In 2 Wards, Democrats Go for Gray

Vincent Schiraldi , director of the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, which operates Oak Hill, said it was the first forum and voter registration drive of its kind in a juvenile facility. He told his young charges that voting is fundamental to being a citizen, particularly for minorities, who were long denied the privilege.

"The only people who could vote were white men like me," Schiraldi said. "And a lot of people worked hard to keep black folks from voting."

Most attendees were too young to vote, but that didn't stop them from asking tough questions about the closure of D.C. General Hospital, the rising cost of housing in the city, the shabby state of the public schools and the kind of programs the candidates would establish to keep youth busy.

"What are you going to do for us?" asked one boy who, under the rules governing the forum, may not be identified by name.

Three of the five major candidates -- Fenty, Johns and Brown -- shared the stage with lesser-known candidates, including Jason Alexander , who is running as an independent and so will not appear on the party primary ballots in September.

Wearing jeans and a T-shirt, Alexander railed against what he called the prison industrial complex -- a system worth billions of dollars -- which depends on the continued incarceration of young black men. And he told the youth that they shouldn't expect help from the government.

"If we are going to improve the system, it's going to take us," he said. "They're building jails anticipating that you're going to commit crimes."

Johns stressed her own humble roots and told the boys that mistakes they made early in life do not have to define the rest of it.

"It doesn't matter where you start," she said. "It matters what you do with the life that God has given you. The fact that you made a mistake is not the end of the world."

Fenty, who arrived late after a full day of campaigning, was a hit, saying that not everyone who gets into trouble ought to be locked up.

"Kids who get into a little bit of trouble ought not to have to come to Oak Hill," he said to cheers. He asked for their votes and the votes of their parents, the only candidate to do so.

Some candidates could barely be heard over the chatter among the boys. Other candidates, including Brown and Johns, spent a lot of time talking individually to youths in the audience.

About 80 boys, in two separate sessions, attended, and those eligible to vote in September were registered to vote by the Justice 4 D.C. Youth! Coalition, which sponsored the event. The group advocates for better living conditions and less incarceration of youth.

In mock elections held afterward, Brown won one contest, and Alexander won the other.

Other candidates who participated included Chris Otten of the D.C. Statehood Green Party, Democrat Artee Milligan and Republicans David W. Kranich and Albert Ceccone . Orange and Cropp did not attend.