Filmmaker Spike Lee revealed his thoughts on the controversial stance of ‘defunding’ the police in a new interview.
The filmmaker, whose new film Da 5 Bloods debuts on Netflix this coming Friday, made it clear that he does not want to get rid of the police at all.
Thoughts: Filmmaker Spike Lee revealed his thoughts on the controversial stance of ‘defunding’ the police in a new interview
Tricky: The 63-year-old filmmaker spoke to Al Roker on Sirius XM ‘s Off the Rails show, where he said he thought the term ‘defund’ is ‘tricky’
‘We need police! Let the record state, I’m telling my brother Al Roker we need police, but we need a police system that is just,’ Lee revealed.
‘And it’s so hard with the police unions. I mean they protect their guys, they protect that blue no matter what. And so that has to be dealt with…they have to be careful with the words because already this guy is running with that,’ he added.
The BlacKkKlansman director was referring to President Trump, or as Lee calls him, ‘Agent Orange, adding, ‘he’s trying to twist the narrative like they did with Kaepernick and the kneeling – trying to say that was about disrespecting the flag, but that wasn’t it at all.’
Need police: ‘We need police! Let the record state, I’m telling my brother Al Roker we need police, but we need a police system that is just,’ Lee revealed
Unions: ‘And it’s so hard with the police unions. I mean they protect their guys, they protect that blue no matter what. And so that has to be dealt with…they have to be careful with the words because already this guy is running with that,’ he added
‘We’ve got to be careful what we say because one or two wrong words, they’ll twist that thing around and the narratives change,’ he added.
For that reason, Lee said he thinks there needs to be, ‘better terminology’ than ‘defund the police’ because that has been, ‘equated to disband the police.’
Roker added that, ‘we want police, we just want a different kind of police,’ as Lee added that he, ‘said it better than I could.’
Better terminology: For that reason, Lee said he thinks there needs to be, ‘better terminology’ than ‘defund the police’ because that has been, ‘equated to disband the police’
Different police: Roker added that, ‘we want police, we just want a different kind of police,’ as Lee added that he, ‘said it better than I could’
Lee added that he thinks, ‘we’re at a very important point, not just in American history, but world history.’
He said that he added the world because, ‘the world is marching too,’ pointing to protests in South Korea, Spain, London and other places.
‘I think the young people, our white sisters and brothers, they’re joining us, and I haven’t seen this since I was growing up in the 60s in Brooklyn,’ he added.
World history: Lee added that he thinks, ‘we’re at a very important point, not just in American history, but world history’
Young people: ‘I think the young people, our white sisters and brothers, they’re joining us, and I haven’t seen this since I was growing up in the 60s in Brooklyn,’ he added
Lee added he didn’t think this is a ‘fad’ and that the young people are, ‘out here in the streets doing business.’
The filmmaker’s new project Da 5 Bloods follows four former soldiers who fought together in the Vietnam War, who return to the country to find their squad leader’s remains, and the fortune in gold they helped him bury.
The film stars Chadwick Boseman, Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Isaiah Whitlock Jr., Jean Reno and Paul Walter Hauser.
No fad: Lee added he didn’t think this is a ‘fad’ and that the young people are, ‘out here in the streets doing business’
New movie: The filmmaker’s new project Da 5 Bloods follows four former soldiers who fought together in the Vietnam War, who return to the country to find their squad leader’s remains, and the fortune in gold they helped him bury