always have. there is a period of time when our veterans came home, they were called names, baby killers, spat upon. but native americans, native americans, we have always honored our veterans. we do the same today. going over to our friendship house drum, veterans song please. please stand if you are able.

[applause]

>> once again, thank you veterans. ross mirkarimi, our newly elected sheriff of san francisco county, and a former supervisor? welcome, good to see you. . our dancers are ready. how about a big round of applause for our veterans? the marine in me wanted to call them to the attention and dismiss them. veterans, thank you for your service.

at this time, we want to recognize our dancers, going over to our napsters. grand entry. our native american dancers from throughout the bay area. welcome. here we go. how about a big round of applause for our dancers as they make their way into the arena. here they come. good to see all of you dancers. dance hard. sing loud. here we go. looking good. good singing, good dancing, live

from san francisco city hall, good to see you. leading our dancers in, no. traditional dancing. good to see you. followed by our women's southern claw. right behind them are women's no. traditional. good to see all of these dancers. we also have our women's

dingell-dressed dancers. followed by our women's fancy shalwl. naomi and baby, good to see you. how about a big welcome for are a tiny tots, our youngsters. good singing, good dancing. looking good. grass dancers bringing up the tail end of our dancers. one more time, big round of applause for our intertribal dnacers. i am sorry just watching them

dance. all right. bringing our men's traditional to the arena. mr. swimmer. mr. baird child. going to friendship house drum. an appropriate song for our dancers. make them dance.

all right. looking good out there, dancers. there you go. show us what you got. how about a big round of applause for our men's no. traditional dancers.

all right. then, southern straits, stand by. all right. thank you dancers. thank you, singers. do we have any mends southern strait? ok, going back to our women's southern claw. make your way into the arena.

how about women's northern traditional as well. i just realized we do not have a southern drum. no. the ladies, stand by. when you are ready. make them dance. [singing]

how about a big round of applause for our women's traditional, southern claw. good dancing. all right.

thank you, ladies. how about men's grass, boy's grass. are you ready? looking pretty good or rather -- over there. kick one out. make them dance. show us what you got, boys. dance hard.

women's jindal, stand by. -- jingle, stand by.

all right. looking good, boys. looking good. one more time. big round of applause for our boys grass and dancers and our men's grass dancers. looking good. jingle dress dancers, all ages, come on out. these young ladies represent our thursday night san liandro power

of dance glasses. round of applause for all of these young ladies. good dancing, good singing. looking good out there. all right.

here we go. bring it home. one more time. our jingle dress dancers. omg. they are good. go over to our women's fancy shawl, all ages. make your way into the arena. friendship house drum. kick one out. make them dance.

all right. how about these beautiful dancers? dance hard. all right. [singing]

you guys are looking good out there. that's hard. that's hard. -- dnace hard. dance hard. all right. good singing, good dancing. we are waiting for the mayor. any word on the mayor? this is a real honor to introduce to you and the honorable mayor, edwin lee, the mayor of the city of san

francisco. [applause] >> thank you very much for that introduction. thank you, everybody. welcome to city hall. welcome to san francisco. welcome to our seventh annual american indians heritage month celebration, here at city hall. i just want to recognize and bank kqed for their sponsorship. i want to thank our wonderful spiritual drum corps here. thank you for being here. i wanted thank our wonderful and beautiful ceremonial dancers. thank you for making this such a wonderful, beautiful tradition. thank you very much. in our city, we always cherish

our diversity, but we also cherish our origins. i know the native american heritage month, native american heritage month as part of our origin in this country, and we recognize that, and we celebrate it, and we want that heritage to continue each year to remind us of the tremendous diversity that we celebrate in our city. thank you all for coming. i want to give special recognition to the host committee of agencies that have been working with us so graciously and gratefully. the native american aid projects, thank you. friendship house association. never heard office of -- neighborhood office. east bay native american health center. the indian health center of santa clara valley are here. as i mentioned, kqed. as we celebrate tonight, we

have, as i have been honored to have the authority to issue an official proclamation declaring this to be native american heritage month celebration, i would like to ask to be joined by susan jamison. please come on up. joan benet. susan is our native american help center director. joan executive director of our native americans aids project. however, our chief executive officer, friendship house. please join me. liz hunt, the ceo of the indian center of santa clara. [applause]

i want to thank you all for joining us here in santa risk -- san francisco. in the tradition of our city, in honor and recognition of our indian heritage month, i would like to present -- and i am proud to present, in partnership with kqed, the public broadcasting station, friendship house, and indian health center's santa clara valley, san francisco native american health center, to celebrate four outstanding heroes that we will be recognizing tonight, their work in the bay area, and with the authority i have as the mayor of city and county of san francisco, with the participation of our wonderful and beautiful dancers and spiritual drummers, declaring this to be officially the american indian heritage month in san francisco.

thank you all for coming. [applause]

>> local heroes. do what last year's or this year's? [applause]

[applause] dancers, stand by. how about a big round of applause for mayor edwin lee? [applause]

mayor lee, i would have voted for you, but i live in oakland. we are good. at this time, i would like to call up susan jamieson, executive director, native american health center, oakland, calif. [applause] >> thank you, earl. it is my pleasure to introduce our first honoree earl arniconie. he has lived here in the bay area for the past 22 years with his wife brigitte.

currently working as the workforce investment act program coordinator and for the united nations -- united in the nations of east bay, earl encourages native american youth and adults to finish their high school, diplomas, as well lead g d's, an enrolled in vocational programs to further advance their training. he also assist those who want to achieve a higher educational degree by promoting recruit and and retention of native american students throughout indian country. as earl is a veteran of the indicted states marine corps and a graduate of the seattle police academy, he assists native american veterans in the pursuit up careers in law enforcement. he is also known through indian country as a not