day and direct my path. working for youth development organization, i spend most of my time telling young folks to stay in school. the irony feels like a swift punch to my ego every time i catch myself given that typical i have made those mistakes already speech. so i have learned to disguise them with phrases like, yo, homey, school will get you paid or all the cuties go to college. [laughter] >> they usually reply with a youthful pessimism. i say, look, just don't follow in my footsteps. learn from the path i have already taken and create your own. i'm reminded of where i come from when i walk into most high school, faced with that unholy deja vu with students shifting between classrooms, haulways become a permanent purgatory for failures. some might call that line segregated. pardon me for a moment while i digress. i can't help but notice that classrooms look liked red sea, spread in half separating

students by more than color, but it's funny how brown folks still find their way to the back. when test scores reflect budget cuts, teachers play hot to pay toe with kids that can't read. special education is the new segregation while standardized tests are the sequel to separate but equal. [applause] >> but test scores can only reflect accessibility to information. we can't get the answer right if we don't understand the question, so every day i pray for wisdom while s.a.t.'s play god separating saint from sinner, student from statistic, private from public, and in a city as diverse as san francisco, people of color make up 50% of the population and almost 90% of the public schools. it's no coincidence, perhaps it's beautifully deliberate. this state invests almost $250,000 for every juvenile in prison as opposed to $6,000 for a student in the oakland public school system. in other words, they invest more in us when we fail so they won't send us to study hall.

they would rather send us to jail. fire our teachers and replace them with correctional officers, turn or public schools into playpen ten shares, 1/3 of our generation to be incarcerated. there is no such thing as segregation. young man, you will always be brown versus the board of education. [applause] >> and i can't help but see myself in you. i was bred to be a worker, too, taught to fill out a job application before i learned to apply for college. my counselor suggested i stick with something special. garbage brings great benefits. i threw away my education. stuck at community college, a place where more than often not dreams of higher education go to die and classes fill up faster than emergency rooms. students fall like flies. there i was in one more class that i didn't need. i'm thinking if junior college is hell, heaven must be something like stanford.

every day i pray to be forgiven. sometimes i feel like brown skin is the cardinal sin. and sometimes i feel like moses wandering in an ocean of dust searching for some promised land when my people pray to idols replacing golden calfs or golden bears. i don't have the heart to tell you that berkeley is only public to folks who had a private education. maybe we were just born behind the curve or perhaps we missed the bell, but i wonder if at this moment he can smell the hypocrisy on my breath when i say do your best knowing i will graduate from a colleject him, my life story in three pages and let them call it my personal statement. let me test them until i am standard and one day they can see me as some kind of equal. i remind myself i'm doing it for this community so that no institution, whether it's public school or prison, will ever validate who we are. so nowadays, i go to sleep to the uneasy sound of an

apprehensive retribution rising over my evening prayers. dear god, let us never forget that we are all sacred but equal. [cheers and applause] >> i now would like to complement what kamala has done in terms of introducing some of the people that are here in the hall. i think of particular importance is the fact that the los angeles city attorney, carmen, is here with his wife noreen. if you would give them a round of applause for coming up, that's very special. [applause] >> also, alameda district

attorney nancy o'malley, san mateo d.a. steve wagstaff. kamala introduced senator mark leno. you can give him another round if you would like. [applause] >> someone who is going to have his hands full and is totally ready for the job, our new mayor, ed lee. [applause] >> our new chief of police. [applause] >> kamala mentioned our city attorney, dennis herrera. public defender, assessor, treasurer jose sis narrows. of course, kamala who is here, give her a round of applause. united states attorney melinda hague. [applause] >> sovereign lano county d.a.,

sonoma county d.a., supervisors mark farrell, malia cohen, charmen chu. judges, i understand they were all invited. i hope some are here. members of the council core and our fire chief, our wonderful fire chief joanne hayes-white. i met the person i'm going to introduce next way back in the 1960's and he had tried to buy a house in san francisco in forest noles. and he was refused because of race. and that was a long time ago, but this is a fact and so some of us went out, my daughter who

is now a judge was in her stroller and we picketed the developer which was sun stream homes then on 19th avenue and finally that was put to rest. but it gives you and idea of how things change over time and how necessary it is to have people who care about these rights and who were willing to work for these rights. we became fast friends and we have for at least three decades now. i ran for the board of supervisors in 1969, no public official would support me but one. and it was willie brown. and since that time -- [applause] >> i think it's fair to say that willie and i have been fast friends. and i watched him, three years in the california assembly, 15 years at speaker. those were the days when

speakers didn't change every few years. it was the time when a speaker could do an agreement or even with a minority party, a speaker could find three or four votes. last time i talked to willie, we were talking about the budget and he said to me, oh, i would have known in january where there were three or four republican votes. and i believe him. i believe him. he is an incredible human being and so this man has walked the walk and talked the talk decade after decade. he was a fine mayor for this great city. like all of us, he served two full terms. he did his job and he is still doing his job. he is a great friend of everyone in this room. i hope you will warmly welcome the honorable former member -- former mayor, former speaker of the california assembly, the one and only willie brown.

