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The election of Donald Trump to the highest office in land last week was a vindication of sorts for me.
I live in the Democratic stronghold of Chicago and its hold is even stronger on the South Side of Chicago where my church is. Democrat policies have choked our community for the last 70 years. We have been given one policy of dependency after another that asks for nothing in return. Too many of us have lived off the government teat from cradle to coffin and they believe that is what America is. We are told we are victims without an expiration date.
But victims of what? White supremacy? I’ve never seen the KKK march down King Drive. I’ve only seen Democrats around. I’ve seen how they say sweet things that result in yet more dependency. I’ve seen how they tell us we need this and that because we’re victims. I’ve seen how members of my community demand justice which means even more funding for policies of dependency.
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I refused to be blinded to or corrupted by this process. I also refused to blind myself to the reality that the Democrats are the ones who are truly victimizing us.
That is why I’ve always embraced the conservative values of author and columnist Shelby Steele (a native of my area) and economist and commentator Thomas Sowell as my guiding lights. I’ve applied their universal principles of uplift, personal agency, responsibility and accountability to my everyday teachings in my neighborhood. The results have been remarkable but should really come as no surprise.
After all, how can anyone uplift themselves following Democrat principles? I have yet to meet one such individual.
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The price I paid for pursuing conservatism has been enormous. And that is why it was gratifying to see America elect Trump as our president.
I’m not the only one on the South Side noticing this. In 2016, 12.41% of Chicagoans voted for Trump. In 2024, that number increased to 22.01%.
Not only that, no one in my community is buying the Democrat lie that Trump is racist, bigoted, or a white supremacist. If one goes there, we just laugh. Instead, we now discuss issues of seriousness: education uplift, violence reduction, small business prosperity, etc.
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Most of all, we talk about how much the Democrat culture of dependency robbed us of our souls and how proving our self-worth through jobs, providing for family, and being a good neighbor enriches our souls so much more.
Today, I’ve become a leading voice of conservatism in my community and in larger America. I did not ask for this. I simply believed it was the right way forward and the change we are seeing is slow but quite remarkable.
Just the other day, we raised our very first steel beam — a 20,000 pound symbol of hope and transformation — for our $40 million community center that will open this coming summer. It may not seem like a big deal to most, but it is to a community that has not seen any building in the last 70 years — only the decline of human souls and building infrastructure.
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Though Trump is now president, our work is far from done. A president is only as good as his people and I promise to carry on with my work on the South Side of Chicago.
It is my hope that by the end of Trump’s term, I will be able to say that we have changed the South Side in all aspects and for the better. That is my promise and I intend to keep it.
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