LevelUp
𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐻𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑
If you’ve ever seen a Spike Lee Joint based in New York City, you may have noticed a signature feature—Black Americans and Puerto Ricans are always represented.
Whether it was Rosie Perez’s character in his signature 1989 film “Do The Right Thing” or his 1994 movie “Crooklyn” (the character Minnie and dialogue around how “She got Puerto Rican hair!”), or the entire Netflix “She’s Gotta Have It” episode featuring Afro-Puerto Rican heritage, bomba music, and Fat Joe—you’re bound to see a red, white, and blue flag with a single star.
But it’s in Spike’s latest film “Highest 2 Lowest,” his fifth project with Denzel Washington, whom he calls the “greatest living actor,” that features a key scene at the Puerto Rican Day parade. It’s one that truly highlights Spike’s dedication to including Puerto Ricans alongside Black Americans in his storytelling.
(Note, the terms I’m using here are imperfect since: 1) Puerto Ricans are American citizens; and 2) there are Black Puerto Ricans—100% Black, which means, technically, they are Black Americans, too. But for the purpose of this article, “Black American” refers to non-Hispanic Black people in the United States and NYC.)
As a reporter who has watched media and academic institutions frequently frame conversations as “Black vs Latino,” especially in the era of ICE raids and conversations about allyship between communities, I had to know—why does Spike Lee consistently feature Black American and Puerto Rican communities in relationship to one another in his projects?
“Here’s the thing. I grew up in Fort Greene and back then before gentrification, it was Black and Puerto Rican,” Spike told me via phone last week. “The Dominicans had not taken over yet from the Puerto Ricans,” he said with a deep chuckle, a nod to Dominicans exceeding Puerto Ricans as the largest Hispanic group since 2020.
“Just look at hip-hop, the Bronx, but we had Puerto Ricans, brothers and sisters from the Caribbean and African-Americans. So that’s just the—that’s the love you had here in New York City, you know?”
Whether it was Rosie Perez’s character in his signature 1989 film “Do The Right Thing” or his 1994 movie “Crooklyn” (the character Minnie and dialogue around how “She got Puerto Rican hair!”), or the entire Netflix “She’s Gotta Have It” episode featuring Afro-Puerto Rican heritage, bomba music, and Fat Joe—you’re bound to see a red, white, and blue flag with a single star.
But it’s in Spike’s latest film “Highest 2 Lowest,” his fifth project with Denzel Washington, whom he calls the “greatest living actor,” that features a key scene at the Puerto Rican Day parade. It’s one that truly highlights Spike’s dedication to including Puerto Ricans alongside Black Americans in his storytelling.
(Note, the terms I’m using here are imperfect since: 1) Puerto Ricans are American citizens; and 2) there are Black Puerto Ricans—100% Black, which means, technically, they are Black Americans, too. But for the purpose of this article, “Black American” refers to non-Hispanic Black people in the United States and NYC.)
As a reporter who has watched media and academic institutions frequently frame conversations as “Black vs Latino,” especially in the era of ICE raids and conversations about allyship between communities, I had to know—why does Spike Lee consistently feature Black American and Puerto Rican communities in relationship to one another in his projects?
“Here’s the thing. I grew up in Fort Greene and back then before gentrification, it was Black and Puerto Rican,” Spike told me via phone last week. “The Dominicans had not taken over yet from the Puerto Ricans,” he said with a deep chuckle, a nod to Dominicans exceeding Puerto Ricans as the largest Hispanic group since 2020.
“Just look at hip-hop, the Bronx, but we had Puerto Ricans, brothers and sisters from the Caribbean and African-Americans. So that’s just the—that’s the love you had here in New York City, you know?”
I used to live in NYC years ago and everyone where I lived were either Black or PR and we got on just fine.
