Heavy: 'Chi Raq' Mini-Doc Explores Harsh Reality of Chicago Streets

Getting Out Of Hand: 4 People Shot In Chicago Over Holiday Weekend

Seriously, how long before Chicago is officially named a federal disaster area? At least 74 people were shot in Chicago over the holiday weekend beginning Wednesday, July 3. 

The Chicago Tribune reports: One man was killed and six other people wounded in two South Side shootings Sunday, authorities said. In the latest incident, five people were shot in the 11300 block of South Forest Avenue in Roseland about 8:10 p.m. in what was believed to be a landlord-tenant dispute, officials said.

Sunday's attacks brought to at least 74 the number of people shot since Wednesday afternoon in Chicago, with 12 of those victims killed. Four people were transported in serious-to-critical condition from the Forest Avenue shooting by Chicago Fire Department ambulances, fire department spokesman Chief Juan Hernandez said.

 A fifth person was taken to Roseland Hospital in good-to-fair condition, Hernandez said. These aren't just gang members offing each other. Two young boys, ages five and seven, were shot on July 4 and are in critical condition.

Speaking Truth: Lupe Fiasco Encourages Teens; Blasts Chicago High Schools

Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco was in his hometown over the weekend, to inspire hundreds of young black males who graduated from high school.

The rapper appeared at the “2013 Mass Black Male Graduation and Transition to Manhood” ceremony.

The event was held yesterday (June 29), at Chicago State University.

Lupe Fiasco was on hand to help recognize the African-American males from Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, for graduating from high school.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Lupe did not mince his words to the young graduates.

“Congratulations, you have graduated from one of the most terrible, substandard school systems in the entire world,” Lupe Fiasco told the teens. “You have just spent the last 12 years receiving one of the worst educations on earth. You are at least four, five steps behind people in other countries that are younger than you.”

The rapper’s comments were not off-base, since Chicago’s Public school system has the highest dropout rate for Black males.

According to stats, 1 in 8 students drop out of the CPS system, while only 3 out of 100 will continue their education to receive a Bachelor’s degree.

Lupe, who also donated $100 to each of the 150 graduates who attended the ceremony, stressed the importance of the young males’ manhood.

“For young black men, it is one the last things that we have and one of the last things that we can control,” Lupe Fiasco said. “Manhood is connected to humanity.”

Saturday’s ceremony was sponsored by the Black Star Project, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to the continuing education of Black males.

Getting Out Of Hand: 46 Shot & 7 Killed In Chicago This Weekend

There is a reason why Chicago has recently been nicknamed "Chi-raq." Forty six people were shot in the Windy City over the weekend, seven of them were fatalities. The Chicago Tribune reports: At least 33 people were shot — six of them fatally — Saturday afternoon through Father's Day Sunday, stretching from 94th Street and Loomis Avenue on the South Side up to about North Avenue and North Pulaski Road on the Northwest Side, according to authorities. 

The youngest person killed during one of the bloodiest weekends in Chicago this year was 16. Shootings from Friday afternoon into Saturday left another 13 people shot, 1 fatally. The combined tally resulted in 46 people shot, and seven killed this weekend. Last year at about the same time, there were 53 people shot, nine fatally in one weekend. Despite the carnage over the weekend, authorities are stressing that gun violence in Chi-Town is down this year. 

The rash of violent crime came as Chicago has seen a large dip in overall homicide and shooting numbers so far this year. When asked whether this weekend's shooting numbers cast doubt on the department's crime-fighting strategies, Chicago police spokesman Adam Collins insisted they are working, noting the city has so far in 2013 posted its lowest homicide totals in years. Collins also reiterated a position that police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has expressed publicly throughout the year when discussing the department's crime-fighting efforts. 

"There's going to be good days, and there's going to be bad days, which is why we've been calling this progress, not victory," said Collins, who pointed out drops in overall crime. 

However, if this weekend is any indication, it can be another long hot, and violent, summer.