Death and destruction in Chicago

Pastor Corey Brooks on the violent shootings rocking the 'Windy City'

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," April 21, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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O'REILLY: "FACTOR Follow-up" segment tonight, death and destruction in Chicago. After the brutal winter there, the spring season has ushered in more violent death.

The past two weekends, 82 people have been shot in the streets, 13 of them killed A greater toll than in Afghanistan. Joining us now from Chicago, Pastor Corey Brooks, Founder of The New Beginnings Church in the Windy City.

So, according to the police, the killings are predominantly young black males involved in drug gangs. This has been going on for years now. '

It's embarrassing. It shouldn't be happening in America. Do you see any solution on the horizon, pastor.

COREY BROOKS, PASTOR, NEW BEGINNINGS CHURCH OF CHICAGO: Well, I do, Bill. You know, I think, if we continue to collaborate and work together, continue to make sure that all of us are focused on the problems, and we ganged up on the problem and not each other, I have no doubt we can solve the issues that we're faced with today.

O'REILLY: So, you're an optimist even though every weekend, you're seeing your people being brutalized --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

-- in the street by these drug gangs. Now, I want to play you the Police Chief of Chicago. Here's what he blames the violence on. Roll the tape.

GARRY MCCARTHY, SUPERINTENDENT, CHICAGO POLICE: We need help with the gun laws because, you know, the national averages for gun violence were way above it as far as murder by gunshot shows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now, the gun laws in Illinois, in Chicago, as you may know, are some of the most strict in the country. If you go to Texas, for example, it's much easier to get and carry a weapon than it is in Chicago.

Yet, you're not seeing anything close to the violence in Texas that you are in your city. Why.

BROOKS: Well, when you're dealing with young black men who are dropping out of school at an alarming rate, one out of 10 has an eighth grade reading level, you have dysfunctional break-ups of the family, you have economic system where young black males are unemployed in an alarming rate, And you continue to have all of this in one environment, then you're going to have a time bomb that's ready to explode at any time.

O'REILLY: But you have that in a lot of cities. You have that in Houston. You have that in Dallas, not quite to the extent.

You have it in Los Angeles. You have in a lot of cities, Washington, D.C. Same kind of situation -- dissolution of the family, poor education.

Yet, Chicago leads the league in this kind of gang violence and death. I think it has to do with the -- I don't think the police are doing their job. I've got to say, I don't think the Chicago Police is doing the job.

BROOKS: Well, you know, I think they're doing the best they can --

O'REILLY: I don't.

BROOKS: -- under the situation and circumstance. I think what they're doing --

O'REILLY: I'd put officers on every block in those precincts. You would have two or three officers walking the beat 24 hours a day. You've got that now? Do you have it now.

BROOKS: I live in the area where the police are walking the beat every single day. I invite you to come down to 6620 --

O'REILLY: We've been there.

BROOKS: -- South King Drive in Chicago.

O'REILLY: We've been there.

BROOKS: And you'll see that, on a daily basis, the police are there. When you're dealing with young black men who are hopeless, you're dealing with the situation where the educational system is awry, you're dealing with the situation where you have an influx of drugs and hopelessness.

And when you have that, no amount of police can stop it.

O'REILLY: I don't agree with you. I think if the police, local police can't stop it, the governor of Illinois should put the National Guard in there.

I think the good people of Chicago, the poor people who live in your precincts, you deserve to be protected. And if you have to have armed soldiers there, then you should have them.

BROOKS: I think what would be better is a better educational system for young black boys.

O'REILLY: It's pie in the sky, Mr. Brooks.

BROOKS: I think what would be better --

O'REILLY: It's pie in the sky. You can't force kids to learn.

BROOKS: -- I think what would be better is better resources.

O'REILLY: You can't force kids to learn.

BROOKS: I think what would be better is better is better resources.

O'REILLY: No, I can't.

BROOKS: I think what would be better is more utilization of summer programs and things that these young people can do to enhance their lives. And, I think, for anyone to consistently believe that the police are here to solve all of our , problems, that is not a good method.

What is a better method is, when we collaborate and work together, all of us -- police, pastors, politicians, parents, all of us collaborating and working together to make Chicago a better place, --

O'REILLY: All right.

BROOKS: -- that's the only thing that's going to work.

O'REILLY: Well, you have very liberal mayor, Rahm Emanuel, a powerful man. You've got a very liberal, you know, legislature in Springfield that have pumped tens of millions of dollars into your educational system.

What you don't have is personal responsibility, you don't have enough power on the street to break these gangs. I would break these gangs.

Then you start from there. You've got to break them.

BROOKS: Absolutely, we've got to break them.

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