He says he was heartened by words of support from fellow lawmakers of both parties, on the same day he had to evacuate the chamber because of a violent mob takeover. Jamie Raskin received a standing ovation when he spoke during debate Wednesday over the Republican effort to overturn Joe Biden's electoral win. And hundreds of people are sharing good deeds they've done in his name, as The Washington Post reported. The Raskin family has now created the Tommy Raskin Memorial Fund for People and Animals. A study published in September found the percentage of people experiencing symptoms of depression was three times the number compared with before the pandemic. The pandemic has exacerbated the problem. Most of the people who die by suicide have had a mood disorder such as depression. It was "a kind of relentless torture in the brain for him" that became "overwhelming and unyielding and unbearable."ĭepression affects hundreds of millions of people around the world and is one of the most common mental disorders in the U.S. In his 20s, Tommy faced serious depression, his parents write in a remembrance. if it was nasty, Tommy would say, 'Excuse me, but it's hard to be a human.' And then that would be the end of that." He didn't mind gossip if it was good gossip. Jamie Raskin says, "You couldn't be in his presence and say a negative thing about people. Out of all of the group of interns, "somehow he was the one who took responsibility for making sure everyone was doing OK, that no one felt left out, that everyone was connected." "He held a rare level of empathy and compassion," writes Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies, where Tommy interned. And he would say, 'Potter, Toby, you're such a fine sentient being.' "īy multiple accounts, that kindness toward sentient beings included people. And he would pet them sort of by gently touching the very top of their heads. He would take Benadryl or whatever to be around them. So Tommy "had a special relationship with them. "We are a very big dog family," Jamie Raskin says. His love for animals was perhaps most challenging at home though: Tommy was allergic to dogs and cats. "When it comes to the right to live free from the blight of aggression, oppression, from tyrannous might, how smart you are friends shouldn't matter at all trauma is still trauma for the creatures that crawl."Īnimal Outlook, where Tommy interned, called him a "dynamic force for good in this world, driven to expose, challenge and uproot all forms of injustice, including the suffering forced upon animals." He worked as a summer associate at Mercy for Animals, which wrote that his "kindness, passion, & empathy inspires our continued advocacy & remains in our hearts." The stories of his love and compassion are absolutely astounding." But it wasn't his mind that marked him as so extraordinary. "He had a photographic memory and, like some other kids in our family, knew all the presidents and vice presidents in order. "Tommy was remarkable from the beginning," Jamie Raskin tells NPR's Scott Simon. Tommy, as his father Jamie Raskin calls him, was also tormented by depression. By the age of 25, Thomas Bloom Raskin had already accomplished a great deal: He was a graduate of Amherst College, who went on to intern at the Cato Institute and J Street among other prominent organizations a passionate vegan who wrote philosophical defenses of animal rights and converted those around him to giving up meat a political writer who had essays published in The Nation and elsewhere and a law student and teaching assistant at Harvard Law School, who donated from his teaching salary to charities in his students' names.
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