>> just take a picture.

together -- thank you very much everyone. [applause] mayor lee: thank you. thank you, everyone. [applause] >> the mayor wants to know if he can keep his hat? [laughter] [unintelligible] thank you very very much.

next, someone who represents another first in our city's history. three years ago, district 3 elected the first chinese- american to the board of supervisors, and immediately after he was sworn in, history was made again as he was sworn in as the board president. please welcome supervisor david to come here on behalf of the sentences go board of supervisors -- david chiu. >> aloha. it is an incredible honor to be here with you tonight. after 163 years, this is a glorious sight. i have spoken with mayor lee about the history of our community and we talk about what

happened in 1870's with the first anti-asian exclusion acts. we talk about what happens after the 1906 earthquake when chinese residents were fighting not to be moved to a different part of the city. we talk about the japanese- american internment in the 1940's and we talk about the anti-communist purge of the asian-american communities here in san francisco in the 1950's. moving along to 1977 and the fall of the international hotel. our friends, we have come a long way. [applause] i have to tell you the most amazing moment of the year of 2011 was the first meeting of the board of supervisors this year on january 8, leading to the vote that we first cast for

the first asian-american mayor in the city and county of san francisco. this was a vote that came about because you, the people of san francisco, elected four asian- american to the board of supervisors. and not just three chinese representatives, but the first korean-american representative, and i am so honored to represent the four of them, to welcome you here to this celebration. we have decided to implement a new yearly award, with each of our district supervisors recognizing a 11 awardees representing the best, brightest, most impact low in our community we will be honoring as part -- most impactful in our community we

will be honoring as part of apa heritage month. in district 1 -- in district two, alexander ong, district three, mr. byung, district four, the store manager of the sunset district good will, martin lamb, in district 5, rodney chen, district 6, steven lee, the leader of aspire, district 7, a longtime democratic activist, district 8, the founding executive director of the chinatown community development center gordon chen, strychnine shirley chen, district 10, a community leader

and visitation valley, and last but not least, the business woman and president of an iron works co., florence kong. could you join me in thanking all of their leadership? [applause] the last thing i want to say is we have been celebrating our heritage for 163 years, and i look forward to another 163 years of celebration. thank you very much for being here. >> supervisor chiu, thank you very much. this is the seventh year that san francisco has held an official celebration for asian americans. the plans are the culminated efforts of the members of the mayor's asian-pacific american

heritage celebration committee. please welcome me and joining claudine cheng for her remarks on this year's celebration. >> thank you, everyone, for joining us for our celebration this year. the theme of our celebration is celebrate heritage, celebrated community voices. the community is selected this team for two reasons. one -- the community recognizes we care about this city, that we want our interest to be addressed, and how do we do that? we need our voices to be heard. the second reason -- we would like to inspire and encourage the next generation of leaders to be engaged and affected

community voices. so far, this year, we have decided to dedicate our award to individuals and business organizations that have been effective community voices. there is a listing of all the finalists in the program books. they have all been magnificent. thank you on behalf of the community. i hope -- i know all of them are here tonight and i would like to ask them to stand and be recognized. all of our awards finalists, please stand and be recognized. [applause] and just like every single one of you, i look forward to hearing who the award recipients will be, but really all of you of done such great work and we thank you so much. we want to thank all the members of the apa heritage celebration

committee. many of you have been generous in thanking me, but not me. it is a committee of volunteers. we need for six months out of the year to plan our celebration every year, and without everyone being a part of it, this would not have happened. please thank them and give them our round of applause. [applause] this is the seventh year we are part of the city's official celebration. i want to thank mayor edwin lee and his entire staff. members of the board of supervisors, the apa official elected families. this is the first year with ask for a personal contribution to our celebration. i want to thank both of you. last, but not least, the

celebration every year has included a lot of community efforts to spread the word that the month of may is apa heritage month, to put on the kind of public relations effort need to in the city and county of san francisco. we will have a reception in the green room afterwards. no contribution is too small, but i would like to take this opportunity to invite our major sponsors up here as we do have an appreciation gift for you. to start our work, i would like to invite are presenting sponsor. this is the first year we have up presenting sponsor. we would like to invite president david t [applause]

>> just very briefly, on behalf of target, just very privileged to be part of this. it is a new day and it's an exciting day. never before have we celebrated asian pacific heritage month and the landscape as we are today. with the ever-changing population, with the political landscape, heck, we even saw the first chinese american nba player, and we are proud to be part of it and celebrate throughout the month of may. so thank you very much for having us. [applause]

>> we have our returning heritage champion, pacific gas and electric represented by ontario smith. ontario? and pg&e has been there since day one. [applause] [applause] and next joining us at the heritage partners level we have rebecca delgado representing the academy of universities. is rebecca here?

