(upbeat music)
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(static buzzing)
- My name is Hayden Pedigo,
and I'm running for city council.
(upbeat rock music)
(chair clatters)
My name is Hayden Pedigo.
I'm running for city council place two in Amarillo, Texas.
I believe that a lot of local, small business owners
out here are straight up getting bonked.
(upbeat rock music)
(air whooshing)
♪ You don't know a thing ♪
(bell dinging)
(numbers clicking)
♪ You don't know what day it is ♪
♪ I don't show where I go ♪
♪ You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you ♪
♪ Lost it all, lost it all ♪
♪ You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you ♪
♪ Lost it all, lost it all ♪
♪ You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you ♪
♪ Lost it all, lost it all ♪
♪ You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you ♪
♪ Lost it all ♪
(upbeat rock music)
- Hey Hannah? - Yeah, baby.
- Can you get a velvet jacket and lint roll it off?
I may wear that.
(hair dryer buzzing)
(lint roller scraping)
The reason why I'm running for city council here
in Amarillo is I felt like there was a lack
of representation, especially amongst my age group.
Hayden asked me, he said, "should I run for city council?
"Would I look stupid doing it?"
And I told him, I said, "well, Hayden.
I said, "You do truly care about the city."
And I'm like, "You're constantly talking about Amarillo."
To me that's the only qualification, is that you're genuine,
and you care about the city,
and you care about the people.
Just don't be an asshole.
So it's kind of, what I tell him.
(cheery country music)
- Where do I file to be on the ballot.
I do it here.
- Yes, sir.
Did you fill out your application yet?
- No, they said, can you print it off for me?
And I can just call that.
Perfect.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
Thank y'all so much.
And I'm all good to go.
Well, thank y'all so much.
Hayden, he's a well-meaning unwitting dupe
Who has no business, none
thinking he can do anything.
- Well, you know fine, if that's the rule
that if he's younger and that makes him better,
let's run a baby.
(upbeat music)
Early on, we were just on a spur.
We'd go shoot a bunch of stuff downtown
and then I'd go home
and make some vaguely cohesive edit out of it,
that looked cool.
(hip hop beat plays)
- Why, why!
- Here use this! - Are you insane?
(maniacally laughing)
- Wow.
It works.
- Damn, pretty impressive actually.
- Hey look a blind person. - I can't see him.
(punch)
- I can see!
(Spanish music)
- The reason the videos initially started was I always admit
by accident in a sense
because me and Alex talked one evening
and I told him I wanted to make a weird video.
I want to make something
like Harmony Korine used to make back in the nineties.
- So I went to METI park with the chair
and he was digging around in the back of my car.
I was like, Hey, maybe you could be
like a city Councilman or a guy running for mayor.
And you're just like, if this is your trope
you're seeing how the city measures up to stuff.
And you're showing people how you're going to
fix the city kind of thing.
I helped him pick out at Goodwill, the jacket and the tie.
And I said, well, have fun
cause I had to go to work.
And then I came home and he was like, this is good.
- A couple days later
he posted on Facebook and it just blew up
- At that end of the day, I think 70,000 views
in that day, I would get different responses from people.
It'd be you're the guy running for city council.
Oh, you're the guy from adult swim.
- One of my really good friends messaged me and was like
it's on the front page of Reddit.
- I was like, dude maybe you should go for a city council.
Like people are really liking this.
You could probably follow through and win.
We're taking a closer look at the candidates
who are running for Amarillo city council
ahead of election day on Saturday.
Four people are on the ballot for Amarillo city council
place one.
- Elaine Hays, Rich Herman, Jake Kirkman,
and Hayden Pedigo running for city council place one.
People have until next Friday to file.
- What I'm doing currently isn't from the same perspective
of how I started it from accidental on a joke.
I found more of a reason to continue,
this thing that was absurd, started growing
into something that can legitimately affect life.
Creative people, talented people end up leaving Amarillo.
They go to bigger cities.
They go to places where they think
there's more opportunities and they don't view Amarillo
as a place that they can Excel at anything.
I say, why not stay in Amarillo
and be able to do what you want to do?
Even if I don't get elected
I want this to at least inspire somebody.
You know, just to get them to vote would be a major step.
- Amarillo is not just unique and not just different.
It is really very beautiful.
It's one of the most beautiful places in the United States
physically with some of the ugliest people
who happened to be in it.
Amarillo very recently figured out, wait a minute
we can swindle taxpayers and never get caught.
All we have to do is own the government.
A group was formed called Amarillo matters where the elites
formed an organization, pooled their money
and made sure that their elitist friends got elected.
- Each individual council member and mayor are
all wealthy lawyers, accountants, business owners.
I do think money is the main decider in politics.
And sadly, why are six-figure amounts being spent
on Amarillo elections?
We're not Dallas.
We're not Houston.
We're Amarillo.
And we have campaigns that are in the six figures.
