series called "we suspicious remain." this is from the pbs series, the award-winning series the american experience. it is a provocative multimedia project that establishes native history as an essential part of american history. this five-part series presents a multifaceted look at native perseverance and ingenuity over the course of three centuries. "we shall remain" is unprecedented in the collaboration between native and nonnative filmmakers as well as the involvement of native advisors and scholars at all levels of the project. it is truly a ground-breaking production with unbelievable production elements and i encourage you all to watch this series. so we have a table here today to find out more about kque's american indian programming.

and now it is my great pleasure to talk for a moment about our fifth and final nominee, our honoree, i should say, mary dean robertson. [applause] >> she is a chair key nation citizen. she is a superior court deputy clerk in san francisco, but i understand it's a job that she took originally in order to help support her passion for radio. so we have a connection already. she has been a programmer on the native american show on kpoo for 37 years. [applause] >> and that program is called "voices of the native nations." it airs on the third, fourth, and fifth wednesday of every month from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00

p.m. it is a magazine format with zpwuffs, announcements, music, and powwow information. if you can't receive kpoo on your radio at 89.5 fm in san francisco, you can also listen to www.kpoo.com. mary jean has a fascinating history and heritage. her father was david conrad robertson who served? general patton's third army from normandy to berlin as a signal corps officer, a cherokee code talker. she is also descended from one of the first cherokee presbyterian circuit ministers and from a man who led on the trail of tears. mary jean is on the community relations council and she is working very hard to get a

cherokee nation counselor office officially recognized by the u.s. state department here in the san francisco bay area to promote not only trade and travel, but also to promote the cherokee artists, writers, craftsmen, and products in our bay area. in the area days of the california arts council, mary jean received two of its artist in schools and communities grants. she was an oral historian for the american indian arts workshop in the 1970's and she and another historian advised and costumed the native american themed play "the loon's rays." what a wonderful background. we were so happy for you, mary jean, and now i would like to introduce you to a former kqed community advisory panel member and also an american indian

local hero recipient himself and he would like to say a few words about mary jean. welcome. [applause] >> what a beautiful gathering of friends and family. i was asked to introduce mary jean from a more personal point of view and i'm going to try in this lighting to actually read the words of our friend kim who i think really summed up what mary jean means to our community. mary jean robinson has been named a local hero in what has become too often an overused phrase. she has worked tirelessly and selflessly to further the interests of the communities. she brings something to the potluck. she always has a couch to crash on and she spends time stuffing envelopes for causes she believes in. she spent years carrying for an elder until she passed.

mary jean has been involved in every productive action that the local native communities have undertaken in the last 40 years. she hosts a twice-monthly radio show. she puts herself forward and is relatively unrecognized in her actions. she was involved in the start of the neighborhood community centers in san francisco. she took part in san francisco state and participated in some of the first multiethnic classes there. if it was important, if it happened in the last 40 years in san francisco, m.j. was there. she currently supports the oakland-based intertribal friendship house, helps with fundraising and where she is needed. i also sat on the community advisory panel. one thing, one criteria that we have in choosing local heroes is that they be unsung. when i looked at m.j.'s resume and looked under awards and titles and it listed runnerup

for ms. almadin, it was long due the time for this award. m.j., come up. [applause] >> wow, you don't even know you did all that! [laughter] there was a whole bunch of noise up here today and i just wanted to say that another one of the things that i do is i'm the native american co-chair for sciu. and so there was a bunch of people out front fighting for jobs, fighting to help prevent

the layoffs that's going on in november. so if you're here, mayor, i heard some cheers up there. i hope that means we don't lose any people from the city jobs. so i want to thank all of you who have worked in this community for the 40 years that i have been here. i moved here in 1969. we have such a strong community. it's so amazing the strengths that we have and there is something about san francisco that's very special. it pulls in people. and one of the things that i'm doing currently is to recognize a protocol that those of us who came here on relocation or for education or for -- because our parents brought us, is to honor

