JD Vance Fox News town hall young men
Vance brought the young men conversation to the Fox News PRIMETIME * TOWN HALL and didn't tiptoe. A voter told him young women have plenty of resources to succeed while young men get scraps. Vance's response: too many leaders have flat-out IGNORED young men, and handing boys the tools to overcome their disadvantages is one of the most important things we can do. He brought up his own father walking out during high school, called it trauma, and said he mentors young black, Hispanic and white males without fathers. No one in their corner, he warned, and they're caught in gun violence or carrying a criminal record before life even gets started. The numbers back him: boys more likely to go to prison, less likely to graduate high school or trade school or college, more likely to suffer from community violence than girls. Somewhere along the line American leadership got weird, he argued. The push for equal playing fields for girls was justified, but young men got ignored in the process. His fix: grandfathers and mentors stepping up, and support for them. Boys have been told masculinity is toxic for too long. Vance said men matter.
Transcript (en)
It is truly a blessing to be here in front of you. When I was in high school, my father walked out on me, and that was something that I really had to deal with trauma-wise. That taught me early on to lean on my community and the people around me. And that's why today I mentor young black, Hispanic, and white males without fathers. What I see every day is that there's a lot of resources out there for young women to succeed, but there's not too many for young men to succeed. without someone in the corner they end up caught in gun violence or saddled with criminal record before their life even gets started. So what I would like to know is what is your plan to invest in the young men in America especially in the energy community? Well let me just say first sir thank you so much for doing the work that you're doing I really do believe that is the Lord's work and you know kids teenagers in particular have a way of never saying thank you but I guarantee those boys know that without you they would be lost in the world and eventually they're going to realize it and eventually they're going to say thank you. And I just hope you know you have transformed lives and that the very very best thing that you can do And so I proud of you and I rooting for you But let me just say that there was this thing in our country for a long time. And there was a recognition that obviously a lot of our young girls, a lot of our young women were being left behind. Things were unfair. But if you look statistically today, who is more likely to go to prison? Who is less likely to graduate from high school? Who is less likely to graduate, whether it's a trade school or college beyond that? who is more likely to suffer from the effects of violence in their community, it's our young boys. And I do think that something happened weird with American leadership, where justifiably, they wanted to make sure that our young girls had an equal playing field, but in the process, so many of them completely ignored our young men. And I think that one of the most important things that we can do is just give young boys the resources, young men the resources, in order to overcome those disadvantages. And part of that's going to be a grandfather stepping up in their life. Let's support those grandfathers. Part of it's going to be somebody like you stepping up in their life. Let's support them. Thank you, sir.
