James Talarico

It's something that- Thank you.

I feel like we need to talk about as a country, and there are very few people in the public's eye that's focused on this, so I want to thank you for that.

Thank you.

And I care a lot about this as an educator.

As a relatively young man myself, I start to feel older and older on this campaign trail.

The legislature has given me gray hair.

I did some work with a program here in Central Texas, actually a branch of a national non-profit started by President Obama called My Brother's Keeper.

What we saw is that across demographic groups, young men were struggling in our schools, particularly in our high schools, and they weren't graduating at the rates that they should be.

This was black, white, brown.

It was young men of all colors really struggling academically.

And I actually partnered with a Republican colleague to try to get a commission set up in Texas where we could look at these issues that are affecting boys and young men and look at it comprehensively, not just academics and not just economics, but also social factors.

And I think we got to address the elephant in the room, which is big tech.

Because predatory algorithms are destroying an entire generation of young men in this country.

These algorithms make young men feel lonely and insecure.

And then those same algorithms tell them that the solution is domination.

It's an endless accumulation.

It's an endless hoarding of wealth and power.

And that is a spiritual sickness.

In my life, the best man that I know is my dad.

the man who gave me his last name, the man who raised me as his own.