our city, this country, the world knows about the contributions of black folks, because if we don't continue to educate ourselves about our purpose, who is? our contributions? who is. we got to keep it going. so today we're celebrating junity, which means its our responsibility, to make sure not just as the village project or ms. adrian it's b*u it's our responsibilities to keep this going. okay, we got it. okay, as ms. adrian says, my

name is liz jackson simpson and i'm the ceo of a nonprofit corporation na has been here for 40 years in san francisco providing alternative education to margincised community members and for the past, 17 years, we've had the honor and the pleasure of working with ms. adriane to ensure that kwanzaa stays alive alive and present in san francisco. thank you again, for the project. of san francisco, ms. adrian put together for us today. be home--this beautiful hall of beautiful city of san francisco with our beautiful mayor, ms. london breed, and our whole

cast of family for this program. i would like to invite us, the pastor of st. philip and st. andrew church as well as the board member of san francisco faith base coalition, bishop pastor ismael, can you join me at the podium, sir. [applause] >> look at somebody and tell them i love you. >> i love you. >> that's right, that's what unity is all about. and i just want to say that, i pray to the god of abraham isaac and jacob, but i know there is a lot of other faiths here that of so many faithses, to pray to the god that you serve, a men. let us bow our heads, we thank

you for this day, lord as your people come together. you are the god of our weary years, the god of our fathers, we come oh god, thanking you for this day, another day that you have made and you have included us, we says thank you, lord, help us to be the people that you have called us to be to be and we ask that you continue to bless san francisco. our wonderful mayor, and each and every one with tha* leads in the city. we thank you today for adia n*e. we lift you up, we lift you up, our help, all of our help come from you. so we celebrate you now and we say thank you lord n jesus name, i pray, amen. amen.

let's give the lord a praise, he's worthy to be praised. >> thank you, thank you, pastor ismale. >> so again, another dear friend and a family member who i have known as educator for over 40 years here with the san francisco public school district. this brother also has his own business, called the life of the party. he's a member of m-3 mentoring men's movement to ensure that members are reentering in the community are protected and working towards their new life and new future goals. he's also been partner with me in several of the kwanzaa

occasions, along with brother malik. so i would like to invite brother clint to the table to share with us, about what this whole kwanzaa event is about. and to teach us how to keep the tradition going, brother clint. [applause] >> that's me. >> good afternoon, [inaudible] >> my name is pastor smith and i want to libation is liquid and honor of those people who have passed away w.one person pouring liquid into a vessel or planner on to the ground, we honor those who have come before us.

as the water cascades into the vessel, my voice vibrates through the water and now the water becomes something special, it becomes an offering to the ancestors, it's like, when we pour liquid and our voice vibrates, it recalls the person's name in our mind and they come alive. not like a ghost lying around the room but for instance, you say, i shay. everybody, say i shay. i say. is shay is like amen, is shay is like bless you, i shay is like you go, i shay is like, i agree so. when is pour the liquid and say the name of an

ancestor, the village will reply? >> i shay. >> y'all are fast learners. i want to pour a little love a little love for my mother, roberto robinson. i shay. a little love a little love for medga evans. i shay. >> i want to pour a little love for malik, some people call him malcolm x, i shay? and i want to pour a little love for martin luther king jr., if he was here right now, is would say, he would say, i have a dream and one day ms. adrienne is going to be recognized for the work that she does in san francisco. and the village says? >> i shay. >> right now, i want touz says

the fills of the people that i don't know. the names of the loved one that have gone before, say their names, say their names, say their names. says their names. says their names. >> juliet brown, roberto robinson, say their names. i shay. i shaiz. i shay, i shay. give yourself a hand. there is not a country in africa that does not remember the ancestors in this way. do you remember the movie "truly high" right now at the end, poured a little liquor into the grave, he's pouring

libation for his loved one going on. right now, malik is standing by the kwanzaa table and we're not going to take a lot of time because we don't have a lot of time. time is not your enemy but it's not your friend either. wla we're going to do is briefly tell you what is on the table in an event that you want to build one yourself, we'll tell you how those things came together and we're going to be very brief, brevity, is that the word? we're going to use brevity. why don't i describe in the microphone, so kwanzaa began in 1966, dr. mulanaa and a group of wonderful women, what was the sister's name mama. mama mickenaya. it's the black women that have helped black people to survive.

so, oh yeah, yeah, y'all are closest to god, absolutely. so here's the thing, they wanted to do something that would make us remember where we came from, sancofer look back while moving forward. these are african words. because dr. karanga, momma mckenya, help me remember, like country ken ya, has mama mckenya, and a lot of corena, said why don't we do something that is something that represents africa on the kwanzaa table, that wobt mass. everything on the table has to touch the map t represents africa. sitting on top of the map is the candle holder on the cenara.

