Rep. Davis Turns Thumbs Down on Name ‘Chiraq’
By Chinta Strausberg
Weighing in on the controversy surrounding actor/producer Spike Lee, Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-7th) Thursday said there is much more to ending violence than to name a film “Chiraq.”
Reached in Washington, D.C., Davis said, “I think it is much more to stopping genocide than that. I think Chicago is mischaracterized a great deal. No one talks about the very high level of poverty that exist in Chicago among some population groups especially African Americans,†said Davis.
“There are a lot of poor people in Chicago, disadvantaged people in Chicago, uneducated people in Chicago, undereducated people in Chicago, out-of-work people in Chicago. The unemployment in my congressional district among blacks is 25 percent.
“If something talks about how we go about changing some of these conditions that exist, then I support it, but if all it does is to point out the consequences of poverty and the disadvantaged, I think we already know that.
“I am not interested in being handed a regurgitation of what we know about but rather how we change it, how we go about promoting a different level of equity, of opportunity.â€
Rep. Davis gave some examples like “How do we get rid of law enforcement misconduct, police brutality, those are discussions I have. I would be interested seeing a movie about that, but a recapitulation of the negative aspects along these unfortunate circumstances does not appeal that much to me:
When asked if he wants Lee to change the name of the movie, Davis said, “Hard-working people are trying to survive, get them educated and a decent way of living. If that is Chiraq, I can go with that, but I got a feeling that will not be the focus of it. I don’t have a problem of changing the name of it. I don’t know that much about it. I don’t know what it is designed to be.â€
When asked if you would like to meet with Spike Lee, Rep. Davis said, “I am not in pursuit in meeting with him but if I had an opportunity to meet with him, I would be eager to do that.”
Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.
