Spike Lee's CHIRAQ trailer

[Coromanti]

 

Looks accurate to me.
All them "Drill Rappers" are some clowns anyway, so its only fitting that NC portrays them in a movie.

As far as the other issues like racism and gentrification, and lack of resources and education for the youth go, its not like these same problems dont exist literally everywhere else.
Besides:
racism is NOT a good reason why young blacks should be killing each other
gentrification is NOT a good reason for young blacks to be killing each other
lack of resources is NOT a good reason for young blacks to be killing each other and
lack of education is NOT a good reason for young blacks to be killing each other.

Those are not reasons for the violence they are EXCUSES for it.

All of these things were present before and during the Civil rights movement, in greater abundance, and it did not stop them from changing the entire country and in fact the world.
No one is gonna tell me that it cant be done in ONE city.

The only difference between now and then is that back then people made up their mind that they wanted a change and banded TOGETHER to make it happen.
Today black people would rather kill each other than to band together.
Unless of course its about a white cop killing a black man or woman. Only then do we exhibit A1 organizational skills to make positive changes.

I disagree.

The difference to me is there were fathers in the home, the father is the pillar of the black family, the systemic removal of that pillar was done to engineer the collapse we have witnessed.

Systemic removal?

Engineer?

Do we as black people not have any agency in our actions? Is it really all the white mans fault?

Do you not believe in personal responsibility and accountability?

 

[rico x hood]

Systemic removal?
Engineer?

Do we as black people not have any agency in our actions? Is it really all the white mans fault?
Do you not believe in personal responsibility and accountability?

Repped.

 

[pretty tony]

Systemic removal?
Engineer?

Do we as black people not have any agency in our actions? Is it really all the white mans fault?
Do you not believe in personal responsibility and accountability?

Im seriously tired of people who don't understand the central root cause to our experience on this land.

If you remove a people from their land, enslave them, remove them from their spirituality via fear based trauma, and then demonize their spirituality as "evil"...for CENTURIES...and then "free" them into a society that was not built with them in mind, how can you not recognize the domino effect from these atrocities?

How the **** can we sit up here and talk about personal accountability when 85% of us don't even know who the hell we are and came up in a ******** education system that brainwashes us into believing our history starts with slavery?

We are a fractured people. I can't sit and point the finger and blame my brothers and sisters for incarnating into a an existence that they did not choose or are consciously aware of how these circumstances came to be. Especially when they are still under the spell of a systematic attack via the government and media... to prevent them from waking up.

This doesn't have **** to with "blaming the white man". The ones of us who are elightened and know the truth should be connecting to return us to being gods instead of shaming the ones who DONT KNOW that they are gods.

 

[lstylez23]

Ish look trash b

 

[monstar]

Systemic removal?
Engineer?

Do we as black people not have any agency in our actions? Is it really all the white mans fault?
Do you not believe in personal responsibility and accountability?

I believe that we have choices, and should be held accountable for what takes place. But dont sit there and act like that you as a black person were born with the same opportunities and resources as your non-black piers. If you truly think that, something is wrong

 

[luckyluchiano]

I believe that we have choices, and should be held accountable for what takes place. But dont sit there and act like that you as a black person were born with the same opportunities and resources as your non-black piers. If you truly think that, something is wrong

Lol not sure why you bother arguing with those guys. They are lost, ignore them, they serve no purpose but to waste your time.

 

[monstar]

Lol not sure why you bother arguing with those guys. They are lost, ignore them, they serve no purpose but to waste your time.

True,

but on a side note. the trailer is supposed to be what sets the tone of the movie and what should draw me to want to see it

after seeing that, I have no desire to see it.

 

[Coromanti]

 

Systemic removal?
Engineer?

Do we as black people not have any agency in our actions? Is it really all the white mans fault?
Do you not believe in personal responsibility and accountability?

Im seriously tired of people who don't understand the central root cause to our experience on this land.

If you remove a people from their land, enslave them, remove them from their spirituality via fear based trauma, and then demonize their spirituality as "evil"...for CENTURIES...and then "free" them into a society that was not built with them in mind, how can you not recognize the domino effect from these atrocities?

How the **** can we sit up here and talk about personal accountability when 85% of us don't even know who the hell we are and came up in a ******** education system that brainwashes us into believing our history starts with slavery?

