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A Father-Daughter Relationship Blooms Amid Philippine Flora
For many of us, perhaps even most of us, the opportunity to go to college is a way to disconnect, even if ever so slightly, from our parents.
understand her dad, Hermes, and his world.
That’s not Kat Gutierrez’s story, even though at the start, it seemed as if it might be heading along that all-too-familiar course. Her time as a grad student at UC Berkeley included the opportunity to reconnect with her father in unexpected ways.
In the past year or two, Kathleen “Kat” Gutierrez, and her father, Hermes, have become collaborators as she pursues her doctoral research on the history of Philippine botany.
While growing up, she saw her father for what he was at the time, a cargo trucker from Southern California. Mostly unknown to her was her father’s past; before immigrating to the U.S., he’d been a scientist, a botanist in the Philippines. It was an era when science didn’t always win favor with the ruling elite.
He was in the middle of trying to publish research on the application of Philippine medicinal plants when things soured. He was accused of having Communist sympathies. Hermes Gutierrez and his partner, Estrella, a journalist, decided to leave the Philippines for a while to let things cool down under the government of Ferdinand Marcos. They visited his brother in Southern California and ultimately settled in for the long haul.
He was 52 when they made the move. Kat was born three years later.
“I knew so little about him and botany when I was growing up, so very little,” says Kat Gutierrez, who wrote about her reengagement with her father’s past in the Graduate Division’s GradNews. I‘d see him signing checks, and he’d put Ph.D. at the end, and I didn’t know what that was all about.
“My mom would point to this gigantic volume on the bookshelf. It was 500 pages, and said, `Your dad wrote that.’ For summertime play with my friends, we’d take these books with all these pictures of plants in them outside, and we’d try to find the plants in the books.”
Through trial and error, she came to realize that tropical flora doesn’t grow randomly in Los Angeles.
Ultimately she would leave L.A. for Berkeley, first as an undergrad (2006-10) and then as a grad student. That’s when things changed. She applied for and won a Fulbright-Hays grant to do research and training concerning the Philippines. And she found out that her father had been given a Fulbright- Hays grant in the 1960s. Unlike his daughter, Hermes spent his grant time at Harvard.
“It was then that I asked him about Harvard, asking him what his experience had been like,” Gutierrez says. “He told me it was cold, that people made fun of his accent and that it was difficult to take showers because the weather was so cold.”
Gradually Gutierrez gained clarity that her father was more than a trucking terminal dispatcher and driver.
That fact came into full resolution last summer. Hermes Gutierrez moved back to the Philippines in 2014 in an effort to reconnect to his life as a scholar. In 2018, his daughter spent the summer there working on her doctoral dissertation on Philippine botanical traditions at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Her father became her mentor.
“He’d had a nice career there, but it was unfulfilled when he had to leave in 1985,” she says. “There were some scientists who stayed, and he’d figured that part of his life was done, so he didn’t talk about it. Then he went back. Some of his scientist friends are still alive, and they’ve offered him a nice community.
“Before then, the Philippines were just stories to me. And I’d been working in school-based health. But I switched back to my real passion, Southeast Asia. And as I was talking and writing this paper we just started chatting, and I was absolutely amazed. He was part of this very tight group, and they called him the American Linnaeus.”
That’s high praise. Carl Linnaeus was the Swedish botanist and zoologist who championed binomial nomenclature. He’s the guy who decided we’d break into Latin to call a dog “canis familiaris” and a redwood tree “sequoia sempervirens,” when getting technical. And while the man who is generally referred to as the American Linnaeus is Elmer D. Merrill, it was Merrill who trained Eduardo Quisumbing, who was the man who trained Hermes Gutierrez.
“It seems like a fortuitous circumstance,” Gutierrez says. “Berkeley wanted me to have a solid year in my research area. So, I went to the Philippines. He was there, having decided to kick-start his career in his 80s. Nearly every trip I brought him along. There was a lot of emotional labor involved. But it was a wonderful time. In the Philippines they treat the elderly population with more respect and reverence than in other places. And people would absolutely adore him and his storytelling.
“It was a very strong year. I almost feel like I blacked out parts of it because it went by so fast. He is very funny and honest. Sometimes he’ll tell me I have to finish up my dissertation soon `because I’m heading out.’ Other times he’ll tell me to take my time, that `I’m going to live another 10 years.’ It’s funny, but at the same time it pulls at my heartstrings.”
Gutierrez says that in following her educational leanings, she rediscovered her father. And she can’t imagine not returning to the Philippines as the writing process evolves.
“I’m trying my best in many ways to be back beside him,” she says. “I’m not kidding when I say maybe he’ll be my writing partner. He’s also finishing up his manuscript. And I’ll help him with that, too.”
