Conservative students say they’re bullied for sharing their political views – By Angelica Alvarez (Sinclair Broadcasting) / July 23 2019
WASHINGTON (SBG)- President Donald Trump rallied a young crowd of supporters in Washington, D.C. He spoke at Turning Point USA’s Teen Student Action Summit.
Among many topics, the president touched on free speech in the classroom.
“Earlier this year in Park City, Utah a leftist released pepper spray into a high school auditorium to shut down a turning point USA meeting,” Trump said. “One of the students from that school joins us today! Ryan Zink.”
“Our voices need to be expressed, and we cannot be silenced,” Zink said to the crowd.
Santiago Cuevas-Ruiz, 16, is among the more than 1,000 students expected to travel to Washington, D.C. to see Trump speak.
“He’s wonderful and he’s doing so much for our country,” Cuevas-Ruiz said.
He’s from Albany, New York, for him, it was a relief to be in the same room with fellow teens who share his conservative point of view. He said back home it’s a different story. He recently posted about being pro-life and said he was bullied and harassed online, even threatened. He said his school had to get involved.
“A bunch of people started attacking me, and calling me and leaving threats, hoping I was dead,” Cuevas-Ruiz said.
Also attending the summit is Isaac Yi, 16, from Seattle, Washington. He said he has experienced similar threats.
“It’s hard to be a conservative in a high school because you always get these messages that very hateful but also death threats as well,” Yi said.
Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, said despite the criticism he wants teens to listen to all sides.
“Don’t silence other people just because you’re conservative and you believe that you’re correct,” Kirk said, “don’t silence the other side and I think that’s the takeaway to be free and equitable on both sides.”
We also reached out to High School Democrats for America for their take on political bullying.
In a statement they said:
“We need to look at where this bullying comes from. For a lot of teens in America, their biggest bully isn’t a classmate, but the President of the United States. High School Democrats have made it our mission to listen and be welcome to all people regardless of experience or history. We have to rise above the bullying and begin listening to others stories. The current president is fueling this indifference, ignorance, and bullying and it cannot be tolerated. HSDA stands with all high schoolers that feel marginalized because of their political opinions.”- Sabrina Schoenborn, Communications Director for High School Democrats of America
