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For many Gen Z Americans, next month’s presidential election will be their first chance to vote, so where’s the excitement ? Sam Leader reports from Philadelphia, the biggest city in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
On a basketball court in West Philadelphia, it’s easy to lose sight of the looming US election, now just days away.
The Gen Z voters I met here do not believe a new president will make any meaningful difference in their lives.
Shooting hoops and chatting about life in the neighbourhood is a far cry from what some of them have had to handle off the court.
Mike Sanders, who has lived in West Philly all his life, was patiently watching me miss the basket, when we struck up conversation.
Asked the neighbourhood, he said: “You got to watch your back. You got to watch your family’s back, just gotta watch around you.”
Mike is one of the people being helped by a programme called YEAHPhilly, a community based group working with a focus on addressing racism and the root causes of violence.
He told me he’d lost ten people to gun violence in the area.
“Four in one summer… Now it’s just starting to become normal,” he added. “It affected my life, it took a lot of loved ones from me, I just can’t get them back.”
I asked Mike if he thinks it’s ever going to change, he said no.
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And the solution?
“Just get out the city. That’s all I can think of.”
Gun regulation has been a huge battleground topic at this election, with Republicans and Democrats fiercely divided on the topic.
The issue is particularly heated in Philadelphia, a city which has recorded more than 9,000 shootings since 2020, according to city officials. Among those injured or dead, nearly two-thirds were under the age of 30.
Firearms in the US also became the number one cause of death for children and teens in 2020, and this year gun violence was labelled a ‘public health crisis’.
So in the face of a huge election that could alter the trajectory of millions of young futures across the US, it was a surprise to hear how indifferent Mike sounded about the choice of candidates.
“I’m still looking into it,” he said. “But right now it’s looking like I gotta vote Kamala, with my mum and grandma.
“It probably would change my life no matter what, but I don’t know if it would change my life for the better or for the worse. So I just have to be prepared for it.”
As music started to blare from a car at the side of the basketball court, 18-year-old Presley screamed over to the occupants to shut off the music.
Presley is not afraid to speak her mind and has a clear view on the imminent election. She will not be voting.
She told me she would not be using her first opportunity to cast her ballot, because she doesn’t think either candidate offers any real solutions for young people.
“I don’t want to vote because neither party is giving me what I need,” she told me. “It’s not giving me the urge to go say, yes, I’m going to vote for Kamala, yes I’m going to vote for Trump.
“It’s not about just helping the middle class,” she added. “No, it’s about helping where help is needed and honestly, the youth is where the help is needed.”
Outside the recreational ground, co-chief executive of YEAHPhilly Kendra Van de Water, says these young adults are surrounded by people who think that their lives are not affected by the person in office.“I can’t blame them for thinking that,” she said. “We have to educate people more. But we see politicians every day who don’t change people’s lives. So young people here, a lot of them, don’t believe in the political process.”
We were standing outside a small store, which seemed to be a bustling hub for the entire neighbourhood, surrounded by the very young voters whom she and her colleagues meet on a day-to-day basis.
“They’re struggling, they’re poor, they don’t have food on the table every day, they don’t have good paying jobs, they don’t have education and these are all the things that we need for young people to thrive in society,” she said.
Kendra’s resolve remained steadfast throughout our interview, she wants voter education, so young voters know that by heading to the polls, they’ll be at least taking a step towards make a difference in their own lives.“I just think that people need more education, and I’m hoping that we can turn all of this into an opening and [have] more conversations, because people also need to listen more to young people who live in the community [and] who live in the area, and that’s what’s important.”
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