the protocol of honoring the original people of san francisco. and so i'm doing up a project with a number of other people to honor the costa people because this is their land and we all live on occupied aloni territory. [cheers and applause] so i want to thank you all for this honor. it's just tremendously inspiring and it just encourages us all to do more. and i want to also thank all of those who struggled to get all

of the organizations and representations because if we unite in things like sciu and the unions, there are ways that we can work together with thousands of people instead of just us so that they recognize that we all have the right to the same kind of health care benefits and the same kind of education benefits that everybody else does. and what happens when you live in an urban area is that too often, urban indian people are left out and left behind because too often, when we move away from our tribal bases, those agencies like indian health service and bureau of indian affairs, well, if they're off their reservations, they don't deserve any funding or any help. that's why the urban indian

health centers and the -- all of the agencies that have worked so hard and presented these heroes are needing all of us in all of the ways that we can work to remind people that we do not get the same kind of federal funding that reservation agencies get we have to remind people that those of us in these native programs do not get money from the casinos. we have to work on our own to raise those funds amongst competing with all of the rest of the communities. they say the indians always get government money, it's not true, folks. in urban areas, we have to really work hard to get that funding for our agencies and for our communities. so i want to thank you all for all of the work that you have

done to preserve those agencies here in the city and thank you for this honor. [applause] >> all good things must come to an end. thank you very much for celebrating with us. i want to make some comments about helen, is helen still here. helen and martin. she was standing by in the event that the mayor showed up, but i wanted to call her up just to give a greeting and martin, thank you for being here. thank you for his support. we enjoyed having you. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> thank you! you guys are all nice. thank you again for kqed for their beautiful work that they

do every year to recognize the american indian people across the nation. i think that's wonderful. although that i think we should do this every day as we do our job and celebrate who we are. we do have a lot that we contribute to the united states. actually we started this cultural event through the recommendation of the mayor, mayor newsom. i want to thank him. i know is not here. he has got a lot of work to do. we have a present for him that we're going to give him. he'll get it anyway. i'm sorry that he is not here to do that. but we thank him for his strong support along with the former mayor, willie brown. it's because of their support that friendship house was able to build a new site, and i will not forget that. and we will not forget that. so there are people that are helping us in this world, and i wanted to thank all of the people that have been recognized as local heroes.

congratulations. [applause] i'm proud of all of you and i know that you done well and also i think you read in your papers what friendship house is all about, so i'm not going to stand up here and repeat the whole thing because i think most of you know what friendship house is about. i want to thank all of you and have a wonderful holidays if i don't talk to you. [applause] >> about 40 years ago i was growing up in south dakota, i was about 18 years old, 17 years old and my hero would come to rapid city and help the community with the prejudice and discrimination. he is a hero. he devoted his entire life to

the people. put your hands together for him. [applause] >> for the native american aids project, keep up the fight. we're not there yet. i would just say i appreciate all of the services that are provided in our community. to the friendship house, we have 80 beds, residents, treatment center there now and i think it is turning life around. i also would like to acknowledge ms. robinson, 40 years of dedication to our community. 40 years! [applause] a remarkable person. kathy chapman, what she has done in her lifetime and her help in our community. we got some good people in our community, some healthy people who are making a difference.

give yourself a round of applause because the native american community is here and alive! >> we are indian people first. we are here. we are american indians. thank you! [applause] >> give my friend tom phillips a round of applause for what he does for us. [applause] >> thank you, marty. ladies and gentlemen, let's please stand and honor these ones that have been called forward. give us an honor song to honor each and every one. thank you. the honor song. after that we'll go to -- the native american aids project

for the closing song. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> if you would like to join the honorees, they are coming forward. here they are, our heroes! [applause] >> they are our heroes.

♪ ♪ tape 55 >> welcome, this is carl.

