Kerry Kennedy honors late father RFK with impassioned plea for US to ‘do better’

Exclusive: ‘The Independent’ spoke with Kerry Kennedy at the 2025 RFK Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award Gala, held to honor the legacy of her father, the late senator Robert F Kennedy

Kerry Kennedy continues to honor the legacy of her late father, Robert F. Kennedy, in numerous ways, including through the human rights organization that bears his name.

RFK, who served as the former attorney general, was assassinated while running for president in 1968. Kerry was just eight years old.

Now, as a human rights lawyer and activist who has publicly “disavowed and dissociated” from her brother, RFK Jr., following his support of Donald Trump, Kerry, 66, has made it her mission to keep fighting for the country her father loved.

Speaking to The Independent Tuesday evening at the RFK Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award Gala held in New York City, Kerry shared the importance of the organization’s work as human rights continue to be stripped from people across the country.

“He said when he was running for president, he said, ‘Love, peace, and compassion towards those who suffer. That's what the United States should stand for, and that's what I'll do if I'm elected President of the United States,’” she said of her late father.

Kerry Kennedy at the 2025 Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Gala in New York City (Getty Images for RFK Ripple Of H)

Martin Cabrera Jr., Kerry Kennedy, Stephen Colbert, Dolores Huerta, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, and Darren Walker attend the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights' 2025 Ripple of Hope Gala at New York Hilton on December 09, 2025 in New York City (Getty Images for RFK Ripple Of H)

“That’s what we need today,” she emphasized. “We are a good country. We are a great country, but we're doing things that are not consistent with our values.

“I had spent quite a bit of time this summer at immigration facilities throughout Louisiana,” Kerry continued, referring to the multiple centers set up by Trump as part of his mass deportation movement.

“I talked to women who had been sexually assaulted and raped. I talked to people who had their healthcare taken from them. I talked to women who said they were making sandwiches and they saw rats running across the line of sandwiches.

“That’s not who we are,” she said. “We can do better and that’s what tonight’s about.”

An outspoken member of the Kennedy dynasty, Kerry has repeatedly called for the removal of her brother, RFK Jr., as Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary. During his first year in the role, Kennedy has radically overhauled the federal health policy, including gutting the CDC and making significant and controversial changes to vaccine guidelines. Kerry said in 2024 that her brother “set fire to my father’s memory” when he defected to the Republican Party, and argued in September this year that Americans are “at risk now, like never before.”

She was on hand to greet this year’s RFK Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award Gala honorees, including Stephen Colbert, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Darren Walker, and Martin Cabrera, Jr.

She also spoke about her cousin, Tatiana Schlossberg, who recently announced her terminal cancer diagnosis, telling Hello! Magazine, “You know, she was so incredibly brave to express herself, and right now we're all holding her in our hearts, and holding Caroline in our hearts.”