have been told, to bring the state to pass. and now we have a dazzling new setting to present to you. when you leave today, you will be going home. but laguna honda residents will not be leaving. this is our home. and it is very important to us. we are already here. but please come back and visit us frequently. this wonderful new laguna honda would not exist without you. i just want to add a personal note. my younger sister, emily, was a resident here for many more years than i have been. she was greatly loved. we lost her recently. i would like to dedicate this speech to her and remembered her, as many of the residents do, with great fondness and affection. thank you all. [applause]

>> i would like to invite you all nowi that good enough? this is a participatory ribbon cutting. it requires nothing more complicated than this. i will ask you to count down, not up. upon conclusion, we will applaud the great works of turner construction, the dedicated men and women who are still toiling inside to get this project completed, which begs the question when will the residents

be moving in that? there is an easy answer -- soon. [laughter] [crowd chants a countdown] [applause] go ahead in an orderly manner.

>> i am going to hope the others, dignataries are underway. our bishop, james langston, would you come at this time, please? we're going to ask our bishop langston if he would provide for us today the invocation. please, sir. >> we recognize our lord and savior. rest on your feet in honor of who our maker is today, for this occasion for which we have gathered, and rest as we

celebrate this invocation to kick off mary helen rogers june 2010 kickoff. we thank you for the time and space to celebrate this grand occasion. we've come a long way, but we recognize we yet have a long ways to go. we thank you for what you have done, and pray for your blessings on this occasion today ont hose who come forth. let their be joy and uplift as you take us far beyond even our expectations, for this is your doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. we give you praise, glory, and honor. we thank you now. this is our prayer. amen, and amen.

>> thank you so much, bishop. i am going to ask various -- perhaps one person in the audience who loves this song more than i do, i am going to ask if he would come in this time and meet us and lift every voice and sing. pastor brown, would you come and lead us? come on. [applause] >> good afternoon. we are going to sing. when james weldon johnson wrote

this hymn, he wrote it to tell a story. you don't see a movie until you see it all and see the conclusion. i ask everyone to stand, and if you don't have the words, we invite you to get a program. ♪ lift every voice and sing, til earth and heaven ring ring with the harmonies of liberty let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

sing a song full of the faith that dark past has taught us, sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on til victory is won. stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, felt in the days when hope unborn had died. yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet

come to a place for which our fathers sighed? we have come over a way that with tears has been watered, we have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, out from the gloomy past, til now we stand at last where the white gleam of our bright star is cast. god of our weary years, god of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far on the way.

thou who has by the might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray. lest our feet stray from the places, our god, where we met thee, lest, our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee, shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand, true to our god, true to our native land.

[applause] >> thnaank you so much. thank you. when i was a boy in sunday school, you had to learn all 3 verses and sing it yourself in front of class, and i have not forgotten. an interesting note, this song you just sang lost by one vote of becoming our national anthem, and i wonder would it have made us a different nation if all these years we had been singing about this, whether -- rather than bombs bursting in air. just a thought, you know.

you can think about that on your way home. the mayor is not here, so we will ask bevan dufty to give us a welcome, and followed by that, we're going to ask supervisor sophie maxwell to give us the mayor's welcome. thank you. >> good afternoon, everyone. let me first say my mood improved so much when i saw the little ladies of praise, ok? so you can think about the matters of the moment, but when you see those ladies dancing, it changed my mood. i want to thank them. i am honored to be here. i want to congratulate montel jennings and the committee. this is the 60th anniversary of

this celebration, and my colleagues, supervisors maxwell and mar are here. i want to give eric mar a round and welcome him. will you come join us? ok, no, he is taking off. i understand. i also want to say this is a special time for me, completing my eigth year on the board of supervisors. i worked for shirley chisholm, a woman who ran for the presidency in 1972, and i had the privilege of working for her 3 years, and than -- then for julian dixon. he was the father i never had,

and he mentored and shaped me. having the privilege to join mayor brown's administration, becoming director of neighborhood services, and the experience i have had working with african-american leaders in the united states. i want to take a moment to say that i will always list on my resume that i have voted for sophie to be president of the board of supervisors more than anybody else, ok? [applause] not to tell stories out of school, but when i first got sworn in and thought i knew a few things, we sat there, myself, sophie and gavin, we voted over and over, and we

weren't going anywhere. mayor brown gave me no plan b, so i kept voting that way. mayor brown doesn't tell you plan b, you have to stick with plan a, which is what i was smart enough to do. but one challenge that exists for our city to think about as we celebrate accomplishments is that san francisco cannot be a great city without strong black leadership, and it has dwindled in the past years. as wonderful as it is that our city elected ms. harris to be d.a., she is taking care of business, but here at city hall, there are issues and decisions,

and the need for representations at different levels is not where we need it to be in order to bring back what we have had in sna francisco. if we want a robust african- american presence in san francisco, we have to start at leadership levels. but sophie has been getting power plants closed, adver -- advocating for transportation plans for bayview, and moving forward to make sure we have a redevelopment plan in bayview- hunter's point. she has been a regal presence for her people,a nd it is a difficult job. with leadership comes criticism, and we view criticism as an

opportunity to succeed. i have to absorb criticism and go forth and be more informed. but she has never been deterred, and she has served in what i hope is a decade where many foundations have been laid, such as city bills, seeing representation from the african- american community is not there. we want people in construction, firms doing better, people at the frontline of making things happen. and sophie says i am not just going to be angry, i am going to create a mechanism so we train young people and are prepared for it. i am looking forward to the parade, to the festival, to all