[cheers and applause] >> diane, thank you very much for that very kind introduction . diane as newsom would say, is incredible when she presents people, but it's usually dead people. [laughter] >> am i ok? [laughter] >> diane is obviously as lieutenant governor newsom said, a very rare find. she was a rare find in 1969 when first elected directly to the board of supervisors, not appointed, directly elected, got the highest number of votes of anybody ever run for that

job. and in those days, the highest number of votes made you the president of the board. you can imagine the other 10 people on that board trying to figure out what is going to happen to them with diane totally and completely in charge. she is intolerant of people who are not committed to addressing the issues effectively and with principal and she ran that board with an iron hand. and she still -- i am. see, she is still giving orders, you understand that. that's the nature of who she really is. and by the way, it's been all those years she talked about i am the co-chair of her campaign for re-election to the u.s. senate statewide. [applause] >> and there is only one other person that is co-chair, two of us, co-chair, one in southern california and one in northern california. we're going to make sure that

diane gets re-elected. but my role tonight is a very simple one. when then mayor newsom called me to tell me what he had in mind for the d.a., i, too, said to him, you're going to appoint a nonlawyer to the job? he said, see, you're not as smart as i thought you were. the guy is a lawyer. i knew that going out. i want you to urge him because he didn't accept when i offered it to him. he wanted to think about it. now, i never appointed anybody who wanted to think about it. do you think mark leno wanted to think about it when i appointed him. newsom wanted to think about it when i wanted to appoint him? not at all. they thought it was their divine right!

[laughter] [applause] >> but not george. he really was very, very thoughtful. he called me and we chatted and i, of course, was really encouraging him because you don't know when you're going to need a d.a. [laughter] >> and in my lifetime, i have always stayed close to every district attorney, every attorney general all over the country. i don't take any chances whatsoever. i remember exactly what jack kennedy said when on "meet the press" and he had named his brother bobby to be his attorney general, u.s. attorney general. and they were upset with mr.

kennedy, then the president, and they said, mr. president, nepities many this and nepities many is that. why did you name your brother the attorney general? . he said very simply, because my mother was not a lawyer. [laughter] >> he appointed the best qualified, most loyal, most direct person and gavin newsom did exactly that. and it's interesting, of course, you see gavin held off a whole week so that he could let kamala go so he would be able to fill her job. if he had taken the oath of office on the same day she had taken the office, somebody else would have been able to name the district attorney. but gavin newsom is to ever be rewarded for holding back because his holding back for the week in-between his

eligibility and when he was sworn in directly produced the opportunity for him to exercise such good judgment and name george gascon the new d.a. of san francisco. so round of applause for gavin newsom and that extraordinary effort. [applause] >> in just a few minutes, the swearing-in ceremony will take place and it is most appropriate that the man who will administer the oath of office will be administering it to george. carlos marino, i had the great pleasure of participating in his swearing-in ceremony for the supreme court of california. he left a lifetime appointment,

dianne, that you had participated in clearing him for in the u.s. senate in 1998. he left a lifetime judgeship appointment to assume the awesome responsibility to be one and a member and an associate justice of our state supreme court. his career is really unusual in that after leaving yale university, graduating and coming home and going to work, his friends and relatives were on his case full-time. his mind was so agile and so able to understand insurance policies and other kinds of complicated things that it prompted him to go back to school. he didn't have a license to practice law. what he was being asked were the kind of things that a quality lawyer should do, but there is nobody in the community with those skills. went to stanford university,

yale and then stanford. stanford, he got the law degree. went out and practiced, was recruited by the major firms in california to work with them after he left the city attorney's office in los angeles. then the governor and a great colleague of mine in the legislature appointed marino to the muni bench in of all places, compton, california, compton, california, at that time was like oakland on steroids. it was a tough operation. he brought some sense of justice under the law in compton, california. he was elevated to the superior court by pete wilson, appointed first and then elevated to the supreme court by pete wilson. in the superior court capacity,

he continued his understanding and his presentation on equal justice under the law, so impressive that a democratic president named bill clinton accepted the recommendations of the senatorial representatives from california and marino became a district judge of the district court in california, approved unanimously by the u.s. senate on an appointment from bill clinton. just think about that, republican, wilson republican, clinton a democrat. it didn't take gray davis long to recognize that he, too, wanted to get in on appointing marino to something. and he appointed marino as an associate justice of our court. i think maybe the third in the history of the state of california and hispanic in that category.

