Raleigh Mayoral Youth Town Hall
On Saturday, September 15th, five of the Raleigh Mayoral Candidates took the stage at the Raleigh Mayoral Youth Town Hall at Shaw University to discuss hot button issues such as gerrymandering, racial inequity, and maintaining the morality of our governing body. Organized by Wake County teens, this was the first event of the election season that specifically catered to the needs and concerns of youth living within the triangle area.
The nonpartisan event featured opening statements from all attendees, a questions session lead by youth organizers, a closing statement by all candidates, and lastly, questions from the audience. Mindy Ji, Enloe senior and and organizer for the event commented “ it’s really important for youth to be involved especially in such a capacity,” she said, in reference to the town hall. She continued, stating that “It’s important to start political involvement early to know how to be involved when your older with more potency”.
The town hall was hosted by the Poor People’s Campaign, and all questions asked to the candidates were in reference to the principles of the PPC, such as race, poverty, morality, and the environment. Lily Levin, a freshman at Duke University, and Rayna Lee, a senior at Green Hope High school were the lead organizers for the forum. When asked about the influence of youth geared events such as this, Lee responded, “it’s important to realize that youth have the energy needed to push forward issues onto stages like the democratic national debate and even creating our own stages like the event here today”.
As youth lead events such as this become more prevalent in our city, Levin hopes that it will inspire youth to become more politically active, even at the local level- “Youth events are important to hold the government accountable and to prove that youth really do have a say in the way that our process works, especially at the local level”.
If interested in watching the full debate, you can find it on the NC Poor People’s Campaign Facebook page, or at the link below:
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Aside from working on the Eagle's Eye, Malak enjoys being a member of the happy accidents improv troupe and working at Raleigh Little Theatre as a teacher...
