Rooftop Revelations: Pastor Brooks On America’s failure in Ukraine and the South Side

From the South Side of Chicago, Pastor Corey Brooks has watched Americans debate Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and what it means.  On the 99th day of his 100-day rooftop vigil to build a community center, he wished to share his unique views with his audience.

What follows has been lightly edited. We strongly encourage you to watch the accompanying video so you may hear the pastor in his own words. 

Like most Americans, I've been watching the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfold in real time. For me, there's a sense that we knew this was going to come, that this was going to happen. Some of us may not believe it's actually happening, but we cannot deny that we knew it was coming. 

When I see wrongs like this I often try to think of it in universal terms. Why did this happen?

The short answer is because we let it happen. 

We had countless people warn us about Russia's ambitions and Putin's character. People like Senator Mitt Romney, Senator John McCain, various Eastern European leaders. They all warned us and we ignored them. Even President Biden admitted he knew it was going to happen.

We said nothing when President Obama allowed Putin to take Crimea. Now with President Biden, we hear a lot of tough talk backed by weak action. 

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You are witnessing how ineffective, unwilling, and weak our government has become. We say, "We want peace, but we never do what is necessary to achieve peace." We say, "We want peace and we want to get rid of the violence," and when the violence happens, we say, "Aw shucks, this really saddens me. It hurts me."

From where I sit on the South Side of Chicago, I cannot help but think that this is a profound American flaw. I know most of you, if not all of you, to be honest, are not expecting words on foreign policy from a pastor like me. But the reason why I've been doing "Rooftop Revelations" is to offer our unique perspective from the South Side of Chicago. Words that have never been heard or things that have never been seen coming from the South Side. So take it for what it's worth.

The reason why the American government's response to Ukraine bothers me is because it sounds similar to the government's response to our neighborhood. The government has not interfered in the lives of America as much as it has with black communities and native Americans. People in these poor communities have been crying for help for years. More police, more security, more schools, better roads, we have been calling for them. We've needed them to achieve peace, but when we've called, we’ve gotten no response. We see 40 people shot and five killed on weekends, and when it happens, we hear them say, "Oh, this saddens me." And nothing gets done that shifts the needle toward peace.

Now, understand we're not asking the government to save us. We work every day to build up our communities, but we need outside help since the problems here are so dire. Just like the Ukrainians need outside help, we do too. 

My point here is that we have allowed ourselves to be accustomed to saying sweet nothings about peace, and we end up saying, "This saddens me. This hurts me." 

That's what we're saying as we watch the Ukrainians have their lives turned upside down. What is also fascinating is how NATO has also failed here. You know what that reminds me of? Black Lives Matter. Americans gave millions upon millions to Black Lives Matter believing that they would help communities like ours. Ukraine gave up their nukes to move toward democracy and what is NATO doing?

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What I'm getting at is we're seeing how governments are failing. We Americans have lost the concept of evil. We truly have. We no longer talk about the devil. There is evil. I see it every day on the streets. They shoot, they loot, they kill. Then our government lets them back on the streets to kill again. And we say, "This saddens me. This hurts me." 

But you want to know who lets this happen? We the People. We have given too much power to our governments, far too much power. We expect them to take care of us. The Ukrainians gave up their nukes when the Soviet collapsed because our government promised to defend them.

How is that working out?

Look at how our government drove down neighborhoods like mine, drove them down into the ground. They pour millions into these communities, promising to uplift. Instead they create a culture of dependency. Maybe that's what they want: all of us to be dependent upon them. But all that does is lead to violence and politicians biting their lips and saying, "This saddens me. This hurts me." 

I say to the American people, enough is enough. This is why I'm here on this South Side of Chicago on a freezing roof. I'm fighting for this community, just like the Ukrainians are fighting for their nation. We the People have to rise up against these government elites who pay no price. We pay the price every time they say, "This saddens me." Enough. We the People must rise or we will perish. I know that we must continue to fight. We must continue to struggle because here on the South Side of Chicago, we can really relate to the Ukrainians.

God bless you. God bless America, but this time God bless the Ukrainians.