He can’t vote for another seven years, but one determined young cancer survivor is turning political differences into conversation starters — for kids.
“I realized some kids never learn that disagreement doesn’t equal dislike,” said Jacob Brody of his new website and initiative, Kids4Tolerance.org.
Jacob, 11, said he was bullied for his beliefs last month at sleep-away camp after a bunkmate asked, “Everybody’s a Democrat here, right?” — and he replied that he considers himself a Republican.
“They said all Republicans are racist and that I am a horrible person,” Jacob, of Westport, Conn., told The Post of the “torment” that started two days into a seven-week stint at an upstate New York camp.
“They targeted me,” he added of other campers — who, he said, woke him up in the middle of the night and ordered him to do push-ups, flipped over his bed and called him names.
“They called me their punching bag,” said Jacob, adding that the “verbal abuse” and bullying felt like a “hurtful betrayal.”
But instead of having a bummer summer, he sprung into action when he got home and decided to launch a nonprofit dedicated to “tolerance of ideas.”
He used an AI tool to build the Kids4Tolerance website, which pairs youngsters with different perspectives — around race, faith, political viewpoints and more — for frank Zoom conversations and encourages them to stand up for each other even if they don’t agree.
“I started this organization because I noticed political debate and political hate is at an all-time high, and that needs to be fixed,” said Jacob. “The adults have lost the plot.”
The initiative also creates free lesson kits for schools and camps and hosts monthly “empathy exchanges” that Jacob moderates himself, alongside guest activists, athletes and artists who “found common ground across divisions.”
In just a few weeks, the outreach from children and educators has been overwhelming, said his “super proud” mom, Abby Brody, a founder of Manhattan’s famed Avenues School and N=1, a classroom A-I learning initiative.
She also said that she and husband Steven, a venture capitalist, have a “politically diverse” home — and that she was surprised when she heard her son call himself a Republican.
Jacob said he likes the GOP’s “more patriotic side — respecting democracy and the rule of law, not defunding the police, [supporting] the military budget. That’s what I stand for.”
This isn’t Jacob’s first time being brave in the face of adversity.
At just five years old, he was diagnosed with a rare cancer, neuroblastoma, of the nervous system. Years of treatment taught him resilience and the importance of advocacy.
“When you’re bald and hooked up to machines, you learn quickly how big little acts of kindness can be,” said Jacob. “I want every kid to feel safe sharing who they are, whether that’s about their health, their faith or their politics.”
While the football and rugby player was initially given a 50% chance of survival, Jacob is now cancer-free. And the rising sixth-grader at Westport’s Coleytown Middle School dreams of one day attending either West Point military college or the naval academy at Annapolis.
“Jacob has a patriotism I have not seen in my own generation,” said Abby.
And he has zero regrets about speaking up as a budding Republican.
“I’d do it again. I wouldn’t be quiet,” said Jacob. “I don’t care about the hate. I’m proud of who I am.”
