Chi-Raq Page #4

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You don't have any family?

No, ma'am.

I'm an orphan.

My moms put me up

for adoption at birth.

I grew up moving from one

group home to another.

Hmm.

Lord help you, child.

Where's your flat-screen?

Malcolm X once said

the best way to hide

something from Negroes

is to put it in a book.

Well, I can dig it, Miss Helen.

You sure got mad books.

Books are my life.

My life for books.

You always live here?

No. I lived in Cabrini-Green

back when it was clean,

before they knocked it down.

Oh, a lot of black folk

got gentrified across town.

- Who's this?

- My daughter Pam.

- Let me guess. 10?

- That's right.

Fifth grade class picture.

Girl, come away

from that window.

- Hurry.

- It's Chi-Raq.

Oh, my God!

Chi-Raq.

I hate that name.

It's not who we are.

Chicago always been

a straight up gangsta town.

We are not Chi-Raq.

So what you call

all these shootings?

Crime?

Doing time?

It's not just about Chicago.

What about Bodymore, Murderland?

Killa-delphia,

City of Brotherly Murder?

Bucktown...

Brooklyn, New York.

So many people getting shot,

hospital's going broke.

I mean, you got to get

on the E-way.

People dying en route.

They can't even file a lawsuit.

I mean, there still ain't no trauma

centers here on the South Side.

There was a time in the

summer when it got hot.

Your child could go outside

and play and not get shot.

- Oh, I don't remember that time.

- It existed.

I'm sorry, Miss Helen,

but it's a war zone out here.

The US spends money

on the Iraqi people,

to train them, govern them,

help them build an economy...

billions and billions

in dollars.

The Afghan people, too.

They don't do economic development

like that here on the South Side.

See, Americans like war.

They like guns.

- Fun and games.

- Fun and games?

Ask the parents at Sandy Hook.

When they murder white babies

and things don't change,

saving black life

is way out of range.

I keep thinking about that

mother that lost her child.

You should.

- This boy you with.

- Chi-Raq?

- What?

- That's what they call him.

Wait a minute, now.

Hold on.

They call him Chi-Raq?

Yes, ma'am.

Lord, have mercy!

He's a rapper.

I mean, gonna be

big-time famous.

You really never heard of him?

I heard he was a leader

in this gang mess, girl.

Whoa, Miss Helen, now,

they don't say "gang" anymore.

They say "organization."

What is his real name?

His government name?

Nah.

Demetrius.

Demetrius Dupree.

Demetrius Dupree.

His father?

All Chi's told me

is that he died in prison.

He's got a good heart

deep down inside.

I love him.

I can change Chi.

Darling,

people change when

they decide to change.

You make it sound so easy.

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