- Three of the biggest large contributions that took place
in the last reporting period are the where's,
the people who own the largest privately held bank
in America, not in Amarillo in America.
They've run Amarillo for the longest time,
and they still do.
Amarillo matters is designed to facilitate that
by ensuring that they have safe people
in office that will never ask any questions.
Now what the people here are going to find out is
all of our money has been blown
on making a handful of people rich.
And we're not going to have the resources
to deal with the crises that are ahead.
That's my real fear for this place.
(church choir singing)
- The people who had the least shouldn't have to
go through the most to survive.
We're so excited to build a new strip mall on the South side
of town with two tenants
that probably won't be there in three years,
but you have a food desert here
in the North side community.
People can't go and get a piece of fruit on Hughes street
which is the main African-American road that goes
through the center of other communities.
You can't buy a piece of fruit there.
You have plenty of places to buy blood scans and 40 ounces
but no place to buy a banana.
If you got dying parts of your community
it's going to spread.
It's going to fester.
- To me, it feels like our votes don't matter.
They just want us to feel like we matter
but really they're in control and they pick and choose.
You don't know my struggles.
You don't want to help me.
You just want me to be on your side so you can like
oh look, I'm down when you really not down
cause you really don't understand.
I love Amarillo, I love the panhandle.
I don't want to leave this place,
but I do want to see change.
I find there's just more that could be done.
If you really cared for the people in you,
you would do more.
- Being the mayor in Amarillo is a wonderful thing.
I ran because I felt like God was asking me to step
into an arena of influence, to love people
and to do that in my city, through serving in government.
It's funny to me
that people say that we're from old Amarillo money.
I'm not, neither is my husband.
And both of us lived in very normal middle class homes.
Our parents still live in those homes.
We had student debt, we brought our student debt
and our two used cars
and moved to Amarillo and frankly have been so
blessed to have the American dream come true for us.
Another phrase that comes to mind that we've really lived
out over the last two years is
that God allows you to be baptized
with criticism so that you'll be inoculated against praise
because no good leader is doing it for the praise.
- If I was Ginger Nelson
I would say I'm running a faith based government instead
of a greed based government, which is what she's doing
because that probably sells better.
The only solution to that level of corruption
says the courts is political.
When you got would be leaders like Hayden Pedigo
that's a pretty dim prospect.
(whispering)
- It's a little terrifying, you know
like I don't want to be some like jackass doing this.
I know my parents are upset with what I'm doing.
It was like a embarrassment to the family.
That hurts really, really bad
you know.
Essentially I grew up with parents
a mom and a dad that were
I think maybe a little bit wild when they were younger
and went to religion and Christianity very hard
and the opposite direction.
They homeschooled me and my sister first grade
through high school, the whole thing.
And my dad preached at a homeless shelter.
Then he preached at a truck stop where my dad would tell me
that I was like a caged animal, just like pacing to get out.
So it's like, he felt like you didn't know anybody
and living out in the middle of nowhere.
And sometimes it just felt
like the same day over and over and over again
- Hayden was always physically taken care of
but mentally his parents did a number on him.
He has such a massive fear of failing just with his parents
constantly demonizing him
and making him feel like a failure because he wasn't saying
or doing everything that they, they saw fit.
- I spent a lot of my life beating myself up
over mistakes I had made.
And it's like this infinite cycle, you
you do something wrong.
You make a mistake.
So it's like, well, I'm kind of a piece of shit,
so I'm going to keep doing it.
- Like I remember Hayden, I got in a fight in our marriage
and he said from, he said, I feel like I'm, I'm Lenny from
of mice and men.
And I just want to hold the puppies
but I keep killing them because I hold them too hard.
- And he just, for the longest time
felt like everything he touched,
he'd just destroy, including me.
It's just so hard.
(distorted guitar sounds)
- My dad's biggest critique of me growing up
was he would say I was like an unplugged alarm clock.
Like when it flashes 12
like I had forgotten everything and can not retain.
And like, I'm about to be 25.
It's like, I still think about that stupid stuff, you know?
And-
sorry.
- I got your suit minus the tie.
I got you underwear and socks, and then that's right?
- Yes, I feel like I'm not helping for these piecing.
During those years of my life where I was cut off
from everything music and things like that meant so much
to me because it represented everything I ever
hoped and dreamed for.
It was an escape from all the things that hurt you.
And it just was important.
I can't even just explain
just how important that stuff was to me.
(guitar music)
- Hayden is very much a child of Amarillo and his parents.
Hayden is also is, he's a conservative Christian
bank working kid.
You know, he is not some punk rock,
you know, Sam Hain tattoo wearing,
you know street urchin.
Hayden could have gone anywhere and done anything.
Why isn't he in Austin, New York or Berlin?
Where the people who make this kind of music are welcomed.
He's in Amarillo fucking Texas.
- Politics are critical in music.
Whom else to respond to the conditions,
then somebody a Troubadour.
It's a longstanding tradition, whether it was Marvin Gaye
whether it's Bob Dylan, whether it's Eddie Vedder.
