Okay, look, I don’t have a horse in this race (pun intended 🙂 ), but I’ll just say this:

As a writer and a historian, I think people have the right to tell any story any way they want. And other people have the equal right to publicly criticize that telling, and tell their own stories in defense/offense. And then those stories get criticized. And on and on. And that human beings will have to be smart enough to figure the(ir) truth(s) out for themselves.

So, now that I’ve said that, here’s my opinion of the dust-up:

Spike should kick Eastwood’s old ass for saying he should “shut his face.” Then Spike should shut his face. 🙂

Spike, didn’t Eastwood do a whole World War II film from the point of view of the Japanese? Why should every (white) filmmaker be duty-bound to show Black World War II soldiers in the (white) stories they tell?

If I’m making a historical film, I wouldn’t distort history, but I’d want to focus on the story I’m telling. And if I’m telling a story about Blacks in World War II, I’m not going to worry about showing white people. At all. Unless it’s to show the vicious white racism of the period.

If anything, the lack of Blacks in Hollywood World War II films should emphasize the strict segregation of the U.S. armed forces—and in homefont America!—during that time.  In the future, I hope Black people will produce more “Tuskegee Airmens” that will tell those painful stories as white people laud “The Greatest Generation.”