Kamala Harris presents herself as “Oakland’s daughter.” However, she spent her childhood in the hippie stronghold of Berkeley. This leads to some contortions in the election campaign.
When Derreck Johnson learns that his old girlfriend is running for the highest office in the world, his first thought is: “This is crazy.” And the second: “She is the perfect person for the job.”
Johnson and Kamala Harris met in San Francisco when they were 16 years old. “We went to sporting events, concerts, parties together – whatever teenagers do,” says Johnson, who now runs the popular Home of Chicken and Waffles restaurant in Oakland. The two become good friends. To this day, they jokingly call each other “cousin” and “cousin” and wish each other happy birthdays. “Kamala was always very smart and warm-hearted. She was the responsible one in the group.” Did he already suspect back then that she would one day be a presidential candidate?
“No,” Johnson says, laughing. “But if I could have imagined it with anyone, it would have been her.”
Friends since teenage years: Derreck Johnson (pictured) and Kamala Harris
Like Derreck Johnson, many in Oakland are proud of their “Hometown Girl.” And Kamala Harris never misses an opportunity during the election campaign to emphasize that she is a “proud daughter of the working-class city of Oakland.” A statement that causes astonishment among some in neighboring Berkeley. Although Harris was born in Oakland in 1964, she spent most of her childhood in Berkeley.
But the university town, which is synonymous with hippies and left-wing activism, has become ballast for Harris in the election campaign.