His manuscript? Hermes Gutierrez lived through World War II in the Philippines, worked his way through high school and college to get his degree, and delayed getting married until he was 38 in pursuit of education. Circumstances intervened, and while he finished his dissertation, it was never published. Now he’s trying to rectify that and his daughter can help.
“My work is a small honor to him and his story,” Kat Gutierrez says.
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HISTORY MADE: Keisha Lance Bottoms Becomes First Black Woman Elected Governor in American History
ATLANTA DAILY WORLD — History has been made in Georgia. Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, has been elected governor of Georgia, becoming the first Black woman in American history to win the highest executive office in any state.
History has been made in Georgia. Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, has been elected governor of Georgia, becoming the first Black woman in American history to win the highest executive office in any state.
Bottoms’ victory over Republican businessman Rick Jackson represents a defining moment in American politics, breaking a barrier that has stood since the nation’s founding and placing Georgia at the center of a historic political transformation.
For generations, Black women have played a critical role in American democracy, organizing communities, leading movements, mobilizing voters and shaping public policy. Yet despite their contributions, no Black woman had ever been elected governor of a U.S. state.
Until now.
Bottoms’ election also makes her the first woman and first Black person elected governor of Georgia, a state whose political history has been deeply shaped by slavery, segregation, the civil rights movement and the long struggle for equal representation.
Her victory carries particular significance in a state where Black women have been among the most influential forces in voter registration, political organizing and Democratic electoral success.
A fifth-generation Georgian, Bottoms previously served as Atlanta’s 60th mayor from 2018 to 2022. During her administration, she led the city through the COVID-19 pandemic, nationwide protests over racial injustice and a period of significant economic and population growth.
Following her time as mayor, Bottoms served as a senior adviser in President Joe Biden’s administration before returning to Georgia politics to pursue the governorship.
Her campaign focused on expanding access to health care, strengthening public education, increasing wages and addressing the rising cost of living. She also advocated for expanding Medicaid, raising Georgia’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and increasing compensation for teachers and other public employees.
Bottoms faced Jackson, a wealthy health care executive who invested heavily in his campaign and positioned himself as a political outsider. The contest drew national attention as Democrats sought to reclaim the Georgia governor’s office after more than two decades of Republican control.
The historic nature of Bottoms’ victory extends well beyond party politics.
Georgia, once at the center of some of America’s most consequential civil rights battles, has now elected a Black woman to lead its state government. It is a milestone that reflects generations of political participation, organizing and leadership by Black Georgians.
For Atlanta, the moment is especially significant. A former mayor of the city that helped shape the modern civil rights movement will now lead the entire state.
Bottoms’ election opens a new chapter in Georgia’s political history and establishes a milestone that will be remembered far beyond the 2026 election.
For continuing election coverage and results, visit AtlantaDailyWorld.com/election26.
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Oakland NAACP, BWOPA Speak Out Against Alleged Harassment of Black Women Political Leaders
The Oakland NAACP and the Oakland/Berkeley chapter of Black Women Organized for Political Action have issued a joint statement condemning a pattern of harassment, intimidation, and discrimination directed at Black women in politics. Leadership from both organizations noted that these concerns reflect a rise in online hostility and political attacks against public servants. The allegations emerged amid a contentious race for the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education, prompting a public debate over accountability and political conduct. Read more to learn how the involved parties have responded.
The Oakland branch of the NAACP and the Oakland/Berkeley chapter of Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) have issued a joint statement condemning what they describe as harassment, intimidation and discrimination targeting Black women in politics.
Founded in 1968, BWOPA is a California-based nonprofit advocacy and membership organization that is focused on increasing Black women’s participation and influence in the political process.
Danielle Motley-Lewis, president of BWOPA’s Oakland/Berkeley chapter, told California Black Media (CBM) that the statement reflects growing concerns about online hostility and political attacks directed at Black women candidates, elected officials and public servants.
“These allegations deserve serious attention and should not be dismissed as ordinary political disagreements,” the organizations said in their statement.
The concerns have surfaced amid a contentious race for the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) Board of Education’s District 6 seat, where candidate LeAna Powell has reported experiencing harassment during her campaign.
Powell is running against Alexandra Williams and incumbent Valarie Bachelor, the school board’s vice president. All three candidates are Black women.
Motley-Lewis said the organizations’ statement addresses concerns extending beyond the school board contest, although Powell’s experiences helped bring the issue into focus.
“I could only speak to what I witnessed on social media. There were various types of harassment online,” Motley-Lewis said of the back-and-forth about the candidates online.
“It was unnerving.”
Powell, a former aide to former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, previously filed an informal complaint with the Oakland Public Ethics Commission alleging that Thao, then a City Council member, pressured city employees to work on her mayoral campaign.
