Vandals Hit Spike Lee’s Old Block After Gentrification Rant

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Director Spike Lee isn’t the only one who’s angry. CNN reports that just days after the filmmaker’s expletive-filled rail against gentrification in his old neighborhood, vandals hit his father’s home and shattered the front door of the neighbor’s home on Washington Park in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, N.Y.

"Do the Right Thing," the title of Lee's 1989 film about racial tension in Brooklyn, was spray-painted on the wall of the neighbor’s home, along with the Circle-A, the symbol for anarchy, the report says.

Dianne Mackenzie, who has lived in the neighborhood for 17 years, told CNN that she discovered the vandalism at her home Friday morning. She expressed concern that the attack was connected to Lee's now-infamous anti-gentrification rant during an African-American History Month lecture on Tuesday.

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"All I know is that he made a lot of comments that went viral, the next day my house is vandalized," Mackenzie told CNN. "There is probably some kind of connection in the mind of whoever did this … There is no reasonable reason for it. If this person has got something to say, fine say it. Don't damage my property."

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But Arnold Lee, who lives with his father, defended his half-brother's right to complain about gentrification. He, however, said that he wishes Lee had not mentioned the family's home.

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