He was an antiwar activist, a believer in justice for human beings and animals alike, a hungry reader, an avid writer-a generous, decent young man who, as a statement from his family described him, possessed “a perfect heart, a perfect soul, a riotously outrageous and relentless sense of humor, and a dazzling radiant mind.” Tommy Raskin also suffered from depression. Tommy Raskin, by all accounts, was a brilliant, politically committed student, who had been attending Harvard Law School. Meanwhile, maniacs shouting deranged slogans and threats were storming down the hallways of Congress in search of enemies. At the Capitol, Raskin told me, he could still hear the sounds of the day before: the prayers of mourning, the clods of dirt shovelled onto the casket. This bloody assault, which threatened constitutional democracy and the nation’s democratically elected leaders, came just one day after the burial of Thomas Bloom Raskin, the congressman’s beloved twenty-five-year-old son. He was at the Capitol with his colleagues on January 6, 2021, to witness what should have been the routine certification of Joe Biden’s election as President. A Democratic member of the House, Raskin is fifty-nine and represents Maryland’s Eighth District. Others on Time’s list of “most influential people” for 2021 are distinctly more inspiring– Stacey Abrams, for example, who is leading the fight against voter suppression in the U.S., or the Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who is languishing in a prison camp at the order of Vladimir Putin.Īnd yet one person of the year, an individual who embodies both the tragedy and resilience of our time, was missing: Jamie Raskin. I speak for no one except myself, but is this the moment to valorize a supposed man of science who cast early doubt on the COVID vaccines and told the world that “kids are essentially immune”? Might as well give the accolade to Eric Clapton. This year, the wealthiest individual in the world, Elon Musk, was Time’s choice for Person of the Year. seized Time’s cover and the annual laurel in Dumbo’s stead. Alas, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, rudely relegating the animated pachyderm to the inside pages of the magazine.

In 1941, the editors tapped Dumbo, the Disney elephant, as Mammal of the Year. There have been a few odd choices along the way. This editorial gambit proved a winner on the newsstand, and a parade of Presidents, Prime Ministers, and other worthies followed. Ninety-four years ago, the editors of Time magazine declared the transatlantic aviator and anti-Semite Charles Lindbergh their first-ever Man of the Year.

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