Thao was recalled in November 2024 and left office Dec. 17 of that year. She subsequently faced federal charges related to an alleged bribery scheme. The criminal proceedings are separate from the dispute involving Powell’s school board campaign.
Powell also filed a complaint with the NAACP concerning what she described as harassment during her campaign.
Among those publicly criticizing Powell is Brandon Harami, a former Oakland mayoral staffer and LGBTQ+ advocate who said he previously worked with Powell in Thao’s office.
In a Sept. 27 Facebook post, Harami questioned Powell’s qualifications, judgment and political associations.
“District 6 candidate for School Board LeAna Powell does not have the maturity nor spine required to be on the school board,” Harami wrote.
Motley-Lewis said the organizations had documented or witnessed conduct they considered troubling, although she emphasized that their concerns were not limited to Harami or Powell.
Harami has denied the allegations and accused the organizations of misrepresenting his conduct.
In an Oct. 11 Instagram post, he called the joint statement a political smear and demanded that BWOPA and the Oakland NAACP retract it.
He argued that the organizations’ characterization of his actions unfairly portrayed him as having a history of harassment and discrimination. He also contended that the allegations were being used to silence LGBTQ+ voices.
Motley-Lewis said she declined Harami’s request for a retraction because the statement addressed a broader pattern of conduct affecting Black women in politics.
“I was open to brokering that conversation. However, (Harami) was unwilling,” Motley-Lewis said. “He did reach out to BWOP to retract our statement, and I advised him that I would not be doing that. The statement that he was included in (addressed) a broader problem that is experienced by various women.”
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COMMENTARY: Valarie Bachelor and Jennfier Brouhard are Excellent School Board Members and Deserve to Be Reelected
The Oakland Unified School District recently achieved a major milestone by escaping 22 years of state control and opening the school year with a teacher in every classroom. Incumbents Jennifer Brouhard and Valarie Bachelor are seeking reelection to the school board after overseeing balanced budgets, averting labor strikes, and reversing previous decisions to close local elementary schools. While the board now focuses on student-centered programs and school-based health facilities, a new wave of opposition candidates backed by wealthy tech donors has emerged. Read more about the shifting dynamics in this local election.
The Oakland schools have excellent leadership right now. I know it’s hard to believe – because there is so much wrong with the national education picture. But sometimes good things do happen locally.
This school year:
- The Oakland Unified School District escaped from state control after 22 years.
- Every classroom had a teacher at the beginning of the year, unlike past years when many classes started the year with day-to-day substitute teachers.
- Dr. Denise Saddler, an African American woman, is leading the district as superintendent now. She was an excellent choice with vast understanding of Oakland, of schools, and of educational systems locally and nationally.
- The school board and teachers managed to avert a teachers’ strike by some strategizing, listening and compromising.
- The school board does not plan to close more schools. For the first time in decades, those in charge of the district were not discussing closures.
The two women leading the school board are excellent educators themselves.
Board President Jennifer Brouhard (District 2) served as an Oakland teacher and was awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching and the U.C. Berkeley Social Science Project Teacher of the Year Award.
When Brouhard joined the board four years ago, she voted to reverse the decision of the previous board which had planned to close Brookfield, Carl B. Munck, Grass Valley, Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy and Horace Mann elementary. Half the students at Carl Munck and at least a third of the students at several others were African American.
In refusing to close schools, she pointed out that in Oakland and other districts it has been Black and Brown students who have been most affected and that closing schools does not save money.
Then, she focused funding on classrooms rather than paying outside consultants. For that, she and her colleagues have incurred the wrath of real estate developers and school privatizers who want to get their hands on public property.
Board Vice President Valerie Bachelor (District 6) has worked on important facilities projects. She helped to set up the first school-based dental project at Frick United Academy of Language, an Oakland middle school. She championed the Melrose Leadership Academy groundbreaking and the Skyline dining facilities.
Bachelor facilitated a balanced budget, which was pivotal in helping the district finally end state control. She also worked to direct funding toward student-centered programs like the Black Thriving Community Schools Program, instead of spending money on the never-ending. highly paid outside consultants.
The people financing the opposition candidates are Ryan Graciano, co-founder of Credit Karma, which made $ 2.7 billion last year; and Gagan Biyani, who says he became a millionaire at age 25.
The literature produced on behalf of the opposition supports closing schools, which harms students, and advocates expenditures that would put OUSD back under state control.
To read more, go to Education Week, “The Harm of School Closures Can Last a Lifetime, New Research Shows” (2024), www.edweek.org/leadership/the-harm-of-school-closures-can-last-a-lifetime-new-research-shows/2024/06
Dr. Kitty Kelly is a Professor of Education and Urban Studies. Dr. Kimberly Mayfield is Dean at Kalmanovitz School of Education, Saint Mary’s College of California.
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