Is it always right to take the high road?

Spike closes the end of Do the Right Thing with a quite by Malcolm X that states, "I have to preserve the right to do what is necessary to bring an end to that situation, and it doesn’t mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don’t even call it violence when it’s self-defense, I call it intelligence.".  This quote connects on a very strong level to the story.  In this quote Malcom X is stating his belief that violence is a very intelligent strategy and method of self-defense.  This belief connects to the the beliefs of Buggin' Out throughout Do the Right Thing and his self-defense against racial prejudice.  Malcom X states that he doesn't necessarily support violence, but he will not be afraid to use it if he needs to defend himself and will use it to do whatever it takes to end a poor situation.  At the end of the play when Radio Raheem was killed, the mob saw this as an act of racism and lashed out trashing the entire pizzeria. This showed violence in attempt to self defend.

Spike also closes the end of Doing the Right Thing with a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. which states "Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers."  In this quote, Martin Luther is trying to get the message across that violence is not the answer nor the way to fix something that is unjust.  In other words, Martin Luther's messages would be to "do the right thing".  Radio Raheem did the right thing when Sal yelled at him to turn off the music in his restaurant.  Radio Raheem obliged without starting trouble with Sal. Another scenario that resembled the idea of peace not violence was when Buggin Out' let Clinton go without starting trouble with him after he had messed up his brand new expensive sneakers and did not apologize. These scenarios resembled Martin Luther's message of how hatred can not be fixed with more hate, only love.