Kerry Kennedy | |
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.jpg) Kennedy in 2024 | |
| Born | Mary Kerry Kennedy (1959-09-08)September 8, 1959 (age 66) Washington, D. C., U.S. |
| Education | Brown University (BA) Boston College (JD) |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (President) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parents | |
| Family | Kennedy family |
Mary Kerry Kennedy (born September 8, 1959) is an American lawyer, author, and human rights activist. Kennedy is a daughter of former United States SenatorRobert F. Kennedy andEthel Kennedy, and a niece of former U.S. PresidentJohn F. Kennedy and former U.S. SenatorTed Kennedy. She is the president ofRobert F. Kennedy Human Rights, a non-profithuman rights advocacy organization.[1]
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Mary Kerry Kennedy was born on September 8, 1959, inWashington, D.C., to parents Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel. Three days after her birth, her father resigned as chief counsel of theSenate Rackets Committee to run hisbrother's campaign for the presidency.[2] Kennedy spent her childhood between the family's homes inMcLean, Virginia andHyannis Port, Massachusetts.[3][4] She appeared at age 3 in the 1963Robert Drew documentaryCrisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment saying hello toU.S. Justice Department officialNicholas Katzenbach by phone from the office of her father, who wasU.S. Attorney General at the time.[5] Her father wasassassinated in 1968.[6] She is a graduate ofThe Putney School in Vermont[7] andBrown University. She later received herJuris Doctor fromBoston College Law School.[8]
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Kennedy's life has been devoted to equal justice, to the promotion and protection of basic rights, and to the preservation of the rule of law.[9] Kennedy is the president ofRobert F. Kennedy Human Rights.[9] She started working in the field of human rights in 1981 as an intern withAmnesty International, where she investigated abuses committed by U.S. immigration officials against refugees from theSalvadoran Civil War inEl Salvador.[10]
For over thirty years, she has worked on diverse human rights issues such aschildren's rights,child labor,disappearances,indigenous land rights,judicial independence,freedom of expression,ethnic violence,impunity, and the environment. She has concentrated specifically onwomen's rights, particularlyhonor killings,sexual slavery,domestic violence,workplace discrimination, andsexual assault. She has worked in over 60 countries and led hundreds of human rights delegations.[9]
Kennedy established the RFK Center Partners for Human Rights in 1986 to ensure the protection of rights codified under the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. RFK Partners provides support to human rights defenders around the world. The Center uncovers human rights abuses such as torture, repression of free speech and child labor; urges Congress and the U.S. administration to highlight human rights in foreign policy; and supplies activists with the resources they need to advance their work. Kennedy also founded RFK Compass, which works on sustainable investing with leaders in the financial community. She started the RFK Training Institute inFlorence, Italy, which offers courses of study to leading human rights defenders across the globe.[9]
Kennedy is Chair of the Amnesty International USA Leadership Council. Nominated by PresidentGeorge W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she is on the board of directors of theUnited States Institute of Peace,[11] as well asHuman Rights First, andInter Press Service in Rome, Italy. She is a patron of the Bloody Sunday Trust (Northern Ireland) and serves on the Editorial Board of Advisors of the Buffalo Human Rights Law Review. She is on the Advisory Committee for theInternational Campaign for Tibet, theCommittee on the Administration of Justice of Northern Ireland, theGlobal Youth Action Network, Studies without Borders and several other organizations. She serves on the leadership council of the Amnesty International Campaign toStop Violence Against Women and on the Advisory Board of the Albert Schweitzer Institute and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center's National Advisory Council.[9]
