Spike Lee thinks ''racism and hatred is learned''.

The 63-year-old director believes it's important to teach children ''peace and love at a very early age'' because he doesn't think anyone is born with racist ideas in their mind.

Spike - who has Satchel, 25, and Jackson, 23, with his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee - said: ''No embryo is racist. No human being that's being formed in their mother's stomach is full of hatred.

''The moment that child pops out - excuse the terminology, I've been there with two of my own children and they just popped out, hahaha! - they learn from their parents the good and the bad.

''Racism and hatred is learned; you're not born with it. So, I agree. Let's start teaching our children peace and love at a very early age.''

Many of Spike's most acclaimed films have focused on the issue of race relations.

And the director thinks the widespread use of camera-phones has helped to bring a lot of problems to light in recent years.

He told the Guardian newspaper: ''What's made it worse for me is the camera-phones.

''Before, you just read articles about it. Now, you are seeing these horrific murders. That makes all the difference in the world.

''The image of king George Floyd being suffocated for the last eight-and-a-half minutes of his life went global and that is why we've had marches globally.

''People round the world saw a human being with this cop's knee pressed against our brother's neck, crying out for his deceased mother. You know what? As he was dying, I believe he saw his mother. His mother came to him in his last breaths.

''That image hit people's hearts all round the world and that's why people took to the streets in England. Get a globe, spin it and, wherever you stop, there's a good chance people were marching.''