Will we. Will we bow down before the tyranny of the nra, the gun manufacturers and the politicians, you know, which are in their pocket . The director applauds the call to action by groups like black lives matter but emphasizes that blackonblack crime cannot be ignored. Were killin ourselves. Recently lee was awarded an honorary oscarfor revolutionizing modernday black cinema. That didnt stop him from speaking out about the need for still greater representation in the industry. Its easier for African American person to be president of the United States of america than president of a Hollywood Studio or tv or cable network. And talking about the president , one of lees most iconic films do the right thing may have helped a younger barack obama. I always say thank god he didnt take michelle to see driving miss mother a ain daisy. laughs or that have been the last date clapping i spoke to spike lee at his production house 40 acres and a mule, based in his childhood neighborhood fort greene, brooklyn. Talk to me a little bit about why chiraq, why chicago, why now . Well, chicago is the southwest side of chicago is like the canary in the coal mine for gun violence. New york city is three times the population of chicago, yet chicago has more homicides. So kevin willmott, we cowrote the script and we knew that it had to be chicago. But just by choosin chicago, if you choose the biggest, then you can get everything underneath. Kevin and i tried to do this film six years ago. Wasnt the time for it six years ago. Time is now. Why . Well, the film begins with those words, this is an emergency. And gun violence is something that affects every american. We have to get out of the thinkin that it just affects any certain people, any certain neighborhoods. It goes across the board, gun violence. And although there may be one type of life on the south side or the west side or another part downtown on the magnificent mile, here you still have over 400 actual murders. And so, like you said, this affects everybody. And so by going to chicago, you being there, filming there, do you see a tale of two cities . I mean those lines are said by samuel l. Jackson in the open. That it is a tale of two cities. Those familiar with that, thats the Charles Dickens novel. And in fact the march that took place black friday was a clear indication of a tale of two cities, because the people bein affected were furious about this tape that was released by the. You could say the execution of laquan. The murder of laquan. Sixteen shots. Our first day of filmin was june 1st. Our last day of filmin was july 9th. Durin that time, from the first of june to july 9th, while were shooting, while were filming chiraq, 331 people were wounded and shot. Sixtyfive gun murdered. 331 . Wounded and shot. Sixtyfive gun murdered. And its escalated since then. But when nineyearold tyshawn lee is lured into an alleyway and shot. I dont care what his father is, what his father did. If hes a gang or not. No nineyearold should be executed anywhere, let alone in the world. Especially not the United States of america, the so called beacon of democracy, peace and all. All the other stuff. Right. And we have story after story like that. Do the right thing. Isnt it radio raheem who is. Well, what. Killed by police . Yes, but radio raheem was based upon a real murder. Right. Michael stewart. But heres the crazy thing. When the strangulation of radio raheem is based upon what the cops did to Michael Stewart at a train subway station. And then to see eric gardner. Right. I mean i fell out of my seat. So much in fact that i called my editor, barry brown, and we put somethin out on youtube we intercut both strangulations. Radio raheem which is fictional, which is based on fact, with the real life strangulation murder of eric gardner. And we as a nation watched that. The whole world watched it. And then look what happened. I dont think this is somethin thats new. I just think that with social media because before the general newspaper, theyre not. You know, they they might not cover it. You look at, like you said, this movement. Black lives matter. Is it working . Is it a True Movement that can do something do you see it as . Is this something that can actually make change . Oh, its making a lot of change. Now, we give shout outs much love to black lives matter in this film chiraq. But i have sort of a different approach. Is that and father. Michael pfleger. You know, we talk about this all the time. It cant be about. Just about what is the color, the complexion of the hand, the finger that pulls the trigger. So for me it just cant be black lives matter. Lets talk about the cops who are shootin us down like dogs in the street. Not all cops. Right. But. Look, people. Mothers and fathers are