Lawyers for Ecuadorean plaintiffs in the long-running lawsuit againstChevron Corporation for environmental and human health damages at theLago Agrio oil field hired Kennedy to conduct public relations for their cause. She traveled to Ecuador in 2009, after which she blasted Chevron in an article for theHuffington Post.[12][13] Neither herHuffington Post piece nor the news coverage of her advocacy disclosed that she was being paid by the plaintiffs, a fact not made public until 2012. The plaintiffs' lead American lawyer reportedly paid Kennedy $50,000 in February 2010, and the plaintiffs' law firm budgeted $10,000 per month for her services, plus $40,000 in expenses in June 2010. Kennedy was also reportedly given a 0.25 percent share of any money collected from Chevron, worth $40 million if the full amount were to be collected.[14] Kennedy responded that she was "paid a modest fee for the time I spent on the case," but denied that she had any financial interest in the outcome.[15]
Kennedy has criticized the treatment of New York teenagerKalief Browder during his extended time in pretrial detention at Rikers Island.[16] This included video recordings of guards beating Browder, withholding food, and denying medical treatment.[17] In 2016, Kennedy campaigned for adoption of S 5998-A/A 8296-A, referred to as "Kalief's Law," in the [New York State Legislature], which would have guaranteed speedy trials to defendants being held in pretrial detention.[18] On June 9, 2016, theNew York State Assembly passed Kalief's Law by a 138-2 margin.[19] The law was not voted on by theNew York State Senate in 2016, and has been reintroduced by State Senator Daniel L. Squadron during the 2017-2018 legislative session as S 1998-A.[20]
Kennedy remains a major voice in the campaign for speedy trial reform in New York, writing in a 2017New York Daily News editorial that "we make a mockery out of the promise" of a speedy trial.[16] Kennedy has also worked closely with the Katal Center for Health, Equity and Justice to campaign for passage of speedy trial reform and criminal justice reform before the New York Assembly.[21]
On June 21, 2017, Kennedy, through her organization, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, posted the $100,000 bail for Pedro Hernandez, a 17-year-old who had spent over a year in pretrial detention at Rikers Island in connection with a shooting investigation.[22][23] Hernandez had become the face of bail reform following extensive reporting on his incarceration byDaily News columnistShaun King.[24][25][26]
Hernandez's bail had initially been set at over $250,000, but that sum was lowered to $100,000 after Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights argued such a high sum was disproportional.[27] Less than a week after his release from Rikers Island, Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced she would no longer pursue a case against Hernandez.[28] On October 9, 2018, all remaining charges against Hernandez were dropped on the condition he attend college.
On June 21, 2018, in response to PresidentDonald Trump's decision to enact a'zero-tolerance' policy of family separation on immigrants entering the United States illegally, Kennedy joined organizations including the Dolores Huerta Foundation, theTexas Civil Rights Project and La Union Del Pueblo Entero to launch the 'Break Bread Not Families Immigration Fast and Prayer Chain.[29][30] The campaign, which raised funds to support the reunification of immigrant families, argued Trump administration policy was "not only immoral, it is also illegal under U.S. and international law."[31]
On June 23, 2018, the Break Bread Not Families campaign held a prayer vigil in the American border town ofMcAllen, Texas.[32] The vigil marked the start of the campaign that encouraged activists, political figures and celebrities to fast for 24 hours before passing the fast to another public figure. Participants included formerUnited States Secretary of Housing and Urban DevelopmentJulian Castro, United States SenatorEd Markey, CongresswomenRosa DeLauro,Barbara Lee andAnnie McLane Kuster, CongressmanJoseph P. Kennedy III, and actors such asAisha Tyler,[33]Alfre Woodard,Julia Roberts,[34]Lena Dunham, andEvan Rachel Wood.[35]
Kennedy joined protestors outside theUrsula Detention Center, where they temporarily blocked a bus of immigrant children from departing.[36] Kennedy was threatened with arrest by U.S.Customs and Border Protection agents after repeatedly attempting to speak with officials inside Ursula about the use of chain-link cages to house children separated from their families.[citation needed]
The next day, Kennedy andDolores Huerta led a march and rally outside the federal immigration camp inTornillo, Texas in solidarity with the then-2,400 child immigrants in facilities similar to Tornillo.[37]
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In 2008, Kennedy was the editor ofBeing Catholic Now, Prominent Americans talk about Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning. The book included essays from prominent Catholics, includingNancy Pelosi,Cokie Roberts, now-formerCardinal McCarrick,Sister Joan Chittister,Tom Monaghan,Bill O'Reilly,Doris Kearns Goodwin,Doug Brinkley, and others.