Whomever it is, we need people like that.
This Hayden, the fact that he's willing to just go
against everything that is the status quo.
Everyone's going to tell him
that he's crazy and that's terrific.
Let me prove you wrong.
- Hayden's upbringing definitely factors
into him running for city council.
There's a part of him
that it's almost like a fuck you to them.
Like, Oh, you think I'm an embarrassment to the Pedigo name?
Well,
I'm just going to go further
and embarrass you even more.
(EDM music)
- I feel like my life really began
at 18 when I moved out of my parents' house
because you feel that strongly about I have to do it.
I've wasted so much time.
I've been held back for so long.
So why not do the biggest thing I possibly can?
My name is Hayden Pedigo.
I am running for city council place one.
I'm 24 years old making me the youngest candidate running
for city council here.
I'm all for progress, I'm all for development,
but I'm not for development
that's indebting future generations of Amarillo.
We have a government system that is a small town government.
We are no longer a small town.
200,000 people is not a small town.
And I want the younger generation to step up and say
we want a better Amarillo for the future,
that's not going to indebt us.
We want progress for all.
And we want a government that fits our city.
And that's the reason why I'm running, thank you.
That was very impressive.
- I may not know much,
but I do know about Amarillo.
Amarillo we're going to rebuild
and we're even brick this time.
We're going to break the glass anyways.
This video was created for budget of $0.
I have accepted no donations for this campaign.
Thank you (echo).
- I think one of the reasons why I've been pretty set
on running on no donations is for one
the thing I said from the beginning with the videos
even though they're ridiculous.
As I think people, especially at my age
are burnout on politics and off the bat,
I wanted to do videos that didn't
feel like politics we knew.
It wasn't bashing on anyone.
It wasn't saying how your life was going to get terrible.
And that's kind of where the no donation came in.
I kind of want to make a point by not accepting donations.
I don't want people's money.
You know, if I can get people talking
about my message and what I'm doing,
that I think that's worth more than a yard sign.
If I can get people talking about it
I don't need the money.
I don't need the signs.
I don't need T-shirts.
I want to change the way it's done completely.
- Well, I admire anybody that would put their name
out in the arena.
It takes a lot of courage.
If I were the one that I guess stepped out and said
I'm not going to raise any funds for this campaign.
I put, I feel like it puts
that leadership opportunity at risk.
It's like sitting down to play chess
but insisting that the rules be for checkers.
You know, I would be the first one to set down the weapons.
Well that person's probably going to get shot.
(gun shot)
- When politics, you get beat up, pretty good
for telling the truth.
Sometimes I just wasn't the most popular guy in the room.
You know, when I was on council, there was lots of
3-2 votes, you know, 4-1 votes.
I mean, and that's what she wants a good healthy debate
but there's none of that anymore.
And it appears that the city's running real smooth.
Well, it is running smoothly.
If that particular group is getting everything they want
you know, and that's the way things have been going.
There are just a lot of things down at city hall
that need to change but it's not going
to happen in my lifetime.
Maybe Hayden's. (laughs)
- How are you? - I'm doing good.
- You doing good.
How are you doing?
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
- What's your name? - Hayden, Hayden Pedigo.
Nice to meet you.
- Yeah, thank you all for coming.
Glad y'all came.
Amarillo's population nearly 40% is under the age of 30.
I didn't feel like Amarillo was utilizing its young
population the way we should,
because that's the future of the city.
You know, I love the neighborhood over by Amarillo College
those brick roads, those houses.
I love that area.
And I thought to myself, wow,
I never thought I would see Amarillo like this.
This is incredible.
But I say, if you flip the script, you're 17, you're living
in North Heights.
You're about to get out of high school.
You're not sure if you'll even make it into college.
You're not sure what career prospects you have.
How is Amarillo looking for you
- Road to riches?
This is a money train.
I came a long way from the hunger pains.
One deep cause you n#*#*#*#* strange.
I heard they killed your partner like the hunger games.
Dissect a n#*#*#*#* like anatomy.
I know mad max proud of me.
I'm stepping on you rappers mix.
Cause y'all are the main people that was doubting me.
(rap music)
- North Heights of Amarillo, Texas.
And this is my neighborhood is where I grew
up at and what I do.
I'd rather not answer what I do, but I do what I got to do.
Know what I'm saying?
The biggest problem living in the Heights is like adversity.
You you're up against, you know what I'm saying?
Well, I recently lost a couple, like a few friends.
Like I said, whenever there's nothing to do.
You know what I'm saying?
Problems,
tension gets high
and people want to find something to do.
You know what I'm saying?
And just, that's a fucked up situation.
It really is.
- I'm working two jobs.
Even though I have a degree because there's not a lot
of opportunity here, especially at entry level
because everything requires experience and a degree.
I want to be a game warden or a park ranger
or some kind of wildlife or environmental science.
They would only hire me to work like the gate
or cleaning up.
