Ronald “Kimoko” Harris
Ronald “Kimoko” Harris grew up on the eastside of Wilmington attending P.S. Dupont High School, where he excelled at football, basketball and track, and he was the Captain for all three sports. In his senior year, he tied the state track high jump record, was Basketball All-State choice and scored the winning touchdown in the 1965 Blue/Gold All-Star Football Championship game. Winning the Outstanding Athlete Award.
Kimoko was an exceptional athlete and engineering major, but he left college to pursue his true purpose, which began during the civil rights movement. It was a time when inequality, riots and racial tension were high. He became resolved in his mission to end discriminatory treatment, achieve equality, and enable economic justice for black people and people of color, and he strived to do this with courage, integrity and respect.
In 1984, he was one of the lead organizers in the Delaware Rainbow Coalition, who organized the ground team for the Jesse Jackson for U.S. President Campaign, and successfully won Delaware’s Democratic Party Primary.
He has received several awards including the ILA Above & Beyond the Call of Duty, Humanity, Labor & Justice 2007 Award, Wilmington NAACP 2008 Labor Award, A. Philip Randolph 2008 Appreciation Award, DE CBTU Visionary Award and DE Building & Constr Trades Salutes Award. His labor has involved working with all ethnic groups, organizations and politicians, never wavering from his ultimate goal to preserve good paying unions jobs and to improve the quality of life for those in the state he loves.
Kimoko has been employed at the Port of Wilmington for nearly fifty years, and has been a union official since 1981. It was during his meetings with union officials from up and down the coast and the discussions on the expansions of the Suez and Panama Canals that he envisioned a new port and the creation of thousands of good paying blue-collar jobs.
It would mean that ships which historical docked on the West Coast would now seek docking facilities on the East Coast. Everyone was preparing for those ships but there were no conversations happening in Delaware that he was aware of.
He worked to persuade the deepening of the Delaware River, but knew that would mean the larger ships passing the Port of Wilmington if nothing was done to expand the port’s container capacities. So, he took on the crusade to share his concerns by soliciting support from friends and state politicians. Starting with a visit to Gov. Markell in 2009, followed by meetings with union members, civic associations and church leaders. It was not until his Feb. 2013 meeting with then NC County Exec. Tom Gordon that Kimoko’s hard work and determination seem to be attainable. The two men formed as unstoppable alliance bringing together politicians, union officials, businesspeople, church leaders and the community.
With his union local 1883 in agreement, he was immediately joined by ILA Intl VP Bill Ashe Jr, DE AFL-CLO Pres. James Maravelias, union brothers and sisters, and many others who all united to form the Port Expansion Project Coalition. It has been years in the making, but 2018 marked the beginning of a new era in the potential of creating thousands of union jobs and rebuilding the middle class in Delaware.
Kimoko serves not only as a strong leader, but also as a mentor and friend to so many. Known for his stubbornness, optimism, compassion and being a bit of an idealist who believes in the core goodness in most people. That everyone deserves a second chance and would gladly accept it if given the opportunity.