This Day in History: , 'Do the Right Thing' Is <br />Released in Theaters.<br />June 30, 1989.<br />'Do the Right Thing' is <br />American auteur-director <br />Spike Lee's third film.<br />The film takes place over the course <br />of the hottest day of the year in the <br />Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.<br />It examines racial tensions in <br />the neighborhood that result in the <br />police killing of an unarmed black man.<br />In a scene that has played out <br />countless times since the film was released, <br />the character Radio Raheem is put in <br />a chokehold by police until he suffocates to death.<br />Now considered a seminal <br />American film addressing the issue of race, <br />'Do the Right Thing' was controversial <br />when it was released.<br />Lee was nominated for a <br />Best Original Screenplay Oscar. <br />Danny Aiello was also nominated for <br />Best Supporting Actor