We are a fractured people. I can't sit and point the finger and blame my brothers and sisters for incarnating into a an existence that they did not choose or are consciously aware of how these circumstances came to be. Especially when they are still under the spell of a systematic attack via the government and media... to prevent them from waking up.

This doesn't have **** to with "blaming the white man". The ones of us who are elightened and know the truth should be connecting to return us to being gods instead of shaming the ones who DONT KNOW that they are gods.

 

Systemic removal?
Engineer?

Do we as black people not have any agency in our actions? Is it really all the white mans fault?
Do you not believe in personal responsibility and accountability?

I believe that we have choices, and should be held accountable for what takes place. But dont sit there and act like that you as a black person were born with the same opportunities and resources as your non-black piers. If you truly think that, something is wrong

 

I believe that we have choices, and should be held accountable for what takes place. But dont sit there and act like that you as a black person were born with the same opportunities and resources as your non-black piers. If you truly think that, something is wrong

Lol not sure why you bother arguing with those guys. They are lost, ignore them, they serve no purpose but to waste your time.

I do recognize all what your saying.

I come from less advantages than many of you.

My family came from less than most people in here.

Kingston, Jamaica & Georgetown, Guyana...more poverty than any of you have ever seen or known.

Chicago x1000.

So for them to come to the USA, with no money and nothing but an address in their pocket, get educated, and make it to the middle class, and still not have any idea of where they truly come from, says to me that the white man has nothing to do with it.

EDIT:

My dad isn't even a citizen. He can't vote, he has no power to affect change. And yet he still made it.

 

[lamekilla]

Whoever said Spike wished he directed "Dear White People" was on point. They even got the same bougie black chick from Survivors Remorse and DWP in this film. I wanna see this film cause it seems like it's gonna have some deep themes in it similar to Bamboozled. The odd trailer is to detract from the underlying meaning bases on Spikes other films. Lookin forward to it...


But if this is wack Spike gonna have to go back to doing 2K games

 

[mr s j king]

I remember a time when if someone didn't understand something they would ask questions.
Nowadays when people don't understand something they just start doin' a whole bunch of hatin.

 

[bartstar]

 
I do recognize all what your saying.

However I don't sit here complaining about it.

My family came from less than most people in here.

Kingston, Jamaica & Georgetown, Guyana...more poverty than any of you have ever seen or known.

Chicago x1000.

So for them to come to the USA, with no money and nothing but an address in their pocket, get educated, and make it to the middle class, and still not have any idea of where they truly come from, says to me that the white man has nothing to do with it.

 

[Coromanti]

 

 
I do recognize all what your saying.

However I don't sit here complaining about it.

My family came from less than most people in here.

Kingston, Jamaica & Georgetown, Guyana...more poverty than any of you have ever seen or known.

Chicago x1000.

So for them to come to the USA, with no money and nothing but an address in their pocket, get educated, and make it to the middle class, and still not have any idea of where they truly come from, says to me that the white man has nothing to do with it.

I'm not trying to downplay the massive impact slavery and continued racism has had on black people in the US.

However I'm merely saying the system is very beatable.

That being said, I have no intention of living in this country after I turn 31.

 

[trasoul82]

^ The worst way to celebrate being an exception is to pretend that you are the rule.

 

[Coromanti]

^ The worst way to celebrate being an exception is to pretend that you are the rule.

Im not pretending or celebrating. It is my experience and the experience of many of my friends who share a similar background as I do.

I've seen it too many times to know it is not impossible.

It is very difficult, especially, as immigrants, but not impossible.

 

[rico x hood]

Im not pretending or celebrating. It is my experience and the experience of many of my friends who share a similar background as I do.
I've seen it too many times to know it is not impossible.
It is very difficult, especially, as immigrants, but not impossible.

Repped.

 

[trasoul82]

^ The worst way to celebrate being an exception is to pretend that you are the rule.

Im not pretending or celebrating. It is my experience and the experience of many of my friends who share a similar background as I do.
I've seen it too many times to know it is not impossible.
It is very difficult, especially, as immigrants, but not impossible.

You literally just went from saying that the system is 'very beatable' to saying that making it is 'very difficult.'

Beyond that, you keep bringing up "immigrants" as having the worst hand in the american experience as if it's some absolute truth. It's not. You ever heard of cointelpro? Voluntary immigrants don't have government programs specifically designed to set a large part of them back... that we know of, at least.

