PLATFORM : Too High a Price

With all due respect to the profound contribution of Malcolm X, Spike’s suggestion that we all take the day off from public education to preview his latest film can be nothing more than a spurious whim.

Students are generally intrigued with having a “legitimate” reason to miss classes, and Spike is inviting a carte blanche exodus from school sites into high-impact emotionalism. And what happens next? Los Angeles has already experienced the consequence of situations for which we had either no answers or wrong answers. Why set up an instant replay?

Spike could have held a student invitational screening alternately at local schools, or issued free student passes for a Saturday showing at local theaters, or sponsored staff-supervised field trips to his special preview.

Or, Spike Lee could have a hidden agenda, one that demonstrates capitalism at its finest: exploitation of the black community. The cost to see this movie, under Spike’s proposal, is indeed exorbitant.