Black Teens Say No to Spike Lee and His Hard Liquor Ads

I often speak of the day when director Spike Lee sent my mother a check for $500 for her church back in the 80s.

My mother was the church treasurer and it was her duty to raise funds for repairs. I recall helping my mother draft the letter to Spike Lee. I cautioned her that Spike probably wouldn’t even receive the letter.

So imagine my surprise when I came home from school one day and my mom held up a check for $500, payable to our church from Spike Lee and his 40 Acres and a Mule organization.

Mr. Lee didn’t know us from Adam. My mom didn’t have to do anything for that money except ask him for it.

In fact, of all the public figures that she sent letters to requesting donations, only Spike Lee responded. Lee is well known for his charitable work and generous donations.

But this is different.

A group of Bedford-Stuyvesant teens think think Spike sold out the neighborhood with his Brooklyn-themed Absolut Vodka promo.

“I’ve seen his movies. I was a really big fan. But he lost respect from me,” said Shenel Gunnis, 17.

“You’re not supposed to be promoting stuff like that in areas that can barely afford food.”

She’s one of 10 teens who scoured Bed-Stuy this summer, mapping booze promos for the Children’s Aid Society.

The teens felt Lee was trying to capitalize on borough pride.

“He was targeting us when normally he would make movies that would uplift our community,” said Krystal Chapman, 17, a senior at the High School for Public Service in Crown Heights.

“I think it is hypocritical.”

Amaya Santos, 17, of East Flatbush, counted 28 Absolut ads in the Utica Ave. subway station.

“I thought, ‘Spike Lee, What’s going on here?’ There’s no reason why there should be 28 ads of the same thing in less than a mile,” Santos said.

The teenagers are probably aware of a new study that shows the effects of hard liquor are more deadly than even heroine and crack cocaine. The study included alcohol’s effects on the body as well as on families and on costs in areas such as health care and corrections.