oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ [applause] >> that was beautiful.

beautiful. wasn't that beautiful? by the way, she gives her talents and many community organizations around the bay area. she is with the sand francisco friends of samoa. that is her heritage. her family came from samoa. she gives her time and voice to a lot of community groups across the bay area. thank you for that beautiful and thumb. thank you. here we are at the sixth annual asia-pacific heritage -- american heritage month and celebration. this year, we have a special title. i think you see it in your program books. we celebrate the heritage fostering unity. that is especially meaningful

today to celebrate. specifically, it is important to know, here in san francisco, the city and county, one-third of the population is asian american and pacific islander. that is why if you look at all of us who were able to be here tonight to celebrate this particular month in this particular fashion -- clearly, one-third of us living in the city of san francisco are asian- americans and pacific islanders. that is why it is so important to know that our voices count, and our boys in a celebration like this counts as we lead the nation in a great celebration. right now, i would like to call upon the san francisco assessor, bill ping, who is here to

present the city's proclamation from our mayor of sentences go. i would like you all to say come on up bill. thank you for being here with us. give him a warm welcome. he is our san francisco assessor, bill ping. [applause] >> thank you, jan. can i ask some other commissioners to join me on stage? i know that commissioners mar and chu are here. if there are other elected officials, if you could join me. our community in san francisco is something we are extremely proud of. frankly, if it was not for all of you i do not think any of us would be standing up here.

we are very honored to be representing the community and the richness of our heritage in san francisco. it is not just one community but many communities that come from north asia, south asia, southeast asia, the pacific islands. all of us are here to pay homage to the leaders getting awards but also to thank the heritage committee for all the work they have done. can we call up claudia chang to presenter this proclamation? it was not for her and the committee, this would never have happened. please give her a round of applause. [applause] all the committee members are on page three or four of the handbook. problems, a political system in which to many people have lost faith, and the new government will face the worst inheritance

of any incoming government for least 60 years. that is exactly why it is so important that we have strong, stable government that lasts. a strong, stable government, which has the support of the public to take the difficult decisions that are needed if we are going to put this country back on the right track for a stronger future. there is one further point i want to make. i believe that it is not just important for this country to have strong and stable government. it is important that we get that strong and stable government quickly. i hope we can reach agreement quickly on the open and comprehensive offer i have outlined today, and as i argued in this general election campaign, i think this is a great country, but we could be doing so much better. we do not have to settle for the dead and waste and taxes left to us by labour. we can put behind us the economic incompetence, the breakdown, the political

division, and the mistrust. of course, i hope that a conservative majority would be the outcome of this election and that we could have started today making the changes that i believe our country so badly needs. i know how much the conservative party itself -- all my colleagues in parliament, all the members and activists from the country -- wanted that as well, but i also know they wanted something more than that. they want the best for britain. the conservative party has always been a party that puts the national interest first, and the best thing, the national interest, the best thing for britain now is a new government that works together in the national interest, and i hope with all my heart that is something we can achieve. that is all i have to say for now. i hope you understand, but i will not be taking questions because this urgent work must begin. thank you.

>> we leave the british leader's speeches. you can find them in their entirety at c-span.org. next, president obama on the latest unemployment numbers released today. the labor department report shows unemployment rising to 9.9% in >> in my day, i said he was and still is the best dressed da

mayor in the nation. am i correct, everybody? willie brown. [applause] you will need him again, but please help me welcome send francisco assessor phil king, supervisor david chiu, carmen chu. [applause] supervisor eric mar, right here. [applause] public defender jeff adachi. it was just here. and from the city administrator's office, edwin lee. right here. [applause] and i would also like to welcome some generals who may be in our audience.

