--- title: Spike Lee Wants BlacKkKlansman to Wake America Up description: It’s a picture-perfect day on Martha’s Vineyard. Families stream by on a heavily foot-trafficked thoroughfare, while white men in cargo shorts dock their boats and... canonical: https://time.com/5362260/spike-lee-2/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-09T10:49:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-26T20:11:58.256Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Spike Lee Wants BlacKkKlansman to Wake America Up og:description: It’s a picture-perfect day on Martha’s Vineyard. Families stream by on a heavily foot-trafficked thoroughfare, while white men in cargo shorts dock their boats and... og:url: https://time.com/5362260/spike-lee-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a99f3ff7eb3a277/69893752fb4eac500b897515/spike-lee-blackkklansman-adam-driver-john-david-washington.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: spike-lee-blackkklansman-adam-driver-john-david-washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Spike Lee Wants BlacKkKlansman to Wake America Up twitter:description: It’s a picture-perfect day on Martha’s Vineyard. Families stream by on a heavily foot-trafficked thoroughfare, while white men in cargo shorts dock their boats and... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a99f3ff7eb3a277/69893752fb4eac500b897515/spike-lee-blackkklansman-adam-driver-john-david-washington.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Spike Lee Wants _BlacKkKlansman_ to Wake America Up (9 Aug 2018) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 9, 2018 10:49 AM UTC  Adam Driver, left, with John David Washington, whom Lee has known his whole life: “I didn’t have him audition,” Lee says Adam Driver, left, with John David Washington, whom Lee has known his whole life: “I didn’t have him audition,” Lee saysDavid Lee—Focus Features by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 9, 2018 10:49 AM UTC It’s a picture-perfect day on Martha’s Vineyard. Families stream by on a heavily foot-trafficked thoroughfare, while white men in cargo shorts dock their boats and crack open their beers. In the middle of it all is Spike Lee, sitting on a bench, delivering an earful of Saturday-afternoon real talk. “Agent Orange is in office,” he says. “If this isn’t a motivation to get off our asses and register to vote, I don’t know what is.” It soon becomes clear why Lee picked this spot. He wants to talk about President Trump and Barack Obama and Colin Kaepernick and the Ku Klux Klan. But why do that in private when you could do it loudly, outside, for everyone to hear? _Read the full cover story_ [_here_](http://time.com/longform/blackkklansman-spike-lee/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5362260/spike-lee-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5362260/spike-lee-2/"},"headline":"Spike Lee Wants BlacKkKlansman to Wake America Up (9 Aug 2018)","datePublished":"2018-08-09T10:49:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-26T20:11:58.256Z","description":"It’s a picture-perfect day on Martha’s Vineyard. 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