ENOUGH!
Power Before People? How Chicago’s Leaders Keep Crime Alive—and Why Pastor Corey Brooks Says Children Pay the Price
Critics say Chicago’s chaos fuels political machines, empowering leaders while leaving neighborhoods broken. Pastor Brooks calls it betrayal—and warns the fuse is nearly gone.
By Staff Writer | September 3, 2025
A System That Thrives on Chaos
Chicago is bleeding — and some critics say it’s by design.
The children shot while walking to school, the families dodging bullets, the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs — these are not just failures of policy. They are the fuel of a political machine that thrives on chaos.
The accusation is blunt: too many politicians don’t actually want to solve the crime problem.
Why? Because chaos means control. High crime keeps billions flowing into nonprofit organizations that claim to fight violence but rely on its existence to survive. These groups employ thousands, who in turn often serve as loyal foot soldiers for the Democratic machine — knocking on doors, mobilizing voters, and keeping leaders like Governor JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson in power.
If the streets were safe, if families stood on their own, if children grew up free from gangs — the money dries up, the machine weakens, and politicians lose their grip.
It is a system that rewards despair, punishes independence, and leaves the innocent to pay the price.
And no one feels that betrayal more deeply than Pastor Corey Brooks, the South Side minister who has buried the young, comforted the broken, and watched as leaders traded lives for votes.
A Pastor’s Perspective—From the Rooftop to the Streets
Brooks is known across the nation as the “Rooftop Pastor,” for spending 94 freezing days atop a building to protest violence and raise money for a youth center. He has dedicated his life to communities politicians visit only for cameras.
His words are not political talking points. They are a cry from the gravesides of children.
“The South Side of Chicago is a war zone,” Brooks says. “Just a few weeks ago, I stood over the body of a man who had been shot dead. Hundreds of young souls will be killed by year’s end.”
He has carried too many caskets. He has seen too many parents collapse in grief.
“I’ve presided over far too many funerals and I don’t want to do any more of them. Enough.”
President Trump Speaks—Leaders Deny
When President Trump called Chicago “a mess” and its leadership “grossly incompetent,” Brooks didn’t flinch. He agreed with the urgency.
“After all, the government’s first responsibility is to protect its citizens,” Brooks explains. “When endless violence continues to plague the lives of people around me, action is needed.”
But instead of admitting failure, Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson brushed the warnings aside. They boasted of “progress,” while families in Brooks’ community still mourned.
“We don’t have any further to slide downward. We are at rock bottom.”
Shock and Awe
Brooks believes it may take something drastic to shock the city back into order.
“I see the deployment of troops onto Chicago’s streets as a necessary shock-and-awe measure,” he says. “The Chicago Police Department has done a good job … but they are led by ‘defund the police’ leadership. Imagine how much better the force would be with a law-and-order mayor.”
For Brooks, the stakes are clear: without law and order, there is no survival.
“Right now, under the current leadership in our city, gangs still control our streets, human trafficking goes unchecked and drugs flow through here like the Mississippi River.”
Beyond the Boots—Roots That Transform
Still, Brooks knows soldiers cannot solve what decades of failed policies created.
“The soldiers can patrol the streets and arrest criminals. But they cannot rebuild broken families. They cannot mentor a fatherless teenager … They cannot create jobs, teach life skills, or restore hope.”
That is why he built Project H.O.O.D. (Helping Others Obtain Destiny). For more than a decade, it has offered what government never could: mentorship, skills, and hope.
“We’ve trained young men in trades … mentored boys and girls … provided entrepreneurship programs, job readiness training and faith-based guidance that changes lives from the inside out.”
While political machines thrive on brokenness, Brooks thrives on restoration.
Voices From the South Side
In every neighborhood, residents echo Pastor Brooks’ warnings. Their words carry the weight of grief, fear, and resilience.
Maria Lopez, mother of two:
“They talk about programs, but my son is still scared to walk to school. What good is a program if it can’t keep my child alive?”
James Miller, father in Englewood:
“Progress? Tell that to the parents who just buried their daughter. You don’t measure progress in press releases — you measure it in lives saved.”
Tyrone Harris, 19, Project H.O.O.D. graduate:
“If it wasn’t for Pastor Brooks, I’d be dead or in jail. They gave me a future when nobody else would.”
Elaine Robinson, grandmother raising three grandchildren after her daughter’s murder:
“We don’t need speeches. We need safety. We need leaders who care more about us than about power.”
Together, these voices paint a stark picture of daily life in Chicago’s hardest-hit neighborhoods — and they show Pastor Brooks is far from alone in demanding change.
The Cost of Power
The question is unavoidable: how many children must die so politicians can hold on to power?
Critics argue that as long as crime flows, the system works — for them. Nonprofits stay funded. Workers stay employed. Politicians keep their armies of loyal supporters. But families stay trapped, children stay vulnerable, and communities stay broken.
It is a vicious circle designed to preserve power at the expense of lives.
For Brooks, that’s not politics. It’s betrayal.
“We need a reset. We need a reordering of society where our kids come first and the gangsters last.”
Conclusion—The Fuse Is Nearly Gone
Corey Brooks has become one of the loudest moral voices on Chicago’s South Side, and his words are difficult to dismiss. While Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson insist the city is improving, Brooks paints a picture of neighborhoods where fear is daily life and funerals for young men and women are routine.
He does not argue in abstractions. He speaks as a pastor who has walked with grieving families, prayed over blood-stained streets, and buried children before they reached adulthood.
“The National Guard may calm the streets. But it’s organizations like Project H.O.O.D. that will change the streets. That’s where President Trump and America must focus if we want to win this country back, one block at a time.”
Whether one agrees with deploying federal troops or not, the tension Brooks describes is undeniable: residents desperate for safety on one side, leaders wary of ceding political control on the other. Critics argue that the very structures meant to serve vulnerable communities too often become part of a system that relies on ongoing crises for funding and influence.
The pastor’s warning is stark. The fuse, he says, is almost gone. If nothing changes, what comes next may be a collapse far deeper than any single city block can absorb.
And while Brooks ends his message with a single word — “Enough” — the weight of that statement now rests with Chicago’s leaders, its voters, and the nation watching from afar.
Key Takeaways
Critics argue Chicago’s crime crisis is politically useful, fueling nonprofit networks that strengthen Democratic power while leaving communities broken.
Pastor Corey Brooks, the “Rooftop Pastor,” warns that children are paying the price, presiding over funeral after funeral while leaders deny the depth of the crisis.
The fuse is nearly gone, Brooks says — and unless courage replaces politics, Chicago’s collapse may come sooner than anyone admits.
Sources:
Testimonies and writings of Pastor Corey Brooks, New Beginnings Church of Chicago
Project H.O.O.D. program initiatives and records
Community activist and resident accounts on nonprofit–political ties
New York Post, “Trump’s right: Pritzker should BEG for his help to fight crime”
AP-NORC poll on Democrats’ views of crime
