The 20-year-old President to Be
If you are roaming around A. Hugh Adams Central Campus of Broward College, located in Davie Fla. You may have the opportunity of running into a future president of the United States.
You won’t find him in front of a classroom lecturing to students. However, you might see him taking notes from behind a pupil’s desks. Elijah Manley is currently pursuing a law degree.
“Some people call me a student leader but I like to call myself a person that is doing the right thing,” says Manley, a 20-year-old political candidate.
Manley admits that he is just a typical Soflo boy fighting for racial, economic, and environmental justice.
Although, his after school hobbies are quite different from a typical college student. Manley is a member of the National Committeeman at the Green Party, Organizer of the Black Lives Matter Alliance of Broward County, US Representative at Youth Assembly of the United Nations, running candidate for the Broward County School Board and a running candidate for the presidency in 2020 under the Socialist party.
The Constitution does say you must be at least 35 years old to be president of the United States. However, anyone is allowed to simply run for president and get on the ballot.
“If a person is elected but has not qualified, a constitutional crisis would occur. In 2012, the Party for Socialism and Liberation nominated 26-year-old Peta Lindsay for President. Lindsay got ballot access in 14 states. The first amendment gives you the right to express yourself even if it means running for an office you do not qualify for,” says Manley
His passion for politics started in his early childhood.
“I’ve been involved in politics for about 10 years. When I was 10 I started off by writing letters to public officials about various issues I noticed in my community,” says Manley.
Manley has lived in Broward County all of his life. He and his six other siblings were raised by their single mother who was a nurse at an elderly home.
During his childhood, Manley felt the effects of poverty first hand. Whether it wasn’t having enough money to go on field trips or not being able to participate in special activities and events. It was during this time that Manley first began to question the logistics of the social economy.
“Why do things change so dramatically when we cross the tracks?” …
“In my early teen years, I’d walk miles from my neighborhood to downtown because they had advanced libraries and I wanted to see how things changed from my side of the town to that side of the town. I walked from an economically depressed area to a wealthier high-class area,” says Manley.
Battling through poverty at a young age has impacted Manley’s current views on political issues.
“I’m a young black gay male, you don’t see that in politics. We face racism, we face homophobia, it’s a different lifestyle. A lot of people don’t understand why I’m so radical. It’s because of my experiences and my life. I lived in the margins of society, I grew up in poverty where I always had to fight for what I wanted,” says Manley.
Manley’s ideas have landed him 42,930 votes in the 2018 Broward County School Board Election.
“Coming out of a mass shooting in Stoneman Douglas High School, here Elijah Manley, a young candidate who no one knew, was running for School Board. He was a breath of fresh air. His thinking was on another level when officials were considering installing metal detectors in schools Manley was the one asking ‘What about the bombs?’,” says Kathleen Bonczy, Executive Director of Workplace Violence Prevention Institute.
Manley ended up losing the School Board election of 2018 to Donna Korn whom he works closely with now.
“Donna reached out to me after the elections because she wanted to incorporate my ideas. One of the biggest issues I was raising was getting access to food and housing for students in low-income communities,” says Manley.
He is currently working on amplifying an after-school dinner program.
“I would love to see it year round and not just during the school years. The good thing is that 115 Broward County schools already have this dinner program in place but we are looking to expand this,” says Manley.
Another one of Manley’s ideas to help low-income students is an app called Broward Resources. His app would act like a guide that provides information on local homeless shelters, teen housing, mental health clinics, STD testing centers, a list of all the schools that offer an after-school dinner, and local free entertainment.
Manley has a huge amount of support from his mentors and his peers.
“I think he’s going to be a well known national figure within the next three years. He’ll be in a position similar to that of Alexandria Ocasio,” says Nicolas Dangond, a senior at the University of Tampa.
With a current politically divided nation the 2020 presidential election has many people speculating the possible outcomes.
“I’m running for president of The United States because we have an emergency in America caused by greed, recklessness, and exploitation. We can no longer sit idly by and wait. In America today working people are struggling to pay their rent, medical bills, and their everyday living necessities while the rich continue to reap profits. I want to imagine a world we can truly stand for. A future where food, water, housing, education, and healthcare are a human right,” says Manley.
