Social activist Kerry Peirson will be honored by the Marin County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday morning for a lifetime commitment to equity and justice for all. I call him the man who changed Marin.
Peirson grew up part of a family where activism wasn’t just preached but acted upon. His father Gwynne Peirson was a distinguished Tuskegee Airman. Footage of his plane attacking a Japanese destroyer is preserved in the HBO’s 1995 film “The Tuskegee Airmen.”
Born in Oakland raised in Berkeley, Peirson matriculated at Contra Costa Community College and University of California, Berkeley before ultimately earning his degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Prior to college, Peirson served a tour of duty in the Vietnam War as a medic and later in Washington as a journalist. Post college, he returned to the Bay Area and, in 1982, eventually settled in Mill Valley. Here in Marin, he immersed himself in county civic life. By 1992 he was appointed by former Supervisor Annette Rose as the first and (as far as I know) only African American supervisor’s aide.
As was editorialized in the IJ at the time of his appointment: “Supervisorial aides are gatekeepers … troubleshooters.
“They use creative means to solve the problems of people in the supervisor’s district. An aide is the supervisor’s right hand. In some instances, they know as much as the supervisor about the issues facing the county. To dismiss Peirson’s appointment as political appeasement would be equal to belittling the judgment and accomplishments of Rose and her new aide. Peirson got this job the old fashion way—he earned it.”
There were many accomplishments he earned yet to come.
Over the years, Peirson volunteered on local city and county boards and commissions, often as chairperson. He served on nonprofit boards, including the ACLU Marin Chapter, Legal Aid of Marin, Mill Valley Parks and Rec Commission, Marin County Human Rights Commission (twice as chair) and the county’s Affirmative Action Advisory Committee.
He helped co-found the Phoenix Project in Marin City and the Marin Action Coalition for Equity. In recognition of his commitment to Marin, Peirson received the Beryl Buck Award for Community Service in 1999.
It is there, helping to redirect the mission of the Buck Family Fund where I believe Peirson made his most important contribution to Marin. He helped change the fund’s priorities to emphasize their focus to aid the county’s poor and needy in alignment with Beryl Buck’s will and the law. He served with distinction on the Buck Board and furthered its repurposed interest.
Peirson and I first met in the 1990s bonding over the fight to remove Black “lawn jockeys” from the streets of Tiburon.
He later enlisted me — along with others — in his successful 22-year struggle to rid the county of the Dixie School District name.
I can write it no better than the language which will be used tomorrow in the resolution honoring him at the Board of Supervisors: “Kerry’s gifted with wit and wisdom, and laser sharp barbs, enjoying writing hard-hitting, no-holds-barred opinion pieces and letters to the editor and is a frequent jouster taking on whomever he determines to be on the wrong side of an issue.
“No one is beyond his reach, including the Marin Independent Journal editorial board (who has allowed me to write this column) editors, opinion writers, local residents, well known political commentators, columnists, gadflies and even county supervisors.”
He is honored to be blessed with a wonderful grown daughter Amber, son Kali and grandson Cordell Coleman.
The Shakespeare quote, “to thine own self be true and it shall follow as the night the day thou canst not then be false to any man” comes to mind when I think of Kerry Peirson. He is our own local version of John Lewis, who never shrunk from getting into “good trouble” to further the cause of justice and equity.
Now, we honor you.
