Going to "O Block"

For John, BLUF:  Candidate Rand Paul is up in my estimation.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Over at InstaPundit, Ms Elizabeth Price Foley tells it like it is:

AN OFFER THE GOP SHOULDN’T REFUSE:  Black Chicago Pastor:  Dems “Failing” Us.

“African-Americans have been loyal to the Democratic Party,” Pastor Corey Brooks said.  “But there is a group of African-Americans that feel like the Democratic Party has not been loyal to us.”

Not far from O Block — named for a fallen gang member killed by a female assassin — is New Beginnings Church of Chicago, where Brooks sat in his office Wednesday morning laying out the case for Republican presidential candidates to visit the area.

So far, only Rand Paul already has taken him up on his offer – extended to all candidates of each party. The two walked through Parkway Gardens, an apartment complex along O Block, after Paul’s speech to his congregation.

Brooks isn’t the only person to believe a great change must occur for inner cities across the country to be able to break free from the poverty and crime that envelope them.  But the pastor is looking to a different source than others for that change, one that doesn’t usually count O Block among its campaign stops: Republicans.

Every single GOP presidential contender should take Pastor Brooks up on this offer.  This isn’t about pandering to identity politics; it’s about reaching out to a community that thinks the GOP doesn’t care about them, and showing them that isn’t true, and discussing alternative ways to fight poverty and black-on-black violence other than government handouts and blaming police.

The time has come for the GOP to (1) go back to its roots and (2) reach out to the Black Community, knowing that there are a lot of folks with Middle Class values who want an end to policies that, in the long run, work against their communities and not for their communities.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

O Block
Pastor Corey Brooks