In 2018, Kennedy publishedRobert F. Kennedy: Ripples of Hope: Kerry Kennedy in Conversation with Heads of State, Business Leaders, Influencers, and Activists about Her Father's Impact on Their Lives. The book contains interviews from prominent individuals whose lives and careers were influenced by the legacy of Robert F. Kennedy, and explores how Kennedy's legacy touched the fields of entertainment, politics, faith, and activism. Interviewees includeTony Bennett,Harry Belafonte,Bono,Barack Obama,John Lewis and activists includingGloria Steinem andMarian Wright Edelman.
Kennedy holds honorary doctorates of law fromLe Moyne College andUniversity of San Francisco Law School, and of Humane Letters fromBay Path College and theAlbany College of Pharmacy.[9] She is also a member of the Massachusetts and District of Columbiabar associations.[38]
Kennedy was named Woman of the Year 2001 by Save the Children,[39] Humanitarian of the Year Award from the South Asian Media Awards Foundation, and the Prima Donna Award from Montalcino Vineyards. In 2008, she received the Eleanor Roosevelt Medal of Honor and the Thomas More Award from Boston College Law School. World Vision and International AIDS Trust gave her the 2009 Human Rights Award.[9]
She has received awards from theSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (for leadership in abolishing the death penalty), the American Jewish Congress of the Metropolitan Region, and the Institute for the Italian American experience three I's award for outstanding efforts and achievements for human rights.[9]
Kennedy received theGold Mercury International Award 2006 for her humanitarian efforts in a ceremony at theVictoria and Albert Museum in London.[40]
In 2017, Kennedy received the Medal for Social Activism from theWorld Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates inBogotá, Colombia for "her impactful efforts on communities throughout the world as a result of her life-long devotion to the pursuit of equal justice."[41]
"When my brother David died, where's my Dad? When my brotherMichael died, where's my dad? When I got married and I walked down that aisle alone."
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On June 9, 1990, she marriedAndrew Cuomo at age 30 in theCathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle inWashington, D.C.. She walked alone in the aisle, declining offers from several relatives (including one from her uncleTed) to be walked down the aisle out of respect to her father.[43] She and Cuomo have three daughters: twins Cara Ethel Kennedy-Cuomo and Mariah Matilda Kennedy-Cuomo (b. 1995), and Michaela Andrea Kennedy-Cuomo (b. 1997). During her 15-year marriage to Cuomo, from 1990 to 2005, she was known asKerry Kennedy-Cuomo. Kennedy and Cuomo separated in 2003, and divorced in 2005.
In July 2012, Kennedy allegedly sideswiped a tractor trailer onInterstate 684 inWestchester County. On the morning of July 13, 2012, Kennedy was found in her whiteLexus. A police report said Kennedy had trouble speaking, was swaying and told an officer that she may have accidentally taken a sleeping pill earlier that day. In a court appearance on July 17, 2012, Kennedy said local hospital tests found no traces of drugs and that her doctor believed she had suffered a seizure. Kennedy pleaded not guilty to driving while impaired. Kennedy was charged by state police with leaving the scene of an accident. A toxicology report filed on July 25, 2012, saidzolpidem was found in a sample of her blood taken when Kennedy was arrested,[44] at which point Kennedy released a statement saying in part, "The results we received today from the Westchester County lab showed trace amounts of a sleep aid in my system, so it now appears that my first instinct was correct. I am deeply sorry to all those I endangered that day, and am enormously grateful for the support I have received over the past two weeks." Kennedy said she did not remember anything after entering a highway to go to a gym and before she found herself at a traffic light with a police officer at her door.[45] On January 23, 2014, Judge Robert Neary ruled that the drugged-driving case against Kennedy would move forward.[46] On February 20, 2014, jury selection for her trial began. Kennedy was not present, and was instead in Brussels and theWestern Sahara conducting human rights advocacy.[47] Sixty-two people were interviewed for the six-person panel.[48] Kennedy admitted to having been in a car wreck 18 months before the incident, as well as suffering a head injury that required medication.[49] Kennedy was acquitted of the charges on February 28, 2014.[50]
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| HUD Secretary | |
| Attorney General of New York | |
| Governor of New York | |
| Electoral history |
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| Family |
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