Oakland Shows Up for Sen. Kamala Harris
Thousands packed Frank H. Ogawa Plaza to witness Harris announce a 2020 presidential bid in her hometown
Let the 2020 election begin. Yesterday, more than 20,000 people came together in front of Oakland City Hall to watch US senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), who grew up and started her career in the Town, officially kick off her potentially historic presidential campaign.
The crowd, as diverse as it was large, came from Oakland, the larger Bay Area and even across the country to support (or at least learn more about) a candidate who could be America’s first woman—and one of color, at that—to serve in the White House.
The sheer numbers surpassed what was expected. The line to get into the rally zigzagged throughout Uptown for more than a mile, with those at the front arriving as early as 6:00 a.m. for the event, which officially started around 1:30 p.m.
Eventually, once everyone packed in, Frank H. Ogawa Plaza buzzed with anticipation. Thousands more waited outside the park on the streets.
After Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf introduced the senator (and gave her endorsement), Harris started by calling herself a proud “daughter of Oakland” — she was born to immigrant parents in the East Bay, and the campaign has said she wanted to return to her hometown because she admires the city for its toughness, pride and diversity.
Harris grew up on the border of Oakland and Berkeley, attending Thousand Oaks Elementary School as part of only the second class to be integrated two decades after Brown v. Board of Education.
“We were raised by a community with a deep belief in the promise of our country and a deep understanding of the parts of that promise that still remain unfulfilled,” Harris said.
Eventually, after her parents got a divorce, she moved with her mother to Montreal to attend high school, later attending college at Howard University in Washington, DC, and then law school at UC Hastings in San Francisco. She returned to Oakland to launch her career as a prosecutor in the Alameda County District Attorney’s office.
She introduced herself in the courtroom back then as “Kamala Harris, for the People”—which is now her campaign slogan. Moving forward, Harris will have two campaign headquarters, one in Oakland and the other in Baltimore.
Harris spoke for 35 minutes, telling her personal story and saying that Americans must decide what kind of country they want to live in. She spoke about the dire state of the country without ever mentioning president Donald Trump by name, and mentioned a range of issues, including the border crisis, health care, criminal justice reform, working families and taxing the rich.
She spoke bluntly, with some sharp one-liners that riled up the crowd.
The energy and size of the Oakland crowd made it clear that people are ready to get the 2020 process started and set their sights on what may be possible. Or, at the very least, they were hungry for a jolt of hope and sanity on a sunny Sunday among the political chaos. But it’s still extremely early for most to have their minds made up — while there were many Harris supporters in the crowd, a lot of people were simply there to hear her out and test the waters.
Many pundits have cast Harris aside, doubting her ability to attract those not from the coasts and saying she could, perhaps instead, make a good vice-presidential pick. But Sunday’s speech—broadcast nationwide—showed she was a force to watch in this presidential contest. Her delivery was passionate and relatable, and it gave us a glimpse into what we could expect of her over the next two years. Do not underestimate her.
Harris also appeared to acknowledge her critics (“They’ll say, ‘Wait your turn’ and ‘It’s not your time’), as well as defend her record as a prosecutor, which has come under fire from some progressives who said she didn’t go far enough for criminal justice reform. “I am not perfect,” she told the crowd.
Overall, it was an historic day for Oakland, in what’s arguably a big year for the city on the national stage.
Where you at the rally? What were your reactions to Harris’s speech? Share in the comments below.
