Americans Xavier, 17, and Maia, 17, will vote for the first time in the upcoming presidential election

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Not easy to detect I don’t leave my house if I don’t have to. A party is not worth a death or an injury that ends football season.

Such guidelines include, among other things Xavier StarksThe 17-year-old can be seen everywhere in daily life.

He lives with his mother and siblings in Madison, a city with a slightly larger population than Tampere, in the “barren north.”

There is a dormitory for released prisoners near my home, and there are many homicides and violent crimes in the area.

– People die, people get robbed, and there’s a lot of boring stuff going on. But I’ve learned to navigate there. I don’t really like going out.

Starks Growing up in Chicago, the crime problem there was much worse than in Madison.

– At almost every party I go to, there’s a shooting or a fight. I’ve known people who died at parties for no apparent reason. So I don’t go to them anymore.

– Young people just try to live their lives, but then they die.

Starks is also afraid of police violence – or more so. Joe Biden There were many police officers near Starks’ home during the rally in Madison, and he took special care not to appear suspicious.

– I do know how people in America view me. So I always try to be a sensible young man. If you have to talk to the police, you have to know how to act in the right way.

Starks will begin his senior year of high school in the fall. He already has enough credits to graduate, but that’s not enough, because the ambitious 17-year-old has a clear plan.

First, football season must end. Starks lives in Defensive BackThen you have to get a scholarship to a top university. From there, he plans to continue studying law and become a politician after graduation. The ultimate goal is to become a senator from Madison.

As a senator, he could actually intervene in the ongoing violence by passing laws.

– I know it won’t happen overnight. But in ten years I could be on the board. There aren’t enough young people there.

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I do know how people in America view me. So I always try to be a sensible young man. If you have to talk to the police, you have to know how to act in the right way.

Starks had a hard time understanding the initial circumstances of the election.

– How did we come to the conclusion that the candidate is (Donald) trump card And Biden? There are a lot of people in our country who could run for president.

He will turn 18 in August and will be allowed to vote for the first time. His home state of Wisconsin could decide the entire election. There, Republicans and Democrats are fighting especially for voters like him: those still figuring out where they stand, young people and black people.

– Biden is really old, and so is Trump. But I don’t think many people will vote for Biden because he may die soon. I doubt people want a black woman as vice president either.

The young man has not yet decided who to vote for. However, he believes that most voters will choose Trump.

Starks doesn’t like Trump’s leadership style. Roar like Trump promise Becoming a “dictator on day one” is worrisome.

– I don’t want a dictator, because what would happen to me?

– But I think Trump is a good president. People were struggling in the economy, and so were we, but we had Social Security and we were able to get back on our feet.

– parents’ You shouldn’t be afraid to send your kids to school. The 17-year-old said it shouldn’t be this way Mia Vardy.

Violence and the fear of violence have always loomed over Vardy’s life as he lives in Milwaukee.

A few years ago, a good friend of his was driving near his home when someone shot at the car. The bullet went through the glass and the friend died. He was 15 years old.

Vardy didn’t know if there were young men involved in bad gangs in the car, or if the friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Recently, the daughter of a dance teacher in her 20s was shot and killed, and she was also in the car, Wadi said.

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When you leave your home, it feels like there’s about a ten percent chance something bad will happen.

During homecoming celebrations, an annual tradition for the school and the city, he and other high school students had to flee from a gunman who rampaged next to the school. Students took shelter in the school’s shelter. The parade was canceled.

– When you leave your house, it feels like there’s about a ten percent chance something bad will happen.

Vardy believes that, especially as a black youth, this fear is justified.

– It’s a clear pattern. Children are dying from similar shootings at a certain age.

– We should be able to go places and have fun without always having to worry about getting caught in a fight or shooting.

Wadi spoke in a calm tone, as if every word was carefully considered. He sounded older than his actual age.

This spring, Vardy graduated from high school with honors. He said the public school was so poor that he had to do extra study on his own, which made it difficult to learn. In the fall, Vardy went on to college, an hour away from his hometown.

Many local schools have closed as parents pull their children out of troubled schools. Wadi’s mother is a teacher, so she often looks after Wadi and his three brothers because she understands “the reality of school”. Security measures in schools are poor.

In the future, Wadi wants to be a kindergarten teacher. He also hopes that his work can prevent the deaths of children and teenagers.

He will vote for the first time in the upcoming presidential election. But Trump or Biden?

The choice is difficult because the decision makers do not seem to pay attention to the actual situation of ordinary people in the city.

Wadi finds it difficult to understand why policymakers would focus on debating abortion, for example, when children and young people are dying on the streets at the same time every day.

– The age of the candidate doesn’t matter. I just want them to do something that will help us.