Kamala D. Harris

1964—

District Attorney

Kamala D. Harris first learned about working for social justice while she was still riding in a stroller, pushed by her parents through the many protest marches in Berkeley, California, during the mid-1960s. The passion to protect civil liberties that had been ignited in her as a small child led Harris to choose a career in law and eventually to become the first African-American woman to be elected to the position of district attorney in the state of California. Though Harris' decision to enter the criminal justice system as a prosecutor at first shocked her progressive family, she was confident that she had made the right choice. "I saw the discretion the district attorney has," she explained to Joan Walsh of San Francisco Magazine, "Who to prosecute, what to charge, how to run a courtroom, and I realized it was important that people who care about social justice work on that side."

Though an experienced prosecutor, Harris was a relative newcomer to the California political scene when she was elected to the post of district attorney of San Francisco in 2003. However, her hard work, respectful leadership style, and sincere concern for the most vulnerable members of society introduced an atmosphere of integrity and positive social change to an office that had often been controversial. In August 2007, Harris announced that she would run for a second term as San Francisco's DA.

Learned Strength from Family

Kamala Devi Harris was born in 1968 in Oakland, California, in San Francisco's Bay Area, one of two daughters of Shyamala Gopalan, an immigrant from India, and Donald Harris, a Jamaican American. Kamala, which means "lotus flower" in the sacred Indian language of Sanskrit, spent her early years in nearby Berkeley, where her parents attended college and worked in the civil rights movement. Gopalan would become a nationally respected doctor, specializing in breast cancer research, and Donald Harris would teach economics at Stanford University.

When she was seven, her parents divorced; young Kamala and her sister Maya Lakshmi were then raised by their mother. Though Harris would most often be identified as African American, she also highly valued her Indian heritage, especially the tradition of strong, courageous women she saw personified in her feminist mother and in her grandmother, who she saw on family visits to the Indian city of Chennai. Gopalan's family was Brahmin, India's highest social class, with a tradition of higher education and service to the community. She expressed these principles in her own career choice as a research scientist and passed them on to her daughters, teaching them the importance of fairness and social responsibility.

Harris won her first fight against discrimination when she was 12 years old. That year the family moved to the Canadian city of Montreal, Quebec, where they lived in an apartment complex with a courtyard. Though the courtyard was an inviting place to play, children were forbidden there. Undaunted, Harris organized a protest, and convinced the building management to change the policy.

Began Legal Career

After graduating from high school in Montreal, Harris returned to the United States to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C. She earned her bachelor's degree in political science and economics in 1986, then returned to the Bay Area to enter the University of California Hastings College of the Law. She received her law degree in 1989 and went to work as a law clerk in the district attorney's office in Alameda County, which includes most of the East Bay area near San Francisco.

Working in the DA's office gave Harris an intimate look at the power of prosecutors to shape the way crime is defined and charged. Though her family expected her to choose a profession such as public defender, where she would represent defendants who could not afford a lawyer, Harris began to feel that she could work more effectively to create a more just legal system from within the prosecutor's office. In 1990, she took a job as deputy district attorney for Alameda County.

As a new deputy district attorney, Harris was often assigned difficult cases. She worked hard to prove herself, frequently winning seemingly hopeless cases and earning a reputation as a skilled and compassionate lawyer. Over the next eight years, she worked her way up to become one of Alameda's most successful and valued prosecutors. During this time, as she prosecuted many cases of rape and other violent sex crimes, Harris developed strong feelings of empathy and commitment to the victims of such crimes, especially young women and children. She showed this commitment in many practical ways, not only by winning as many cases as she could, but also by such acts as rounding up volunteers to redecorate the bleak hospital room where she interviewed many rape victims. Throughout her career, Harris would prioritize the rights and welfare of young people.

Took Progressive Approach to Law

In 1998, Harris left the Alameda County DA's office to take a job managing the Career Criminal Unit for the San Francisco District Attorney's Office. There, she worked hard to combat recidivism, which means the tendency of convicted criminals to continue committing criminal acts after their release from prison, often resulting in their rapid and frequent return to prison. Along with her sympathy for the victims of crime, Harris also had understanding and compassion for the poverty and despair that often leads young people to break the law. She became convinced that part of law enforcement was to create options that gave hope to those trapped in a cycle of criminal behavior. Along with vigorously prosecuting those who committed crimes, she worked to establish effective rehabilitation programs to offer them a real chance to build a new life.

After two years in the Career Crime Unit, Harris took a new job in the office of the San Francisco City Attorney, as chief of the Community and Neighborhood Division, where she continued to work for the safety and welfare of young people. She developed a special interest in combating the devastating problem of human trafficking. Human trafficking involves groups of people who lure or abduct vulnerable people and force them into hard labor or prostitution. Sometimes called sex slavery, human trafficking for prostitution often victimizes young people. Determined to bring this horrific practice into public awareness and to fight its spread, Harris founded a community group to work against human trafficking. The Coalition to End the Exploitation of Kids (CEEK), founded during the early 2000s, brought together many community groups concerned with this threat to children around the world.

