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A 14-year-old on Philly, the draft, and making it out.

Reported by Maceo · Philadelphia · 5 min

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A corner store in Philadelphia, April 2026. He is fourteen, in eighth grade, and plays football. Asked what he thinks about the USA: “I think it’s confusing.” He thinks it will get worse, “and I feel like that’s really going to affect human life and us in general.” Why? The war talk, and something that reached his classroom: “I heard somebody talk to me about the drafts like the other day.” Not his friends. His teacher, “just letting y’all know,” told the class that people eighteen and over could be drafted.

Then the city. “Philadelphia. It’s bad. Like, real bad people get killed every single day.” He describes what he says to people who push him toward the street: “I’m a student, I’m 14 years old in the eighth grade, I got three college offers, I got a lot of high school offers, I got everything, and all I’m trying to do is make it out, so I don’t have to be stuck in this environment.” Walking outside means looking behind you, “Scared that somebody will shoot you or rob you or jump you.” Where does it come from? “it’s a trend.” When he was six or seven he did not see kids his age doing it.

His message to kids under ten: “Keep dreaming. It’s going to happen. Keep going. Keep your education up.” Then, to the point: “You don’t wanna be in the streets, bro.” On football he says the game is “an outlet of anger, sadness, or whatever,” and that a lot of coaches teach a play and expect it by the next day, when “you really gotta teach kids about the whole program of what football can help you with.” The sign of a good coach: “make sure you’re okay at the house,” and he names his own, Coach Nate, who is trying to get him on a tour of Rutgers.

He is a minor, so we do not name him. The transcript below is from the original audio.

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Who speaks: the interviewer and the student. Transcribed from the original audio and corrected for names. Published in full so it can be read, searched and quoted. Speaker letters mark turns, not names. Search every transcript →

These are the speaker’s own words, as they said them. We have not checked their claims.

0:00InterviewerAll right, what’s up, man? What’s your name?

0:02StudentMy name’s Jocer. And

0:02Interviewerwhere are you

Read the full transcript ▸

0:04Studentfrom? Philly.

0:05InterviewerOkay, and how old are you? Fourteen. Okay, sick. What do you think about, I appreciate it, boss. What do you think about the USA?

0:11StudentI think it’s confusing. Because, like, it’s like, they got so much stuff going on. It’s like, they don’t want to know what they do with themselves. It’s like, I feel like once, like, it gets like, once years go on and on, I feel like USA is going to get more bad than I don’t know how it already is and I feel like that’s really going to affect human life and us in general

0:36InterviewerWhy do you think it’s going to get worse?

0:37StudentBecause like the war, you’re trying to start this war over Israel or Iran, wherever it is I feel like it’s going to cause like a lot of corruption and destruction

0:48InterviewerI heard somebody talk to me about the drafts like the other day

0:52StudentYeah, my day, I don’t know

0:54InterviewerYou feel like people have been talking about the drafts at your school? Huh? People at your school talk about the drafts? No so the people talk you but have your friends talked about the draft at all like people

1:04Studentoh my teacher

1:05Intervieweryour teacher yes to you all as a class

1:08Studentyes what

1:09Interviewerthey say um

1:10Studenthe was like just letting y’all know like a lot of like Trump has like decided that whatever decided is that people at 18 or over automatically get drafted so I feel like I feel like at the end of the day I feel like I don’t know bro I feel like Later on in life, this is gonna get hurt. Like, hurt real hard. Prices might get raised back up. You don’t know what can happen.

1:35InterviewerYeah, it’s that real.

1:36StudentAnd then not just about, um, war, Philadelphia. It’s bad. Like, real bad people get killed every single day. Kids get in, um, cross fights or whatever and get shot over there and die, all that stuff, bro. And I’m like, it’s weird, but like, I be telling people, like, you see like, yo, like, I said, job, you trying to be this, you trying to go steal a car or whatever, I’m like, bro, I don’t get into that, I’m a student, I’m 14 years old in the eighth grade, I got three college offers, I got a lot of high school offers, I got everything, and all I’m trying to do is make it out, so I don’t have to be stuck in this environment, and my life would be on the line, because I have to walk out, every single day I walk outside, and have to look behind your back and all around, just because Scared that somebody will shoot you or rob you or jump you or try to antagonize you like it’s just it’s just we’re out here bro and I just feel like life is going to get real serious but that’s that’s life period

2:38Interviewerwhat do you think is the source of people acting like that I feel like that make you have to even worry

2:42StudentI think so we are you actually like why you think people are doing it yeah honestly it’s a trend like when I was growing up and I was younger like probably like six or seven years old I didn’t really see people like my age do stuff like that and I feel like Nail Desk is evolving. It’s going to get worse. Like, I feel like it was just like a term to put his bottle behind it.

3:07InterviewerAnd if you could ask people across the city one question, what would you want to ask them? Well, I’ll

3:12Studentput your life on the line and not do something better. That’s one more question.

3:18InterviewerOkay. And do you have a message to kids under 10 years old?

3:23StudentKeep dreaming. It’s going to happen. Keep going. Keep your education up. All day. Y’all gonna be like me. I got, what, pictures and emails and all of that of colleges, all them texting me, texting me to go on a tour or inviting me to these campuses, just whatever. So, I’mma tell y’all, bro, just stay out in the streets, bro. You don’t wanna be in the streets, bro. You don’t wanna be in the streets, bro.

3:45InterviewerWhat sport do you play?

3:46StudentPlay football.

3:47InterviewerOkay. And what advice would you give to somebody that wants to get better at football and, like, they don’t really, like, they feel like they’re getting stuck?

3:52StudentI would say, um, I’d say. You must be doing,

3:57Intervieweryou must

3:58StudentI say, if you wanna get better at football, you gotta go to the right team, you gotta have the right mentor, and you gotta get trained right, a lot of coaches don’t train kids right, a lot of coaches think that they’re gonna teach them a play, and then think they’re gonna get it by the next day, you really gotta teach kids about the whole program of what football can help you with, like, I use football for an outlet of anger, sadness, or whatever, football can help you with a lot of stuff, they can motivate you, You feel me? And I’ll do what the kids will know about that

4:31InterviewerOkay, cool What is a sign you have a good coach?

4:35StudentA good coach, make sure you’re okay at the house Maybe talk to you daily, see how you’re doing, whatever Try to get you to come to high school workouts or Try to even invite you to college camps Cause some, I got a coach named Coach Nate He trying to get me to come to, what’s that college class? for Rutgers University and try to go on a tour with them. I think that’s going to be a cool tour.

5:03InterviewerOkay, cool. Alright, I appreciate it, man.

5:05StudentYou’re welcome.

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