 

[therealrell]

I do recognize all what your saying.
I come from less advantages than many of you.
My family came from less than most people in here.
Kingston, Jamaica & Georgetown, Guyana...more poverty than any of you have ever seen or known.
Chicago x1000.
So for them to come to the USA, with no money and nothing but an address in their pocket, get educated, and make it to the middle class, and still not have any idea of where they truly come from, says to me that the white man has nothing to do with it.

EDIT:
My dad isn't even a citizen. He can't vote, he has no power to affect change. And yet he still made it.

These threads aren't complete without an immigrant tossing aside the injustices that Black people have faced here because they didn't grow up in a third world hellhole.

 

[Chiron]

 
Im not pretending or celebrating. It is my experience and the experience of many of my friends who share a similar background as I do.

I've seen it too many times to know it is not impossible.

It is very difficult, especially, as immigrants, but not impossible.

I had a long angry rant but theres no point...

The fact the you came from another place with a real culture and national identity AND you have a choice to go back to that place and feel a sense of worth is an advantage in itself. If you cant see that, you wont understand the black american struggle. It isn't about coming from a poor background. Its about being taught and socialized that poor is who we are.

You praise your parents success and cite where they came from as an obstacle, but also as a sense of pride.

Kids in Chiraq couldn't get any sense of pride saying they made it out of Chicago because they dont have any real cultural ties to the land. Chiraq is a nation created to adopted these children with no national identity. Blacks will never really be African American. They are neither african, nor american. 

 

[monstar]

name="Don Adidada" url="/t/638979/spike-lees-chiraq-trailer/150#post_24485965"


I do recognize all what your saying.
I come from less advantages than many of you.
My family came from less than most people in here.
Kingston, Jamaica & Georgetown, Guyana...more poverty than any of you have ever seen or known.
Chicago x1000.
So for them to come to the USA, with no money and nothing but an address in their pocket, get educated, and make it to the middle class, and still not have any idea of where they truly come from, says to me that the white man has nothing to do with it.

EDIT:
My dad isn't even a citizen. He can't vote, he has no power to affect change. And yet he still made it.

I myself am half west indian and i get what your saying about coming from poverty, thats what my family dealt with when they came through Ellis island from jamaica and barbados. And i can see the differences in my families but it is crazy for you to act like every child comes home to a positive environment of do better be all you can be.

African american is not the same as a west indian or african. And it is crazy to think that your experience is the same as everyone else.

Great yournparents made it but at the same time u have to understand that slavery ended in the west indies long before it did in the us. And in most cases black people were the majority.

 

[monstar]

These threads aren't complete without an immigrant tossing aside the injustices that Black people have faced here because they didn't grow up in a third world hellhole.

Couldnt agree more and it really pisses me off when immigrants have this elevated view

 

[Coromanti]

 

 
Im not pretending or celebrating. It is my experience and the experience of many of my friends who share a similar background as I do.

I've seen it too many times to know it is not impossible.

It is very difficult, especially, as immigrants, but not impossible.

I had a long angry rant but theres no point...

The fact the you came from another place with a real culture and national identity AND you have a choice to go back to that place and feel a sense of worth is an advantage in itself. If you cant see that, you wont understand the black american struggle. It isn't about coming from a poor background. Its about being taught and socialized that poor is who we are.

You praise your parents success and cite where they came from as an obstacle, but also as a sense of pride.

Kids in Chiraq couldn't get any sense of pride saying they made it out of Chicago because they dont have any real cultural ties to the land. Chiraq is a nation created to adopted these children with no national identity. Blacks will never really be African American. They are neither african, nor american. 

What're you talking about! African/Black American culture is vibrant and forever creative.

From your food to your music to your religion, to your shared values....thats what makes a nation (in the poli sci context at least). Now you don't have a state or country of your own but you guys have just about everything any culture needs to be considered a nation. And the fact that it endures despite the continual oppression speaks highly of your resiliency and strength.

The one thing you guys haven't dont that other groups have done is be insular. Perhaps that comes out of being forced to be insular for so long due to segregation but if blacks kept mainting and buying within their communities after the fall of segretion (in name only i suppose) it would be a very different situation today. Also an idea i've had thats crazy would be if every black person moved to a few states in the south where concentrations are already at their highest (since no state is more than 40% black). Then there would be overwhelming majorities that could create sort of black political and economic paradises.

