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I have a question for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has proposed creating a reparations task force: Where is the reparations for all the Black people killed in shootings in my neighborhood and other parts of the city?
Where are the reparations for the City’s failure to provide adequate protections for its residents, for its failure to provide a proper education for its children to inspire the American Dream rather than nihilistic violence, and for a City legal system that prioritizes the interests of violent criminals over the interests of its hardworking citizens?
Above all, why has he consistently ignored the efforts of Chicagoans like me to better our neighborhoods through tried and true American principles? His administration has refused to support the massive Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center I am building on Chicago’s South Side.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announces reparations task force, denounces “systemic racism” in June 19th speech
These questions came to mind when I read the recent news that Mayor Johnson has committed $500,000 to a “Reparations Task Force to Develop a Black Reparations Plan.” The mayor’s executive order states that the country and city “perpetuated, tolerated, profited from, and benefited from” the policies of slavery and Jim Crow laws from 1877 to 1963. The mayor blames these policies for racial disparities in “life expectancy, unemployment, homeownership, home affordability, incarceration rates, and more.”
What he conveniently left out were all the liberal policies that have blighted my neighborhood since the 1960s. People laughed when Rep. Byron Donald (R-Fla.) said recently that black families were better off under Jim Crow laws. But he was absolutely right.
Would those same people laugh if I said the South Side was better in the 1960s? For evidence, look no further than former First Lady Michelle Obama. Her first home was in Parkway Gardens, a large residential community next to my church. It was a working-class community then. Today, it’s the projects.
If the Democrats say they stand with my community, why are so many still unable to learn to read and write?
These liberal policies have undermined marriage, led us to dependency on government instead of aspiration, and undermined the virtues of personal responsibility and agency. Shamefully, we have allowed these policies to overshadow us.
This argument for reparations is not about slavery or segregation. Past wrongs are used to hide the fact that liberalism has had such a devastating impact on our communities. I have lived this reality for more than 20 years. I have spoken at the funerals of young men and women shot at the height of their lives. I have had to provide academic support and tutoring services to children attending a nearby school where few students were performing at grade level. And I have personally witnessed violence perpetrated by criminals released early from prison in the name of racial justice and criminal justice reform.
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To Brandon Johnson, it’s as if the last 60 years never existed. But to us, they did.
The best decision I ever made was to get off this liberal train that was quickly stalling. I was doing it for the sake of reality. The reality is, I know American principles work.
People in the mayor’s office call these principles white supremacist values, but that’s just gaslighting. I know they work because these principles are universal and apply regardless of skin color. They worked for me as a true country girl from Indiana. And they work for the young people who stand on these tough streets.
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That’s why I’ve spent the last 12 years building community centers — making sure they are places where American principles live and people can thrive.
The last thing we need is more liberal gaslighting by Mayor Johnson that will only perpetuate the misery of Black people. We need to stop this liberal whitewashing and start living in reality. Only then will we Black people begin to make real and lasting progress.
To read more comments from Pastor Corey Brooks, click here