A lot of my friends, their kids or their little brother
or their little sister, their little sister is prostituting.
You know, like getting turned out and doing tricks out here.
Just, just because that's like the lifestyle here
because that's the only way they've seen to get some money.
- Another reason why I decided to run, was I felt
like there was a lot of reckless spending
in Amarillo that benefited a certain group of people
while other communities were being absolutely ignored.
Because for example, you can look at neighborhoods
like Sandra SUNO, North Heights, East Ridge
historical neighborhoods that have a lot
of value to Amarillo, but have been held back for so long.
(trap beat)
- Charlie's barbecue and soul food.
It's me and my mother's restaurant.
And ever since we've been here
I use it as my soap box.
Small little ugly soap box it may be,
but a soap box all the same.
And I stand on top of it.
I always speak about politics because everything that I do
is based on kids
and parks
and opportunities
for those kids as they grow older.
- Oh Lord, they watching us.
- Y'all going to ask me any questions.
Or are y'all just gonna film me yelling?
Get you a United Sack
and take a step, drop an egg, take a step, drop a egg.
I need a bigger concentration
of eggs right here in front of this basketball court.
We go on as far as I can see with, with all these eggs
This is what Easter looks like to me.
Just eggs everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.
I just let y'all know.
I didn't ball, I didn't stuff, not one egg I never have.
And I don't think I ever will.
- When you're a child, you really
don't pick up
on the discrepancies or the differences,
but there's just a huge growth on the South side of town.
And on the North side of town
there's a huge project of tearing down.
There's nothing vibrant.
You know, as soon as you cross the tracks
the color goes away except on the black faces.
That's the only color you see, everything is shades of gray
the city late think people don't see that.
But I see it.
- The whole idea of elitist controlling is part
of the political culture of Texas, where the better families
and the plantation owners made all the decisions
and they suppressed voting.
Texas has the lowest voting participation
in the United States.
The wealthy don't want those people voting
because they know best,
Massa knows best.
We'll handle this for you.
And that's the way it goes.
- The attitude of Amarillo is don't talk about it.
Don't worry about it.
While other parts of our state, Austin
Arlington Dallas are getting rid
of symbols of the Confederacy.
We tiptoe around that issue and we still have
a rebel general in a park.
We still have an elementary school
named after a rebel general.
Robert E. Lee never lived here.
We have something named after him
but we know what that symbol stands for.
Those symbols disappeared after the civil War.
And they came back actually after soldiers came back
from World War I to the South and the South said
we don't want these n#*#*#*#*#* being too uppity.
So n#*#*#*#*#* know your place.
And so we started putting Robert E. Lee
and we started the stars and bars, the rebel flag.
And it's a false analogy.
What are we going to do about that?
Are the young politicians going to address those issues
that we have in our community?
Or are they just gonna play lip service to get elected
and then play the game.
When you step up and say I want to represent a people.
You have to figure out sometimes
what they're getting out of it.
- What made you decide to run for council?
I think there should be a reform.
I think we should go
to voting by district instead of at-large.
I believe that a mayor and four council members elected
at large representing 200,000 residents, isn't working.
Certain parts of Amarillo are being held back
and are not being paid attention to
while others are being developed.
If you look at similar sized cities as Amarillo
they ditch the at-large format decades ago.
I want the city to get better as a whole
not individual parts because that's not a progression
of a city that's progressions of a class.
City that only progresses in parts
is not progressing as a city.
- Thank you so much for coming in this morning.
- Thank you.
- I appreciate you. - Thank you.
- My name's Jeff, I'm Jeff Blackbird,
and how are you?
Nice to meet you too.
This is Hayden Pedigo, the big shot.
- So I met with Jeff for the first time
and I think I had expectations going into it
on what it was going to be like,
but he offered to help me on my campaign and give me advice.
I'm running, running for city council,
so I took him up on that offer because I need his help.
- I don't know.
Maybe Jeff's sees a little bit of Hayden like in himself
like maybe a younger Jeff.
Jeff Blackbird is a provocateur, has been his whole life.
So, I'm sure he saw Hayden.
And went I want to be part of this
I want to help this kid stir up some shit.
You know, you've got to put down
like we talked about before, the three things
that are controversial and that matter to you.
That really matter and it never get off messages.
You're different because you do have ideas,
and I don't, I think you're
you're a very serious candidate.
I think he's a friend and a mentor
and maybe even a father figure in some ways.
Yeah, I think he's a little bit of all of that.
And I know it means a lot to Hayden when Jeff says
that he's proud of him.
- That's the decision we got to finish.
Where do you want to, what do you want to do?
It's up to us.
And thank you very much for the indulgence.
I appreciate it.
- Was it all right.
- It was great.
- Kid I would tell ya,
if you would get up and say,
I think that Amarillo should pass a resolution
in favor of legalizing marijuana,
You'd pick up a thousand votes.
