The ABCs of Spike Lee’s ‘X’

To all the commentators who have repeatedly been talking about the possibility of violence breaking out where “Malcolm X” is shown, I hereby accuse you of racism. Or ignorance. Or both (do they amount to the same thing?).

You have also evidenced that your knowledge of psychology in its simplest form is nil. Any parent knows that if you keep telling a child of 3 that “you are going to fall,” and if you repeat it often and convincingly enough, the child is going to trip and fall.

Lee has made a movie about a remarkable man and his quest for truth, depicting his journey of evolution from a childhood permeated by white hatred to a life and a message about love, hope and humanity.

Why not expect that this film would signal an awakening, perhaps cause an outbreak of respect between human beings and a newborn realization that life can change? Or is that not news on the media’s terms?

MARIANNE RUUTH

Los Angeles