Diversity has never been one of Salt Lake City’s selling points—although only about 66 percent of he city is white. Just under two percent is black. The rest of the city is a mix of Hispanic or Latino, Asian, native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and other ethnicities.
We’re not as white as people think. But our image is pretty snowy.
So many of of us took the recent widespread protests about the murder of George Floyd as a good thing, a sign of civic empathy.
And that’s how Spike Lee saw it. In a recent interview with Associated Press, the outspoken and often controversial director said, “I’ve been very encouraged by the diversity of the protesters. I haven’t seen this diverse protests since when I was a kid,” Lee said.
“I’m encouraged that my white sisters and brothers are out there. That is the hope of this country, this diverse, younger generation of Americans who don’t want to perpetuate the same (expletive) that their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents got caught up in. That’s my hope.”
“My young white sisters and brothers are out there in the streets. How many black folks are in Salt Lake City, Utah? And let’s take into account that the NBA is not playing. The Utah Jazz are not playing!”
Lee was speaking Monday on the occasion of the release of his short film titled “3 Brothers” connecting the death of Radio Raheem in “Do the Right Thing” to the deaths of Eric Garner and George Floyd.
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