At a Glance …

Born Kamala Devi Harris in 1964 in Oakland, CA. Education: Howard University, BA, political science and economics, 1986; University of California Hastings College of the Law, JD, 1989.

Career: Office of Alameda County District Attorney, Deputy District Attorney, 1990-98; Office of San Francisco District Attorney, Career Criminal Unit, Managing Attorney, 1998-2000; Office of the San Francisco City Attorney, Community and Neighborhood Division, Chief, 2000-03; San Francisco District Attorney, 2003-.

Selected memberships: National District Attorneys Association, board of directors; California District Attorneys Association.

Selected awards: San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Council, Child Advocate of the Year, 2004; National Urban League, "Woman of Power," 2004; National Black Prosecutors Association, Thurgood Marshall Award, 2005; Howard University, Most Distinguished Alumni, 2006; Ebony Magazine, 100 Most Influential Black Americans, 2007.

Addresses: Office—P.O. Box 78393, San Francisco, CA 94107.

As the child of a mixed-race marriage, Harris had began learning about building bridges at a very early age, and her work in Alameda County and San Francisco had developed these skills. She began to feel that she could build enough community support to win the position of district attorney in San Francisco. From that office she felt she could work even more effectively to lessen crime and increase safety for all members of the community, while carefully protecting the civil rights of all. She announced her candidacy, running under the slogan, "Smart on Crime," which expressed her conviction that the DA's office did not need to be seen as "hard" or "soft" on crime, but to approach the problem with intelligence and innovation.

Elected District Attorney

Before the November 2003 election, polls showed that the little-known challenger Kamala Harris had the support of only 19 percent of voters. However, she won 33.65 percent on election day, eliminating another challenger, Bill Fazio, who got only 30.3 percent, and qualifying for a runoff election against the current DA, Terence Hallinan. Harris won the runoff with more than 56 percent of the vote, becoming the first woman district attorney in San Francisco, the first African American woman DA in California, and the first Indian American DA in the United States. One of her first acts in office was to create a special team to prosecute all child sexual assault cases.

Only three months after her election, Harris received an intense challenge to her authority, when a man named David Hill was charged with the murder of a San Francisco police officer named Isaac Espinoza. The killing of a police officer is always a highly emotional issue for both members of the police department and the larger community. Many called for the district attorney's office to ask that the defendant receive the death penalty. However, Harris had strong convictions against the death penalty and had promised during her campaign that she would not seek it. Even though she was new at her job, she withstood considerable pressure to go back on her promise and asked instead that Hill be sentenced to life in prison without parole. Though many police and their supporters were angered by Harris' decision, many others respected her integrity. Even State Attorney Bill Lockyer, who opposed Harris' decision and reviewed the case himself was forced to admit that the new DA had done nothing improper.

Throughout her first term in the DA's office, Harris has continued her campaign of being "smart on crime," citing climbing conviction rates, a stronger witness protection program, and continuing programs to help offenders break the cycle of violence. In 2004 she helped found the Safe Home and School for sexually exploited youth, the first such safe house in San Francisco and one of only a few in entire country. In August 2007, Harris announced her intention to run for a second term of office as district attorney of San Francisco. Her bid went unchallenged—an occurrence that had not happened in San Francisco since 1991—and Harris started her second four-year term in November 2007.

Sources

Periodicals

Jet, January 5, 2004, p. 6; January 26, 2004, p. 6.

Ebony, March 2004, p.12.

W, November 2004, pp. 212-13.

On-line

"After Bobby, Community Hopes Ride on Kamala Harris," Rediff India Abroad,http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/dec/08kamala.htm (November 26, 2007).

"Beauty and the Beast," San Francisco Magazine,http://www.sanfran.com/archives/view_story/811/ (November 26, 2007).

"City Attorney Kamala Harris Hopes to Capture D.A. Seat," Asian Week,http://news.asianweek.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=de64c6741f670c69bcb4bc406d340149 (November 26, 2007).

"Commencement Address," San Francisco State University,http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/2007/spring/comm07.htm (November 26, 2007).

"Full Biography for Kamala Harris," League of Women Voters of California,http://www.smartvoter.org/2003/12/09/ca/sf/vote/harris_k/bio.html (November 26, 2007).

"Kamala Harris," Tavis Smiley,http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200510/20051020.html# (November 26, 2007).

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala D. Harris,http://www.kamalaharris.org (November 26, 2007).

"Why Kamala Matters," San Francisco Magazine,http://www.sanfran.com/archives/view_story/1711/ (November 26, 2007).