“The easiest thing for a political leader to do is to appeal to our bigotry and our hatred and xenophobia and prejudice, and point to people who are unlike us and say they’re the ones who are damaging our country," Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., August 5, 2016 on Larry King Now. There was a time when I completely agreed with my brother. Today, I am deeply ashamed of him. Arab and Muslim people alike have made extraordinary contributions to the world across literature, science, mathematics, medicine and countless other fields. To name a few, Omar M. Yaghi won the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 2018 and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2025. Ahmed Zewail won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1999, and Naguib Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988. A person’s race, religion, ethnicity or socioeconomic background does not determine their intellect, creativity or capacity to contribute to humanity. My thoughts are with all those hurt by my brother’s false, cruel and derogatory words. nytimes.com/2026/10/27/us/rf…