the great things. i see many of our leaders in the media and corporate family members here, and i will always reflect on what sophie has done and will take that inspiration and be rededicated, because much remains to be done, and i will work to make it happen. now i will present to reverend townsend, a certificate from the board of supervisors celebrating today. thank you. >> good afternoon. this is a great time. i just want to first thank you all for coming. thank you for coming time after time, because it is all about celebration, and if you don't show up, there is no

party. thanks for being here. i also would like to welcome our interns from the port. stand up, please. these young people are working at the port [applause] and this is a social program we have there. we are continuing, as bevan mentioned, we always ask about what is going on with hiring. "i'm on the budget committee," and they are prepared, because i am going to ask that question. i want numbers, what is going on, and what will they do to make it better? so again, i want to thank you once again for allowing me to serve. it is an honor. i used to hear that and not know what it meant, but i do. to serve is an honor.

it is an honor. i want you to continue doing what you do, but remember, you have to think about all of us and continue to serve the interest of the people around you, but we cannot do other people's agenda all the time. you have to do your agenda, and turn around and make your agenda. i am about sick of it, and i am also going to say, we have a lot of work to do and you have to continue educating each other and be short with ignorance, because it's dangeruos. you have to get short with it, but continuing educating people. we have a long way to go, and san francisco is not a healthy

place for african-americans. we are sicker than anybody, poorer than anybody, more ignorant than anybody. something has to give. they have always been doing what they do to us, but it is something we are not doing, and we have to get back to that, because san francisco is a beautiful place. we should be enjoying it, not feeling the burden. i wish the candidates luck. hopefully they go new heights, new places. they need their support, so be there to support them. thank you once again. thank you. >> thank you, supervisor maxwell and supervisor dufty. we absolutely appreciate the

fact that it is -- in this city, to serve is not the easiest thing to do. supervisor mirkarimi just came in. i think our city is gifted in its ability to heap abuse and insult among public officials, so we appreciate all you take to serve the people of san francisco. amen. it was pointed out to me that the mayor is traveling in los angeles and will be back on monday. i think we all know what he's involved in at this time. we won't need to see -- say any

more on that. shelley tatum, where are you? shelley is in the back, but also at the information table, sister janet. there are tickets back here for the juneteenth comedy show, the 3rd annual. i've been to both of them. they've both been hilarious, friday june 18, 8:00 p.m. at the african american art and cultural complex. it's a funny, funny good time, and the proceeds all go to support the juneteenth effort, and we would really appreciate if all of you would attend, especially if you are like me, constantly in need of a good laugh and need something to laugh at other than yourself,

although it is ok to laugh at yourself, because most of us are pretty funny, most of the time. it's my privilege and honor to introduce to you this afternoon's keynote speaker. she is a regular on cnn, nbc, good morning america, the oprah show, host of "can this marriage be saved?" she's done so much, i can't give it all to you. but she is the author of "power choices: 7 signpoints on your journey to holiness," "love lessons," and the founder of the international love and money summit taking place september 2 through 5, 2010, here in san francisco.

i guess that has to do with the old concept of "there ain't no romance without finance." i said that, she didn't. most importantly, what i'm most excited about is that for many years, i went to the church with lizzie wade, her mother and i went to church together many years. dr. wade. give her a great hand. [applause] >> thank you. >> good afternoon, everyone. how many of you know you have something to celebrate today? how many of you know you have blessings you can count today?

how many of you would like some more blessings to count? all right, because i am so grateful to my beloved sister, sophie maxwell, for ten years of service, and brother supervisor, and reverend, thank you for bringing us into the present. reverend brown, i rememebr you singing that song 20 years ago. it sounds as good today. thank you. would you like to talk about how to have more blessings? are you sure? give me some energy. all of you know i am a holistic psychologist. i work with the body, emotions, mind, and spirit. the reason i'm asking you to do

this, this is called accelerated learning. i only have 15 minutes, so i am going to lose -- leave you with something you can use. all of you know i started out as a scientist, doing monkey brain research. do you know your brain loves patterns? do you know that? everything repetitive, the brain goes, "ooh, that's a pattern." but put the patterns together, the word is called habits. some of us have good habits, some have habits we could change. those habits that don't support us -- usually i have 3 days, but this will be condensed -- if you understand something and

learn better, that means we can do better. it's true. one of the most important things, when i asked, "would you like more blessings to count," how do we do it? everybody? i have to pay attention to my body, i have to pay attention to my emotions, i have to take control of my mind, and i must stay connected to -- what? spirit. as human beings, we live on four quadrants. remember this. the brain is grabbing patterns. visual, kinesthetic, auditory, learning.

if i pay attention to all 4, i end up with what is called a healthy life. and as sophie said to me, i want to improve the health of the black community in san francisco. can we give her some support for that? we must all pay attention to those aqu -- quadrants. if you want your body to be healthy, it is important you remember this one rule, if you don't remember anything else i say. as above, so below. the great controls the lesser. that is called the hermetic axiom. what matters is you remember we work from the top down. so if i work from spirit and

mind, that controls my emotions and my body. i warned you already, i'm a scientist, right? do you know there is hard evidence that you can reverse illness in the body, you can make your body healthier by having healthier thoughts. good or good? right now, suppose you turned to your neighbor and said every cell in your body is getting healthier right now. tell them that. now do this. every little cell is getting healthier right now. if there's any part of your body giving you a challenge, any part giving you a challenge, that doesn't feel good, touch that part and say "every little cell in my body