 

[jaysrcrak]

Im sorry but we have got to stop with the F ****** excuses!
Dudes in here talmbout the effects of slavery on the modern black man. I overstand all of that.
But as a black man I wonder, how long are we gonna say " but but but slavery, and the systemic oppression of my people because of slavery?"

We, as modern black men have known our entire lives about the disadvantages we face in a society, built to oppress us.
The fact that that system exist should not be enough to discourage us from at least trying to overcome

Some of you dudes 10 years later still gone be talmbout but but slavery and "the system". 20 years later...30 years later... Some of yall gone look up and be 50 still talmbout " but the system".

What Im saying is, if our brothers and sisters could do it back then( for example Black Wall Street in the 1910s and 1920s), at a time when the systemic oppression and racism was a million times worse than it is today then why cant we come together today?

I do agree with @CashBanks about the breaking down of our family structures. It puts us at a disadvantage when we dont have strong male role models to show the young cats how to be a man. But even that is a partially self inflicted wound IMO. (notice the emphasis put on partially)

As far as education goes what can I say? We have mini computers in our pockets but knowledge will only come to those that seek it, and those wise enough to listen when being told.If you put all your energy into watching drill rap videos on Youtube, updating your timeline, and getting the latest scoop on the Kardashians, then how can you even begin to be "woke" by any standard?

If anything that is our main disadvantage. The fact that the mental prisons are so much more elaborate, with enough distractions to keep you locked inside forever.
But even then we could break free. My question is WHY DONT WE?

 

[Chiron]

Im sorry but we have got to stop with the F ****** excuses!
Dudes in here talmbout the effects of slavery on the modern black man. I overstand all of that.
But as a black man I wonder, how long are we gonna say " but but but slavery, and the systemic oppression of my people because of slavery?"

We, as modern black men have known our entire lives about the disadvantages we face in a society, built to oppress us.
The fact that that system exist should not be enough to discourage us from at least trying to overcome

Some of you dudes 10 years later still gone be talmbout but but slavery and "the system". 20 years later...30 years later... Some of yall gone look up and be 50 still talmbout " but the system".

What Im saying is, if our brothers and sisters could do it back then( for example Black Wall Street in the 1910s and 1920s), at a time when the systemic oppression and racism was a million times worse than it is today then why cant we come together today?

I do agree with @CashBanks about the breaking down of our family structures. It puts us at a disadvantage when we dont have strong male role models to show the young cats how to be a man. But even that is a partially self inflicted wound IMO. (notice the emphasis put on partially)

As far as education goes what can I say? We have mini computers in our pockets but knowledge will only come to those that seek it, and those wise enough to listen when being told.If you put all your energy into watching drill rap videos on Youtube, updating your timeline, and getting the latest scoop on the Kardashians, then how can you even begin to be "woke" by any standard?

If anything that is our main disadvantage. The fact that the mental prisons are so much more elaborate, with enough distractions to keep you locked inside forever.
But even then we could break free. My question is WHY DONT WE?

Ehh I'm college educated, have a good job, a nice car, bout to buy a house, due for a promotion, and got a baby on the way to start a family. 

I'm gonna try to do everything I can to build on what opportunities I had and pass them to my child. My parents didn't fall into the streets like many others from Chicago because their parents didn't fall into the streets. My grandparents were strong and proud and strict and educated with a little bit of book smarts and a world of street smarts and connections to black and white affluence, doctors, lawyers, politicians, etc.. My grandmother OWNED her house. That is huge in itself. My dad told me on a weekly basis to "expand your paradigms". He told me focus on my education, career, and assets, in that order and also "don't get involved with no broads who wanna trick you out your trophy". I had a fighting chance at success. Which is another reason this movie is so disgusting. It conveys the message that violence is bad but we can continue to glorify sex and promiscuity which is part of the reason our family unit is trash!

For a long time through my adolescence I resented "ghetto" blacks. Until, I moved to Vegas and then back to Chicago for high school and was mature enough to see the difference in our experience. These Chi-raq gangbangers were born into generations of gangbanging, drugs, welfare, poverty. Many do what they do for two reasons one (ironically) to stay alive and two to put food on the table and live on their terms. They have never seen any positive role models and some have never had the opportunity to leave the city and see the rest how the united states is, except through the internet. And we see what they use their internet for... perpetuating their "culture" .

