COREY BROOKS: What’s the harm in asking if the American Dream is alive for Black people?

The historically Black University of the District of Columbia recently banned an on-campus event by conservative organization that would have asked, “Is the American Dream Alive for Black Americans?” Our America Foundation was the organizer behind the event, which would have featured FAIR Executive Director Monica Harris and Fox News contributor and Our America advisor Deroy Murdock — both hardly controversial figures. What apparently was controversial was that they dared ask if the American Dream was alive in the Black community.

The complaint filed by Our America and FAIR alleges that the public university violated “the First Amendment by restricting protected speech based on viewpoint in a public forum.”

The complaint details how Monique Gamble, a political science professor, allegedly axed the debate by telling Our America that “Our university is comprised of many students whose identities actually do put them at risk in a society that has a known history of criminalizing race, gender, sexuality, immigration and socio-economic status.” In addition, she said, “In my view, it’s not enough to be ‘part of the conversation.’ These conversations should unequivocally acknowledge the risks that people with marginalized and politicized identities face in their lives daily. At UDC, we do not entertain these realities as debatable.”

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This is nothing more than minority fragility. This is nothing more than protecting the “victim narrative” that has been in place in America for the last 60 years. Do we really believe that Blacks and other minorities are so fragile that they cannot listen to a debate about the American Dream? Do we really believe they will crumble psychologically, or worse, from whatever paranoia she’s stoking?

I have made it my mission over the last two decades to destroy the bad-faith myth that the American Dream is dead.

I’ve known people like Monique Gamble most of my life. They may have the title of professor but they truly are the guardians of the Black victim narrative. In the words of Shelby Steele, Gamble’s Black power — I say Black because that is what she sees herself as — comes from using Black victimization to exploit White guilt. She cannot have anyone come in and challenge her narrative. She can’t have anyone come in and tell her students about the glories of the American Dream. Anti-Americanness is her power.

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When you read Gamble’s response to the complaint, the striking thing is how she reduces everyone to identities of immutable characteristics. That is all she sees her students as. And she assumes false nobility by acting as the protector of her students who will shield them from “risks.” But what “risks” is she talking about here? The only thing at risk here is the fragility of her anti-American narrative which reduces minorities to victim status.

For those who know me, I preach the American Dream on the South Side of Chicago, where I pastor every day. For decades, people like Gamble told the youth in my neighborhood that the American Dream was dead for them. That is why you’ll hear people here talk about the White man or how the system isn’t built for them. There isn’t anything out there for them but living by the hand of the government.

I have made it my mission over the last two decades to destroy this bad-faith myth that the American Dream is dead. I preach over and over the very simple American virtues of responsibility, accountability, perseverance, resilience, and never ever giving up one’s belief in oneself.

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When kids throw back in my face that the American Dream is dead, I tell them to look at what God gave them: two feet that can go anywhere, two hands that can make anything, a mouth that can move worlds, two eyes that can see possibility, and a brain that can dream up a life for oneself. I tell them that America is the land where they can put all of God’s gifts to work and make themselves into somebodies.

These debates about the American Dream need to happen everywhere and we must push back against the Gambles and others like her. Their bad faith has done profound damage and for far too long. That is why, when I launched my plans for the walk across America, I decided on the tagline: Reviving the American Dream for Every Block.

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