I am so proud to share that I have chosen Kavon Ward as the 35th Senate District 2022 Woman of the Year. Kavon Ward is an award-winning spoken word artist and activist. Within the past decade, Kavon has won 1st place at the historic Apollo Theater and has shared the stage with gospel artists Hezekiah Walker, Patti LaBelle, Fantasia and activists like Joe Madison and Dick Gregory, to perform her piece, "I Am Trayvon Martin". Kavon is the founder of Justice for Bruce's Beach. She started her advocacy around Bruce's Beach on Juneteenth, 2020 when she and other co-founders put together a picnic at Bruce's Beach to shed light on Black history in Manhattan Beach, specifically the land stolen from Black landowners Willa and Charles Bruce.
Kavon has since been quoted and interviewed by several news outlets to discuss what justice for the Bruce family means and what reparations for Black Americans look like. Kavon partnered with Black Lives Matter to create a petition through Color of Change calling for restitution and restoration for the Bruce family. Kavon is a reparative justice consultant and Co-founder of Where Is My Land, an organization focused on getting Black land back nationally. She is a former Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) fellow and public policy activist. Kavon holds a BA in Communications and a Masters of Public Administration.
It was an honor to have worked alongside her while I authored and passed Senate Bill 796, legislation enabling Los Angeles County Supervisors to immediately begin land transfer back to the Bruce family. Kavon embodies the true characteristics of a leader with passion and vision. Kavon is still relentlessly working to create a better future for African Americans everywhere and to build a more inclusive and equitable world.
