Meet Darryn Harris from the Office of Congresswoman Karen Bass

Today we’d like to introduce you to Darryn Harris.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Darryn. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
It’s really interesting, me being involved in politics. I never enrolled in a political science class; I don’t even come from a political family, but I’ve always been involved and interesting in my community for as long as I can remember. I was raised in a Black church, which historically, has always been a political mobilizer for African Americans in this Country. However, if I had to choose one event, one moment in time, that served as a catalyst for my political interest that helped my ideology, it’ll be the 1992 Civil Unrest (also known as the LA Riots). I was nine at the time.

Months leading up to the event, I remember all of the small-talk in the barbershop and sermons on Sunday morning about police brutality, the lack of jobs in the community due to companies moving overseas, and the ethnic strife between to Black, Latino and Asian communities. All of this created the perfect storm for the Civil Unrest, and South LA felt like it was in the middle of a war zone, with the way the government responded — I remember seeing armed Marines and the National Guard rolling down my street in tanks. But what sticks out most is not the actual event, rather the way the community came together to rebuild South Los Angeles. Church groups and community-based organizations formed, pointed out years of neglect in my community and started advocating for grocery stores and community health clinics. It stuck out because it was the first time that I reconsigned that “regular people” had a real say-so in their community; ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

So that’s how I got interested in politics. My hope is to always to build on those principles of participatory democracy, reciprocal accountability, and intentional civility, that I observed during the aftermath of 1992’s Civil Unrest. So immediately after college, I knew that I wanted to work with an organization that valued those principles. As community members from that movement began running and winning seats in elected office, I saw the movement working inside and outside the halls of government. Working in Congress I kind of describe myself as a grasshopper: one that can work with grassroots organizations and grass-top, such as lawmakers, to advance causes on behalf of South Los Angeles, my home. One person who grew out of that social justice movement is Congressmember Karen Bass, who I have the pleasure to serve as her District Director, where I run the 37th Congressional District’s office.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Relatively, it has been a smooth road. There are always opportunities for engagement. To me, politics isn’t a spectator sport. It’s something that you can get involved in at various levels, from simply voting, all the way to running for office. But like any career there are challenges.

One challenge is the “Washington, DC whirlwind,” if you don’t know why you’re in government, you can easily get sidetracked from issue to issue, depending on what’s the news for the day, working very hard, but not accomplishing anything at the end of the day. I learned that you have to have a goal in order to measure how you’re moving the needle on a particular issues. The issues that I am most passionate about include, homelessness/housing affordability, jobs/wages, immigration, student loan debt reform, and criminal justice reform. The challenge is identifying bipartisan solutions to address the issues that I prioritize.

Another challenge is political apathy. I believe that the best public policy comes from folks directly affected by the issue that you’re trying to address. At times, communities with the greatest needs are often excluded from the law-making process, which can easily lead to bad public policy, where those communities can feel like, “why bother participating.” Participatory democracy is essential to good policymaking.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I work in the 37th Congressional District office. The Member of Congress that represents California’s 37th District is Rep.Karen Bass. Like each Member of Congress, she represents about 770,00 constituents and has staff to assist her during each term in office.

As District Director I report directly to the Member of Congress, on issues pertaining her district, and I have share responsibility for evaluating the political outcomes of various legislative proposals and constituent requests for constituents living in South LA, West LA and Culver City. I am in the person in charge of the overall district office operations, including the assignment of work and the supervision of my team. And I think that is what makes me most proud of my work; the team of folks that I have the opportunity to work with. They are some the country’s most dedicated public servants, not only do they have the biggest hearts, but they know how to get stuff done.

As I mentioned earlier, criminal justice reform is an issue that I am extremely passionate about. I believe that the criminal justice system must provide just punishment for people who commit crimes and also ensure incarcerated people are rehabilitated so they have paths to employment and housing when they are released from imprisonment.

Our office strongly supported former President Obama’s and former Attorney General Eric Holder’s decisions to reform our federal prisons sentencing guidelines. This work led to reducing the time that non-violent drug offenders spend in prison–saving the taxpayer’s money and uniting Americans with their families.

Our staff drafted the bill language for the “SUCCESS Act,” which would allow people with drug convictions who have served their time to apply for federal financial aid for higher education. We also played a significant role in the passage of the bipartisan “First Step Act” in 2018, which incentivizes participation in rehabilitation programs in prison. Our office works to make sure our criminal justice system is fair. We have worked on legislation to modernize federal drug sentencing laws by giving federal judges more discretion in sentencing Americans convicted of nonviolent offenses, and we are making sure that prisoners are treated humanely by prohibiting the use of restraints on pregnant inmates.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My tribe. There’s ordinary people who do extraordinary things. There’s exceptional people that do ordinary things. And then there’s exceptional people who do extraordinary things, and among them you would find my tribe. Not tribe in the ethic or national sense, but rather the collective group of mentors, friends, family members who cheer me on, honestly critique me and support me in being a better me. One member of my tribe was my late mentor, former NAACP Board Member Willis Edwards always said, “Do what you can, with what you have, from where you are;” it’s indeed a motto that I have internalized. I first heard it during the early stages of my career. I was fresh out of college, and working as an entry-level assistant for the California Legislature.

My boss was the Majority Leader of our nation’s largest state, and I worked with all of these incredible people, with degrees from the best school, and decades of experience in government, public policy and social work. Nonetheless, Willis would always push me, saying, “Brother, you can do something today, there’s no need in waiting.” He always reassured that I had an opinion that should be shared; to stop second-guessing myself and just do it. To unapologetically fight for what’s right, because there would be no perfect time, there is no need wait to start. Willis was exceptional! Yet he is one of the many incredible people who have mentored and cheered me into success. My tribe include family members, fraternity brothers (I’m a member of Alpha Phi Alpha), childhood friends, college classmates, and peer-professionals. And they’re not all work, we have fun too. Politics can be very stressful, so it’s important to find folks who can make you laugh as hard as you work. Life is all about balance.

Contact Info:

• Address: The Office of Rep. Karen Bass
  4929 Wilshire Blvd, Ste 650
  Los Angeles, CA 90010
• Website: www.darrynharris.com
• Phone: 323-965-1422
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darrynaharris/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DarrynHarris?ref=bookmarks
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/darrynaharris

Image Credit:
Office of Rep. Karen Bass, Macy Bartlett

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