Spike Lee welcomes white support for Black Lives Matter movement

Spike Lee is optimistic about the future of the Black Lives Matter movement because the protests have had such strong support from young white activists.

The Da 5 Bloods director has highlighted police brutality since the early days of his career, including in his 1989 masterpiece Do the Right Thing, which featured one character, Radio Raheem, being killed in a police chokehold.

Speaking on a new episode of Luminary's Black List Podcast, Lee has now revealed that despite many needless deaths of African-Americans in the 30 years since Do the Right Thing's release, he's become more optimistic about the prospect of real change.

"It's never been about how (Black people) respond to it," Lee said, "It's been about how our white sisters and brothers respond to it."

Adding he was pleased to see the number of non-Black people engaging with the issue, Lee exclaimed: "have you been watching CNN like I have? People are marching all over God's Earth chanting, yelling (and) screaming 'Black lives matter,' and they're not Black... That's the big difference."

The sight of white people protesting was very encouraging, the 63-year-old filmmaker continued, "I mean, forget about the rest of the world for a second. White folks are marching in Salt Lake City (and) Des Moines, Iowa, where there ain't no Black folks for a minute."

During the chat, which was reported on by Variety, Lee also addressed the uprise in removals of Confederate symbols that celebrate the slavery-supporting states in the American Civil War, such as flags and statues.

"F**k that flag," he explained. "That flag, to me, (makes me feel) the same way my Jewish brothers and sisters feel about the swastika... And them mother****ing Confederate statues need to come the f**k down."