Blacks in the 10s and 20s, or 60s and 70s, could see the disparity between them and whites, thats why they could band together and try to get those things for themselves. today the lines are blurred. the blacks that we see with things the whites have don't have them because they beat the system. They have them because they were rewarded for being a part of the system. Marketing destructive music. Playing sports for racist team owners. Selling drugs. Twerking. Thats what they've made our culture into something to be commercialized and parodied and laughed at.

YOU CAN'T BREAK FREE IF YOU CANT SEE THE BARRIERS

 

[trasoul82]

Im sorry but we have got to stop with the F ****** excuses!
Dudes in here talmbout the effects of slavery on the modern black man. I overstand all of that.
But as a black man I wonder, how long are we gonna say " but but but slavery, and the systemic oppression of my people because of slavery?"

We, as modern black men have known our entire lives about the disadvantages we face in a society, built to oppress us.
The fact that that system exist should not be enough to discourage us from at least trying to overcome

Some of you dudes 10 years later still gone be talmbout but but slavery and "the system". 20 years later...30 years later... Some of yall gone look up and be 50 still talmbout " but the system".

What Im saying is, if our brothers and sisters could do it back then( for example Black Wall Street in the 1910s and 1920s), at a time when the systemic oppression and racism was a million times worse than it is today then why cant we come together today?

I do agree with @CashBanks about the breaking down of our family structures. It puts us at a disadvantage when we dont have strong male role models to show the young cats how to be a man. But even that is a partially self inflicted wound IMO. (notice the emphasis put on partially)

Black Wall Street worked because of segregation. It's no secret at this point. We were getting strong and that's when means were taken to disrupt Black culture from taking root. I'm still... disappointed that COINTELPRO was a real thing. A documented FBI program that affected (and largely effected) the lives of people you can talk to today.

The unfortunate fact is that there is no true end game when the Black man in America will truly ever be "free." There is no definitive landmark that will represent the day that we're brought into the cozy folds of the american fabric. This is why i can't stand the way MLK is used as some type of triumphant landmark, meanwhile we're still going through it.

A lot of Black people can "make it " and that's wonderful. But at the same damn time most of us clearly won't make it and that's terrible.

We were never part of the long term plan. We have no significant ties to our foundational ancestry. And no one wants to thumb through some old property books trying to figure out lineage from names we never gave ourselves.

I didn't mean to rant. I'm not about to put on a viking costume and preach about melanin deficiency, all I'm saying is recognize that facts are not excuses. It's natural that many people won't look to fondly upon being told to work hard and build wealth that is long overdue. At this point it's every Black man for himself at the cost of any collective culture.

 

[jaysrcrak]

But they do see the barriers.
They rap about it in their garbage *** drill rap videos.

They already know if they sell drugs they more than likely will end up dead or in jail. But what do they do?
Sell drugs anyway thinking "Im smart. I will be the exception to the rule." Fast forward... they locked up or dead.

They already know if they gangbang they will more than likely end up dead or in jail. But what do they do? Bang anyway.
Which is stupid within itself. Bangin is one of THE dumbest, pointless most fruitless activities that a person can ever do.

You grew up seeing your dad bang... he's dead, your brother banged...he's in jail for life, your other brother bangs...he's in a wheelchair, your cousin banged... he's dead;
But yet something about that lifestyle says to them, "yeah, I think I need to bang too". At what point do you just start to call that natural selection? OR insanity.
And that's what you call "being alive" or "living on your own terms"? And Im still trying to figure out how killing each other puts food on the table.

If these dudes spent half the time building the community up as they do destroying it with their ignorance, we would already be halfway there.
After all arent those the principles that the original gangs were founded on in the first place?
If you so about your set, why not learn the history, besides the signs and tags, and get back to those positive roots?

The choices are there, but sadly people choose to ignore them. Its not like the 90s where someone can say "Well he didnt know any better", or "Thats all he grew up around"
Cause in the 90s if you were isolated in the hood you might not know ANYTHING about the world outside of your hood or city.
That excuse in no longer valid. It's 2015 these fools got computers IN THEIR POCKET!. The entire world is connected by social media and a person can see images from anywhere in their palm.
There are plenty of things to aspire to be and its easier than ever to become those things.