burying their sons and daughters. Thats a fact. But were. We have to look amongst ourselves what were doin too. So me. For me. And im not speakin on. On behalf of 45 million African Americans. For me, if you. If. You. You dont have a moral. For me a moral foundation if youre only talkin about cops. Were killin ourselves. So. So its just not these incidents of Police Brutality or officerinvolved shootings, what youre saying is we also have to Pay Attention to this daily gun violence thats plaguing. Our communities. All these cities. So i think that its a two hand approach. And then also we still have to expand it and come back to this gun violence affects all americans. Im not askin. And im not tryin unintel anybodys Second Amendment rights. But we have to have tougher background checks. Somethin i got from father pfleger out of chicago. We should title guns like cars. Theres no reason in the world why people should be able to walk into a gun. Go to a gun store, a gun shop with a legal. Illegal id and come out with an assault weapon. Well, one of the things with father michael pfleger, and father michael pfleger, for those who dont know, is. Hes a priest in chicago at st. Sabinas church on the south side. And hes also been an activist for the majority of his career. Lets make it clear, though. Father pfleger is a white slapping Roman Catholic priest. Runs this church. Head of this church. The fa. Predominantly black. Congregation. When you go in the. Right in the hood. They got a choir. They have. You know. Band. The praise dancers. I mean this is unlike any Catholic Church youve seen. Especially in the midwest. Yeah, i dont think the popes been to a church like. laugh the pope aint seen a church like this. I like the pope. But anyway, we. Hes in it. Hes in the middle of it. Yes, hes in the middle of em. Hes taken on. He just won a lawsuit against. A community who are. Havin gun. Who had a gun store in their neighborhood. But heres another thing. Is that we need a national law, because, for example, the state of illinois, the state of illinois, the city of chicago, have very, very, very tight gun laws. They do. But whats next . Indiana. Just across the border. Fifteen, 20 minute ride. Twenty minutes, you get. You get mad guns. laugh crazy guns. From. Thats where the guns are comin from. Similar unintel in philadelphia as well. In. In new york. Guns coming from philly. The state of pennsylvania, through virginia. Further south in georgia. So you can have a very, very tight. You still have. Could be tight, but if your neighborin states, if their thing is lax, it still affects you. But i will say this, is that we go around the world sayin were the beacon of democracy, of the most civilized country on this earth. But i know for sure. cause i travel a lot. People look at us like were barbarians. laughter if you travel the world, and they find out where youre from. And they say. And the guns. I mean its amazin. And it really. How long will we bow down before the tyranny of the nra, the gun manufacturers and the politicians, you know, which are in their pocket . You know, that. That we have to have a greater love of human beings than money. We cannot kneel down on. On all fours and pray at the altar of the almighty dollar. Im sorry. Money does not rule over human life. And. And. This stuff, its the nra and the gun manufacturers that. That are keepin this thing goin because theyre. Theyre makin money. One of the big complaints is that, listen, you can even have a mass shooting, whether its, you know, sandy hook or its the aurora theatre. The question that they always say is, what will it take to actually. Whether change the laws or actually change the discussion in terms of these lobbies. And in your opinion what will it take to make change . We gotta keep fightin. I mean theres many things that are wrong with america that. That. Through years, through legislation, through. Federal courts. I mean how long were our ancestors, i mean, enslaved . You know, that you. We go down the line. Most recently. You know. Same sex marriage. So theres. Theres various things that. Women the right to vote. Various things that. That were wrong, were evil, that over time there was a change. And i think that. I dont know whats gonna be the pivotal. I dont know if its gonna be one pivotal thing. Sure. Because lets be honest. If young white infants in kindergarten and first grade get slaughtered and nothin happens right away, then you know that. Its gonna take a minute. cause every. I thought for sure. The president. I. I would put money on it. President obama felt the same thing. But. It hasnt been the case, but we were. Were. 88 people die every day in the United States of america due to gun violence. Eightyeight people. Every single day. Which adds up