From The Yard to the Governor’s Mansion: Why Kamala Harris Ought to Run for Governor of California

On this second of political uncertainty and rising kleptocracy, we’d like daring, visionary management on the state stage—and nobody is best positioned than Vice President Kamala Harris to step into that house. As a daughter of Oakland, a Howard University graduate, and a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Vice-President Harris embodies the legacy of Black excellence, resilience, and principled management. And now, she has an opportunity to make historical past once more—as the primary Black lady Governor of California. And that type of historical past hits otherwise whenever you’re a graduate of Howard College and a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Integrated.

For HBCU college students and alumni, Vice-President Harris is greater than a politician—she’s a mirrored image of what’s potential. She represents the brilliance cultivated on The Yard, the facility of Black sisterhood, and the excellence that flows from establishments too typically missed by the mainstream. Her presence within the White Home was a second. Her management from Sacramento might be a motion.

Let’s not neglect: California is the fifth-largest financial system on the earth, trailing solely the U.S., China, Japan, and Germany. It’s not only a state—it’s a worldwide superpower. Silicon Valley alone is shaping the way forward for every thing from AI and biotech to inexperienced power and digital finance. It’s quickly turning into a West Coast bookend to Wall Avenue—much less conventional however no much less highly effective. If you wish to lead the place the longer term is being constructed, California is the place to be. And we’d like somebody within the Governor’s workplace who understands each the accountability and alternative that comes with that.

And Vice-President Harris has the receipts. As San Francisco’s District Legal professional, she launched applications that HBCU college students learning legal justice or public coverage could be pleased with: an modern reentry initiative that targeted on training and employment over incarceration, and a refusal to hunt the loss of life penalty even in high-profile circumstances—standing firmly on precept when it wasn’t politically handy. She understood then—as she does now—that public security doesn’t have to return on the expense of justice or humanity.

She introduced that very same sharpness to the U.S. Senate. Who may neglect her exact, unshakable questioning throughout affirmation hearings? Whether or not it was Jeff Classes stammering by means of solutions or Brett Kavanaugh visibly uncomfortable, she reminded the nation what accountability seems like when wielded by somebody who is aware of the regulation and respects the individuals. She wasn’t grandstanding—she was governing in actual time.

However past the politics, this issues for the tradition. Younger Black ladies in Compton, within the Bronx, in rural Mississippi—ladies who’re flipping by means of historical past books and questioning the place they match—need to see themselves not simply as assistants to energy, however as energy itself. They need to see Black girls occupying workplaces as soon as reserved for white males. They need to see what management seems like when it has rhythm, motive, and righteous roots.

Kamala’s journey from Howard to the White Home—and doubtlessly to the Governor’s mansion—isn’t nearly her. It’s about us. It’s about what we are saying is feasible for our group. And it’s concerning the pipeline of highly effective, good Black girls coming behind her.

And we will’t discuss California’s promise with out lifting up establishments like Charles R. Drew College of Drugs and Science—a proudly designated HBCU coaching the subsequent era of Black and Brown medical doctors and well being professionals. Situated within the coronary heart of South Los Angeles, Drew has been a quiet big within the combat towards well being disparities, particularly on the subject of Black maternal and youngster well being. We all know the numbers—Black girls are three to 4 instances extra prone to die from pregnancy-related issues than white girls. It’s not genetics—it’s racism, neglect, and a system that was by no means constructed for us. Establishments like Drew are usually not simply instructing drugs—they’re instructing justice. They’re anchoring care in communities which were missed, and they’re shaping a brand new era of physicians who see our individuals, who hear us, who imagine us. Vice-President Harris is aware of this. She has spoken passionately about these disparities—and as Governor, she may deepen funding in colleges like Drew, and within the lives of the moms, infants, and households who need to thrive.

Operating for Governor wouldn’t shut the door to the White Home. If something, it provides to her résumé and builds a legacy of government management. It provides her the house to guide boldly and visibly, on her personal phrases.

And to my HBCU household and Divine 9 siblings—that is our second, too. Let’s not wait on permission to maneuver. Let’s prepare to boost cash and lift our voices. Let’s put together to knock doorways, employees telephone banks, present up in barbershops and wonder salons, in church buildings and mosques, at group facilities and campuses throughout the state. We all know learn how to mobilize. We all know learn how to set up. And if VP Harris steps into this race, we have to encompass her with the total energy of our establishments, our legacy, and our love. As a result of when one in all us rises, all of us rise.

So sure, Madam Vice President—we see you. And if California is looking, I hope you reply.

As a result of HBCU excellence belongs in every single place—together with the very best workplace within the Golden State.