Teens speak up on hot topics

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following letters were submitted as part of a class project by students at Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice, through the poverty and literacy group BuildOn.

To the editor:

Freedom to vote is something everyone should be given. When we vote, we feel like our voices are heard, and we feel as if we are a democracy.

However, this is not the case. I say this because everyone’s voice is not hear – we are all grouped into one part depending on where we live. In addition, elections can be bribed to group certain votes into one specific group, and this is not fair.

Everyone has the right to vote, so everyone’s vote should be counted. This is a problem that so many do not know about, because they have not learned about this.

Samoy Bartley

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To the editor:

My name is Perla, and I am a young student. I am, like many others, a person of color, being primarily affected by gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering is manipulating the boundaries of an election so the results are in favor of one party or class. People of color and low-income residents are not accurately represented in elections.

I am writing to advocate for change to better the system that is constantly against people of low resources.

Perla Fernandez

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To the editor:

My name is Matthew, and I’m a BuildOn student.

I think you guys should get vaccinated, as in everyone that goes to school. People think it’s not fair for sports to get vaccinated.

I got vaccinated. It hurt, but my head hurt for two days.

Matthew Toribio

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To the editor:

My name is Ariana Williams, and I’m a BuildOn student. I just wanted to let you know that gerrymandering is not OK, and you need to do better.

I think you should treat Black people equal to the whites.

Ariana Williams

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To the editor:

Make pads and tampons free.

Angel Huerta

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To the editor:

My name is Yahannis, and I am a Law, Government and Justice student.

I wanted to tell you that I’m worried how gerrymandering is affecting me and my community.

Yahannis Martinez

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To the editor:

My name is Genesis, and I’m a BuildOn student. I, as a person of color and someone who identifies as female, think this “gerrymandering” thing is really bad.

This is racist. How can you support racism nowadays? This ain’t the 1900s. What is wrong with you all? How can you all do this to us?

Genesis Jose De La Cruz

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To the editor:

My name is Jahzel, and I am a BuildOn student. I want to tell you how unfair gerrymandering is.

I am a female, and a person of color. Gerrymandering would encourage someone to manipulate the votes of someone like me.

Please do something about this, as it’s unfair to many people like me. It’s like saying my voice doesn’t matter in this country.

Jahzel Zschocher

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To the editor:

I am very worried about how the government does certain things.

Jada Lebron

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To the editor:

The gerrymander should be removed or changed. People shouldn’t be able to pay or divide humanity in an unequal manner for their desired result.

In a democracy, everyone should receive a fair vote, implying that votes are separate and made by our own choice. If we are going to be grouped up, we need to be set in areas where there is variety. People with lower economic status shouldn’t be with only people like them. Just like people with high economic status shouldn’t only be with people like them.

We should have diversity in the races grouped as well.

We are counting on our government to make further changes in order to improve our system.

Yesibel Espinal

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To the editor:

My name is Felix Martinez. I attend the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice, and I oppose the idea of an Electoral College system of voting. I say this because of gerrymandering.

The states that elect a Democrat are made up of Hispanics and Blacks. This is bad because the government does this so the minorities take up fewer states.

For example, make New York have a high minimum wage, which will cause the poor and minorities to mostly be in that state. Moreover, states will be represented less by the Black and minority groups, which is unfair because only a few states will be influenced by minority opinion.

Felix Martinez

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To the editor:

My name is Ian Callender, and I am writing this letter because I believe that our government should work to eliminate any form of gerrymandering in New York state.

It takes away representation from people of color and people in poor communities, while giving more representation to groups of people who will use it to disenfranchise other people.

Fixing gerrymandering will give people in these communities that I’ve stated previously in this letter more than one representative that will vote on issues most important to those communities, and give them a better chance of winning a lot of these important positions.

Ian Callender

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