Thomas Raskin

Thomas Bloom Raskin (January 30, 1995 to December 31, 2021), commonly known as Tommy Raskin by family and friends, was a social activist who was a Second Year law student at Harvard University when he lost his long struggle at age 25. Tommy's death was followed by increased civic awareness of mental health issues. The Maryland General Assembly renamed legislation to further prioritize mental health services after Tommy and the Governor of Maryland signed into law the Thomas Bloom Raskin Act to enhance 211 services in June 2021. The Raskin family initiated a memorial fund in Tommy's name to benefit causes and ideals that he championed including animal rights, veganism and acts of kindness, locally and globally.

Early Life and Education

Born on January 30, 1995, Tommy was the only son and middle child of Jamie B. Raskin and [Sarah Bloom Raskin] and grew up in Takoma Park, Maryland, a suburb of Washington D.C. His grandparents were Marcus Raskin and Barbara Raskin and Herb and Arlene Bloom. He had two sisters, Hannah, older, and Tabitha, younger. Tommy attended Takoma Park Elementary School, Pine Crest Elementary School and Eastern Middle School. During his father's sabbatical from teaching law, the Raskin family lived in Japan and Tommy attended Ecole Active Bilingue Jeannine Manuel in Paris for one year. Tommy graduated from Montgomery Blair High School in 2014. His childhood pursuits included playing the piano and soccer. At Blair, he was a co-president of the Jewish Culture Club. He co-founded the Blair Leaders Intern for Student Success (BLISS) peer-to-peer bilingual tutoring program in 2011, and himself tutored fellow students in Math and English. He was Captain of the Forensics Club from his Sophomore to Senior years, and was an orator in the Debate and Extemporaneous Speech Club.

He graduated from Amherst College in 2017, where he majored in History, helped lead the Amherst Political Union and was recognized with the Kellogg Prize. His senior thesis was on the intellectual history of the animal rights movement. He began attending Harvard Law School (HLS) in 2019 and in his Second Year served as a teaching fellow with Professor Michael J. Sandel in Sandel's General Education 1171: “Justice: Ethics in an Age of Pandemic and Racial Reckoning.” At HLS, Raskin was a board member of Effective Altruism and a member of the Harvard Animal Law Society.

Social Justice Activism and Spoken Word Poetry

Tommy was a passionate vegan and strongly defended animal rights. He interned at the Cato Institute and J Street. He had essays published in The Nation. He interned at Animal Outlook and the Institute for Policy Studies. He worked as a summer associate at Mercy for Animals.

Tommy had a passion for poetry and spoken word verse, and frequently recited and recorded verse for family, friends and the public. At a DC VegFest event he recited his lengthy poem "Where War Begins." According to media accounts, this is a brief excerpt of the poem: "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."

Announcement of Death and Memorial Service

On January 4, 2021, Jamie Raskin and his wife posted a tribute online which stated that Tommy had died by suicide on December 31, 2021, after a prolonged battle with reported by his father, the note Tommy left for his family reads in part: "Please forgive me. My illness won today. Please look after each other, the animals, and the global poor for me. All my love, Tommy.” Tommy was buried on January 5, 2021.

On Saturday, April 3, 2021, the Raskin family convened a Celebration of Life for Tommy that, in compliance with COVID-19 pandemic safety requirements for social distancing, was held outdoors on a stage equipped with large screens. Held in a parking lot outside RFK Stadium, the event welcomed community members to sit in parked cars, similar to a Drive-in movie, to view live and pre-recorded remarks by family members and friends and hear live musical performances.

Tommy Raskin Legislation in Maryland

On June 21, 2021, the Thomas Bloom Raskin Act (Senate Bill 719/House Bill 812) was passed unanimously through the Maryland General Assembly and was the first bill Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed after the legislative session. Through the Thomas Bloom Raskin Act, Marylanders will be able to speak directly to state-provided mental health counselors through the state’s 211 system. They can then opt in to receive regular check-ins via phone, text or chat based on their level of need.

Family and Community Philanthropic Efforts

Kari H. McDonough, a Maryland resident who lives in Jamie Raskin’s district, started “the Acts of Goodness in Honor of Tommy Raskin Initiative” shortly after Raskin’s death, writing a public Facebook post asking others to share an act of kindness done in Raskin’s honor. While the project began locally, it expanded to include more than 1,500 people from at least 45 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and 20 countries outside the U.S. as of Jan. 15, 2021.

After his passing, the Raskin family established Tommy Raskin Memorial Fund for People and Animals to distribute money semiannually to causes and charities Tommy championed and helped advance. The fund was launched with $50,000. The inaugural recipients of the Memorial Fund were Mercy for Animals and Oxfam. The $15,000 grant to Mercy for Animals will fund the conversion of its 2022 summer legal internship program from an unpaid to a paid opportunity, to ensure that the program is accessible to all law students. The grant to Oxfam will provide critical support for Oxfam's relief efforts in Yemen.

Going forward, Tommy's father told NPR's Weekend Edition, that his family:

"will keep Tommy very close to our heart. And we will fight for every single thing he asked us to." He says Tommy knew that "the things that we say are our values and principles ... only have meaning if we act as if they're true, if we make them real. And so we can't let them be empty rhetoric."

References

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