he has since completed his task in that regard, but in the process, he has made friends everywhere, friends under every circumstances. so tonight, admission high school in the mission, part of the city that traditionally carries the hispanic label, he is about to administer the oath of office as a hispanic jurist to a cuban likewise with the hispanic flavor to it, all part of what goes. [laughter] >> i just got back from havana -- [laughter] >> and i must tell you the story i told george this. he is story. i said, george, i went all over havana. nobody ever heard of you. [laughter] are you sure you are from cuba? he assures me that he is.

tonight, it is a corporate for us to celebrate this oath of office from carlos moreno to the district attorney of san francisco for at least four years, my friend, george gascon. [applause] >> thank you, mr. mayor for that wonderful introduction. to me, you will always be mr. mayer. it really demonstrates why you are so successful in the law practice. i would like to have a transcript of that. my wife will wonder who you were talking about. [laughter] before i administer the oath of

office, let me ask george's wife to please come up. [applause] i have the distinct pleasure and honor and to administer the oath of office. you have heard so many wonderful and operational things about george, who i've known for years, his daughters and son. his story is the american dream story. some of the immigrants, just as i am. more importantly, all his life, he has been a devoted public servant, working his way through college, through law school, passing the bar, all while raising a family and rising in the administrative ranks of the los angeles police department. it is really a testament to your

dedication and perseverance. an l.a. homeboy, like me. we are here to support you and to administer the oath of office. let me and the bible to fabi ola, and we would get to the zero of office. please raise your right hand, place your left hand on the bible. i want to tell you a brief story. the reason why we ask persons taking an oath of office to raise their right hand is because, in england, we needed to know if the person had committed any felonies. in those days, if you had committed a felony, one of your digits had been cut off.

i do not know if you can see, but he has all of the digits intact, so far so good. [laughter] george, if you would repeat after me. i, and george gascon, do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states, and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and i will bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states, and to the constitution of the stick california, and i take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that i will well and faithfully

discharge the duties upon which i am about to enter during such time as i hold the office of district attorney of the city and county of san francisco. congratulations. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] >> it is really a tremendous honor for me to be here today.

first, i want to say a few words in spanish. [speaking spanish] to my sons, you are incredible. i am so proud of all of you. before i go on, i also want to say a few words to the people behind me. these people have made the

difference for me. i am going to start with mayer brown, who became a friend a long time ago. has always been a supporter, someone that i trust his counsel, and his support has been meeting all -- meaningful to me. kamala harris, a wonderful friend, one that i met telephonically initially as i was considering coming to san francisco. from day one, we hit it off. your support, friendship, and your endorsement meant a great deal to me. gavin newsom, there is not much i can say. i would not be here but for gavin. he offered me the opportunity to come here to be the chief of police. at the time when we worked together, i could not have asked for a better mayor.

you were there to support, you never micromanaged. you provided the tools for me to get the job done. as we were talking about replacing a mutual friend, someone i supported greatly, because i believe she was the most qualified person to be the attorney-general in this state, we started talking, and the offer came up, something quite unexpected. frankly, i have to think about it. it was not something that i was ready for. but i cannot tell you, gavin, how much your support has meant for me, and obviously your endorsement in the election. to my right, senator feinstein was somebody that i respected for many years. when i was at the lapd, we work with her office regularly, dealing with assault weapons.

how do we make our country safer? no one, other than the military, should own an assault rifle. hopefully, we can get back to that one day. i remember working with your staff in those years, learning to respect you a great deal. quite frankly, i was not familiar with your san francisco story, other than that you came from here. coming here and then getting to know what you did for this wonderful city. as i decided to embark on this wonderful journey, your endorsement was so wonderful. i will never forget you for that. i will be there for you, what ever you need. carlos moreno is someone that i have a very special place in my heart.

carlos came from east l.a., at a place that i grew up in, and very familiar with, and a place that will always be close to my heart. not only did noi know about cars as an accomplished attorney, but he was a great friend of al a -- l.a. there was a great deal of segregation in the lapd, but moving forward, he came to us to make sure that we had a different place, an organization that reflected the communities that we served. a place where hispanic americans, african-americans, women, many others in the organization, would have an opportunity to rise based on

their own excellence. it was then that i really got to know carlos and admired what he did. frankly, when this opportunity came, carlos was one of the first people i called. i said, can i have your endorsement? without hesitation, he said, absolutely. i will never forget you for that. when i won the election, and frankly, it was the holidays, moving at 100 miles per hour. people were asking who i would like to swear me in, and without hesitation, carlos' name came up. i was hesitant to ask at first. i know that carlos is very busy, has other thing that he is do