would like to add to that about economic situations? >> i definitely think -- this is -- you know, the old saying, it is not rocket science? some of this stuff is harder than rocket science because it involves people, and we do not always act in a logical, decisive way. elaine brown i heard say a little while ago that she lived in atlanta, and we always talk about how great atlantic is doing, but we do not own nothing in atlanta. they look like they are doing good, they have the cosmetic liberation, right? cosmetic change, cosmetic liberation, but when you look at who owns most of the city, right? who is in control of the power in the city? it may be marginally better for black votes in some other

places, but there are still fundamental issues with the school system. look at the endowment of emory compared to some of the black universities and colleges in atlanta. entrepreneurship is a big part of it. i did not understand and nobody told me what is involved with buying your own home until i was in my second law school, where is the my counterparts, the white students i was in class with, they had had that information coming up. it was just second nature. i asked the guy across the hall from me what his folks did. but told him my mom was a nurse and my dad was a teacher, a soldier before. he said his father was the deputy prime minister of jordan. i was like, "ok." minute court partner -- my moot

court partner, he said his father owned three swiss banks. i think even before entrepreneurship, it is financial literacy. we need to educate ourselves about what these resources are. it is financial literacy and really wealth literacy, understanding that there are different kinds of wealth beyond just monetary wealth, but you need to understand monetary wealth, spiritual well, the social capital we have and understand how to cultivate those things and invest them properly. those are important skills. at the same time, i do not think black capitalism is the solution to the problems of black folks who have been the victims of capitalism's boot. >> making sure that that kind of information becomes available. that could be the subject of what we deal with in black history month. you know? hal the wealth is developed.

who developed it. loans what? how one gets to own it. we could do that. it could be touchy, but it could be useful. i'm just saying that we could use occasions for teaching about things that could make a difference. so i just say raise questions, and sometimes, raise hell when you raise the questions. [applause] >> i wanted to know if there was an african-american district attorney working in texas to review some of the cases that were -- i guess, tried, and some of the evidence was not valid. looking through investigating some of those cases to find out if they should be released because of the false information that was acquired. >> the attorney who has been the lead on the team that i have been in communication with is a

guy by the name of morris moon, and he would be the person i could ask to find out the answer. there is actually a be a working on that, but i know there have been so many cases -- there is actually a d.a. working on that, but i know there have been so many cases that have been exposed, especially with dna testing. it is almost like every other week. there does need to be somebody looking into it from that angle. of the top of my head, i do not know, but i could definitely get that information. >> how can we make it not just black history day, not just black history month, but every day be black history and honor that? thank you. and how do we really teach our children, our students really not what the media portrays, not what -- but really, what happened? i did get a chance to experience "eyes on the price" and i

thought that was just the tip of the iceberg -- experience "eyes on the priceze." >> i do not know how to go about it, but what i would suggest is the reason why i did what i did, why i was brave enough and courageous enough to not give up my seat, because so much history was in my mind, and one of the things they were always asking me was why i did not get up when i was asked, and my answer would always be history had me glued to the seat. [applause] i think that what is left out of american history -- you should

not be ashamed to say that we enslaved these people and mystery these people, a race of people. it should be included in the american history, and it would be every day. [applause] >> really quickly, it jolla i went to school with named sol williams said, "stealing as was the smartest thing you ever did. too bad you do not teach the true to your kids." that line says so much. -- a scholar i went to school with. it is not just about changing lives of black people, but changing the lives of everybody by teaching true history, which includes jim crow and slavery

before it -- but before that, the first people to walk the planet and develop situation -- civilization came along the nile river valley. if we teach african history as human history, history will require that you incorporate our story and tell it the right way. [applause] >> just to say that in terms of how teaching history can make a difference to these test scores that we are also obsessed with, i had a piece of news from mississippi where the book, "putting the movement back into civil rights" -- are you familiar with that? the superintendent has agreed -- and your piece is in it, awele -- the superintendent has agreed that it be used districtwide. just this week, i was hearing that the rigor and relevance of the material actually got students engaged and got the

score is up. while the score is being up is not the only thing, i do want to say there is real value in making curriculum relevant, truthful, and rigorous, and one of the ways of doing that would be to embed all of this into all subjects all year for all the students. [applause] >> if i could just show that on friday, ms. colvin spent the whole day at alameda county juvenile hall, and i think we saw eight different units of young men and women, 14 to 18, medium-security, and they were riveted to their seats. when we were looking like we were running out of time, we were told not to worry about the time. they shared poetry. one young woman suggested how -- they share how they are trying to transform their lives, and

listening to her story and transformation, and it was a very powerful date. >> this is for one of my heroes, claudette colvin. and a local hero of mine, because we have freedom fighters right here in our midst, and we do not always celebrate them. francisca sanchez, who is seriously about her business about getting the shackles off. i want to do this to honor them, and to thank you for being here. give yourselves a big round of applause. [applause] all i've got is some fish and a few loaves of bread. and a whole lot of folks have got to get fed. but seven seats were made in under seven days, the first man was forgiven when he missed the hague, the branch was taken by a

