Entertainment

Wanda’s Picks: Interview with Nick Cannon, Star of Spike Lee’s New Film Chi-Raq

Published

10 years ago

November 27, 2015

By Wanda Sabir

Power couple, Demetrius “Chi-Raq” Dupree (Nick Cannon) and Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris) have all any young couple could want, fame and power, the kind of power won, maybe even earned through fear.

With money, fame and notoriety, which come from Chi-Raq’s prowess on the bandstand and battlefield, the couple strides fearlessly on Chi-town streets. Spartan nor rival gangsters, Trojans, headed by the one eyed Cyclops (Wesley Snipes), know what defeat looks like until a girl-child is killed.

This senseless death shakes Lysistrata from her perch, her flight setting in motion a series of events Greek playwright Aristophanes couldn’t have imagined nor her lover and other misguided Black men, all infected with a disease which promotes self-destruction and annihilation, rather than self-determination and progress.

Spike Lee’s “Chi-Raq,” with co-writer, Kevin Willmott, rated R, is a discussion those who care about Black lives need to address. Teyonah Parris as Lysistrata and Nick Cannon as Chi-Raq hold the space, an urgent and necessary space for this kind of dialogue. No one is born a killer, killers are man-made. The film opens in Bay Area Theatres, Dec. 4.

In a recent interview in San Francisco with Nick Cannon, he told me he went to a funeral a week earlier for a child killed in the same neighborhood where the film was shot. He talks about such unnecessary violence as misguided manhood rites, rites of passage emptied of crucial and necessary values which come from knowing one’s history.

NC: Tyson Lee was executed. Intentionally shot 7 times. A 9 year old. It was hard to look at the [child] in the casket. This is where we’re at. This is where we’ve come as a people? This is a heinous act.

Demonic. There is no reason that this should ever occur. I understand, we have lost the code. I understand being a warrior, being a soldier, wanting to be that as a man, [but] when you take the code out of that, take the true principles of protection out of that—then what are you?

I hear the young brothers and their music, being killers and savages, beasts. We’re not that. We’re kings and queens, not savages. Our ancestors did way too much for us [come to this].

WS: How does Chi-Raq wrap his mind around ending a war, putting down the gun, and having a conversation with Cyclops, the fierce Trojan leader portrayed by Wesley Snipes?

Nick says, “Wesley is a caricature. I think he purposely did that. He didn’t want to glorify the negativity – what a gang leader could be. He plays him in a comedic way. I actually had to come from the opposite end of the spectrum and stay true to foundation and the dark side of what this life actually can bring and the journey my character Chi-Raq [takes].

“[Chi-Raq] is stubborn, bull headed, egotistical. [He] has this idea of what [he] thinks manhood is, because [he] didn’t have a man in [his] life to show [him] the proper way to be a man. Ultimately, [Chi-Raq] gets to stand up and be held accountable for what [he] character puts himself through, put others through.”

WS: The violence was not something we did to each other, it was something we experienced as a people. We held onto our values as human beings. Dr. Wade Nobles speaks of African personhood often, and notes that when we kill someone that looks like us, it is suicide, because we are killing ourselves.

NC: Genocide, that’s what it is. Violence begets violence. Hurt people hurt people.

WS: Right right, so the healing needs to happen.

NC: Yeah. It is a cry from pain, that’s why we need to recondition our minds. We have to recondition our souls. It only takes one person. That’s the beauty of this film.

It was one sister who stood up and started a movement. When you look at the poster, you say, that’s a strong black woman that represents a tale that is over 2000 years. For my daughter to see that poster and say, that’s Lysistrata.

It’s a beautiful thing. It’s how we begin to recondition our minds. It is going to take time but we all want it, we all yearn for it. We want people to focus in on it to demand respect for life.

With long time musical collaborator, Terrence Blanchard, at the helm, here, who knows? There might be a few lessons we can hum on our way from the theater.

For more by Wanda Sabir, go to wandaspicks.com

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Oakland Post: Week of February 11 = 17, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 11 – 17, 2026

Published

2 days ago

February 16, 2026

Oakland Post

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Arts and Culture

Book Review: Books on Black History and Black Life for Kids

For the youngest reader, “As You Are: A Hope for Black Sons” by Kimberly A. Gordon Biddle, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Magination Press, $18.99) is a book for young Black boys and for their mothers. It’s a hope inside a prayer that the world treats a child gently, and it could make a great baby shower gift.

Published

1 week ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Photo of Black History Month book covers by Terri Schlichenmeyer.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Authors: Various, Copyright: c. 2025, 2026, Publishers: Various, SRPs: $17.99-$18.99, Page Counts: Various,

Everybody in your family has stories to share.

Your parents have told you some, no doubt. Your grandparents have offered a few, too, and aunties and uncles have spun some good tales. But there’s so much more to know, so grab one of these great books and learn about Black History and Black life.

