No menace to Chicago
Actor Larenz Tate on hisWest Side roots and why he is ‘‘always representing’’ the city.
Best known for his frightening role as gang member “O Dog” in the 1993 cult classic “Menace II Society,” the actor/writer/activist returned to his roots recently to co-host the Emmy Awards of the Chicago chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Born on the West Side, he moved at age 9 with his parents to Los Angeles, where he learned acting with classmates like Malcolm-Jamal Warner at the famed Inner City Cultural Center. At 39, his film credits include “The Inkwell,” the filmed-in-Chicago “Love Jones,” and in 2004, key roles in two award-winning films, “Crash” and “Ray.” A TV veteran, he currently stars in USA Network’s medical drama “Rush.” He’s been lauded for his work on behalf of young black males in the probation system in LA and is the spokesman for BLOOM — Building a Lifetime of Options and Opportunities for Men — a five-year, multimillion-dollar California initiative using schooling and jobs to redirect teens from adult incarceration. Tate hopes it will serve as a blueprint for his hometown. AS TOLD TOMAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA, STAFF REPORTER
I get home about four or five times a year. My mother and father, my two brothers and I are in LA because that’s where our work is. But most of our family is back here in Chicago. This time Iwas able to spend some time on theWest Side and spend some time on the South Side. It’s really nice to get home, to see some family you haven’t seen in awhile, get some good food and just hang out and enjoy ourselves.
As a hometown guy, coming back to be a part of the 56th Annual Midwest Emmy Awards is amazing. It’s important to honor the people in our industry for what they’ve done, and for their work.
Iwon’t lie. When I got the call a couple months ago, the fact that Tamron Hall and Ginger Zee were my co-hosts, it was like, ‘Yeah! Of course I’ll do it. Can we do it now? We can’t rehearse right now?’ I’m always about putting Chicago on the map, about helping people understand that Chicago has a great deal of talent, that it’s a great city, although we have our bumps in the road like any other city. Wherever I go, I’malways representing Chicago. The thing most people seem to knowit for right now is the violence, and I just think we’ve gotten such a bad rap because of the consistency of the violence that’s happening. There’s obviously a deeprooted issue that we all have to acknowledge. It’s a lot bigger than just violence.
People are disenfranchised. You’ve got a lot of homes that have been torn down in terms of the projects, and a lot of people who’ve never been mixed with each
other from different gangs are now mixed together. It’s a recipe for disaster that I don’t think anyone considered. I like to start withinmyown
family, making sure that my extended family members here aren’t subject to becoming products of the environment. Beyond that, I just try to encourage the young individuals I know to try to do their best to get through this epidemic of violence we’re dealing with in Chicago the best way they can. I’m always trying to shed some positive light on
Chicago, because all of the youth are not violent, you know? I’ve been reaching out to friends trying to find ways we can galvanize, come back to Chicago, and try to do what we can to just shed some light on these youth. We can try to give them alternatives for something better, get them back in school, get them jobs. And we can attempt to get other people to sit down with us and talk, and try to find a way to get to the bottom of this violence problem. With three sons, I do have some concerns about what
their future will be, when I look at situations where we do have incidents like Trayvon Martin or Michael Brown in Ferguson. I just hope all the parents dealing with the issue of our children dying can speak out, and try to help or talk to other families going through it, to find a way to address these problems. I teachmyboys not towear their blackness on their sleeves, you know, not to let their blackness define who they are, but be proud of it. They’re young AfricanAmerican men, and I love them, and I tell them just be good people to everybody and to themselves, Becoming a father just made mesuch a better person. I can’t imagine life without my children. I can’t, and don’t remember life before them. It really has made me a stronger person, a more driven person. I’mhappier. And having that co-parent relationship withmywife, we understand that our children are first, that we have a lot of work cut out for us in our jobs as parents, but that family is the key, and it’s the most important work.