11-year-old Marquis Govan might just be the youngest person to speak up intelligently on the chaos taking place in Ferguson right now.
At a city council meeting this August, following a night of particularly lurid violence, Marquis approached the microphone. He had no notes, but spoke from his mind, and his heart.
The people of Ferguson, I believe, don’t need tear gas thrown at them. I believe they need jobs. I believe the people of Ferguson, they don’t need to be hit with batons. What they need is people to be investing in their businesses. You’re paying attention to the looting and things like that, when the real issues aren’t being solved. There’s a reason why those people are out there.
This was not the first time Marquis felt the need to speak up. At a Town Hall meeting last year, he also raised the issue of economy, asking what would be done to create jobs.
The young boy’s interest in politics first blossomed during the 2008 elections and has only grown. He picked up on it from his great-grandmother, who adopted him when he was 2, after he spent time in foster care. In his own words, “My parents, they were not in the conditions — let’s say that — to take care of me. They didn’t have what they needed to take care of me.”
Perhaps this is what drives his interest in bettering the lives of citizens.
Identifying as a conservative Democrat, Marquis said, “I want to be one of those leaders like Nancy Pelosi. But sometimes I don’t necessarily agree with her politically. I want to be a leader like her, except I want to be this new wing. I want to lead all the conservative Democrats and moderates who are sometimes left out of their party, saying they’re party-switchers. They’re not party-switchers. They’re compromisers.”
Well-spoken, and well-intended — the sky is the limit for Marquis, who told his great-grandmother that he is going to ask God to let her live long enough to see him become President.
