Opinion

My walk across America is over, but my mission for South Side kids is not

My doctors have made it plain that I cannot walk anymore. The road to Los Angeles, which began on Sept. 1, 2025, in New York City, is a journey I will not finish on foot

By Corey Brooks Fox News

Published June 9, 2026 10:00am EDT

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As I write this, I am sitting in stillness for the first time in a while. I’ve been walking across America for nearly 200 days, and I admit I’m itching to get back onto the open road. I loved the walk — meeting new people, seeing the hidden corners of America, and learning her stories.

But the doctors have made it plain that I cannot walk anymore. When I had my first surgery to remove a painful growth called a pyogenic granuloma from my heel, I thought I was good to go. However, that growth came back with a vengeance in the same spot and had to be removed again. To keep pushing would mean risking profound damage to my foot.

The road to Los Angeles, which began on Sept. 1, 2025, in New York City, is a journey I will not finish on foot. Many of you have walked every step of this with me in spirit, and my heart is broken.

I remember standing in Times Square on the first day, looking up at those skyscrapers, and thinking about how people built this city out of nothing. The people doing the building often came from other lands and had far fewer resources. But they had ingenuity, will, and resilience, and I thought about how the children on the South Side must be brought up in this same spirit. Anything is possible with commitment, grit, and the unwavering will never to quit.

FROM A CHICAGO ROOFTOP TO 3,000-MILE JOURNEY, HERE'S HOW I'M FIGHTING TO RESTORE AMERICA'S SOUL

I put on my shoes, and I started walking.

What followed was one of the most extraordinary times of my life.

I am grateful beyond words for every dollar, every prayer, every person who walked a city leg with me, shared a post or gave what they could.

I will never forget the time........

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