Bay Area native Kamala Harris’ childhood friend, former colleague rally to support VP

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) — Carole Porter walks along Browning Street before stopping at the street corner where a bus used to pick her up and take her to school.

“There was probably about 10 of us lined up,” she said. “I believe it is the green duck that we caught,”

She says the busses were marked with animals so the students could easily know which one they would take. Among those 10 students was current Vice President Kamala Harris. Porter and Harris were close friends.

“We swam in the summer, we played games, we went to band camp,” she said. “At the end of the day, the most fun thing was coming outside at probably about 5 o’clock in the summer and everybody being outside and just playing together – it was wonderful.”

VIDEO: ‘Kamala IS brat’: How Kamala Harris’ campaign is embracing the memes

It was a childhood she says she would not trade for anything, even if her neighborhood was considered segregated.

“It was a redlined neighborhood,” she said. “This was the Berkeley flat lands and redlining and yellowlining was a way of segregating people back in the 60s and 70s.”

Harris lived around the corner from porter. She remembers spending a lot of time at the day care that was below the house Harris lived in. Porter says their neighborhood was a strong community and everyone supported each other. She says it had virtues that helped inspired Harris to one day become Vice President.

“The community we had was strong, and when one person uplifted themselves, everyone got uplifted,” she said. “It was a wonderful place to grow up. And I think it really influenced her and gave her some good grounding and some good learning to have her be where she is today.”

VIDEO: Watch Kamala Harris’ journey from Berkeley to be 1st Black, Asian woman elected to vice presidency

Harris went on to start a career in public service. BART board member Lateefah Simon worked under Harris when she was San Francisco District Attorney.

“The toughest boss I’ve ever had,” Simon said. “However, the best leader I have ever worked for.”

Simon remembers Harris putting her in charge in helping youth and women return to society after being incarcerated. Simon is running for congress and says she had to take breaks from her own campaign when she heard the news. She says being from the Bay Area will help Harris in her upcoming campaign.

Simon is a California delegate who plans to make Harris the nomination at the upcoming convention.

“We speak so many languages here,” Simon said. “There is so much diversity, and her upbringing allows her to have compassion for everyone. I know her spirit and her value of service and to her becoming the democratic nominee, it gives me so much hope.”