to, like, i think 32,000. Im never. Never. Never was good. That good in math, but. Hey, i was told thered be no math on this exam. laughter but. And its profit. Profit. And tomorrow is goin to be the 60th anniversary of the start of the montgomery bus boycott. Right. Its the anniversary of the rosa park arrest. So. I dont know exact. Was it a year . But eventually. Black people made so much a part of the. The people used the busses, eventually they had to cave in because they were goin out of business. You could no longer ignore it. And that worked in. 60 years ago. And it worked last friday in the magnificent mile in chicago. And sometimes you cant depend on. You cant explain to people whats right, whats wrong, whats just. Then when you. After that tactic works, then its about the bottom line. The bottom line. Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel wasnt happy about spike lees choice for the title of his film chiraq. The director responds next. This is talk to al jazeera. Im sarah hoye, speaking with producer, director and actor spike lee. Weve been talking about his new film chiraq. One of your biggest critics was the mayor of chicago himself, Rahm Emmanuel. Well, i wouldnt say he was the biggest critic. The mayor only. I mean look. And. Look, we. We had a difference, but in no way did mayor Rahm Emmanuel say, spike, i dont want you to make this film. He never said that. He said, spike, i like your films. He said, my problem is is that i dont like the title, which i didnt come up with. The term chiraq came off local chicago rappers who thought, and i think rightfully so, where they live. Southwest. West. On the southwest side of chicago, is a war zone. And the numbers confirm it. Yes. The dubious numbers. And then he also said that this film will hurt tourism and economic development. Well, i would like to tell you this. While we were filmin chiraqin chicago, nfl commissioner Roger Goodell had the nfl draft. Just a little event. 250,000 people were in grant park for the unintel . Then you had the grateful deads last five concerts at soldier field. Then you had lollapalooza. Those three events. You couldnt get a hotel room. You couldnt get a restaurant. Couldnt get a rental. You couldnt get a car. Chicago was jumpin. Nfl draft, grateful dead, lollapalooza, all happened while we were filmin chiraq. But thats all downtown. So this goes back to a tale of two cities. Anybody that went to those three events, they were not goin to the south side. They werent going to terror town. If you live downtown, the north side, the only reason youre gonna go to the south side is if youre goin to see the white sox play. And usually if youre on the north side you hate the. The. The white sox and youre a cub fan. So if. laugh so theres really no reason to go to the south side. So that whole part of the argument of. The mayors argument, i mean i totally disagree with. I did a documentary called four little girls, which is about the bombing of the sixth history baptist church, birmingham, alabama. Where on september chuckle 16, 1963, four black girls were blown apart by dynamite. And in that film. We have archival footage of mayors of southern towns, who always say its some outside agitators. Like, we know. We know how to control our niggers. It is outside agitators. These. These negroes from the north who are comin down to stir our niggers up. In a lotta ways that reminds laugh me of what these people are sayin about me and. And. And its not just chicago. And. And. And. Its baltimore. New orleans. Yes anywhere, thats always its the outside agitators. But here. Here. Here. Heres. Heres the thing that really is troublin to me. Nick cannon and i were gettin, you know, stuff in a social medium, saying. Criticizin nick because hes not authentic. Heres the word that really got me. Hes not a savage. So thats. Im sorry. Im sorry. People are saying hes not savage enough to play. No, hes not a savage. Because thats new term some of these Young Brothers are usin. Thats the new form of malehood. You gotta be a savage. So. Wow. This. I mean look, i understand these Young Brothers are hurt. Theyre lost. But we. You know, and theyre cryin out for help. But we get to the place where these Young Brothers, they wanna. Their goal in life for the little time. They know theyre gonna. They. They. Theyre okay. Number one, theyre. Oh, theyre okay with the fact they might not live past 20. Theyre okay with that. Before they get shot, whatever or locked up, they. Their. Their goal is to be a savage. Now, theres somethin wrong with that. And one guy. I. I. I responded to him. I said, let me ask you a question, brother. Do you want your children, do you want your son to grow up to be a savage . Do you want your daughter to grow up to be a bitch or a