candle holder reps the holders and ancestors. a top shoulders of the elders and ancestors are 7 candles, red, black and green, marcus garvey said. markus garvey said, the colors represent something too. the red represents a word, struggle but also literally represents the blood that we shared and the blood that has been spread but the desapra. it black represents black people, black culture and black community. red, black and green.

somebody trying to tell us something. next thing on the table and that's three things. 7 is very important for kwanzaa, 7 days, 7 symbols, 7 principles, 7 is the number of complete. next thing on the table is a basket of fruit, that's to represent how your year was or how you want your year to be. when you set it up in the house, make sure it's lower enough so the kids can see it, you can have it next to the christmas tree if you celebrate christmas. the next thing on the table is the corn. if you have a bunch of corn, it's called muhinti, but if you have one ear of corn, it's call babumsi. say that, it feels good to say. babunzi. see, now it's one of corn but

it represents the children because as brother malik will show you, there is probably 10,000 colonels on one of those ears of corn. maybe not that much but i'm sure that's 1,000. that's representative of our children who will also prosper and go forward in the future. you can plan a whole field of corn with one corn. kwanzaa means first troop and our children are the family's fruit. the next thing on the table is the thing that i libation with and it's called the unity cup. you can put something in it and pass it around to all the members of the family, how do you want to design that? do you want to do that for dinner? next thing on the table is the swati.

it's present, and the cool thing about swati is that you cannot buy t you have to make it. so then you're not getting caught up in the commercialism of the whole thing, so you make them a poem, you knit them a sweater, you draw them a mick tour or get brother malik to draw them a picture. so you have 7 sbomz --symbols, each represents the way that we can give back to where we came from in africa. also we celebrate 7 principles of the igususaba. that's why we do this, we celebrate for a week, for a year long practice. we're going to practice those seven things all year long and then we're going to see how we did.

if we master just one, just one of the principles of the ingususaba, the community would heal it sell. if you imagine if we got 5 or 3 or 7 of them down? anyway, brother malik did i forget any of the 7? but there is a couple of things that you can add, oh the candles, brother malik reminded me that there is a certain way that you light the candles. you don't just light them straight across, you light them so you can tell the story again, black people struggle so you can prosper, black people struggle so you can get some money. black people struggle so you can get some land. black, red, green, receipted green, red green, each night uz would light another candle and your home will start to light up with the illumination from

the kanara, the same thing would happen if we practiced the principles in the neighborhood. each time we got one down, the neighborhood would glow. i'm just saying. brother malik, this is what i've got. brother malik, said i didn't mention the candle just the color. 7 candles is for each principal of the night, so each night you light another candle. each night you practice another of the principle. is that brevity? this is called the bendera invented by mau, garvey. markus garvey said, red, black and green. this is a bendera. red, black and green. marcus garvey said, red, black and green.

you going to thank me for making me say that because now you're going to remember. brother malik, we did it. you can get liz jackson simpson back up here. [applause] >> all right, thank you so much, can everybody give brother malik and brother clint a big round of applause. [applause] we're not going to forget what mark cuss garvey said, that's right. at this time i would like to bkt village project baby to the stage with ms. adrienne williams. they're going to lead us in the singing of the negro national anthem, lift every voice.

everybody give these babies a big round of applause.

[singing lift every voice "lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring. ring with the harmonies of liberty. let our revoicing rise. [applause] thank you, village project children. yes, in deed. now we have another performance from ms. teah carol. [applause]

we have another performance from ms. teah cara, everybody give her a big round of applause. thank you, welcome to the kwanzaa celebration today. we're going to do a little bit of blues for you, is that okay? all right.

the party is jumping, everybody is having a good time♪ you know it's going through my mind ♪ do you mind if i get comfortable. and kickoff these high heel shoes, oh yeah. why you're fixing me a drink, i have seen so many down home blues ♪ you know, i don't get out much, out on the town . and you know♪ i didn't cut out a lot of that running around all week long, tonight i'm going to do without you, yeah. i'm going to get my hat back

and party on the home down blues yeah. ♪ hey down home blues. now all i want to do* hear is down home blues all night long. every other record or two, yeah. i'm going to take off a fast song and party on the home blues yeah. mr. greg anderson y'all.