For the youngest reader, “As You Are: A Hope for Black Sons” by Kimberly A. Gordon Biddle, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Magination Press, $18.99) is a book for young Black boys and for their mothers. It’s a hope inside a prayer that the world treats a child gently, and it could make a great baby shower gift.

If someone said you couldn’t do something that you were clearly able to do, would you fight to do it anyhow? In the new book, “Remember Her Name! Debbie Allen’s Rise to Fame” by Tami Charles, illustrated by Meredith Lucius (Charlesbridge, $17.99), a young girl in the Jim Crow South is told that she can’t dance because of the color of her skin.

She didn’t listen, though, and neither did her mother, who took her daughter to Mexico, where the girl soared! This is an inspiration for any 5-to-7-year-old; be sure to check out the back-of-the-book information, if you’re an adult fan.

Do you often hear your elders say things that sound like lessons? They might be, so “Where There is Love: A Story of African Proverbs” by Shauntay Grant, illustrated by Leticia Moreno (Penguin Workshop, $18.99) is a book you’ll like. It’s a quick-to-read collection of short proverbs that you can say every day. Kids ages 4-to-6 will easily remember what they find in this book; again, look in the back for more information.

Surely, you love your neighborhood, which is why the tale inside “Main Street: A Community Story about Redlining” by Britt Hawthorne and Tiffany Jewell, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Penguin Kokila, $18.99) is a book for you.

Olivia’s neighborhood is having a block party, but she’s sad when no one shows up. That’s when she learns that “the government” is discriminating against the people and businesses near where she lives. So, what can she and her neighbors do? The answer might inspire 6-to-8-year-old kids to stand up to wrongs they see, and to help make their neighborhoods stronger and safer.

And finally, if a kid wants a book, where can they go to find it? In “I’m So Happy You’re Here: A Celebration of Library Joy” by Mychal Threets, illustrated by Lorraine Nam (Random House, $18.99) is a good introduction to the best of what a library has to offer. The freedom to walk into a library and borrow a book is the theme here, as is the sheer happiness of being welcomed, no matter who you are. This is an easy book for kids as young as two and as old as five to enjoy.

On that note, if you want more, head to that library, or a nearby bookstore. They’ll be glad to see you. They’ve got stories to share.

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Art of the African Diaspora Celebrates Legacy and Community at Richmond Art Center

Published

1 week ago

February 9, 2026

Oakland Post

‘Be Still...’ by Virginia Jourdan is on display at the Richmond Art Center (RAC), in Richmond, CA. Photo by Carla Thomas.

By Carla Thomas

The 2026 Art of the African Diaspora exhibition is on display at the Richmond Art Center (RAC) through March 14. The one-room gallery bursts with more than 100 works – paintings, photographs, sculptures, and mixed-media pieces – each affirming the power, beauty, and vitality of cultural expression across the African diaspora.

Now in its 29th year, Art of the African Diaspora is the Bay Area’s longest-running exhibition of its kind. Its roots stretch back to 1989, when artist and educator Marie Johnson Calloway founded Colors of Black, a salon for African American artists. That gathering inspired artists Jan Hart-Schuyers and Rae Louise Hayward to establish The Art of Living Black at the Richmond Art Center in 1996. Their vision was to showcase the creativity of emerging and established Black artists, bridging communities and widening access to audiences historically excluded from mainstream art spaces.

Over the decades, that founding vision has expanded and evolved, carried forward by artists, family members, and the Richmond Art Center after the loss of Hart-Schuyers and Hayward. In 2018, a new generation of artists formed a steering committee to organize the event; a year later, the exhibition was renamed Art of the African Diaspora to embrace the broader global connections of people of African descent.

The new name reflects not only a broader cultural lens but also an empowered community network that supports artists across the Bay Area. As part of this year’s programming, RAC will host ‘Art of the African Diaspora: Public Art in Our Communities,’ a free panel on Sat., Feb. 21, from 12 to 1:30 p.m. Artists Kristine Mays, James Moore, and Malik Seneferu will join arts administrator Denise Pate for a conversation on the impact and process of public art. The discussion will be moderated by longtime arts advocate and producer Flo Wiley.

Each panelist brings a distinctive voice to the conversation. Mays, known for her ethereal wire sculptures that capture movement and spirit, has exhibited internationally and is represented in collections ranging from the Smithsonian to the Crocker Art Museum.

Sculptor and painter James Moore creates abstract metal works and colorful field paintings that explore movement, balance, and emotion. His recent public art installations include large-scale pieces in Richmond’s Shields-Reid Park. Malik Seneferu, a self-taught San Francisco native, has built a large body of work celebrating African American life through vibrant murals and expressive figurative art.

Representing the institutional side, Denise Pate oversees public arts investments as director of Community Investments at the San Francisco Arts Commission, advancing racial and cultural equity through funding and advocacy. Together, these artists and administrators will trace how public art emerges, from concept to community collaboration, and why it matters.

The Art of the African Diaspora exhibition runs through March 14 at the Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. The center is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission and programs are free and open to the public.