ho . He didnt answer. Crickets. Same person sayin that nick wasnt a savage. Did Robert De Niro go killin people left and right before he had to play Travis Bickle in the great, great film, my man martin. Martin scorsese, taxi driver . So theres a disconnect. Talk to me about diversity in hollywood. This is another thing thats been coming up a lot lately too in the discussions. That. You also spoke about this when you were on stage recently. Theres another disconnect also in hollywood. Oh, well, i was very. Through the good graces of Academy President cheryl bon isaacs and the. The. The board of governors, they voted for me to have. An oscar, honorary oscar. So, its like two weeks ago was presented to me. Presented to me. Presented to me by the. The trinity. Denzel washington, samuel l. Jackson, and wesley snipes. They all presented me my oscar. And during my speech i made a couple statements. Ones that the Entertainment Industry is way behind sports, as far as diversity goes. Its easier for African American person to be president of the United States of america than president of a Hollywood Studio or tv or cable network. And why does that matter . Because image. Images matter. And if were not in the position, were not in the room then we dont really have a say. If. Heres the thing, we go. Im. Im glad we got black stars. Thats great. But theyre not really in the. Woven into the fabric of decision. Decisionmaking in. In hollywood, or the networks. And also this is beyond hollywood. Its television, its newspapers, its magazines. We have to be in those positions where we have a vote. You have a part of the decision. We have a say. And were. And thats not the case now. But here you are, you know, all these years later. Does it still frustrate you that it. Nothings changed . I cant say nothings changed. But its. Heres the thing, again, there. A whole world people who felt that when. When president Barack Hussein obama put his right hand, on abraham lincolns bible, its gonna be abracadabra, prestochango, poof were in the post racial. Whaddya call it . Society. Post racial society. You ever watch Charlie Brown growin up. Wahwah laughs wahwah post. Get but for real, its supposed to be this utopia everybodys gonna. Yeah, you know what they. Get rich. You know what they say in brooklyn to that . What . Get the f ak outta here president obamas first date with the now first lady was a spike lee film. More on that next. Youre watching talk to al jazeera stay with us. Im sarah hoye and this is talk to al jazeera. My guest this week is spike lee. Well, speaking of your films, you know, a lot of them. Lotta your feature films make. Sports references. Uhhuh affirm . Why . Whats the connection . Did you. Did you wanna be a pro one day . The connection is this, both of my loves came from my parents. My mother was. Loved. She was a cinephile. So, she took me to movies. My fathers a jazz musician, he didnt. He hated movies. So, i was my mothers date. But my father loved sports. So, sports and film came from my parents. And growin up i had the. A fleeting moment of maybe bein in prof. Playing second base for new york mets. But then i woke up. laughs . So, i have heard that the president took his wife to see do the right thing. Now wife. Now wife, now wife. When they were first dating, they went on their first date to see. First date. Do the right thing. First date. I always say thank god he didnt take michelle to see driving miss motherf a in daisy. laughs or that have been the last date clapping michellell looked at him and say, you. Michelle woulda said, duce. Im out. laughs . Its been real nice, ill call you. Like, yo. laughs and dont call me again. Ill holla. Ill holla, barack. But they went. They went. They went to see. That was a good choice, you approve . Oh. Oh yeah. Oh. It was a good choice. Its part of history. Hello. Part of history. I mean, no matter what that film brought em together, and then they went their s. They went to Baskin Robbins after that. What kinda icecream . I dont know, you gotta ask them. I. All i know is they had a choice of 33 flavors. laughs . There is so many changes in my life. I was ready for adventures. From burlesque dancer to acclaimed artists. Art saved my life. Reflections from her new memoir. No no no no no. Im way to dysfunctional to have an ordinary job. See what lies ahead for molly crabapple. Who emerges from life unscathed . I lived that character. We will be able to see change. Announcer this is al jazeera. Hello and welcome to the al jazeera news hour, im marteen dennis live from doha and coming up, in the next 60 minutes unanimous agreement the u. N. Endorses a peace plan for syria with a ceasefire and talks between government and opposition. 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