Chiraq” As a Part of American Culture
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Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Nikol Chmelíčková “Chiraq” as a Part of American Culture Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. 2015 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature 2 I would like to thank my supervisor, Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D, for help, patience, and valuable advice. 3 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 5 1. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO 7 1.1 Growth and urbanization 7 1.2 Immigration and the Great Migration significance 8 1.3 Enforcement of segregation 10 1.4 Formation of African American subculture 13 1.5 Gang formation and violence 14 1.6 Chicago today 16 2. MUSIC OF CHICAGO 19 2.1 African American cultural expression 19 2.4 Business and music industry 23 3. CHIRAQ 24 3.1 Creation of the term 24 3.2 Reflection of Chicago’s past 27 3.2.1 Rappers’ Backgrounds 27 3.2.2 Presence of Segregation 30 3.3 Responses to the concept 32 3.3.1Trigger of Violence 32 3.3.2 Struggle for Money 34 3.3.3 Business opportunity 35 3.3.4 Prevention 36 3.3.5 Anti-Chiraq 37 CONCLUSION 38 REFERENCES 40 APPENDIX 46 ENGLISH SUMMARY 48 CZECH SUMMARY 49 4 INTRODUCTION The cultural phenomenon called Chiraq is a neologism that is recently being used to refer to the city of Chicago. Since the term was coined in 2009 by the Hip Hop subculture within the city, Chiraq has become a popular nickname, was used in number of rap songs and has proved to be resonating with broader audience. Moreover, there has been significant media hype in relation to it and the term also became an inspiration for several documentaries. To begin with, it is important to identify the historical background in relation to Chicago which has given existence to Chiraq. What has made Chicago an important center of the USA in the late nineteen century was the meat-packing industry employing large amount of population and the railroad transportation. The growth of the city was enormous not only in terms of economy but also as far as the population is concerned. Chicago became a popular destination for immigrants from Europe. The most significant were the Irish and the Italians who later contributed to the emergence of Chicago’s gangs. Furthermore, during the Great Migration, the African Americans were coming in great numbers as an answer to the need for workers during the First World War. The racial prejudices, however, has caused the creation of black ghetto in the South Side district. What is more, the segregation gave rise to phenomena of black gangs and gun-related violence. The African American culture introduced the oral tradition to Chicago, beginning with the 1920s’ era of Jazz through the emergence of Hip Hop in late 1980s, until the most recent establishment of Drill music. As Blanchard believes, all of these genres share the same roots and conveys messages that reflect the lives of African Americans in the USA in different periods. By this token, the most recent genre of Hip Hop – Drill – characteristic for evoking violent atmosphere and including aggressive 5 lyrics, describes the conditions in the segregated community in the Chicago’s South Side district. In fact, Drill music invented the term Chiraq by blending the two words – Chicago and Iraq – which in fact established the notion of an urban area being a war zone. What will be argued are the aspects of past developments of the city that the label reflects as well as how they influenced the cultural resonance and shaped the responses in connection to the label Chiraq. Eventually, the position, function and significance of this phenomenon in terms of American culture will be identified. 6 1. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO 1.1 Growth and urbanization The first milestone that holds significance is according to John Hagedorn, an expert in urban studies, the era of 1860s when there was an extensive economic growth in Chicago including the meat-packing industry and building of the railroad that transformed the city into important midpoint of the country. In fact, the stock yards located in the South Side of the city became the biggest stock market in the world at that time that produced more than eighty percent of meat that were consumed in the USA. Furthermore, the railroad system development was significant not only because it enabled goods to be shipped but also because it enabled people to travel long distance in relatively short time (“Chicago History Episode 1”). As a consequence, the population growth in this area was massive. As Hagedorn indicates, Chicago went from being ranked 92 among the American cities in 1840s to becoming the second largest city in the USA in 1940s in terms of population size following the trend of extensive urbanization that was typical for the turn of the century in the USA. The numbers did not change significantly even after the Great Chicago Fire broke out in 1871. Despite the fact that Chicago was at that time already heavily populated the losses were more significant as far as the infrastructure of the city is concerned. On the other side of the issue, the urban redevelopment of the city that followed facilitated the reorganization and modernization of the city and it also introduced new concepts in architecture such as new construction technologies that created the Chicago’s skyline (“Chicago History Episode 1”). The industrial revolution in fact helped the city to redefine itself, keep pace with the novelties of the time and maintain the position of economically significant city in the USA till present times. 7 1.2 Immigration and the Great Migration significance Chicago’s industrial development including the stock yards and the meat- packing industry caused that there was also a great demand for workers. As a result, the immigrants from European countries were coming to Chicago (Hagedorn, "Early History of Chicago Gangs"). In 1890s, as Paral and Norkewicz in their report argues, “the immigrant population in Chicago was dominated by persons from northern and western Europe, principally Germans (161,000 individuals) and Irish (70,000).” In the following decades, however, “the sources of European immigration shifted to the east and west. New communities of Russian Jews, Slavs and Italians became established. By 1910 some 122,000 persons from Russia lived in Chicago along with 45,000 Italians” (Paral, Norkewicz). In spite of not being the most numerous group of immigrants, the most significant nationalities groups in Chicago, as it will be argued further, were the Irish and Italians. What the first massive wave of immigration meant to Chicago was according to Timuel Black, a historian originating from Chicago, the decline in morale that was reflected in “’bizarre behavior [of immigrants] according to US standards’” (Hagedorn, "Early History of Chicago Gangs") at that time, by which he means that many of them become engaged in the criminal activity and consequently prosecuted by law. Also, according to Hagedorn, there was an important difference between the status of the Irish and Italians in Chicago. Not all Italian immigrants were recognized as citizens; as a result, they tended to focus more on gambling and other similar business activities associated with the Chicago’s underworld1. In addition, they did not have the right to vote, therefore, they could hardly influence the politics or the law in any legal way. The 1 The word “underworld” according to Hagedorn was coined in Chicago and was derived from the fact that the activities associated with this term such as gambling and meetings of the immigrants were happening mainly in the lower floors of buildings (Hagedorn, "Early History of Chicago Gangs"). 8 Irish, in contrast, were granted citizenships; therefore, they had the opportunity to gain the control over the political scene in the city: ’It was the Irish that understood that the social athletic club, the organization of gang youth, could be very helpful in developing their political power (…) and the youth of gangs by politicians (…) gangs became a trademark for Irish politics of not only helping politicians, get elected, but also the method of mobility for Irish street youth who might join the gang and eventually grow up to be a mayor of Chicago. (…) But the point is that for the Irish particularly, gangs and politics were deeply entwined.’ (Hagedorn, “Early History of Chicago Gangs”) In fact, Michael Cassius McDonald was the first Chicago’s leader who was also in control of many of the underworld activities and as Hagedorn beliefs, McDonald also became an inspiration and role model for the Irish citizens. As far as the origins of African American ethnicity in Chicago is concerned, the percentage of black residents accounted by 1890s only as much as two percent. What caused the number to grow was mainly the phenomenon known as the Great Migration in the USA. The Great Migration was initiated by the oppressive conditions that the African Americans were exposed to in the south of the USA as a result of passing the Jim Crow laws which in essence promoted the discrimination of African Americans. What is created was a “caste system [which] was enforced not only by law, but by a widespread campaign of terror, known as lynching. Between 1880 and 1950, mobs of white men tortured and murdered approximately 3,500 African Americans, often before crowds of spectators, to avenge suspected violations of the social and legal code” (Layson and Warren).