anna," legendary filmmaker spike lee knows the only way to control images t control the way it's ma. ays made films his way. i recently sat down with lee at e 14th annual entrepreneurs coerence in detroit for a frank discussion about the struggles he faces making movies. what's wrong with the industry today, the election of president bara obama and why image is so important. let me ask you before you get in-depth with some of the other things. >> when you hea people now talk about iconic, wn you lk back athe breadth of your work, do you see it thaway? >> we still have a lot more work too. no, i haveot stopped. if y counthe documentary films, we've done, like, 24 and you just have to keep going. >> sheldon jackson-lee -- >> what's so nny? >> youll didn't really think itas spike, did you? 1957, atlanta,nd then you moved to new yk city. >> brooklyn, new york. brooklyn. in the house. how much of what we know is a southern young man or are you through and througbrooklyn? >> like most -- not like most, but like a lot of people, african-americans lived i chicago, detroit, new york, summertim

it is my honor to introduce spike lee and patricia arquette. [applause] >> thank you, tim. we have the honor of bestowing the creative coalition spotlight award on dr. james h. billington. in recognition of his commitment to the arts, past and present. >> james hadley billington was sworn in as the librarian of congress september 14, 1987. he is the 13th person to hold the position since the library was established in 1800. since his swearing-in, dr. billington has championed the library's american memory national digital library program, which makes freely available online more than 15.3 million american historical items from the collections of the library and other research institutions. these unique american memory materials and the libraries and other internet services, which include thomas, a congressional data base, the on-line card catalog, exhibitions, information from the u.s. copyright office and a website for children and families called america's library, receive more than 82 million visits, and 626 million page views in the year 2009. throughout dr. billington

[applause] ♪ god bless america ♪ my home sweet home >> hello, i'm howard geinman. >> and i'm spike leein. that was kay smith in 1938 radio premier broadcast of "god bless america." >> in song of myself, walt whitman hoping to avert the civil war wrote, i am large, i contain multitudes. >> and if that doesn't describe of united states of america what does? this country covers miles and multitudes of land and people. >> yet somehow despite the many differences dividing us -- >> religion, income, race. >> the -- >> and what sometimes unite us is a 3d movie featuring tall blue aliens. >> but sometimes opera singer singing "my country tis of thee" in front of the greatest presidents. ♪ my country tis of thee ♪ sweet land of liberty ♪ for thee we sing ♪ ♪ ♪ >> that recording was from a 1939 concert marian anderson gave at the lincoln memorial. >> ironically she was denied permission to perform at constitution hall. constitution hall had a whites-only policy. >> 75,000 people of all races attended the lincoln memorial concert. and if i can depart from the script for just one minute, spike, on