sister, who observes the block from her [[brownstone]]; [[Radio Raheem]], who blasts [[Public Enemy (group)|Public Enemy]]'s "[[Fight the Power (Public Enemy song)|Fight the Power]]" on his [[boombox]]; Buggin' Out, a fast-talking young man who talks about black civil rights to anyone who'll listen; Smiley, a [[mentally disabled]] man who meanders around town with hand-colored pictures of [[Malcolm X]] and [[Martin Luther King Jr.]]; and local DJ Mister Señor Love Daddy.

At Sal's, Buggin' Out questions Sal about his "Wall of Fame", which is decorated with photos of famous Italian-Americans. He demands that Sal put up pictures of black celebrities since the pizzeria's customers are mostly black. Sal refuses, feeling he's not required to put anyone but Italians on the wall, and ejects him. Buggin' Out attempts to start boycotting the pizzeria, but only Raheem joins him.

During the day, local teenagers open a fire hydrant to beat the heat wave before white police officers Mark Ponte and Gary Long intervene. Mookie confronts Pino about his contempt towards African Americans. Later, Pino expresses his hatred for African Americans to Sal, who insists on keeping the business in the [[African-American neighborhood|majority African-American]] neighborhood.

That night, Buggin' Out and Raheem march into Sal's and demand that the Wall of Fame include Black celebrities. Sal demands that Raheem turn his boombox off, but he refuses. Buggin' Out badmouths Sal and threatens to shutter the pizzeria for good. Finally, Sal snaps and smashes Raheem's boombox. Enraged, Raheem attacks Sal. A fight ensues that spills out into the street, attracting a crowd. The police arrive, including Long and Ponte, who break up the fight and apprehend Raheem and Buggin' Out. As the officers attempt to restrain Raheem, Long begins choking him with his nightstick. Though Ponte and the onlookers plead for him to stop, Long tightens his choke-hold on Raheem, killing him. Attempting to save face, the duo place his body in the back of a [[police car]] and drive off.

The onlookers blame Sal for Raheem's death, but Da Mayor unsuccessfully tries to convince the crowd of Sal's innocence. Suddenly, Mookie grabs a trash can and throws it through the pizzeria's window, sparking the crowd to destroy it. Smiley sets the building ablaze, and Da Mayor pulls Sal, Pino, and Vito away from the mob, which turns toward the Korean market across the street to destroy it, too. Sonny, the owner, eventually dissuades the group.

The police return with the fire department and riot patrols to extinguish the fire and disperse the crowd. The firefighters, after several warnings to the crowd, turn their hoses on the mob, enraging them and causing more arrests. The next day, Mookie returns to Sal and demands his weekly pay. After an argument, Sal pays Mookie, and the two cautiously reconcile. Mookie leaves to visit Hector as Mister Señor Love Daddy announces that the mayor of [[New York City]] has founded a committee to investigate the incident and dedicates a song to Raheem.

An epilogue shows two quotations that demonstrate the dichotomy of the film's theme—one from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who claims violence is never justified, and one from Malcolm X, who claims violence is "intelligence" when used in self-defense—and dedicates the film to six black people, five killed by police officers ([[Eleanor Bumpurs]], Arthur Miller Jr., [[Edmund Perry]], Yvonne Smallwood, and [[Death of Michael Stewart|Michael Stewart]]) and one killed by a white mob ([[Michael Griffith (manslaughter victim)|Michael Griffith]]).<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-enduring-urgency-of-spike-lees-do-the-right-thing-at-thirty|title=The Enduring Urgency of Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" at Thirty|first=Richard|last=Brody|date=June 28, 2019|magazine=The New Yorker|url-access=limited|access-date=January 25, 2024}}</ref>