>> great to meet you. >> great to me you, and i want to thank you for your interest and this is the city's animal shelter. and come in and a lot of people come here to adopt a animal or if they have lost their animal or looking for other animals. and we deal with other animals like birds and rabbits and you name it. this is more to see in this facility and more to see in the community. and i suggest you go with an animal control person and see what they co, whether rescuing animals in distress or hit by a car or dealing with aggressive animals or wildlife or a

variety of things. you can only get that flavor with them and doing it first hand. >> i have been with animal control for about six years, i spent a year in the kennel and then the office came up and i started doing it and it really fit. it's really the job for me. and animals i have to handle and i know what i am doing, i rarely get scared. [whistle]. we do a lot of investigations and most are not as bad as people report but everyone once in a while they are. and i had one and people had moved out and the dog was in the inside and it makes me teary and when the dog is in the

backyard, and i can pull an animal out of a horrible environment and feel good. >> where does this animal go after this? >> they go for the shots and then the kennel. >> and if they just found this, and once we enter everything in the computer and they can track to find out if the dog went back home. we hold them for five days. >> this is a stray dog and it came in today and we immobilize it and then put it in a room with food and water. >> and then evaluate for medical behavior and see if anyone is interested in adopting then. >> we want to be sure that

their behavior is good for the average adopter and not aggression problem, toward people or animals. >> and if they growl and don't bite the hand, she passes that. and good girl, in case she has something in her mouth, we get it out. and one more test, called the startle test and it startled hear but she came to me. and passed the handling test. >> for the mental exam i feel for lumps and bumps. and the ears and see if they are infected and look at the eyes and be sure they are clear and don't have cataracts and

look at their teeth and heart. this is the first job that i feel i make a dvrngs. -- difference. and we may do 40 to 80 animals a day for treatments. and do blood work and skin scrapings and cultures to diagnose different diseases. and x-rays, i can take an animal that would be euthanized at a different shelter and fix it and get it ready for a home. >> we have a partnership and we let a professional groomer run a private business from our facility and in turn grooms our shelter animals. what is the big deal of that? when someone comes to adopt an animal, if it looks good,

chances are it will be adopted more. >> and we groom and clean the ears and the works. >> typically a shelter wouldn't have grooming? >> not at all. and these dogs are treated with the utmot -- utmost care that others can't provide. this is a shampoo to bring out the luster. and i feel satisfied in helping the shelter pets be adopted and to be a part of such a wonderful staff, from the top all the way down. if she passes our evaluation, she will stay until she's adopted. if you are interested in adoption and don't want to put them to sleep, that means at a last resort, we will give you a call before putting to sleep.

you are not bound to the dog, and we would give you a call, and it's an actual adoption and cost $107 and it will be your dog. >> the volunteers to meet are the unsung heroes in this field that take the animals to hope and nurse them to get strong enough to come down and rehome. without volunteers, i would have to be honest to say this wouldn't be much more than a pound. we thank god that we have the number of committed people coming down and helping us out, it makes all the difference in the world. >> when you want to come in and volunteer, you go through a general orientation, about two hours. there is a lot of flexibility.

and the various programs available, are baseline dog walking. you can work with the cats. you can work with tony's kitty rescue, with the small animals and guinea pigs and birds and chickens. >> you always have an appreciative audience. >> do you feel that what you have learned here helped you with your own dogs? >> the training they don't have? yes. and it's things that you learn, we usually outlive our dogs and every time you get a new one, you have skills to teach them. >> one of the programs is training program and it's staffed by a member of the community and one of the programs she has is dog

socialization. >> we started this program for canine socialization. and all the dogs available for adoption get to play for two hours. and it's a time for them to get incredible exercise and play with other dogs and we have remedial socialization. and it's incredible the dogs and they get exercise and run and tumble and when most adopters come to look in the afternoon, they are quiet and settled. >> and i want come and someone sees a dog and loves it, it's quick. and after three weekends, i saw him and he connected and i connected and came back. >> what is your experience of

working with the animals? >> unbelievable. from the guy that is came to the house and everyone here, they are friendly and knowledge believe and -- knowledgeable and they care about the animals. >> and it's a great place to visit and look at the animals and maybe fall in love and take one home. and look at our grooming program and volunteer program and many say, hey, this