The Rolling Stone interviews - Jann Wenner [122]
We had eight lovely, passive, status quo, don’t-make-noises years with Ronald Reagan. The fights I had with my mother! “Don’t you dare say a word against our president!” she’d say to me. She’s now ninety-one years old—God bless her!—and she’s still bright and witty. She doesn’t like the family name being dragged in the mud; and when she saw my name in the newspaper every day regarding my refusal to attend the White House luncheon awards ceremony given by Bush (or the Frohnmayer dinner), she’d call me up to say, “You’re on the front page of the New York Times.” And I’d say, “Hold your water, baby: I was also on the front page of the Washington Post.” And she’d exclaim, “Well, that’s horrible!” So I informed her that some of my most conservative Midwestern friends sent me congratulatory messages . . . people who voted for Reagan!
We now have a black governor in Virginia, the right governor in New Jersey and Dinkins in New York City. That’s terrific! In the past I’ve met and argued, in pessimistic fashion, with Helmut Schmidt, Ted Heath and François Mitterrand about the mindlessness, carelessness and heedlessness of the Reagans of the world. But I think there’s a turnaround coming—look at what’s happening around the world from Central Europe and South Africa to Haiti. And I’m looking forward to Jesse Helms being routed in the near future.
People like William Buckley Jr., William Safire and George Will think of me as a kind of “liberal” fool. Basically, a liberal is a progressive who wants to see the world change and not just remain stuck in the status quo. So, yes, I’m a liberal, but one who believes in people, not in some “thing.” And I’ve never felt more strength and confidence.
What you call “liberal” was once termed “radical chic” by Tom Wolfe in his infamous article about the party you gave in 1970 to raise money for the Black Panthers.
Wrong on all counts! What happened is that my wife hosted a meeting in our New York City apartment for the American Civil Liberties Union in connection with its defense of thirteen Black Panthers who, at the time, were imprisoned in the Tombs without the right of due process. At our reception were one Black Panther and two pregnant Black Panther wives; and Felicia gave the reception in order to raise contributions for the ACLU defense fund and to allow invited friends of ours to ask questions. My wife had requested that the press not cover this event; and Charlotte Curtis—then the editor of the women’s page of the New York Times—arrived (simply as an individual, we thought), accompanied by a young friend of hers in a white suit. He turned out to be Tom Wolfe. So what am I to do? You can’t beat the legends. Fortunately, legends eventually die. And maybe I can help this one on its way.
SPIKE LEE
by David Breskin
July 11, 1991
As far as your image, people think of you as a hustler. Now, we know that everybody has to hustle to make it as an artist. . . .
Do people accuse Madonna of hustling? I’m asking.
It’s got a different spin with you. In other cases, it’s “So-and-so is hard-working,” but with you it’s—
Self-promotion.
Are you conscious of that?
Look, I know there are two sets of rules. So, that’s just the way it is. I just have to keep doing what I do best—and know what I have to do—and pursue that. I can’t let other people dictate the agenda.
Do you still see your function as a filmmaker as one of “shedding light on problems” so they can get discussed and understood?
Not every film. It depends on the subject matter. I think we start to get in trouble if we expect the artist to have answers all the time. For instance, School Daze was the examination of petty, superficial differences that still keep black people apart. To me, we black people are the most ununified people on the face of the earth.
The same differentiations exist within a lot of cultures.
Yeah, but they ain’t in the shape that we’re in. We don’t have the same liberties as other people.
There’s a tension, maybe a