CHICAGO – For a long time, black conservative intellectuals like Thomas Sowell and Shelby Steele have argued against the destructive forces of post-'60s liberalism in favor of true black power that comes with individual development. Though they can never know at the time of their writings, their hope is that one day men and women of action will heed their words and effect the true and lasting change that is needed to better society for all.
Pastor Corey Brooks is one of those rare Americans who took the words of Sowell and Steele to heart and put them to practice. The influence of Sowell can be felt when the pastor tells gangsters like Varney Voker that they can transfer the business principles that made them into successful drug dealers over to the right side of the line and find success. The influence of Steele can be felt when the pastor tells troubled teens that the greatest power they possess is within themselves and that they can achieve even the wildest of dreams if they keep faith and put the work in.
On the 93rd day of his 100-day rooftop vigil to build a transformative community center on the South Side of Chicago, the pastor reached out to Steele, a writer and filmmaker who made a 2020 documentary that featured the pastor, "What Killed Michael Brown?" (Disclosure: Eli Steele is the son of Shelby Steele and directed "What Killed Michael Brown?")
"It's a blessing to have you with us," the pastor said warmly. "Everyone knows that I love Thomas Sowell and I love Shelby Steele. There's not a moment that I don’t try to tell people about my affection for both of you. You lived through the ‘60s. What was the moment that you woke up to the realities of post-’60s liberalism, which many call the Great Society programs?"
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"I suppose it happened specifically in the early 1970s. I see [the] 1964 Civil Rights Act as the turning point, the moment when blacks really came into freedom for the very first time," Steele said. "When the president of the United States signed the bill saying in effect, ‘Yes, we've abused these people, essentially, and that was wrong.’ I know no other nation that has been morally brave enough to do something like that. America did."
"We as blacks … thought there was a lot of power in the fact that America had done us so wrong," Steele continued. "And so rather than focus on taking ourselves forward at that moment, we fell into a terrible trap of dependency on the very society we had just won freedom from. We argued that America needed to take responsibility for moving us ahead. And so we put our energies into black power and to black this and black identity and liberal politics."
"In fact, what we did was take our own fate – which we had just won – [and] put it in the hands of other people," Steele said. "And that's where I think we made a mistake."
"We were lucky to be in America. It was full of opportunity," Steele added. "Didn't mean racism was gone, but it meant that opportunity was everywhere. And we have, I believe, been literally stalked by opportunity since the '60s. Everywhere in American life, people are trying to give us possibilities and opportunities to develop. I thought, that's the way to go. Precisely what you are doing, which is in the inner city itself, pointing out to people that their life is in their own hands, that they can move themselves forward. That that's how it always happens for all people everywhere. The kiss of death is to keep relying on what the government can do. There's nothing worse for us."
"Mr. Steele, people call you a black conservative intellectual. I know before that label, you were a black militant of sorts. And I want to ask you, have you really changed at all? Are you still the same guy that believes in this black power, so to speak, in the sense that we can do it on our own?" the pastor asked.
"I feel exactly the same way. I have not changed my values since I was a little boy, and my parents were involved in the Civil Rights Movement and so forth," Steele answered. "Black politics [today] is designed [for] no other purpose than to put our fate in other people's hands. To keep believing we didn't get a voting rights bill? Well, can you imagine how disrespectful that is? Just saying that we have to have a piece of legislation before we have enough sense to go down to the voting booth and vote? That infantilizes us. It treats us as children. It robs us of any possibility of self-respect."
"We've had this black conservative intellectual movement for a long time now. And do you think now is a time for people like me to step up and start applying these principles?" the pastor asked. "I know I've been doing it for 22 years now. And do you think we need more of us? Is that the key to a better future for black America?"
"Absolutely. To me, that's the test of everything at this point. It should be common knowledge within black America that the government of the United States is not our way out. Our way out is ourselves. The government must enforce the rights and so forth in a democratic society that [are] due [to] all people. But the government can't teach your 2-year-old child to read, your 3-year-old, 4-year-old," Steele said. "They can't teach your child what good manners are, how to love themselves, how to appreciate themselves and yet ask something of themselves at the same time. Mothers and fathers do that. So we need more mothers and fathers to be doing that. You're doing that in your community center, you're telling these young people that a good, happy life is possible if you develop yourself to possess it, put yourself in a position to possess it. That's the hope of black America. Everything else has been tried. It's all failed."
"When you think about the black conservative principles and ideas, Mr. Steele, which do you feel is the most relevant to communities like mine at this very moment?" the pastor asked.
"I think one of the most important things in human life is parental love for children. Love in the sense—not in the sense of just heaping kisses and all that sort of thing, but loving children so that they learn to appreciate themselves. They like themselves. They take risks in life. They learn, they expand, they grow," Steele replied. "When a group does that, you look up one day and the whole group is ahead. The whole group is solid and strong and able to confront all manner of things, all manner of difficulties."
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"But that responsibility for development has to come back to black Americans ourselves," Steele continued. "We have to do that. The reason I just love what you're doing is because that's exactly what you're saying, the power for overcoming is within us. And it's not some complicated, overwhelming thing. It's good old-fashioned love your child and ask something from them."
"As always, I salute you and I thank you," the pastor said. "I'll say it again, and I say to everybody, if you want to know what black conservatism is all about, read Thomas Sowell and Shelby Steele, and you'll walk away knowing what needs to be done. I'm trying to live those principles that you teach and write about."
"Thank you so much for having me. It's indeed my honor."
Follow along as Fox News checks in Pastor Corey Brooks each day with a new Rooftop Revelation.
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Eli Steele is a documentary filmmaker and writer. His latest film is "What Killed Michael Brown?" Twitter: @Hebro_Steele.
Camera by Terrell Allen.
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