oh yeah, oh yeah. all i'm going to hear is blues all night long. every other record or two, oh yeah, i'm going to get my hat

back and party on the home blues. [applause] >> thank you, thank you so much. okay, we'll do one more p maybe a little something for the bay area. ♪ sitting in the morning sun " ♪ i'll be sitting till the evening comes ♪ oh yeah watching the ships rolling. yeah, watching roll away again, oh i'm just sitting on the dock

of the bay, watching the tide high roll away. sitting on the dock of the bays, wasting time, oh, hoo hoo, i left my home in georgia headed for the frisco bay, i got to get closer to him. i had nothing to live for, looks like nothing is going to come my way. watching the dock of the bay watching the tide, roll away. whoo-hoo, sitting on the dock of the bays wasting my time,

whoo-hoo, looks like nothing is going to change. everything still remains the same. i can't tell what ten people tell me to do, so i guess i'll remain the same. oh i'm sitting here, resting my bones. don't you know this loneliness, just won't leave me alone. 2000 miles i road, i'm going to make this dock my home. well i'm sitting on the dock of the bay, watching the tide roll away.

wasting my time, whoo-hoo hoo. doodoo. yeah, looks like nothing is going to changeesquer still remains the same. i can't do what ten people tell me to do, so i guess i remain the same. oh i'm sitting here resting my

bones. you know, this loneliness just won't leave me alone, 2000 miles i roam, i'm going to make this dock my home, hey, hey, i'm sitting on the dock of the bays, yeah yeah, watching the tide roll away. sitting in the dock of the bay, wasting my time, oh hoo hoo. [applause] >> thank you, thank you so much. thank you, thank you very much. thank you.

>> one more hand for ms. tia carol. woo. my dad came here during wwii and was stationed at treasure island and that wuz one of his favorite songs, he never went back home after that either, thank god. all right we're going to invite before we ask our our iustriua mayor, we have village babies with a dance performance. you guys ready?

[applause] all right. all right. yes! is love those babies, thank you for that. so ms. adrian, do you want to come back up? come on. i want to thank everybody for coming out. i have gotten so many support from mayor london breed. we've been in business for 17

years and i can remember and the mayor talks about this all the time, when i didn't have a penny in my pocket and now that we have funding, hey thanks to the mayor. we're going to show you guys how we're using the funding doing this week of kwanzaa. so this is just the first day, come tonight and we will have vivian green as the guest. all week long, we have headliners, because now i can take. so the quality is going to, i am delighted and so appreciative of, let me says something about carol davis too and the dream keepers. we can do just about what we want. because we have the funding for the first time to take the babies on field trips, to take the babies on field trips.

i took 76 people the kids and their families, to? where did we go y'all? universal studios, had a good time. so thank you, mayor london breed, ms. sharyl daifls of dream keepers fund, keep it coming and ?ou without further ado, i would like to introduce mayor london breed. thank you so much. thank you every one. thank you, adrienne, umoja. unity, i came here before because it was so important for me to celebrate the first day

of kwanzaa signifying unity, unity, especially in our community. and what a great day, i remember back in the day when adrienne williams without any funding, brought this event to the community and said, we deserve to have a world class celebration of kwanzaa in san francisco. she may not have had the money to do it but she had the hope. she had the love for community and so many of you when she reached out, you answered the call. whether it was brother clint or brother malik, you answered the call and you came. you came to, make sure that future general raisesing growing up in san francisco, new the importance of

celebrating kwanzaa because it represents our unit, our purpose and it represents us coming together culturally and being reminded of who we are as a people. being reminded that the significance of black people in the city and in this country. the significance of making sure that our young gillesinger and boys know their worth, know their value, know how amazing they are like the young ladies dancing before you. brown skin girls in all of their beauty and all of their glory. that's what kwanzaa represents, it's a xhans to bring family and friends and community and despite what else is going on in our city, and in our world. it brings hope. it brings a promise of a new day it brings an infusion of these very positive values that

will hopefully carry us through the year and bring excitement, brings love, brings joy, bring happiness because we know so much of that is needed in the world. i want to thank adrienne williams with her work not only kwanzaa but with the senior moment, with mardi gras with our babies with everything that she does. and i want to thank all of you who continue to answer the call as i said, brother clint, brother malik, liz jackson simpson. so many people who step up because we know the value of community. we know the value fz what it means when we come together. can you imagine and just think about this for a moment.

san francisco does have a small african-american population in comparison to the past. but can you imagine if we are all coming together uniting with one voice, supporting and uplifting one another, whether it's adrienne williams and the work she does can kwanzaa and making sure that although we may be small in numbers, we are mighty when we come together. we are mighty, when we embrace the values of quanz a the principal that's bring us here today for this celebration. and yes, this is not just san francisco celebration, it is a bay area celebration and we are always welcoming people to learn about the values and the

principals that we celebrate today. i want to thank our children for womens, lift every voice or sing and dance into brown skin girls whatever it is, today is a celebration and whether it's the blue, thank you tia carol for graduation us with your beautiful amazing voice. and on behalf 69 city of county of san francisco, i say welcome to the opening of kwanzaa and do not forget to celebrate it tonight at west bay the rest of the week. it will be at places like the bay view ymca, a american culture complex will be celebrating tee a the tenderloin, the library, all community be celebrating