[applause] and representing at&t we have jason chan. jason? jason is probably busy making phone calls. right here. [applause] and representing bank of

america, rosana lunge. [applause] and representing croft , ron lowe, ron? [applause]

we have mcdonald's and their representative did not make it and the last one on the list, ross bargo who has been with us for many years, tracy tran, tracy? [applause] tracy has not made it yet. so really, thank you very much. and for joining us and hope to see you again next year. and it's so special that our new police chief is with us. and would you like to say a few words? [applause] >> i don't think that that was

actually a question. [laughter] i'm just really pleased to be here. i wasn't prepared to say anything. but just the culture and what it does for the community, it really does leave me without much to say other than thank you for everybody does. and thanks for having me. [applause] >> thank you, chief. and thank you, claudine. i hope you were able to meet some. greeters in the lobby before the event started. and you may have noticed they were selling these little pins. you see this a.p.a. heritage month pin? it's the image of the heritage month logo designed in the form and shape of an a. and it's a beautiful piece. but what is even more important is all the proceeds from the sale of this pin will go to the japanese cultural and community center of northern california to support the relief efforts for the victims of the earthquake in japan. so please, take a moment to take a look. and purchase one for a very,

very good caution. at this time, the celebration committee would like to acknowledge the presence of the many officials and diplomatic representatives from the asian pacific countries joining us here tonight. you saw many. counsel -- many of the consul generals up here. their representatives, please stand and be acknowledged. [applause] thank you all for being here. and in addition to the presenting champion and partner sponsors, there are so many other sponsors who have generously supported tonight's event. and as a result, the celebration committee has been very successful in its campaign to raise public awareness about asian pacific american heritage month which includes ads on muni buses, posters and wish sites. so let's being a nonl the additional following -- acknowledge the additional following sponsors. at the heritage patron level we have comcast, lenar urban,

ecology s.f., southwest airlines. at the heritage friend level, coalition of asian-american government employees, japan town merchant associations of san francisco, ktsf television, sugar bowl bakery, and union bank. and media partners, abc-7, a.m. 1400, asian week.com, comcast, and choir.net, ktsf tv, s.f. gov tv, the examiner and world channel. thank you so much for your support. [applause] and if you're -- this celebration also received the support of so many individuals as well as professional small businesses and community organizations. you'll see their names listed on the screen and in the program book. and on the website. a.p.a. -- apasf.org. those attending this celebration for the past few years, we have been treated to so many fabulous and unique

ethnic, cultural performances. this year, certainly no exception. the northern california cherry blossom festival just celebrated its 44th year. during which the 2011 queen and court was selected. so tonight, the 2011 court will perform their opening number from the queens program, choreographed by mickey nowitzki and music by shina ringo entitled ringo uotota. please welcome the 2011 northern california cherry blossom court. [applause]

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[applause] >> thank you once again. the 2011 cherry blossom court. a beautiful performance. and now the special moment we've all been waiting for. the asian pacific american heritage awards honoring individuals and organizations who have made a distinct impact in their contributions to the city's a.p.a. community. this year the awards are being presented in three categories. for individuals, awards for emerging leadership and lifetime achievement. and for organizations, we have the community impact award.

more than 30 nominations were received in the top finalists in each category were submitted to a panel of three distinguished judges to make the final selection. now, the three judges are dafney quack, chair of the president's advisory commission on pacific americans and pacific islanders and those with disabilities of california, the president and c.e.o. of yanza media group and commissioner, natasha cowersaw, california commission on asian and pacific islander american affairs, and law partner with the law offices of g.c.r. l.l.p. unfortunately, all three judges were not able to join us tonight to present the awards. but we have three very capable individuals who are proud to make the presentations on their behalf. and now for the presentation of the emerging leadership award, please join me in welcoming supervisor eric marr. [applause]

>> thank you. i'm actually not speier mar. -- supervisor mar. but we went to the same high school in sacramento so i'll stand in for him. i'm pleased to announce the finalists and recipients for the emerging leadership award. in the interests of time, we have all of the criteria listed in the award booklet. but it's important for us to recognize and celebrate the next generation of leadership, passion, and commitment to serving the asian pacific community. and it's critical also that we ensure that our voices, our needs and concerns continue to be heard and addressed. i would like to ask the finalists for the emerging leadership category to please stand up. each of them are extremely accomplished in their areas of

achievement. andrew lamb. andrew, could you please stand up. [applause] lisa lee. [applause] nicky sun. [applause] and the award goes to -- feel like the oscars here -- lisa lee, the publisher of hyphen magazine. the super cool online magazine and website. lisa is a graduate of u.c. berkeley and has degrees in math, communications, theater and performance studies and committed to using her communication skills to help hyphen reach a broader constituency. let's give a warm congratulations to lisa.

[applause] >> wow. this is really big. and really heavy. going to break it down. going to put it down before i break it. how are you guys doing? ok. well, just a few people that i would like to thank. first of all, definitely the a.p.a. heritage celebration committee, thank you so much for putting this on. i know it's a volunteer committee. so we definitely understand how that is. an all-volunteer run organization. and also, thank you to the

panel of judges for this incredible honor. really, really just surprised and humbled by it. and with that said, i share this award with my fellow nominees, andrew and nikki. you guys are amazing. please continue to do everything that you're doing right now. because you guys are an inspiration to us all at hyphen. somebody very important that i would like to thank as well, melissa hung who was sitting right over there, melissa, can you wave? [applause] she's actually the founder of hyphen magazine eight years ago, if melissa did not have the vision to create our very own asian-american publication, hyphen would not be here today. so thank you so much for that and for the opportunity to serve. and of course vincent pan from chinese affirmative action for giving us a space to do all of

our work. there was a time when we were floating around. and carrying out boxes of magazines from garages to garages. our readers, donors and volunteers. just one thing that i would like to mention, i recently went to a documentary screening at the san francisco film festival. and it's here for another week so i hope some of you get to catch some of the wonderful films that are there. and i went to a documentary screening called crime after crime. i don't know how many of you guys were able to catch it. and the film maker showed up and did a q&a. and there he said that visibility doesn't equal change. and that's something that really resonated with me. and if there's one thing that i can leave with you today it's that message. i want to thank our a.p.a. elected officials for all the work that you guys are doing.