![]() ![]() This bloody assault, which threatened constitutional democracy and the nation’s democratically elected leaders, came just one day after the burial of Thomas Bloom Raskin, the congressman’s beloved twenty-five-year-old son. He was at the Capitol with his colleagues on January 6, 2021, to witness what should have been the routine certification of Joe Biden’s election as President. A Democratic member of the House, Raskin is fifty-nine and represents Maryland’s Eighth District. Others on Time’s list of “most influential people” for 2021 are distinctly more inspiring– Stacey Abrams, for example, who is leading the fight against voter suppression in the U.S., or the Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who is languishing in a prison camp at the order of Vladimir Putin.Īnd yet one person of the year, an individual who embodies both the tragedy and resilience of our time, was missing: Jamie Raskin. ![]() I speak for no one except myself, but is this the moment to valorize a supposed man of science who cast early doubt on the COVID vaccines and told the world that “kids are essentially immune”? Might as well give the accolade to Eric Clapton. This year, the wealthiest individual in the world, Elon Musk, was Time’s choice for Person of the Year. seized Time’s cover and the annual laurel in Dumbo’s stead. Alas, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, rudely relegating the animated pachyderm to the inside pages of the magazine. ![]() In 1941, the editors tapped Dumbo, the Disney elephant, as Mammal of the Year. There have been a few odd choices along the way. This editorial gambit proved a winner on the newsstand, and a parade of Presidents, Prime Ministers, and other worthies followed. No act is too small- whether that’s calling an old friend, or picking up trash along Sligo Creek.Ninety-four years ago, the editors of Time magazine declared the transatlantic aviator and anti-Semite Charles Lindbergh their first-ever Man of the Year. –Richard LevickĪcts of Goodness in Honor of Tommy RaskinĪs our community works to find ways to support Congressman Tommy Raskin, Sarah Bloom Raskin and their family during this time of absolute tragedy and grief, please consider doing one small act of compassion in Tommy’s honor, which will be compiled and forwarded to the Congressman’s staff. You touched more people in your young life than most of us do in a lifetime. Not knowing Tommy didn’t stop me from tearing up as a I read this remarkable remembrance that Jamie and his loving wife Sarah were kind enough to share with all of us. He is ever the erudite, approachable, thoughtful and kind person you would want in a Congressman – a Statesman - of which there are far too few. I never had a class of his, but still, we bonded and whenever I bump into Jamie walking his beloved trails in Rock Creek Park, he and I pick up our conversations as if no time has elapsed. But I know his father, Congressman Jamie Raskin, going back more than 35 years when I was a student and he was a young professor at American University’s Washington College of Law. I never knew Tommy Raskin, who died on December 31, a second year student at Harvard Law, and clearly so very much more. “She lived as though the truth were true.” ![]()
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