- That's something that if somebody asked me, I would agree
with them would get into,
but if I have a short amount of time,
I'm going to go after the things that I think are-
- Remember what we we're talking before?
You got to open the can, you have to have a can opener,
and then people go like, what did he just say that?
It's like, you know what else I think?
A, B, C, D. - Yeah.
Controversy's not always the key tool
to getting your message out.
- Well I don't believe that.
Bullshit. - That's not my stance.
I'm not going to go up
and talk about decriminalizing marijuana
because it's too controversial.
I'm not going to go and talk about it
because I feel I may not be fully educated enough to talk
to a crowd of people on that topic.
- Then you should have gotten educated
before you decided to run for god damn hall.
- Yeah, but that's not my top three issues.
Why I'm even running
and I'm not going to make up reasons why I'm running.
Because then at that point
- Let's just agree to disagree.
I'm going to go. - Okay.
I maybe don't have the thickest skin in terms
of people saying negative things about me
and Jeff has been an asset in one way, because it's kind of
nice to have somebody on your side,
who's hurling the worst criticisms towards you.
He was either slapping me in the face or giving me a hug.
Sometimes it's best to have
somebody stab you in the front
and stab you in the back.
Jeff will always stab you in the front.
You know?
So I think that was good for me.
- This guy can't even agree
with the governor of Texas about decriminalizing marijuana.
This is the easiest position.
And the New Republican party believes that in Texas.
Too controversial
- So, me and Jeff talked the next day,
and after we talked about music for an hour
the argument got brought up because Jeff was saying,
yeah young people support you online
but they don't support you in real life.
But I said to Jeff, I was like, Hey
what's going on at your office Saturday the 13th?
And he said nothing.
And I said, can I post on Facebook
that I'm throwing a rally there?
And he was like, sure.
And I said, okay I'm going to get so many people there
that it makes you mad.
He really believes that Facebook is reality.
Anyone can sit on their butt and say cool,
like,
smiley face.
- I'm wanting a rally that is insane.
Well, I mean, I, I wish more people would have showed up.
I feel like you never know.
Especially with political type events,
I feel like it's hard to, you know.
(bagpipes play)
- You gotta mingle with the crowd.
You gotta go talk to people and ask
and tell everybody you're so happy
that they're here. - I know.
What's up, man? - How are you doing?
- How's it going, that's crazy.
- You've made a huge push to terrain to get the youth
to come out and vote.
Can you explain that a little bit to me.
- I'm trying to talk to people my age
and get them involved so we can make
a change and move our city in a more positive direction.
Stuff like this always makes me anxious.
- Why? - I don't want to look dumb.
- As long as there are more people in the audience
than there are on the stage.
It's a success.
- Yeah. Very true.
I agree with that.
- Let's give Hayden Pedigo a big hand.
- Amarillo for decades has been a very fractured place.
There's so many groups and communities
that are all separated from each other.
They've been ignored, and it's hell we make a change.
This is just going to keep happening over and over and over.
Be honest how was that?
- I thought it was the best you've done so far.
- Awesome, good, good, okay. - Okay?
- Okay.
- So I think you're discovering something called policy.
- Yeah. - That's good.
- I'm trying, I'm trying.
- I think you're getting there.
I mean, the forums have been kind of
like lighting a fire under my butt,
cause they've then coming from and starting to get kind of-
- Those forums didn't mean nothing compared
to the fact that you can put together a group
of people that are your actual supporters.
- Cause Hayden looks like he really wants to make a change.
He wants to bring more diversity
into like, make everybody feel like their region
and their area matters.
And you don't hear that often here in Amarillo so.
- He's doing some good shit, he really is.
He's open, opening people's mind up.
- No one else young is in our town,
caring enough to, to get all this done.
- He's here for Amarillo and he will help it grow
in ways that aren't just money downtown.
- Well I applaud Hayden for having
what I would consider the right motivations
to get involved in city government.
- Seeing Hayden do that is that's really inspiring.
And it just makes me think it's not as hard
as you think it is to do big things like that.
- He wants to see us thrive as a city.
And I think that's a good thing for a young kid
especially to be an example of that.
What can we do with where we're planted?
How can we make our city better?
I think the more this has gone on
kind of the heavier it's felt, you know,
it's not a joke, I think it can be inspiring
but it's constantly fighting, inspiring and terrifying.
(plane engine roaring)
(indie rock music)
- This is a little nerve wracking and just a little nervous.
I just don't want to be nervous while doing it.
That's my thing I'm kind of worried about.
I'm sure like if I talk to him for 10 seconds before
we're going to be fine.
How are you? - Hey!
- Hi I'm Hayden.
- Good to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
- How are you? - I'm doing good.
Are we on film are we on camera.
- I think so. - Hi how are you?
- For the story,
one of the biggest controversies
was North Heights had a public swimming pool
that's been there for years.
- Right? - I went to that pool as a kid
A couple of months ago the state came out and they said,
"Hey we're shutting down the pool,
It's not in good shape anymore."
