James Harris
I grew up between my grandparents’ house in North Oakland and my mom and dad’s house in East Oakland, just off the 580 freeway. Like many Black families in the 80’s in Oakland, my dad took me out of public school, where I was lost in the shuffle and put me in an all-black private school in East Oakland called Hope Academy. Here, I learned confidence, I learned to sing, and I learned the true meaning of Black Power. My principal used to say bluntly, “boys and girls, you have to be twice as good as white boys and white girls to get ahead in life.” He and the school impressed upon us that that was simply the way it was. From there I went to private high school in San Francisco, and then, my family moved from Oakland to Stone Mountain, Georgia in the early 1990’s where I finished high school.
I went on to study American Literature at Georgia State University and returned to California to study Communication at Santa Clara University.
During my last years of high school and all the way through and after college I taught and later became a site director at Aim High, a Summer enrichment program for San Francisco youth. I went on to teach English at Lick-Wilmerding High School while also working nights and early mornings as radio producer and sometimes host for various radio stations, including my favorite Bay Area station, KBLX.
After working in radio and teaching in the early 2000’s, I opened Morgan Media Group and began my career helping people tell stories on the web. Back then, my family thought I was crazy and had no idea why I was throwing my life away working on websites. They wondered why I just didn’t get a steady job in the television or radio industry and struggled to explain to their friends exactly what It was I did.
I’ve been businessman and communications advisor for 15 years. I’ve been blessed to lead creative and strategic development projects for organizations like iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel), the Golden State Warriors, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Walgreens, and even Big Sexy Hair. I have always been passionate about politics and the study of human behavior.
After serving on some nonprofit boards and trying to help raise money for underserved students, I decided to try my hand in politics. Little did I know that I would win, and actually manage to be effective. I became an Oakland School Board Trustee in 2013 and proudly served the students, families, and schools of Oakland until January 2021. In my time on the school board, I served one term as Vice President and three terms as President. I authored the school district's Community of Schools and Distance Learning policies as well as tax Measure G1, which secured significant investments in middle school arts, language, and teacher salaries. I also served as trustee and co-chair of the Youth Ventures JPA and Oakland Thrives Leadership Council, a collaboration of the County of Alameda, the City of Oakland and the Oakland Unified School District, designed to secure and leverage resources to improve outcomes for children and youth.
What I can say is that in all my travels, there is no way I would have been able to accomplish anything had mentors, family members, and friends not helped me out and guided me along the way. Essentially, I would be nothing without teachers. I was blessed to get so many chances to be who I wanted to be and encouraged by so many to try different things and find out what worked for me.
I stand on the shoulders of so many people that showed me the way that allowed me to make mistakes and gave me second chances— even when I was dead wrong. I’ve learned that the only difference between me and someone in the penitentiary is a little luck and persistence and that we all, no matter income or zip code, have our own confusion and misconceptions and missteps.
So it’s my job to lift up teachers and encourage students and to remind us all of the critical importance of education in our country and in our lives.
Oakland Unified School District
James' Blog
510 Media
