Recognizing and honoring Golden Globe Award-winning actor Idris Elba, and filmmaker Ricky Staub, for highlighting Philadelphia's rich history of African American cowboys and urban horsemanship in the upcoming film: Concrete Cowboy.

WHEREAS, Idris Elba is an English actor best known for his role as Russell “Stringer” Bell on the HBO Series

The Wire

. Elba is a Golden Globe Award winner for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television in 2012 for his role in

Luther

, a British crime television drama; and

WHEREAS, In August of 2019, Elba visited Philadelphia to film

Concrete Cowboy

, a movie about Philadelphia’s urban cowboy world; and

WHEREAS, The movie is based on the novel “Ghetto Cowboy,” written by Gregory Neri in 2011. The film will tell the story of a young boy from Detroit, Michigan who is abandoned by his mother and sent to live in Philadelphia with his father whom he has never met. The father, played by Idris Elba, is able to reconnect and bond with his son through urban horseback riding at Fletcher Street Stables; and

WHEREAS, Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club has been a part of the Philadelphia community for over a century, and is located in the Strawberry Mansion Section of the City. For many of those years, Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club was part of a larger urban horse community of 50 stables throughout Philadelphia. At Fletcher, experienced horsemen and youth from the area care for the horses, and they are ridden throughout the City’s streets and parks; and

WHEREAS,

Concrete Cowboy

is the directional debut of Philadelphia filmmaker Ricky Staub of the Neighborhood Film Company. Idris Elba will also help produce the film, alongside Philadelphia native Lee Daniels, who stars on the popular show

Empire

; and

WHEREAS, Philadelphia City Council is proud of Philadelphia’s century-long history of African American cowboys and urban horsemanship and is excited that this will be highlighted in a new film

;

now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it hereby recognizes and honors Golden Globe Award-winning actor Idris Elba, and filmmaker Ricky Staub, for highlighting Philadelphia’s rich history of African American cowboys and urban horsemanship in the upcoming film:

Concrete Cowboy

.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Idris Elba and Ricky Staub as sincere evidence of the respect and admiration of this legislative body.

End