So the neighborhood,
the North Heights neighborhood was very up in arms going,
"You're taking away our pool and-
- Just make the repairs, do the work.
- Well, this is what ended up happening was
they sent a rep from the city who was like
the pool is too far beyond repair.
We can't fix it.
We would have to rebuild it.
And that cost would be three to $4 million.
And we just don't have that right now sorry.
And then a few weeks later
the city approved $4 million for the scoreboard
at the baseball stadium for the scoreboard.
Jeez. - And so this community,
that's like you're taking away one of our amenities,
this pool that's been a service to public space for decades.
- Right. - That, that is
a massive benefit to that area of town.
You're taking away in your answer as sorry
we don't have the money.
There's nothing we can do for you.
- And then you demonstrate a second later
that there clearly is the money.
- Yeah.
But the money is only there.
If it's something they want to spend it on
and a community pool's not going to make them money.
- Right. - So what do kids do
if you live in a neighborhood with nothing?
- Right. - You take it away
and they're like oh,
I wonder why crime is going up.
- It's cause you keep taking- - Yeah, you cause trouble.
Yeah, you keep taking everything away
and then being stupid
and acting like it's somewhere else.
- It's so depressing.
- Yeah, it is, it is depressing for me.
And that's why I've, I guess what I, what I told people
I originally, when the videos were blowing up
I had this crossroads moment.
Either I can not run take the attention and laugh this off.
Or do I take that attention?
I'm getting and know how to form it
into something more important.
You know, now I'm making rich old people in Amarillo
angry because I'm calling out things
they don't want you to talk about.
- Right.
Where are you, ideologically, politically?
- I've always said that I kind of just exist in the middle
of maybe one of those younger people
that's fried on politics.
So I was invited, I got a message
that I was invited to the Amarillo tea party group forum.
- (in unison) To the flag of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation...
- Hello, my name is Hayden Pedigo.
I'm running for city council place one.
The reason why I decided to run was
I believe the low voter turnout
combined with at-large elections
is the reason there wasn't fair representation in Amarillo.
The system isn't working, and we need to move forward
and have a more progressive government.
Thank you.
A guy came up afterwards and he was like
what did you mean by progressive?
- Right? - He was like,
one of the guys back there said
that he wanted to punch you in the face
when you said progressive.
And I said, I meant- - Like mandatory abortions.
- Well, I said, you literally have to be gay now.
- Oh you said that to him? - Yeah, no, I thought it,
but that was the thing I meant progressive
in the literal sense of progress.
- It is funny how that's become
a derogatory term for people, progressive.
- When you do that in a town like this
you get marginalized quickly as a radical or a liberal
that no one should listen to.
And that's a really great way here
where we only have one political party,
the party of the insane.
It's a great way to,
to foreclose any discussion about anything.
- So Amarillo matters released to their 2019 voter's guide,
and they have a picture of me with in red letters.
It says not recommended.
A 24 year old local musician, Pedigo's Campaign
has been called a "art project",
inspired by independent movie he saw.
His first campaign, it's his "campaign" video
shows him throwing a metal folding chair around apart
and measuring various outdoor areas with a tape measure.
He says, this campaign is serious,
but evidence indicates it is a satire commentary.
We do not recommend Mr. Pedigo.
Well fuck.
Their, honestly, every single one of their disses
are kind of like gold because they're so weird.
Pedigo left-handed and statistics show
that most serial killers are left-handed.
We would not recommend him at this time.
Like, that's basically what, they're what they're saying.
I saw Hayden Pedigo in the same room as a kid once,
possibly a pedophile.
I saw Hayden Pedigo wear a bandana on once.
possibly a crip or a Muslim.
Oh man, or a crip Muslim.
- You can't lead if you're not able
and willing to take a few arrows in the back.
We've had so many arrows in the back.
And part of it is because you, you stepped into the arena.
Here's what I think is, is admirable about Amarillo matters.
They have stepped into the arena
and they're participating in the process,
and anyone can do that.
If, if you don't like what they're doing
start your own group.
- You have to do something to activate people
a political action committee.
So we have one here in Amarillo and there, you know what?
They're popping up all over the state
They're not trying to manipulate people.
They're trying to move cities forward.
For 30 years Dr. Eddie Sauer is a trusted family dentist
and friends to all,
a graduate of our public schools in West Texas A&M,
Doctor Sauer strongly supports education.
Pedigo strongly supports oxygen.
Like, no, one's gonna say they're fucking against education.
Dr. Sauer provides a voice
of experience and expertise on, on medical issues.
Thank you Dr. Sauer.
- I personally will govern myself with an ethic
that I will I will not choose
to bash or to break down with my words,
Sadly, in the political arena
there are groups that choose the other route.
And it's amazing though
how God can keep your heart soft toward people.
Even while people
aren't soft with their words.
- You know what, I don't know what to say
to those people that are saying those things.
Those aren't the facts.
