LATIKA M BOURKE: JFK’s nephew warns of consequences if US politicians don’t tone down hate speech

The nephew of former US President John F. Kennedy has warned that people with mental disabilities will be in danger if US politicians continue to spew contempt for their opponents.

Dr. Timothy Shriver is the son of the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of the former president whose assassination in 1963 shocked the world.

Dr. Shriver continued the work of his mother, who organized the Special Olympics for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

In an exclusive interview with The Nightly from the Greek port city of Thessaloniki, where Special Olympics was awarded the prestigious European Empress Theophano Award for its work advocating inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities, Mr. Shriver said he fears for his community if America becomes polarized. the political temperature has not dropped.

“Our community will be in danger if our politicians do not reduce the hatred they often bring into society,” he said.

“Hate is toxic, it causes mental illness, it causes division, it causes violence, it prevents problem solving, and if our leaders don’t recognize that we have a crisis of connection that is being accelerated by a politics of contempt, we’re in bad shape.”

Political violence has become a theme in the current election campaign between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris following the assassination attempt in July when 20-year-old Thomas Crooks shot Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, hitting him in the ear.

Trump’s offensive and personal style of politics also extended to mocking a disabled reporter in 2016.

Meanwhile, Democrats warned that US democracy was at stake, as well as a repeat of the civil violence of January 6, when a mob of insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, killing four people, trying to stop the 2020 transfer of power to Joe Biden after Mr Trump Falsely stated that the election was rigged.

The US goes to the polls in a week’s time in a tight race in which pollsters have identified a potential Trump lead at the end, although the opinion remains too close to call.

When asked if he was talking specifically about Republicans, Mr. Shriver, who lives in D.C. and spends a lot of time on the Hill advocating for the need for funding and services to properly serve people with intellectual disabilities, said both sides have descended into ” conflict”. dangerous blind spot.”

“No, this applies to both sides, this issue exists on both sides,” he said.

“Republicans say, ‘Oh, it’s not us, it’s them.’ I say, “Are you kidding me?”

“And I turn to the Democrats and they say, ‘That’s not us, we’re the tolerant ones, they’re horrible, hateful assholes,’ and then they throw a lot of contempt at the other side.

“Hate is not a sustainable strategy for either side. If either side wins, they will have to change course.”

When asked why this political environment makes people with disabilities especially vulnerable, Mr. Shriver said it is because the community relies on functioning social relationships.

“Because they depend on relationships, their whole life is a life of relationships.

“Very few people with intellectual disabilities are willing to live alone.

“They don’t just need connection, they want connection.

“And the more lonely a culture becomes, the more distrustful it becomes, the worse it is for them.”

Mr. Shriver’s work organizing the Special Olympics is based on the work of his mother, who was appalled by how society treated children and adults with disabilities and began running summer camps for children in her backyard in the 1960s. Eunice and John Kennedy’s older sister Rosemary had mental retardation and tragically suffered a lobotomy at age 23.

“Her brother, who lived five to 10 miles away, was the President of the United States,” Dr. Shriver recalls.

“Instead, she decided to invite children with intellectual disabilities to come to her home.

“And she put on her bathing suit and went into the pool and taught them how to swim.”

She later told her son that all she wanted was to prove that children with disabilities could swim just as well as children without them.

Since Shriver’s backyard lessons, the organization has grown into a worldwide movement for inclusion that includes more than 4 million people with intellectual disabilities. Special Olympics campaigns focus on including people with disabilities in health and education, schools, sports and the workplace.

Mr. Shriver said governments should spend at least 3 percent of their education budgets on special needs services so that people with disabilities can go to school with people without disabilities.

He also did not support mandatory hiring quotas, saying it was better to “call people in” rather than fire them.

He said involving people with intellectual disabilities in politics is also a practical way to help solve problems with more effective policies, as well as help reduce anger in politics.

He also created the bipartisan and independent Dignity Index, which is rated on a scale of one to eight. Politicians’ contributions are measured by their speeches and social media to determine whether they are stoking divisions or trying to bridge divisions.