dove to a book that was built before a flood, if a rainbow sent out a sign, if someone was told to sacrifice his own son and told to hold up before he was done, then the fish and bread that i just said is all that i've got, is all that i need for me to get fed and for me to feed a whole lot of folks in need because they set me on fire. when they look back, i was chilling. i had to fight like 10 older brothers, and because i had this dream, so they sold me out to a band of bandits and one day was commanded to stop, drop, when i got this fish that i found while fishing around, under water with the daughter of the pharaoh, the child was chosen to force the pharaoh to free his folks from a foreign land, repair everywoman,

prepare every man, prepare every child, all you've got is that right in your hand. all i've got is some fish and a few loaves of bread, and a whole lot of folks have got to get fed, but i believe. i believe i can part the sea now and then, and then put it back together again. i believe i can kill any giant dead if i believe in my heart. back when we were kings, back when we were able to see processes. when a whole woman with no vote because she conceived immaculate, and a good baby daddy was something even got to be, where we could heal the sick and make the blind see. we believe in believing, so i believe in believe, and i believe they can come in the night like a thief and knocked out each of uncertainty's teeth and take away all your disbelief because the fate that

lived through leprosy is a fate that will live through a chevy, a fate that can make amounting get out of bed is a phase i believe that i believe can spread fish and a few loaves of bread. i believe i can make wine out of tap water, and i believe i can go break dancing and walk on water. i believe i can fly. i believe i can soar. i never thought i could be so free, but i believe on flying away on a wing and a prayer, and who could it be? believe it or not, it is just me. believe it or not, the fish that we got and the bread i just said is all that we got, is all that we need for us to get fed and

for us to feed a whole lot of folks in need. thank you. [applause] >> let me ask the audience to thank our two guests on stage. [applause] and then, i'm going to invite awele to come up. thank you for your questions today and your participation. >> you are very welcome. >> before we go, i have one

announcement and thank you, and then, we want to acknowledge the sponsorship for today's program. i want to give a big thank-you to linda brooks burton. [applause] because linda brooks britain last march invited me to plan this program, and i want to thank helen, who i work with in san francisco unified because she introduced me to bryonn bain, and she always introduces me to the various artists that come in to work in the school district. as i learned about bryonn and experienced his presence and i was thinking about putting together this program, it just clicked -- why not bring the two together to bring this link from the past unsegregated jim crow to what is happening in the 21st century and that has been

happening? i think i was inspired by michele alexander's booke." >> it is my pleasure to say, ms. colvin, without you we would not be where we are. [applause] thank you for sharing your story, and keep telling your story because we need to know, and our children need to know, and our children's children need to know your story. and we want to thank our sponsors today. we have the san francisco unified school district. we have marked as bookstores, who will be selling this -- ms. colvin's book, written about her, by philip house. we have sponsorship from the african diaspora, and the friends of the san francisco

public library. i serve as part of the african- american interest committee that helped put this program together, and i want to thank all of you for coming, and i want to thank sfgtv for taking the program today. we want to thank the department here at san francisco public library, and we are having a reception in l58, and we want to thank read your catering for providing some delicious food for us to nibble on today, so will you please join us and say thank you again to mrs. colvin and also to byrin bain for telling his story, but thank you for coming so that we can say thank you to miss colvin for being a living history maker. join us. thank you.

♪ lift every voice and sing

>> thanks for coming today. we are announcing are temporary homeowner's property tax reduction program. this is what most assessor's up and down the state are doing. homeowners are reliable -- of all property owners are eligible for a temporary, 1-year property-tax assessment reduction if they believe or if we believe dave -- the assess the value has fallen above their market value, which means that the value would be lower than the market value. in general, homeowners who are

eligible, chances are, they purchased homes after 2003. we do get applicants who have owned homes since 1995 or earlier. in general, anybody who is owned their home prior to 2003, they are doing well, which is good news. chances are the market value is higher than the assessed value, meaning the property appreciate it. people we are able to offer little relief for, the sad news is, their homes have depreciated. there will be a little bit of relief for them. in general, last year, we saw 6400 applicants in comparison to four years ago when we had 248 requests. the form a simple. it is one page. name, telephone number, e-mail, and the address you are applying for. if you can give us sales in

formation of similar types of homes, we do hope you can give us that. if you cannot come maternity leave blank and sign it. e-mail or fax it to us -- if you cannot give us that, leave it blank and sign it. e-mail or fax it was. tenderloin downtown, south of market, mission bay, and south beach. those were many of the new high- rise condominiums that went in to market the last four or five years. we have seen a significant amount of depreciation in those areas. gaviria that has seen the largest value drop is -- the other area that has seen the largest volume drop is the outer mission, amazon, those areas have seen the largest percentage drop. it is where we have been hit hardest with foreclosures. we make sure that we take an extra look. we proactively have been

