Corey Brooks, a prominent Chicago pastor, told The Daily Beast that the African American community in Chicago had, for 50 years, been loyal to the Democratic party. Now, they’re realizing that the Democratic party has not been loyal to them and, says Brooks, it’s time for a change.
New Beginnings Church of Chicago, the home of Pastor Brooks, is where the pastor sat yesterday morning, laying out his case for Republican presidential candidates to travel to and campaign in the Chicago neighborhood that Brooks and the New Beginnings Church call home. Rand Paul is the first and only candidate to visit the church and his speech to the pastor’s congregation is the first step in what Brooks hope will be an increase in Republican stops in Woodlawn.
“We have a large, disproportionate number of people who are impoverished. We have a disproportionate number of people who are incarcerated, we have a disproportionate number of people who are unemployed, the educational system has totally failed, and all of this primarily has been under Democratic regimes in our neighborhoods,” Brooks said.
In 2014, when now-Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner was running for his current position, Brooks took a risky step and supported the Republican in his campaign.
“They have a failing plan,” Brooks said of Democrats that his congregation and community has voted for since the Civil Rights movement. “A business owner wouldn’t allow the person who runs it to remain in charge for 50 years, constantly running it into the ground.”
Brooks believes that the Democrats have taken the black vote for granted, and he wants it to stop. Brooks is a Republican, and he’s trying to turn the massive power of the black vote in Chicago toward a party that will actually help them. In his interview with The Daily Beast, the pastor specified trade unions as a major obstacle for African Americans in the Chicago suburbs.
Brooks also believes that the breakdown of the family structure is responsible for the violence in Woodlawn, and wants to discourage the efforts of the Democratic party to facilitate this breakdown by electing Republican leadership.
“There’s a class of African-Americans who have gone on to be very successful, and we’re grateful and thankful for that,” Brooks said. “But with their success, some of them didn’t bring it back to the community.”
Brooks hopes the Republicans can bring his community out of poverty and violence and into prosperity.