Election turns off young people, too

Patterson High civics students seem to be just as disenchanted as adults with this year’s election season.

A small group of 10th-grade students from one of Travis Darnell’s civics classes decided to chime in and share their opinions concerning the upcoming election and who’s fit or not fit, in this case, to be the next president.

Darnell is also a city council member in Patterson.

Kobi Lipari and JaQuinton Washington have been following the campaigns more closely than classmates Kyla Carter and Raven Eaves.

“I don’t read social media posts,” Washington.

“I read news stories posted by the New York Times and other credible news sources.”

“I’ve been keeping up with the credible sources, which is definitely not Twitter or social media,” Lipari said. “It’s the news, independent speeches and such.”

“I just go off of what the people (other students) say and what I hear because for some reason it’s been a hot topic in school with some of the kids,” Carter said.

“If I see something on the internet, I just skim through it really quick.”

Eaves states social media is the culprit of many fire starters among people this election season.

“Some of the students’ opinions are biased by social media,” Eaves said. “And they don’t really understand unless they watch the presidential debates and speeches.”

But Eaves also said the election is a hot topic for more people of color because Trump “makes very racist comments.”

“It’s anybody that’s not basically Caucasian , I guess you could say,” Carter said. “He has other bad stuff besides his racial comments because he acts out of hate and anger.

“We could have another World War II or something like that and history could recap itself with him because he just acts out of anger.”

Political beliefs and actions should supersede comments regarding race, according to one student.

“When you look at the presidential candidates, you’re not supposed to go on what their beliefs are as in race or what their favorite color is,” Lipari said.

“You’re supposed to go off of their political beliefs and actions and what they’re going to do for this country and their policies.”

“If you look at their actions, yes, Trump says a lot of bad things,” Lipari said. “He hasn’t done much but show his political beliefs that I know of.

“Hillary, she is very corrupt. She may not say a lot, but she does a lot.”

Negative comments about race aren’t the only factor overshadowing Trump’s candidacy as president. Sexism is, too.

“It’s not that just people of color hate Donald Trump because of his racist comments,” Washington said.

“It’s like an entire community of women and other people hate him too because of the sexist things he says when he makes like the rapist comments.

“It’s really like a bunch of things that he does that shouldn’t be seen in a president. And Hillary isn’t perfect either. They both have qualities that I think aren’t fit to be president.”

Eaves agrees with Lipari regarding Clinton’s corruption.

“Donald Trump is a businessman,” Lipari said. “He has so much money. And that’s what our country needs right now. They need someone to lead them financially.

“I like his policies. He has very thorough policies. He doesn’t have everything. But he has a broad idea about what he’s going to be doing. And he’s showing that.

“He’s been straight up. He’s not hiding anything. He’s being truthful. He’s not going to surprise us with random big changes.”

“He seems like he would be good for the army (military),” Carter said. “If we needed him, he could be a general or something. He’s very strong, I guess you could say.”

“His money,” Washington said. “He’s a businessman, so he has a lot of power. And obviously, he’s inspirational to some people. He’s a powerful man.

“He doesn’t really speak well, but people still follow him, anyway. He shows many attributes of being inspirational like Hitler, who he is very much like.”

“The way he thinks on some topics just doesn’t make sense,” Eaves said. “But like on topics, political views about business stuff, he’s good with that.

“But when it comes to people, he’s not a very good people person. He upsets many, many people.”

What do you believe qualifies Hillary Clinton for the presidency?

“I don’t think she qualifies for being president,” Eaves said. “She has political experience. Some of her policies will help America, but some of them will hurt us, too. Just as Trump doesn’t qualify.”

“I think Hillary qualifies for president more than Donald Trump only because she has more policies and outlooks and things planned for her presidency,” Washington said.

“Everything that the interviewer brought up from the presidential debates she had an answer that revolved around that. Donald Trump kept bringing it back to a certain policy.

“And when I say that, I mean he has one policy that he’s really looking forward to. Hillary has multiple for each and every single problem that they have to look forward to for when they get in office.

“I think she has a more well-rounded base. And he has more of a flat, singular base.”

“She uses common sense more and better than Trump,” Carter said. “She’s more sensible to what the people want than what Trump does.

“Trump is worried about the money and keeping people out. There’s nothing really beneficial about that.”

“I don’t think she qualifies,” Lipari said.

Despite the views of whether each candidate is fit or unfit to be the next president, these students all agree that people should vote no matter what.

“I would vote because every vote counts,” Washington said. “I would still vote Hillary even though I don’t necessarily want her to be president. But it’s the only choice that I would have.”

“I would still vote, too …” Carter said. “I could be the last vote to help her win and save our nation from getting Trump in.”

Although very critical of Clinton and her practices, Eaves stated she would vote for her if she was of voting age.

And Kobi would vote for Trump. Regardless of the political climate, “I would still vote because America is going to keep on going and our future is in our hands.”