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Exclusive: Interview with CA Senator Kamala Harris

Published

9 years ago

March 8, 2017

At the Women’s March on Washington, Senator Kamala Harris told constituents, she “had our backs,” and since she has been in office Senator Harris been a vocal and active participant in standing up for the constitutional rights for her constituents in California against presidential legislation that undermine core human rights and values.

She is well known for her work defending exploited children, especially sexually trafficked minor, and for her opposition to capital punishment and defense of the rights of the undocumented.

The daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, Senator Harris is the first Indian American woman and second Black woman in the US Senate. She was born in Oakland, graduated from Howard University, and Hastings College of Law.

Wanda Sabir: Reflect first on the 91^st anniversary of Carter G. Woodson’s Negro History Week, now Black History Month, and your position as senator. You have moved through the ranks steadily increasing the control you have over the menu at the table. What were your goals and objectives when you decided to take on that responsibility?

Senator Kamala Harris: I stand on the shoulders of great people, some names you would recognize and some names you would not recognize. I was raised in an environment with a sense of responsibility to serve and to be a voice for those things that needed to be spoken and heard. That is what led me to run for DA of San Francisco (2003). That is what led me to run for Attorney General of California (2010), and now to be in the United States Senate (2016).

When I look at where we are in the year 2017, I know, as we all do, that the challenges are still great. There is still a real need to fight and speak very loudly about the issues we care about. That’s what propelled me to run for senate and is certainly my reason for being here— from my participation in the Women’s March on Washington, DC, one day after this president was inaugurated to being a part of a protest in front of the White House against the Muslim Ban, to just speaking against two of the presidential nominees to the cabinet, Senator Sessions for Attorney General and Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary.”

It is the reason I have been working on why law enforcement needs to be trained on implicit bias. Now that we have Black History Month, as far as I am concerned it is all year round, we rededicate ourselves and remember where we come from, our reason for being and responsibilities we have going forward.

WS: I was reading about your committee assignments, you have a lot to do – Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs; U.S. Select Committee on Intelligence; U.S. Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works; United States Senate Committee on the Budget, five committees. Is there anything happening now we can support you on?
Senator Harris: When we look at the marches that have been happening, it is important for people to speak out, show up, not just in Washington but all over the country. I encourage people to stay involved and support folks like Rep. Barbara Lee and others in the Bay Area. It is important to talk with all our friends and relatives and encourage them to pay attention to what is going on.

Pay attention when we are talking about Russian hacking of our country’s electoral system. Pay attention when the President of the United States says we are going to shut our borders to people because of their faith. What I need people to do to help me is to educate themselves and each other about what’s going on and to know we have to fight for our country and fight for our ideals.
These things that are happening right now are contrary to our ideal.

WS: As the second Black woman senator, and only one of 10 Black senators, how do you do the work in the face of hostility?

Senator Harris: It is about working with the Latina US Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, from Nevada on issues like immigration [and] fighting the Muslim ban. [It is about] working with Corey Booker (D-NJ) on Criminal Justice Reform.

It is definitely working across the aisle where we can, but building bridges among people who have more in common with us than differences. People like Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on immigration reform. It is about working with a lot of folks around our collective need to focus on the economy, so people have jobs, a place to live.

Another big issue, which is a coalition building piece, is to work with all sorts of people around the need to maintain the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. Another thing people can do is reach out to their representatives to make sure they fight to keep the Affordable Care Act from being repealed.”

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 8 – 14, 2026

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Black Artists in America, Installation Three Wraps at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens

TRI-STATE DEFENDER — With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

Published

2 weeks ago

March 24, 2026

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By Candace A. Gray | Tri-State Defender

The tulips gleefully greet those who enter the gates at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens on an almost spring day. More than 650,000 bulbs of various hues are currently on display. And they are truly breathtaking.

Inside the gallery, and equally as breathtaking, is the “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” exhibit, which runs through Sunday, March 29. This is the third installment of a three-part series that started years ago and illustrates part of the Black experience through visual arts in the 20th century.

“This story picks up where part two left off,’’ said Kevin Sharp, the Linda W. and S. Herbert Rhea director for the Dixon. “This era is when we really start to see the emergence of these important Black artists’ agency and freedom shine through. They start to say and express what they want to, and it was a really beautiful time.”

With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

“Though [Davis] was from LA, he actually lived in Memphis for a decade,” said Sharp. “He was a dean at Memphis College of Art, and later opened the first gallery in New York owned and operated by black curators.”

Another featured artist is former NFL player, Ernie Barnes. His work is distinctive. Where have you seen one of his most popular paintings, Sugar Shack? On the end scene and credits of the hit show “Good Times.” His piece Saturday Night, Durham, North Carolina, 1974 is in this collection.

Memphis native James Little’s “The War Baby: The Triptych” is among more than 50 works featured in “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens, the final installment of a three-part series highlighting the impact and evolution of Black artists through 2011.

The exhibit features other artists with Memphis ties, including abstract painter James Little, who was raised in a segregated Memphis and attended Memphis Academy of Art (before it was Memphis College of Art). He later moved to New York, became a teacher and an internationally acclaimed fixture in the art world in 2022 when he was named a Whitney Biennial selected artist at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Other artists like Romare Bearden, who had a Southern experience but lived up North, were featured in all three installments.

“During this period of time, he was a major figure,” said Sharp. “He wrote one of the first books on the history of African American art during a time when there were more Black academics, art teachers, more Black everything!”

Speaking of Black educators, Sharp said the head curator behind this tri-part series and Dixon’s partner in the arts is Earnestine Jenkins, Ph.D., an art history professor at the University of Memphis, who also earned a Master of Arts degree from Memphis State University (now UofM). “We began working with Dr. Jenkins in 2018,” he said.

Sharp explained that it takes a team of curators, registrars, counterparts at other museums, and more, about three years to assemble an exhibit like this. It came together quite seamlessly, he added. Each room conjured up more jaw-dropping “wows” than the one before it. Each piece worked with the others to tell the story of Black people and their collective experience during this time period.

One of the last artists about whom Sharp shared information was Bettye Saar, who will turn 100 years old this year. She’s been working in Los Angeles for 80 years and is finally getting her due. Her medium is collages or assemblages, and an incredible work of hers is on display. She’s married to an artist and has two daughters, also artists.

The exhibit catalogue bears some of these artists’ stories, among other scholarly information.

The exhibit, presented by the Joe Orgill Family Fund for Exhibitions, is culturally and colorfully rich. It is a must see and admission to the Dixon is free.

Visit https://www.dixon.org/ to learn more.

Fun Facts: An original James Little design lives in the flooring of the basketball court at Tom Lee Park, and he makes and mixes his own paint colors.