Tonya Lewis Lee and husband Spike Lee don't talk about 'their secret'

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Speaking of carrying that torch, let’s talk about your latest film, The Watsons Go to Birmingham.

It’s very clear in my mind that there are people who were on the frontlines of the civil rights movement who truly, literally changed the world for me. My education, or my access to opportunity, was changed for the better because of what these people did. Having the opportunity to take a project like, The Watsons Go To Birmingham, that tells a bit of civil rights story through the eyes of an eleven-year-old boy, for young people was something that I was really excited about.

I think it’s really important for young people to know their history, know where they come from, and know the shoulders on which they stand, so that they can understand where we are, and why those of us who are elders are trying to push them to continue to push things further.

I think unfortunately so much of our history is lost and so a lot of us, black and white, don’t understand why we are having the issues that we are having. I hope that The Watsons Go to Birmingham is an opportunity for young people to get a little glimpse of what that’s all about.

Recently on OWN, Oprah Winfrey said that she was coming from a screening of The Butler and some young people in line asked, “Did that really happen?”

Yes, exactly people don’t believe. And it was my parents’ generation. You know, it wasn’t that long ago. My parents grew up in the segregated south. That’s real and that’s how it was.

When you look at the Supreme Court striking down the Voting Rights Act, I think that there are people who really just do not believe, or understand why the Voting Rights Act was enacted in the first place. If you look at what the states are doing, you see that they are trying to pull things back to the way they were back then.

You would think that we would be evolved. By in large, generally, as a population, I think we are evolving. I do think there are enough people out there who still want to keep things the way they used to be, but they are on the losing side of the battle. Ultimately they’re going to lose.

You and Mr. Spike Lee are an incredible model of what a healthy African-American relationship looks like. Are there any tips that you have for long-term love?

Spike and I always joke: People say “what’s your secret,” and we say, “We don’t really talk about it.” We don’t talk about our marriage. We try to keep it to ourselves because marriage is hard. We’ve been married twenty years now, and it’s not an easy institution.

I think forgiveness is one thing. I remember when I was younger, hearing an older, married couple say that, and I didn’t really understand what that meant. I think I understand that a little bit more now. I just think that it’s not easy, and I think you just have to be committed. If you’re committed to it, the days go by and you wake up and you say, “My God, I can’t believe it’s been twenty years.”

Follow Abiola Abrams on Twitter @abiolatv.