And I've shared that as many times
in as many conversations as I know how to share
and
what it boils down to for our family
is we just keep serving
because I can't convince 200,000 people,
what the truth is.
- The mayor doesn't have to run her campaign like that
because Amarillo matters plays the role of the dirty guy.
That way, none of the incumbents have any responsibility
for the nasty things that are said about their opponents.
Corporate businesslike city government will do anything
to retain power.
I really hope that more people now are starting to be like
maybe this group is like full of shit.
(Futuristic Music)
- Nice, good choice for Amarillo.
How are you, doing good.
My name is Hayden Pedigo.
I'm running for city council here.
I'm passing out these voter guides
about some of the candidates.
This is just a little piece of paper
with my name saying place one. - Gotcha.
- So this is my first day
of doing any type of door knocking.
- Okay, campaigning? - Yeah a little bit.
- All right. - Well, thank you.
Good luck and good to meet you.
Thank you, good to meet you.
I hate this whole thing, dude like no joke.
I just, this is so uncomfortable.
Like this not cool at all.
- Right.
Okay. So if you want I'll do most of the talking
I do this 10, 12 hours a day. - All right
- I just use a Segway and I'm the guy the mayor arrested.
If they laugh, they laugh or smile.
I usually gotta sign in.
If not, I get the heck out of there as quick as possible.
- Do you call up people that just don't answer?
- Oh yeah.
- Oh really?
- Yeah
Hi, hi!
Hi, ma'am.
We're just going to give you
some literature on the election.
Thank you.
- My hands are freezing off. - Yeah.
Okay, got it.
Okay, I'm going try this.
- He's not wired that way.
He's not political.
I ask him several times,
do you want to talk about the water situation?
"No."
Did you read the books I gave you?
"No."
"I'm, it's just too overwhelming."
He's told me, it's overwhelming.
Well then don't run for office.
(message notification sounds)
- Last Sunday was kind of strange for me
cause' that morning was probably
the most discouraged I've ever been.
Like, why am I doing this?
And luckily,
I ended up
going to
the South Sudanese church.
I'm Hayden.
Yeah.
- When we have somebody that running for that county
you know, we need to know what he can do to us.
I didn't come here to say exactly what I can do
for you outside of listen.
Cause I think that's kind of the first thing I
kind of wanted to come and meet you all
and listen to your experiences
because I feel like currently our council isn't listening.
- The South Sudanese community
is quite large here in Amarillo.,
And they're just always working constantly over there
as like a meat packaging place.
And it's like the beef capital, I guess, of dependent
or it helps, I guess, of the world.
It helps feed a lot of people.
They wake up at four in the morning,
come home at 2:00 PM so they can rush
and go pick up their kids from school
and then go home and sleep.
It is like slave work.
It is, I don't know,
it's cold or it's hot, your own.
Once you go in that building it's just you
and your thoughts to that machine humming in your ear
while you're cutting meat or you're packaging meat.
It's tough.
- There is so many families that are scattered right now.
We have so many young people.
Now they go to jail, you know
- It means the world to me
that y'all let me come here and speak and listen.
You know, it's always humbling for me to stand
in front of people and hear what they need.
You know, it's, it's also somewhat scary because you, I
you don't want to disappoint people, you know
cause y'all are equally a part of Amarillo as anyone else
and you deserve to have a voice as much as anyone else.
And thank you for telling me your concerns.
Thank you.
My name is Hayden Pedigo.
- It ended up being probably my favorite event
I've done just overall.
It was the most gratifying
in terms of why I'm even doing this.
That's probably the most meaningful thing that's happened.
It was great day.
It started off absolutely terrible with me crying.
And then it ended like that.
And you know, had me kind of tearing up
for an exact opposite reason, but it was, it was great.
And gave me a lot more hope, you know.
- I invited Hayden to South Sydney celebration.
That's like the time for them to let loose
and have fun you know.
I want him to come and show the community
that they're not alone, you know.
There's somebody that wants to run for council,
that wants to make a change, that would be a part
of the change and feel like we matter as well.
They say there's a Sudanese time
because you say the event starts at seven
but really the event won't start till nine
because people won't get there until nine, you know.
The latest one that I went to was like,
till eight in the morning,
I told my mom I had to go, so I left her.
I don't know what time she got back.
- Yeah, oh, wow.
So they, they get here at 11
and don't leave till 10:00 AM the next day.
- How do they stay awake?
(party music)
- I have to go speak. (yawning)
I'm running for Amarillo city council
because I want to see our city get better
for everyone because sometimes they feel
like it's only gotten better for certain parts of Amarillo.
Again, thank you all so much.
My name is Hayden Pedigo and I'm running for city council.
Thank you all.
They were the only group that didn't treat me like a joke.
I might've given them some hope
but they gave me hope.
It was inspiring but it was also scary
because this is real life with real people
that have real hopes and goals and dreams.
And you're somebody that could help them.
