Watching Karen Bass be given her flowers for becoming the first woman and only the second Black person to be elected mayor of Los Angeles, I can't help but think of how much has changed in California over the past two years.
For it was in December 2020 that I had a long conversation with then-Assemblymember Shirley Weber about the "bleak" state of political power for Black women in this proudly liberal and diverse state.
At the time, she was irritated. Joe Biden, then the president-elect, had selected Kamala Harris to be his vice president, leaving her seat in the U.S. Senate vacant. Gov. Gavin Newsom was leaning toward picking then- Secretary of State Alex Padilla to replace her (and eventually did).
