For his 2018 film BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee has been awarded his first Oscar. Hard to believe, right? He won Best Adapted Screenplay for the film. Before this, he was nominated for Best Original Screenplay (Do the Right Thing) and Best Documentary Feature (4 Little Girls).

BlacKkKlansman was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Director.

In his acceptance speech, he referenced history. “The word today is irony. The date, the twenty-fourth. The month, February, which also happens to be the shortest month of the year, which also happens to be Black History Month. The year, 2019. The year, 1619. History, her story. 1619. 2019. Four hundred years, our ancestor was stolen from northern Africa and brought to Jamestown, Virginia. Enslaved. Our ancestors worked the land.”

He then talked about his family, including his grandmother, who “lived to be 100 years young, who was a Spellman college graduate even though her mother was a slave. My grandma, who saved 50 years of social security checks to put her first grandchild—she called me ‘Spikeypoo.’ She put me through Morehouse College and NYU Grad Film. NYU!”

He also aimed at Donald Trump, saying, “Before the world tonight, I give praise to our ancestors who helped build this country into what it was today along with the genocide of its native people. If we all connect with our ancestors, we will have love and wisdom. We will regain our humanity. It will be a powerful moment.” He said that 2020 is “around the corner.  Let us all mobilize.  Let us all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate…Let’s do the right thing! You know I had to get that in there.”

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