Spike Lee gave several interviews where he discussed this unsolved scene when Mookie throws the garbage can through the window. The director remains pessimistic about the future of racism at the time of the movie’s release and even thirty years later. He discloses only white people asked him this question about the garbage can. Lee reveals how he was criticized for providing no answers on racism in the United States and the answer to Mookie’s decision to throw the garbage can. Lee did not provide any answers for improving the living conditions of many Black Americans because even thirty years later, the Americans did not give any answers either.
Mookie threw a trash can through the window as a reaction to watching his friend being killed by “New York City’s finest.” However, he could not break the window at first, which symbolized the Black population’s strengths and how unbreakable it truly is. Also, by screaming “Hate!” Mookie concluded how it wins over love in both the movie and the society that chooses violence over peace. In the United States, racism is still seeping to the surface.