Dallas

Future Voters Studying History in Real Time on Super Tuesday

Students at Dallas' Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy weigh in on primary process

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History will be made on Super Tuesday in Texas. And the voters of tomorrow are studying that history in real-time while making plans for their own futures.

“It think it is extremely important for people to vote, especially today,” said Josue Cabrera, 17, a student at the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy in Dallas.

Cabrera is one of a number of young men in the school’s AP U.S. History class who said they are paying close attention to the Democratic primary candidates.

Like many of the others, Cabrera cannot vote in the primary, but will be 18 in time to vote for the General Election in November. He has worked as a poll worker in a previous election, and wants to be engaged in the process, but admitted he has been turned off by the general tone of the back and forth.

“It’s a lot of divisiveness and it spills over to social life, to even our teenage life. Our interactions we have with our peers,” Cabrera said. “Rhetoric becomes toxic and when it becomes toxic you can’t really have personal interactions with someone if the only thing that is on their mind is that, ‘You’re wrong. I’m right.’”

Two of Cabrera’s classmates were in agreement that the debates between the Democratic presidential candidates have helped them to better identify the issues that they feel are important – issues involving healthcare and immigration, among others.

“It’s actually encouraging because it allows me to, when you watch, see how they are competing. It encourages you to learn more about what is going on,” said Ivan Brown, a Junior.

“I want to see a change,” said Senior Omar Carrizales, in reference to the current President. “So it kind of provokes you to seek more and see what you actually want in a president.”

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