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Kerry Kennedy
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Kerry Kennedy is author of Speak Truth to Power and President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights. She is the chair of the Amnesty International Leadership Council.

Blog Entries by Kerry Kennedy

A Civil Rights Freedom Rider Returns to Montgomery, Ala.

(7) Comments | Posted March 11, 2013 | 2:33 PM

A few weeks ago I joined Congressman and RFK Speak Truth To Power defender John Lewis as he returned to First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, site of a brutal night in civil rights history. As Freedom Riders in 1961, Lewis and a dozen companions traveled by bus from Washington,...

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The Time Is Now for a Federal Anti-Bullying Law

(89) Comments | Posted March 5, 2013 | 2:23 PM

Last week, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) reintroduced the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA), an act that would solidify the requirement for schools to address bullying and hold them accountable to collect data on the incidence and response. Federal bullying prevention legislation has been introduced every year since 2003, when Congresswoman...

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An Oscar Vote for Justice

(20) Comments | Posted February 11, 2013 | 12:20 PM

Today, one of America's oldest and proudest employers is facing a scandal of epic proportion. With a history that stretches back even prior to our nation's independence, this organization has grown into a $550 billion enterprise, with a staff of 1.5 million spread across offices in 150 nations. It is...

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Working With Javier Bardem for Justice in Western Sahara

(7) Comments | Posted February 4, 2013 | 11:32 AM

In just two months, the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) is up for renewal. Javier Bardem and I have teamed up to raise awareness for the need to include a human rights mandate in MINURSO.

Please watch the video below, see...

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For L.A. Schools, Stories of Modern-day Martin Luther Kings

(0) Comments | Posted January 22, 2013 | 8:05 PM

When President Barack Obama took the ceremonial oath of office on Monday, he placed his right hand on both the Lincoln Bible and a Bible handed down across generations by the family of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was a remarkable tribute to two men whose stories of leadership...

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Breaking Our National Silence on Gun Control

(615) Comments | Posted December 19, 2012 | 4:11 PM

Late last night, the National Rifle Association (NRA) released their long-awaited response to the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut that left 20 children and 6 school officials dead. As the nation's attention remains focused on the aftermath of this tragedy, many of us wondered how the NRA justified its silence. They...

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A Brush With Morocco's Secret Police in Laayoune, Moroccan-Occupied Western Sahara (PHOTOS)

(69) Comments | Posted August 27, 2012 | 11:59 PM

Despite his civilian dress, there was no mistaking his role in the secret police when he reached into our Toyota to block the Nikon lens of my 17-year-old daughter Mariah. She was recording the beating of a woman by his colleagues, uniformed and not. Mariah's shutter was too fast for...

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Death Threats Against A Human Rights Defender: Vidulfo Rosales In Mexico

(23) Comments | Posted June 7, 2012 | 5:05 PM

"Shut up, or we will send you home in pieces," read the note that arrived at the Network of Civil Human Rights Organizations of Guerrero. It was addressed to Mexican public interest attorney Vidulfo Rosales and signed by vigilantes who proudly called themselves, "The Law."

Rosales heads up the legal...

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Day of Affirmation: "Ripple of Hope"

(2) Comments | Posted June 6, 2012 | 6:49 PM

Forty-four years ago today we lost my father, Robert Kennedy. As we mark this anniversary, we also commemorate June 6 as the 46th anniversary of his historic speech at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, given under the shadow of Apartheid. Below is a description of the scene...

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Ode to My Best Friend -- Mary Richardson Kennedy

(138) Comments | Posted May 22, 2012 | 4:32 PM

I met Mary on her first day at Putney, we were 15. The next weekend we hitch hiked to Boston to see my siblings Michael, Bobby, David, Courtney and Kathleen, and for the rest of her life, she spent nearly every weekend and vacation with our family. We were roommates...

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President Clinton, Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Others Join RFK Center to Support Human Rights Worldwide

(2) Comments | Posted May 16, 2012 | 9:36 AM

It's an honor to spread the word that between now and May 17, more than one hundred leaders in politics, media, Hollywood, and sports are teaming up as part of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights' fifth annual online auction to support human rights...

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Bullying, Leadership and the Presidency of the United States

(330) Comments | Posted May 14, 2012 | 8:48 AM

The 1965 bullying incident at Michigan's elite Cranbrook School that came to light this week has kicked off a series of conversations about bullying and about the extent to which we should hold our nation's leaders accountable for past behavior.

But even after Mitt Romney's "If I...

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Dissent, China's One Child Policy and Chen Guangcheng

(75) Comments | Posted May 5, 2012 | 11:17 AM

China performs 13 million abortions a year. When Chen Guangcheng dared criticized the slaughter, the government of China threw him in prison for four long years. So, while the U.S. State Department and Chinese officials wrangle over Mr. Chen's fate, the larger questions concern the horrific contours of...

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In Chicago: Nobel Laureates and Students Defending Human Rights, One Step at a Time

(13) Comments | Posted April 24, 2012 | 1:34 PM

I spent yesterday morning in the library of Chicago's Lincoln Park High School, listening to students talk about what the word "hero" means to them. This wasn't any normal school day -- in a few moments they would meet Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the father of micro-lending and 2006 Nobel Peace...

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Get Your Boot Off My Neck

(191) Comments | Posted April 10, 2012 | 2:12 PM

Last weekend, my 14-year-old daughter, Michaela, and I were en route to Easter Sunday mass in Acapulco. We were stopped, harassed, threatened, and detained by eight soldiers in battle fatigues brandishing automatic weapons. At first, I was merely concerned; after all, we were traveling with RFK Human Rights Award Laureate...

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Baltasar Garzon, Champion of Human Rights

(46) Comments | Posted February 11, 2012 | 3:08 PM

RFK Speak Truth to Power Human Rights Defender Baltasar Garzon has made a career of fighting against the thugs of the world -- organized crime, terrorists, drug lords, death squads and perpetrators of crimes against humanity. In October 1988, he inspired a generation of human rights defenders when he indicted...

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Ugandan Parliament Acts to Legalize Hate Against the LGBTI Community

(199) Comments | Posted February 9, 2012 | 8:00 PM

On Tuesday, Feb. 7, hours before the Ninth Circuit ruled "Prop 8" unconstitutional in the state of California, raucous cheers rang out in the Ugandan Parliament as legislators reintroduced a controversial bill that would in effect legislate hate against the Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community.

The...

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Chevron Blames Victims of Its Deliberate Contamination of Ecuadorian Rainforest

(330) Comments | Posted January 16, 2012 | 7:25 PM

In Christmas 2010, I took my three daughters -- Cara, Mariah and Michaela -- to Ecuador's Amazon to take part in a "Toxi-tour" and stand witness to what could be the worst environmental disaster on the planet. This is the awful mess that Chevron left behind at the headwaters...

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Honoring Frank Mugisha -- A Courageous Advocate For Equality In Uganda

(1) Comments | Posted November 15, 2011 | 10:17 AM

The following remarks were made by Kerry Kennedy, President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, at the 2011 RFK Human Rights Award, presented to the Ugandan activist for sexual minorities Frank Mugisha, in Washington, DC, on November 10.

The New York Times

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Wangari Maathai: A 'Mighty Woman' Who Spoke Truth to Power

(6) Comments | Posted September 26, 2011 | 6:06 PM

Last night, Wangari Maathia, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died. Most people think of Ms. Maathai as an environmentalist, planting trees. In reality, her environmental activism was part of a holistic approach to empowering women, advocating for democracy, and protecting the earth.

Wangari Maathai was...

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