Earlier this year, several African American Pastors in Chicago got together in an attempt to turn the tide in the state of Illinois. Toward that end, they put together a video ad in support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner. Their reasoning is simply the fact that they feel the Democrat Party has taken African American voters for granted – a fact made obvious by the consistent promises and equally consistent failure to deliver the promised relief to impoverished communites. Says Pastor Corey Brooks, of New Beginnings Church on Chicago's South Side, “It's time to change things up in Illinois, on the South Side.”
And since the ad began running on local cable stations, Pastor Brooks has indeed seen a “change” on the South Side, albeit not a pleasant one. Over the weekend, he has had to respond to a break in at his church (where $8000 marked for the building of a community center was stolen) and death threats via phone directed at his family.
The death threats seem related to Bruce Rauner. They say his name as well as mine and most of the references were in response to me in support of him. So it's really derogatory, really racial, a lot of homophobic words. It's really life threatening.
The five threatening phone calls Pastor Brooks received on Saturday were enough to make him move his family from their home in order to ensure their safety. He recorded one of the calls, the transcript of which is printed in the Chicago Sun Times.
We on you, boy, we on you. And you ain't got nobody that can stop us, nobody. Who you gonna go to, the deacons? They can't stop us. We gonna beat your fat ass in front of your mama congregation on Sunday. Yeah we going to steal the sheep of the hypocrite. You's a hypocrite, we going to beat your fat ass in front if your own congregation. Who you got? F@#$, we're going to beat their ass too. They can't protect you. You sell out. You Uncle Tom ass n@##$%. You token. You're a puppet for Bruce Rauner.
Brooks says he will not be deterred. He still believes that Illinois needs change, and he still plans to continue to preach. Fundrasising again for his community center will be started again.