i did not get a chance to see if you were here, but i know that the council general from japan was supposed to be here. if he is not here, though he is coming. the consul general from the philippines was going to be here. also, consul general also from the philippines, wilfredo santos was going to be here. give them applause. [applause] and we all know that an event like this, with your help, also, we need the help of our generous sponsors, and please, indulge me if you will, for us all to recognize some great sponsors. then, i am going to say who they are, and we are going to give them while the applause at the end of all the sponsors as i read them. so starting at the top level, i want to say our heritage

sponsor, we want to say a special mahalo and thank you to pacific gas and electric company on the heritage level. i'm going to read them all. heritage level sponsors. we want to say special mahalo and thank you. bank of america. kraft foods. wells fargo bank. from the heritage friends level, at&t, comcast, and ecology, u.s. bank, and from the heritage he tends level, day crossing and bills and, for all those heritage level sponsors, come on -- one big giant thank you. thank you, thank you, thank you. [applause] and now, i want to say -- it is my business, so you have to really help me thank them.

our media sponsors. and our media sponsors, i want to say special thanks to abc7, comcast, once again, inquire.net, sfgovtv, the sense francisco examiner, world channel, and am 1400. please help me bank of the media sponsors. [applause] now, please help me welcome the woman who is an incredible force, the woman who had the vision to bring this together, to bring us all together -- she is the founder and chair of the apa heritage celebration committee. come on out, claudine. [applause] >> welcome to the 2010

celebration of asian pacific american heritage month. on behalf of the celebration committee, all the names are here. which includes representatives from city officials and executives from over 10 @ nicholas in the asian-pacific american family. i welcome you here. -- over 10 representatives. with the demographics we have in san francisco, everyone should be and can be celebrated as asian-pacific american heritage month. i cannot agree more. but looking around the room tonight, it is really a true do like that so many friends from the communities, from all communities, from all walks of life have decided to join us for our celebration. and it really means a lot to us.

the truth of the matter is in a diverse city like san francisco where we call home, not only every month can be asian pacific american heritage month, every month can be african american heritage month. every month can be seen the demise of. every month could be irish american, every month could be women's history month. don't you agree with me? [applause] this is a place where we all call home. we recognize there are a lot of issues in our communities these days, but this is a place we all call home, so the message that the apa heritage celebration committee would like you to take with you after this celebration is that we believe heritage and culture is something that we are proud of and something that we can all share.

there is common ground in many traditions and common values among communities of all colors that we can all appreciate. we, the committee, are committed to take every opportunity to invite all communities to come together in occasions like this, to connect, to open doors ..., to get to know each other more. we need to do that in this city, and i know that today is not the first day, but every day can be the first day of forever. i want to thank you for coming as we celebrate three individuals and organizations in our community, and thank you for being here. [applause] as we continue with this celebration, alan mistress of ceremonies has introduced some of our major smartest response tonight. i would like at this time to invite them up to present them a special gift of appreciation

because we really appreciate your support -- our mistress of ceremonies has introduced some of our major sponsors tonight. to begin with, our heritage jim van supporter, pacific gas and electric. we have our friend, mr. jimmy harris, please join me. [applause] and every year, our presentation guests are handmade by a japanese american artist. this is actually a very special piece of artwork of japanese origami. [applause] next, at the heritage partner level, i would like to first

call off our bank of america fund, a senior vice president. [applause] then, one of our best food companies in the country and in the web, kraft foods has joined us this year, and i would like to invite the area vice president to join us as well. [applause]

[applause] our last one as for our friend, wells fargo, who is always with us since 2005. is the sentence is the metro district manager here? i think he is still on his break. thank you for joining us in this celebration. this is the official celebration of the city, and it has really touched me every year to see our major bout here with us. it means a lot with us. -- to see our mayer brown here with us. it means a lot to us. >> these and gentlemen, da mayor, willie brown. [applause] >> thank you very much.

i am, of course, delighted to again be part of this celebration. claudine is absolutely correct. in a city and county of sentences, the diversity that exists here in terms of age, sexual orientation, race, national origin, religious interests, all of those items are part of what we each celebrate with each other, even though we may not be technically a part of it. that is what makes it such a very special city. as indicated, we are meeting some challenges now, facing ourselves, with reference to conduct our people, but be advised -- we will get through this, as we have gotten through everything in this city, and we will only be better for having done so. so we will do so in the manner in which we always have. [applause] thank you very much for being here. [applause]