different principles of kwanzaa, because that is what it's all about. and i want to thank the opportunity for opening up the doors of the libraries. and i want to especially appreciate the person is the reason why we are able to make so much more happen because again, we have to be reminded of what we didn't necessarily have, we still have community. money, is great to have to do to do great celebrations but if you don't have love and joy and community it does not matter. but a little money does not hurt. it doesn't hurt. and i want to thank sharyl davis for her management of the dream keeper initiative. and making sure that those dollars reach in a way that

they never touch community before. this is the work that must continue and this week, in celebrating kwanzaa, it is only the beginning and the best is yet to come. thank you all so much. [applause] >> thank you again, mayor breed, wao. [applause]. oh my goodness, i just want to echo your words about power and unity. just remember if dr. king was out there, we won be here. we would not be talking about

that dynamic day but a million people showed up. so each of one of us, you got to turn to your neighbor and say, neighbor, neighbor, we going continue to suit up and show up, not just today or this week but forever. thank you, mayor breed. we want, is there any representative here or is supervisor preston here, i didn't see him. okay. all right, well we're going to move right along, is that okay? all right, thank you very much. you saw the beautiful of the young ladies where we have another, the dance instructor for the village project that

leads those young women into all of that amazing beautiful creativity that we just saw, thz brianna jay, can you come to the stage?

[applause]

>> thank you, ms. brianna! [applause] and thank you village kids. you know, i started out working with the baby and i called him babies whether they 18 on down, these are my babies and i appreciate you guys coming out and performing for this audience. thank you village kids, thank you, village. oh come on up, come on up.

alrighty, that's the whole thing, you never get rid of, you feel me. but here's thed scoop. when we're walking down the streets in these window t-shirts, we look the sun. as we walk down, so these babies have been with me, well not these, but this is the second generation, her mom was with me. and so is want to thank my staff, the one who feels most neglected, jasmine, where are you? hey. stand up and take a bow, darian come on. [applause] and aaron, they work with the kids.

thanks to all of you guys, we could not have done it without you. i see chris out there, one of our former teachers, hello mr. chris. so every year i get up here and i forget to thank the people who have supported us. so today i'm determined and i'm going to say thank you to oewd for giving met funding to do these wonderful events. we have mardi gras coming up february 13th, babies just a moment. all right. this is the beauty of having grand dhirn and great grandchildren. i want to start off by thinking, the daze wide and it

will be tomorrow night. west bay conference center will be there tonight and we'll serve dinner and we have vivian greene, the success center. the san francisco western addition resource center. the african-american arts and cultural complex. the bay view newspaper, many rec center will be there on the 28th, the san francisco public library will be there on saturday. st. zevians episcopal church, that's where we're based on. st. andrews and st. philips church. we'll be at third baptist church, mo magic is cosponsoring the event at the culture complex.

did i forget anybody? rafiky, i love it. will be at imani closing night. i want to thank the arts commission. and a special thanks who will be catering all the foods. hold on my babies are here. trust me, i've been work withing them for 25 years, they still don't get on my nerves. i lie. i want to thank the mayor's

office, you know what, i found out that it costs money to be here, i never knew that, they never mentioned it to me. and one person said, i'm taking money out of her budget. so thank you guys who have been generous letting us have the space. i want to thank kblx and k view for the interviews. the schedule is on the back of the program, we have 6 more days tonight, and 6 more days of nothing but wonderful entertainment, artistic performances and we have a feast. thank you very much. thank you for coming out and supporting us again.

>> let's give tup for adrienne and the beautiful babies. let's give tup for mayor london breed, sharyl davis, give it to your selvesed, give tup to san francisco. all right, you guys. so what we're going to do now is we're going to do something special, we're going to stand up, of course and guess what? my sister liz, she going to kick me in my shin, that's my sister since the beginning. but i wanted to make sure that i speed ahead, i know we got things we got to do. i want to start off with harma 3w* e, we're going to end with harmbe. if we can all stand up,

normally, we would hold hands in a circle but if you can stand up, and get close to the person next to you. what we're going to do is we're going to start out with putting our hand up in the air, we're going to pull it down and over our hearts say, harambe, we're going to do it 7 times. on the 7th time we hold it with all of our passion and heart, i don't want anybody to fall. what we're going to do is going to go 7 times and we're going to hold it on the 7th one. we all right? all right, let's go. harmbe. harhbe. harambe. harambe. rambe. haramba!

, let's all pull together. let's all pull together! frisco, let's pull it together. let's all pull it together fmgt give yourselves a round of applause. thank you all, love you. until tonight.

>> good morning, everybody. >> let me start by triathlon all 6 it to bring attention how big tobacco trying to hook the new generations on tobacco produces and tobacco companies appeal to the public with with threatening decades of