But if he has the heart,
he will do a lot for the communities in Amarillo,
not just the Sudanese community.
- I've never experienced kindness like that,
and when she said we love Amarillo
cause', cause' we can sleep here in peace.
I've never had fear like that before
and it's wanting to help them and not know how.
I think that's the thing.
I don't want to let these people down that we met now
just not knowing how to help them.
This whole experience has opened our eyes and
and we can't shut them now.
From what we've learned and what we've seen
and this shit's gonna be difficult to move forward
and we're going to move forward,
but trying to figure out
just how to make it better for people.
Thank you so much for coming,
and those cameraman thank you guys, fantastic.
I know you guys got a long long day.
- Thank you for having us.
- All right thank you so much for everything.
- Very kind, very kind.
(metal rock)
- I really support him cause' I mean
he's right whenever he says
that younger people don't care about politics.
I have no idea about any of the city council stuff
until he started running.
Even while he's been running,
I feel like I've been more involved
with community stuff that I would never
been involved with or even known about.
I honestly couldn't say a bad thing about Hayden.
(metal rock)
- Today's May 4th election day.
(guitar music)
- We're going to go to a campaign party tonight.
Oh my strategy is if you do like,
do just a few little things
people my age normally can't do, and then a jump.
- There's a lot going through my head right now.
Mainly just trying to stay relaxed, you know.
But I'm excited.
- Today was the first day that I
think I ever voted in a local election.
- Whatever happens tonight or any night like this
like it's all great initiative.
Pedigo vote. (in unison)
- Vote for Hayden Pedigo.
He's a good man doing a good thing.
- I haven't voted yet.
I'm just praying that the Lord goes in
and shows me who to vote for,
when I go to the ballot,
I'm praying that he highlights names
and says this person would be good for the city.
I don't really look at the political side of it.
I just ask the Lord, who do you want over your city?
And then he's faithful in showing me who that is.
(Pop Rock Music)
- We'll see how it goes.
I'll just feel so bad like having everyone here if I bomb.
Sorry, sorry y'all.
We'll see what happens.
(thunder strikes)
(applause) (cheering) - Thank you all.
My name is Hayden Pedigo and I ran for city council.
I got the news that out of the four people that ran
for place one, I came in second place.
But I want to tell you guys tonight,
I'm celebrating and I feel very excited
because the thing is this experience has been
beyond beautiful for me.
I never thought I would be running
for city council in Amarillo.
I never thought I'd be meeting the peoples and the people
in the communities I did
and I'm inspired to be living here.
And I want to see the changes that I've been talking about.
So our city can progress as a whole.
And even though I lost this time, this isn't the end for me,
and I think it's only the beginning.
This is a beautiful city, but I don't think
we should just be letting all the 16 up year olds
decide the future of our city because we live here too.
(applause)
I'm going to say thank you.
I'll say my name is Hayden Pedigo.
I'm running for city council, place one.
I lost.
Thank you all so much.
(cheering)
And, I believe now we have Lake Dabs going on.
Is that correct?
Give it up for Lake Dabs.
(cheering)
(rock music)
- Everybody can kind of work their way over here.
I think Eddie and Ginger
are going to say a couple of things.
It's just been an amazing.
I don't know where to start
Two years, two and a half years, two weeks.
All of it
and you guys have been at the core of it
and actually it's, it's a team that the Lord built.
So this has to be something that the Lord will then.
And honestly, the other reason I know
that the Lord willed it is because my right hand person.
- Get over here, how was that?
- Very good.
I'm very proud.
(thunder roars)
(cheerful guitar music)
- Yuki come here, see, no interest in that.
- That's not my job, okay.
I already created an office that I elected myself to
which is the chief pain in the ass around here.
You know, I'm happy with
with retaining that job and serving as an incumbent.
- I don't think I'd ever want to be an elected official.
I think you have to worship at too many altars.
I hope to see that the same people that are going
to council meetings and are vocal and out there
doing something and out there saying, I'm standing for this.
Continue.
- Everybody dies, but not everybody lives.
And I don't want to be one of those people that I look back
and didn't use my life to the fullest.
I mean, truly at the end of the short
brief time here on earth, we want to know
that we used our time to have an impact.
- Our marriage is really good now.
And I do believe that the election
and him running brought us closer just cause'
Hayden has grown from this.
I have grown from this.
I feel like everybody involved have grown from this.
I think he's got a good heart.
And as long as he goes into anything
in life and his intentions are pure, I will support him.
- Hopefully people can learn that,
I think if there's something you're passionate about
and you want to speak up on, you can be heard.
Doesn't mean you're going to win, but people know about it.
And just putting it out there, changes the landscape.
And to me, it's like chopping something down.
I might've put in the first hit with the ax.
I might've put in the first chip and there's a lot
of room to go, but I put out the possibility
that something can be cut down if we want it.
- I feel like we grew together.
- He definitely inspired me.
- You inspired me.
(guitar music)
(upbeat music)