>> as the evening goes on, we will hear from supervisors chiu, chu, and mar. i would like to invite our public defender up to share a few words with us. jeff. [applause] >> thank you very much. good evening, everyone. tonight, we celebrate our individual and collective histories, our culture, our language, and our art. there is an old saying -- we can not only live for ourselves, one that and fibers connect all of us to our fellow human beings. that is not true of only asian cultures. when i grew up, it was japanese against chinese against koreans. we did not even know why we were fighting. it was because that was what we learned growing up from our parents. i think the greatest thing that our generation has achieved is

that we now call each other asian americans, and we see each other as kindred cousin saw. the recent incidents of violence involving asian and african americans in the two fatal assaults involving elderly asian-american victims allegedly committed by african-american youths has raised the question of whether the growing interracial tensions in cities like san francisco and oakland are partly to blame. i think most of us hope that the election of president obama would transcend the racial divide. however, even if this divide were somehow overcome, it would not address the racial divide amongst minorities in this country. the reality is that the same prejudice that exists between blacks and whites exist between asians, latinos, and african- americans. the thing of it is that we share

so much in common. african-americans and asian- americans. do you novak when the agent exclusion act, the chinese exclusion act was before congress in 1870, the first national leader to speak out against that was frederick douglass. the same man who fought against slavery. do you know that when the chinese exclusion act was voted on in congress, there was one black senator named blanche bruce, the only african-american in the u.s. senate, voted against it. similarly, we work side-by-side for semel -- civil rights and improve public education. in '86, and laundry owner sued the san francisco board of supervisors for a racially discriminatory law, and it brought equal protection to minorities, and that overturned the 1857 dread scott case, which

held that minorities were not protected by the u.s. constitution. we have the landmark case of brown harris is board of education, 1954, to thank for equality in education. -- brown v. board of education. seven years later, the chinese community here worked shoulder to shoulder with the african- american community to expand civil rights and public education. we have a history of working together. mayer brown, and reverend brown knows very well. in the early 1970's, a community leader from japan town and let the board informed of the african american roundtable to improve relations between japanese and african americans in the western addition, but it is going to take a lot more than just groups coming together to talk about stereotypes and misperceptions. for these tragic deaths, they

must rise a responsibility to reach out beyond our communities and make sure that we understand that there is a cost to holding misperceptions and believes that oppress us all. thank you. [applause] >> we have got a great program for you, and for those of you who have attended in years past, you know that we celebrate with song. we celebrate with dance, and we celebrate recognizing different cultures from around the world, so leading off today is a wonderful performance by students -- yes, they are all students. they are -- their organization is called the golden gate bong what association. these young women are students at san francisco state

university and the university of san francisco, and they practice every sunday morning -- that is called dedication. they have got beautiful costumes. you are going to see them perform with their props here, but they celebrate the bunjabi full dance and their culture, and i think it is a wonderful way of celebrating our heritage month. would you please give a warm welcome to six lovely students? come on, everybody. let's give them a hand. [applause] ♪

[singing in foreign language]

[applause]

>> , on, everyone. part of a fabulous -- com onee , everyone. weren't the fabulous? we are all here for these awards, the asian pacific american heritage award honors individuals and organizations who have made direct impact to their communities. the apa heritage awards are being presented in three categories. for individuals, we have awards for the emerging leadership and lifetime achievements, and the community organizations. we have the community impact award. 50 nominations were received -- 50 -- and top finalists in each category were submitted to a panel of three judges -- the steelers, i might add, and the judges are vicki wong, president

and ceo of date advertising, and cindy, a longtime japanese american community activist and volunteer community, and edwin lee, our city administrator. now, presenting the emerging leadership award, please welcome back to the stage supervisor eric mar. [applause] and the key -- and vicky. >> thank you. the evening. supervisor mar and i are pleased to announce finalists and recipients for the emerging leadership award. in the interests of time, the criteria of the award is listed in the program book. emerging leadership,s