OPINION:
On the streets of Chicago’s South Side, where gunfire pops off regularly, leaving dead bodies for the nightly news crews, I once climbed atop an abandoned motel and refused to come down for 94 days. That defiant 2011 stand against the drugs, prostitution and gang violence plaguing the motel earned me the moniker “Rooftop Pastor.” Enough funds were raised to tear down the motel, and crime levels dropped significantly.
I didn’t stop there.
My dream was to build a community center to address the pressing needs of my community.
In 2021 and 2022, I took my stand against violence to new heights, literally, by spending 343 days on a makeshift roof atop four shipping containers placed on the site where I hoped to build the community center. We raised millions of dollars and have begun construction.
Since then, Americans from all walks of life, spanning classes, races and backgrounds, have reached out and urged me to share my vision: The only path for people to escape the “permanent” underclass is by outright rejecting the political left’s corrosive culture of dependency, excuses and victimization.
Now, as our nation drifts further from its foundational moorings of faith, family and merit, I’m lacing up my shoes for a 3,000-mile walk across America, 6 million steps of faith, from New York City’s Times Square to Los Angeles’ Santa Monica Pier, starting Sept. 1. The objective: to rally the country around the idea that merit and opportunity belong to all, especially those in the underclass, and to remind them that the American dream is far from dead.
This isn’t just a walk; it’s a moral crusade that echoes the unyielding spirit of my elders, who shaped my understanding of America. Growing up while segregation’s scars were still fresh, I learned from men and women who had endured its brutalities. Yet they spoke not of victimhood or entitlement but rather of grit, faith and the quiet dignity of self-reliance. “Never make an excuse,” they would say, embodying the American promise that hard work and vision, elevated by faith in God, could transform lives and bring untold opportunities.
That’s the driving force behind my Project H.O.O.D. (Helping Others Obtain Destiny), a nonprofit born from my rooftop vigils. On Woodlawn’s notorious “O Block,” named after a slain gangster and once dubbed one of Chicago’s deadliest ZIP codes, I’m building a $47 million Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center. It will be located less than a mile from the sprawling $830 million Obama Presidential Center.
Through mentorship programs, job training, a charter school for expelled youths, counseling and violence prevention efforts, we have saved at-risk kids from the jaws of poverty and gangs. What sets us apart is our refusal to embrace the “victim-oriented mindset.” That way of thinking — that America has damaged us so badly that we can’t succeed without White guilt — is totally different from our approach. I reject it outright. We’re focusing on opportunity and content of character, not outcomes dictated by diversity, equity and inclusion mandates or being woke.
My goal with this walk is to raise $25 million in private donations to complete our 90,000-square-foot hub debt-free and expand Project H.O.O.D. nationwide, promoting values such as faith, family, responsibility, opportunity, sacrifice and merit. We do not take government funds. Millions — no, billions — of dollars flow to organizations such as Black Lives Matter and the Obama Center, but groups like ours have to fight for every penny because we dare to promote merit over handouts.
At a time when cities such as Chicago fail our youths daily under liberal policies that prioritize excuses over education, safety and accountability, this walk across America feels like a rebuke to the soul-crushing grip of government dependency and cultural decline. We have watched as post-1960s liberalism has led to declining marriage rates, rising numbers of single-parent households, failing education, tribalism, racial divisions and diminished faith in God. Youth violence surges not because of systemic phantoms alone but because we have abandoned God, family and the merit-based striving that built this nation. Today, one-fourth of American children lack a father at home, homicide is the leading cause of death for Black males ages 15 to 34, and nearly one-third of high school girls consider suicide amid a mental health crisis.
This walk is a call to reclaim the American dream, proving that “America still works.” Every block in America deserves a comeback story.
True progress comes from within — from character forged in adversity, not from exploiting guilt or division. My odyssey will traverse 50 anchor cities, suburbs, countrysides and inner cities over 365 days. It’s not just my walk; it’s our walk, the church’s walk, a collective effort to raise a generation that believes in effort, discipline and faith.
America doesn’t need more programs; it needs more people of resolve, more community coming together, and more reminders that merit and morality are our true North Star. Support us, join the awakening and watch as we rebuild, one faithful step at a time.
• Corey B. Brooks is the founder and senior pastor of New Beginnings Church of Chicago and CEO of Project H.O.O.D. (Helping Others Obtain Destiny).
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