reviewing every home that was purchased after 2000. even though we think eligibility is for people up to 2003, we review any homeowner who purchased after 2000. that was roughly about 15,000 homeowners. of that, reduced -- no one had to apply or call us. we did this on our own. we reduced 10,000 of those homeowners. roughly, you have 10,000 reductions that we did on our own. 1700 reductions were done through this application process. 5000 time shares is how you get to the 17,000 number. just to give you a comparison, it is quite a bit in san francisco. these are huge numbers, larger than the dot com bust. alameda and santa clara did

about 1000 come a tenfold. -- 1000, tenfold. we are doing better than our counterparts in other parts of the bay area. i feel fortunate. the tax reduction was about 21 million in taxes that were not collected. 21 million in taxes were not collected. that is a significant number. it is out of a $6.5 billion budget. overall, the difference to the city is still rather small compared to what it meant to many of the other counties in other areas. let me stop there and take questions. >> [inaudible] >> 6462. of those, we actually reviewed only 4177. many of those were already reviewed. we have actively reviewed them.

some of them were not eligible. >> [inaudible] >> anybody who has gotten a reduction, they don't need to apply. we will look at it again. if you have gotten a reduction through an appeal or through our office, they don't need to apply again. they will be reviewed. they may want to apply because maybe they want to give us information we don't know. they are free to do that. that will be reviewed as part of that process. in general, they don't need to submit paperwork if they already got a reduction last year. >> [inaudible]

>> well, i think because it is just flat, the market has not rebounded and gone up. we will probably see the same number of people deserve reductions last year. i think it will be comparable. traditionally, an economic recovery is like a v. this is more like a u. we're at the bottom of it right now. my feeling is we are going to see, you know, a very unusual real-estate market in san francisco. it will be flat and not appreciate a whole lot right now. the number people who are eligible is probably similar to last year. i bet we will give about the same number of reductions this year as we did last year. it will not be that much different. >> [inaudible] >> anybody that was reviewed -- everybody in san francisco got a letter from us in july. they were told what their assessed value was. there were told that they got a

reduction. if they got a reduction based on the letter, they don't need to reapply. what people do is we will review applicants. the deadline is march 31. all 17,000 who got reductions will be reviewed automatically. everyone will get notified again in july. we will not talk to anybody prior to that. everyone else will be getting the standard notification in july. >> [inaudible] you review these every year. >> every year. the reductions we review every year. as the market appreciates, we may take their assessments up based on what the market value is. they may go all the way back up to the factor value. it may go up partially higher. obviously, that is what he would see. you would see a step over the years to include the appreciation based on what the

market is feeling. right now, we are not seeing a whole lot of appreciation. chances are, the assessment will be a little bit different than last year. the original purchase applies plus whatever the inflation factor was on an annual basis. in general, up to 2%. we had a negative inflation factor for the first me last year. everybody got a reduction last year. >> [inaudible] >> this year, cpi based on the final number we saw, is. 5% positive. it is still well below 2%. -- is .5% positive. it is still well below 2%. the economy is still rather flat. >> [inaudible] >> everybody who does not get a

reduction will get a .5% increase in their assessment. that is just a proximate. it will probably be pretty close to that. we can show you the website. we follow the same website. it is the state cpi. it is a tracking mechanism for the state. >> [inaudible] >> i think there will vote to finalize in the next month or two. i think the number is done. >> overall, when all is said and done, what is the amount that you're going to receive [inaudible] >> for reductions, it will really just depend on how much your property might have depreciated or appreciate id.

some areas where maybe there was a 5% or 3%, the good news in san francisco, we have not seen a few drops we saw in other parts of the bay area, like solano, or properties dropped 50%. you don't want that. you want your property to appreciate. that is the goal. it might be $50, $100, maybe a few hundred dollars. it and will not be anything huge -- it will not be anything huge. >> [inaudible] >> over last year, it was a $21 million difference. because of the temporary reductions in homeowners values, there was $21 million that was not collected by the county. let's put that in context of the $6.5 billion budget. >> [inaudible] >> the total property tax collected is about $2 billion. overall, we are doing quite well.

>> [inaudible] >> overall, property-tax as have done extremely well the last five, 10 years. we have seen huge increases overall. >> [inaudible] >> no idea. if i did, i should be in las vegas placing a bet, or should be in new york making more money than i am here. the controller's office is probably tracking it more than us. we don't know. we have seen -- we have seen several governments pumped $1 trillion into the economy. it is a huge amount of money. we have seen some improvements, but not the ones they were hoping for. great. ok. thanks, everybody.