Page 14 - Mark Chicago News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> we ain't that old, though. [ laughter ] >>. that conversation was great. and just when we were wrapping up, something happened that i never saw coming. >> before we believe, you know, can we all pray, please? can we do this everybody? >> our father, which our -- >> as we bow our heads in prayer, i can't help but reflect on everything i've seen and heard this week. chicago's violence is hardly a new phenomenon. whether you want to call it vestments or reconciliation, more reparations, it's clear that chicago, just like the rest of america, needs to make amends with its black population. th...

Street organizations? i'm meeting with somebody who grew up in this life and has worked hard to make a better life for himself and others. malik yusef, a grammy award winner who has worked with kanye west which means he earned that grammy. you grew up here. >> yeah, man, right down the street, about three blocks. >> outside of chicago people talk about gangs. they don't know who they are, what the names are, how many there are. >> yeah, you've definitelyot the stones from right here, the gds, the vice lords, obviously thvdwhich is the black disciples. black gangsters, gangster disciples, black...

>> but a lot of this, from what i understand, people think is back to how black men in this city feel like they have to express their masculinity in a lot of media in a lot of our role models, all about be a man. >> we have to allow for multiple types of masculinities to exist. partly in we're speaking about black folks, black masculinity. there is no stereo typical or one monolithic way of being a black man, right. you can be as black as steve erkel or black as dmx. that's a range. >> that's a range, dmx. y'all gonna make me lose my mind in here. >> that's fantastic. nothing like talking blac...

>> hyper segregation. >> yeah. >> what is that -- i lived here. i think i get what that means. >> some cities are more progressive, somehow further along in the intellectual thought process of inclusiveness and diversity. chicago reminds us that is not the case. >> in chicago is it a sense it's happening, not a reason it's happening? put on people, they're just sort of violent. >> right. one of the things i try to talk to people about is the historical reasons how some of these things came to be. certainly poverty is one of those, and poverty isn't a happenstance kind of thing. there is a hist...

After a day of visiting one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in chicago, it's time to do one of my favorite things, hanging out with people who make me feel stupid. i'm meeting with dr. javon johnson at the sweet cafe. he is a poet, author and professor of race and gender studies. his most recent book is a collection of writings on kids from the south side of chicago llg their own stories. the doctor agreed to school me on the current situation. talk to me a little about the term chiraq. for most people it is a spike lee movie. >> i don't think we can fully pinpoint exactly where it came fr...