Chi-Raq Page #2

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What are you looking at?

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing!

Somewhere in the world

A boy or girl is being

buried by their mother

- Somewhere in the world...

- What's up, baby?

- Morning, tootie!

- Hey, hey!

There is violence,

brother against brother

Do your dance,

get in your zone...

Hey, Lysistrata!

What it do?

What's up, Spinna?

Do your dance,

get in your zone...

Wake up!

Hey, Dolmedes!

Welcome to Chi-Raq,

the land of pain,

misery, and strife.

Folks, our Windy City

been filleted

with a king-size

butcher knife.

Like a monster from outer space,

the great state of Drillanois

has been hit by a murderous,

big-ass killeroid.

And that's real sh*t,

where the big moneymaker

is the black suit undertaker.

But don't pity our pain.

Might ain't always right,

ain't you heard?

And this coming

from a natural man.

Baby, you've come

face-to-face

with the super bad

Mr. Dolmedes.

My black ass was on

the first box of Wheaties.

I was raised up

in a pail of rusted nails,

ran buck naked through

golf ball-sized hail,

was weaned on Thunderbird

from my mama's titty.

Kicked ass from coast to coast

till both shoe toes were shitty.

Chewed up electric lines

and pissed out lightning bolts.

Hit Godzilla so hard,

it gave Mothra's daddy a jolt.

Sank the Titanic

with a frozen turd,

then won 10 Grammys

and didn't sing or rap

one goddamn motherfucking word.

Now, I told you about the Signifying

Monkey and rapped about shine,

but this here tale of two cities

is one of a kind.

It all started with

a gorgeous Nubian sister.

Baby so fine,

she made George Zimmerman

and Darren Wilson

wanna kiss her.

As tough as Coffy

and sexy as Foxy Brown.

Hell, Beyonc Knowles

herself even had to bow down.

They call her Lysistrata,

a woman like no other.

This chocolate brown sister

was finer than a motherf***er.

She could put fear

in a pit bull,

made Bruce Lee flee,

knocked out Frazier and Ali,

then ran Money Mayweather

up a sycamore tree.

With a mind like Einstein

- and a truly...

- Yo, what's up, girl?

...luscious behind,

that gal put

gap-goody hurting

on all mankind.

Drive-by.

Spartans and Trojans beefing.

Little girl, Patti,

wrong place, wrong time.

Messed up.

Barbara, you see the shooter?

Behind the yellow tape.

Know what I'm saying?

Behind the yellow tape.

Oh, boy.

Somebody called me to tell me...

- Ma'am, please.

- What happened?

- What's going on?

- Ma'am.

My baby.

That's my baby.

Ma'am, please.

Is that my...

- Is that... what happened?

- Ma'am...

You have to go

down to the morgue

for identification, ma'am.

But that's my baby.

Is that my...

- Patti!

- You can't cross the line, ma'am.

Please.

Did y'all see something?

You ain't seen nothing?

Ain't nobody out here

seen nothing?

And I can't even get

to my own child!

- I'm sorry, ma'am.

- What happened? Don't touch me!

You don't even deserve

to look at my child's body

laying right there

on this ground!

None of you!

You gonna get

your day, Lysistrata.

You and your damn boyfriend.

You got what's coming.

I want you to look at her.

Look at her right there.

That's a seven...

a little baby!

A baby!

A baby.

I can't take this no more.

Your daughter's in heaven.

Because it could be you next time!

Will you be standing

around looking then?

This nothing has nowhere to go.

Welcome to my home.

Come on in.

Come on.

Why don't you move

in with that boy of yours,

Machine Gun Kelly?

Wouldn't be safe.

I suppose he'll be gunning

for who set that fire.

Y'all make my tired ass tired.

There are children here

in Englewood.

Does that mean anything to you?

Running up the street,

shooting and killing.

Do you care at all?

- Maybe I should leave.

- No. Sit.

Stay.

You're gonna deal

with this today.

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.

All you can do is create

an environment for change.

Like an alcoholic,

you take away his booze.

You just try

taking away their guns.

All right, well,

what else do they love?

Uh... getting turnt up,

making money.

What else?

Um...

Yeah, well.

Mm-hmm.

Pick up your phone.

"Leymah Roberta Gbowee

is a Liberian peace activist

responsible for leading

a women's peace movement

that helped bring an end

to the second

Liberian civil war in 2003."

You go and do it.

Oh, Lord

Through the pain,

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