Chicago is having royal hissyfits! An upstart black man has dared to rename it "Chiraq".
For Some in Chicago, Spike Lee’s ‘Chiraq’ Has a Title That Rankles
CHICAGO — In his 1914 poem, an admiring Carl Sandburg called Chicago the “City of the Big Shoulders,” a proud label for the working people who called it home. During the winter of the polar vortex 100 years later, as temperatures dipped below zero and bitter winds whipped off Lake Michigan, miserable Chicagoans quipped that they were living in Chiberia.
Now this city is contending with a newer, grimmer label: Chiraq.
A reference to the gun violence that has left parts of Chicago feeling like a war zone to many residents, the name is believed to have been coined by local rappers years ago. But it is taking on another life as the working title of a new Spike Lee movie that is expected to be filmed here this summer.
Mayor Rahm Emmanuel is unhappy about the proposed title. Filmmaker Lee is refusing to be interviewed on the matter, although he did go to Chicago in May to "to try to calm the furor, holding a news conference outside St. Sabina Church on the South Side."
Coverage of Good Father Pfleger, Rector of St. Sabina's and a Lee supporter below the fold:
New York Times:
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, the pastor of St. Sabina, who is known for his emotional sermons and outspoken political views, has lent Mr. Lee office space to use as a home base while in Chicago, he said in an interview.
“I hope the film will face head on this violence that’s really becoming a genocide, and cause us to hold up a mirror to it,” Father Pfleger said. “There’s been a huge amount of controversy and outrage over a movie title. Where is the outrage over the violence? It is unacceptable to me.”
Chicago Tribune:
Lee was in town back in January, apparently conducting research with the help of St. Sabina pastor Rev. Michael Pfleger.
"Thanks to Director/Actor Spike Lee," Pfleger wrote on his Facebook page, "who spent the day at St. Sabina yesterday talking and interviewing....People who cover the violence, Principals who deal with violence in and around their schools, Brothers from the Blocks who live in it every day and Parents who have lost their children to Violence.....He spent the day from early morning till late in the night....listening and asking questions to try and get a deeper understanding of the plague of violence. Thanks Spike for caring and wanting to understand."
Give Good Father Pfleger a like on his
Facebook, please!
And HuffPost has a piece on Pfleger, Catholic Priest Michael Pfleger Slams 'Pure American' Gun Billboard In Chicago.
Ugly billboard. Very ugly.