The film Malcolm X is to Spike Lee’s career what peanut butter is to mafé: an essential ingredient. What is less well known is that this project also served as a pretext for the man who has just been appointed Benin’s ambassador to African Americans to set foot on Senegalese soil and be introduced to Africa… as well as to his own origins.
Wearing a black cap emblazoned with “1619”—a reference to the year the first African slaves arrived in the United States—with a salt-and-pepper beard and a face with “oxymoronic” features that combine joviality and harshness depending on the context: this is how Spike Lee appeared at the opening press conference of the 74th Cannes Film Festival in July 2021. The New York director, the first Black filmmaker to preside over the jury of this prestigious film event, has always placed the condition of Black Americans at the heart of his artistic and political commitment.
“He’s more ‘American ghetto’ than African,” says a well-known Senegalese media personality and US expert, who requested anonymity for “personal reasons.” Yet Spike Lee remains a source of pride on the African continent. Long before Benin made him the figurehead of a platform dedicated to people of African descent wishing to obtain Beninese nationality, officially proposed since the end of 2024, there was Senegal and Cameroon, a country that sometimes likes to be confused with an entire continent. On the sidelines of the opening of the Cannes Film Festival in 2021, Spike Lee was received by the Cameroonian ambassador to France.
Raised in Brooklyn, he long envied his Italian-American friends who returned to their families in Italy every summer. The question of his origins always preoccupied him. In the early 2000s, a DNA test allowed him to trace his lineage: Cameroon and Nigeria on his father’s side, Sierra Leone on his mother’s side, all broken by the slave trade. But long before genetic testing became popular, Spike Lee was already exploring his Senegalese heritage.
Dakar, a Jungle Fever
The country of Teranga has never been more aptly named than under the gaze of Spike Lee, who made it his gateway to the mother continent. In May 1991, his first commercial success, Jungle Fever, was selected at Cannes. After the screening, a question at the press conference focused on… Senegal. “He replied without hesitation: ‘I had the richest experience of my life there,’” recalls Bara Diokhané, a lawyer at the Dakar and New York bars, who was invited that day by the American director.
“To be admitted to the New York Bar, I needed letters of recommendation. Spike Lee provided me with one,” explains the Senegalese lawyer. But their meeting dates back a few years earlier. As part of the Malcolm X project, Spike Lee had learned that Nelson Mandela was planning to visit Senegal, where a large concert was to be held to celebrate his release. Peter Gabriel, Bobby McFerrin, Youssou Ndour, among others, were expected to attend.
“Spike wanted to include Mandela in his film. He contacted me through a mutual acquaintance. I welcomed him to Dakar. For ten days, I contributed to his African education and his reunion with the continent,” says Diokhané. With Mandela’s visit canceled, Spike Lee took the opportunity to discover the country, the filmography of Ousmane Sembène, and the works of Mor Faye, of which he became a collector. He also visited Touba for a very specific reason.
From Touba to Mecca
« As everyone knows, Malcolm X made the pilgrimage to Mecca. For the purposes of the biopic, Spike Lee needed to film in this holy place. However, as he is not Muslim, he was unable to gain access. He was told about the Magal de Touba as a Plan B. His visit to Senegal coincided with Independence Day, and President Abdou Diouf invited him, along with the other artists performing at the concert, to a reception at the palace. It was there that he met the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Dakar, who helped him obtain permission to film in Mecca.
His stay in Dakar also strengthened his professional and personal relationship with Youssou Ndour. “We had already started working together,” recalls Bouba Ndour, the artist’s brother and producer. He sees Spike Lee as a figure of black identity, beyond even their physical resemblance. Arriving in the United States at the time of the release of Do the Right Thing, he remembers a very inspiring man. “The hats that accompanied the song Wooy were born from a visit to Spike’s merchandising store in New York. It became a fashion trend in Senegal.”
A happy coincidence
And what about the name of the production company, Xippi, whose logo featured a large X, at a time when Malcolm X was making waves around the world? “It was a coincidence,” Bouba Ndour insists. “But I told Youssou that the X could be reminiscent of Malcolm X.” The meeting led to the creation of the legendary album New Africa. Spike Lee’s company produced it. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award. The music video for Africa Remember was shot in New York under the supervision of the director, by a South African employee of his company. In Dakar, Spike Lee was full of praise: “Your country is paradise,” he said to Youssou Ndour, admiring the beaches, the sun, the colorful clothes, and the local cuisine. “He often asked us, ‘With a country like this, what are you doing in the United States?’” smiles Bouba Ndour.
For Bara Diokhané, Spike Lee shared our values. « He’s very family-oriented: his sister acts in his films, his brother is a cinematographer, and he’s very close to his grandmother. He has a strong personality, which is necessary to succeed in this industry. “ The director has not forgotten his friends or what Dakar has given him. ”We bumped into each other by chance in New York eight or nine years ago. It was as if we had never been apart. » But his ties with the Ndour family have since weakened. “He loves Africa, yes, but knowing it is another matter. When you claim to be a cultural leader in the United States, you have a duty to collaborate with the major figures of the continent,” Bouba Ndour remarks.
Binary but universal
The anonymous media personality qualifies this statement: “He’s a divisive figure. To say that he loves Africa is too sweeping. His worldview is binary: Black people on one side, white people on the other. It’s not a universal interpretation.”
Bara Diokhané disputes this criticism: “In 25th Hour, for example, there are more white people than black people. It’s reductive to say that. Spike Lee has a strong civic conscience. He has enhanced the image of black men. Being pro-black in a world that has always excluded them is already a universal message.” «
Having gone from the margins to the presidency of the Cannes Film Festival, Spike Lee has benefited from a more favorable context with the Black Lives Matter movement. In the 1990s, denouncing police violence was more isolated than it is today. His voice has remained powerful on these issues.
For Bouba Ndour: “Spike Lee hasn’t changed, it’s the people who have changed. Rodney King was a struggle, George Floyd was a turning point. After the rain comes the sunshine.”
At 68, Spike Lee, author of more than 25 feature films, is now a sage with encyclopedic knowledge, some of which is rooted in Senegal.
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