Anyone worried that the Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. proposed rate hike will result in a lack of air conditioning this summer should watch Spike Lee?s 1989 movie “Do the Right Thing.”
In the movie, the residents of a Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood are without air conditioning on the hottest day of the year.
This leads to a variety of interesting situations. The neighborhood drunk, Da Mayor, sleeps with a miniature fan approximately two inches from his nose.
Mookie, a pizza-delivery boy, cools his girlfriend down with ice cubes.
But the unmitigated heat leads to tension as well. A white man driving a convertible through the neighborhood is soaked wet by black teenagers who have popped off the seal of a fire hydrant.
And, regrettably, there?s the pizza store, run by Sal, and his sons Vito and Pino. If you?ve seen the movie, you remember that the restaurant is destroyed by fire: Afterward, a mentally retarded man posts photos of Malcolm X and MLK Jr. on the charred wall.
In “Do the Right Thing,” whites yell at blacks, blacks yell at whites. Puerto Ricans threaten a black man and Koreans defend their turf.
Like in Brooklyn, the streets in Baltimore tell a story of race, class and lack of money. Who knows what will happen with the BGE proposed rate hike, and other issues that were debated in the most recent legislative session?
Let?s just hope that whatever happens, we do the right thing and keep the jokes flowing until tomorrow.
Dan Kennedy teaches high school English in the Baltimore City Schools. Comments, suggestions, and story ideas can be e-mailed to [email protected].
