Scottie Pippen and Pastor Brooks

Why do we care about the theater of racism far more than we do about the transformative power of education?

Good morning!

I hope you all have been well.

Things are good on our end — we’re making great progress on the White Guilt documentary. What’s most exciting is that we’re breaking new ground, generating new insights, etc. It’s not easy making an abstraction like race come alive but our efforts are yielding unique results.

Aside from that, I wanted to share two things with you. One is an X post from NBA legend, Scottie Pippen that offers a centering perspective on life:

Scottie Pippen has been a supporter of Pastor Corey Brooks’ efforts to build the Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center on the South Side. Below is Pippen with Desmond Marshall who runs Project H.O.O.D. This photo was taken last December before construction hit full speed.

Lastly, I wanted to share Pastor Brooks’ latest Rooftop Revelation for Fox News on failing schools across America:

Why do we care about the theater of racism far more than we do about the transformative power of education?

Over a year ago, I read the news that 23 public schools in Baltimore reported that not a single one of their students was proficient in math at their grade level. That was exactly 2,000 students who were not proficient. It gets worse. An additional 20 schools had only one or two students who were at grade level in math. And not one high school student in the whole city of Baltimore scored a 4, the highest possible score.

Though this news may be old, the reality is not. If you think this is a problem that affects only certain kinds of Americans or certain neighborhoods, you’d be wrong. This is the future of America and Baltimore is just the worst-case scenario. Schools all over America are failing our kids and pumping functionally illiterate graduates into our cities.

The reason why I’ve been thinking about this Baltimore situation of late is that it shows how dysfunctional our society has become. Most of the news articles that I read showed citizens blaming the city, the local and state governments, and the educators. They are right to do so. But shouldn’t they be blaming themselves instead?

I say this because all this blaming is getting us nowhere. The government officials and educators simply do not care. They see the problems right in front of them but rarely do a few take the necessary actions to right the ship. It is sometimes stunning to see how they have no shame when it comes to failing kids — too many of them hide behind the excuse of this-is-white-supremacy’s-fault.

Then there are those who blame politicians. They say, if only you would stop voting Democrat! There are plenty of failing schools in GOP strongholds. My point here is that politicians are not the answer to this problem. They’re just politicians.

But what I don’t see here is enough families taking responsibility for their kids. There are parents out there who are outraged and challenging the system. But it is not enough. Where are the boycotts? Where are the shutdowns? Where are the marches around the schools?

Some parents tell me they are trying to work within the system. I’ve seen them try — God bless them — but they haven’t gotten anywhere. They then get tired out or their kid graduates and they give up and the problem still remains.

Why did so many Americans march for George Floyd and demand that Black Lives Matter and not one of them cares about pumping graduates-in-name-only into an already struggling America where they will be struggling to make a living with two hands tied behind their backs? Why do we care about the theater of racism far more than we do about the transformative power of education?

To read the rest of the article, click here.

This is precisely the problem. Too many of us care about the theater of racism. There’s money to be made. Endless mudslinging and clickbait. All this is also a way to avoid doing the hard work of actual development. Too many Americans preach development as the antidote to the Left’s toxic racial politics but rarely do they practice it effectively. If they did, they’d be lining up to learn from the examples of Pastor Brooks in Chicago, Ian Rowe in the Bronx, and elsewhere. Their way of development is the true American way and they deserve all our support — not the shrill, empty pundits and provocateurs.

My best,

Eli