Some thoughts on Senator Harris and criminal justice reform.

It’s no secret that Kamala Harris has been in #MyTop5 from the beginning.

The one ding I consistently hear on her is from activists on the left (and I hate to say it, but many of the loudest voices are progressive white dudebros who give me bad memories of 2016) is about her roles as first SF District Attorney then California’s Attorney General. That she sent black and brown people to jail.

(They never talk about how much work she did to send abusers and rapists and sex traffickers to jail, of course, which I, for one, *appreciate*.)

I take the concerns seriously, however I have always thought that her law and order career would actually make her *more* appealing to another huge swath of Democrats…including some of those who are very dedicated voters. In a nationwide election I generally think being perceived as strong on crime is a benefit. If we’re going to have a discussion of “electability” (which I’d rather we didn’t) then we have to at least be honest about that.

Plus, BTW, how is it different than all these ads everyone LOVES of badass Democratic white women touting their military and CIA experience while looking and sounding tough? I honestly don’t get how we all get our pulses racing for those candidates…I find the military and CIA no less problematic than law enforcement.

The other things I’ve been annoyed by in this criticism (besides the obvious racial element, given nobody is giving Amy Klobuchar any shit for basically having the same kind of background) is that calling Harris a cop is a really really superficial description meant to inflame emotions. The DAs office and law enforcement can often butt heads quite a bit. Did anyone else watch Law & Order?

Anyway, the concerns concern me. Whether her record is a strength to some, it’s definitely a weakness to others I respect.

Monday night I had dinner with a longtime colleague who has been a criminal justice reform activist for a long time…starting when a family member was murdered by another family member, and she got an inside look at how messed up the system can be, especially for people in the Latinx community like her family.

Her take: Is Harris perfect, was every decision the right one? No, just as no one else can say the same. BUT back when Harris was SF’s DA, she *took* the meeting with my friend’s team of activists and had real conversations about what restorative justice could look like…and she acted on it too. My friend said most state DAs wouldn’t even take the meeting or call, wouldn’t respond to emails, were completely uninterested in reforms. harris was by far the most progressive reformer she encountered in her work. As for the “cop” thing, my colleague reminded me of when Harris refused to go for the death penalty for a cop killer and said many police officers in the state still hate her for it.

We had a long interesting conversation about the state of reform in our state. Also informed by my going to a meeting last weekend where the Sant Clara County sheriff, Laurie Smith spoke and shared a lot of data about crime rates, incarceration, etc.

One example: Did you know San Francisco County no longer has juvenile hall/detention? They have completely transitioned to other restorative-justice-based solutions for youth crime. There are other examples of how California is trying to lead on this.

And Harris has been part of the reforming direction for more than a decade. Even as her JOB was prosecuting whatever the current criminal code called for, which, yeah, resulted in people going to jail.

I have to say I felt a lot better about Harris because I trust this colleague and I know she’s had her feet on the street doing exactly the kind of work affected by Harris’s time as a prosecutor and attorney general.

So, I’m trying to share interesting feedback about the many great Democratic candidates as it comes up, AND I’m trying not to put all my detailed thoughts on Facebook, so it gets easier to imagine pulling out of Facebook altogether.

Having a great civil conversation about this entire topic over there, happy to host one here too!