it's an steroid list of accomplishments. you know everything she has done in the senate, but i want to just thank senator feinstein for all of the work she did to make this city better and i say this all the time. in baseball like, unlike politics, you get credit for saves. politics you don't often get credit for saves. the work she did to save this city from cuts, the work she did to fight for this city are extraordinary as well and that goes on an accomplishment list. i don't have time for that. i want to just close with this. my wife just finished a film called "misrepresentation." this is not an argument in favor of that film. we're 92nd in the world in legislative positions. in cuban they have woman more in legislative positions, in iraq, afghanistan, and china, an interesting fact. think about dianne feinstein. first woman, member of the board, president of the board of supervisors, first woman mayor, first woman u.s. senator from the state of california,

judiciary committee, intelligence committee, rules committee, first woman that in every one of these categories. she has broken every one of these barriers. an extraordinary leader, i can say this as i introduce her, the best is yet to come. ladies and gentlemen, senior senator from california, dianne feinstein! [cheers and applause] >> thank you, thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you, thank you. thank you very much, gavin. ubiquotous, oh, that's what it means, all right. i'm just so happy to be home. i'm so happy to be home and look at this stage where you have got two young brilliant leaders in gavin newsom and kamala harris and where you have three mayors, a present mayor, two of us that are getting a little long in the tooth. wait until that.

and all of us here to salute the next district attorney of the city and county of san francisco. yeah, gavin mentioned george gascon's record, working up to assistant chief in the los angeles police department, taking a leave, getting a law degree and coming back. i guess he was in the department from 1978 to 1987, is that right? a long time. obviously well thought of. the city attorney of los angeles is here today to salute him. a very distinguished justice is here today in justice mow renault to give -- moreno to give him the oath of office. one of the things i learned over a lot of years, ladies and gentlemen, is nobody does anything by themselves. it's all a team effort. so the assistant d.a.'s that work with this new d.a., the judges that the cases are presented before, all of this is extraordinarily important.

and i was very proud to support george gascon in this race for district attorney. and i did so because of his record, because of his consistency, because of his directness, because of his ability. i'm very proud that gavin newsom as mayor appointed him police chief and then district attorney and many times people who are appointed can't win in an election, but george gascon did win and today he is here on his own as an elected official with 62% of the vote in the city and county of san francisco. [applause] >> he is the 12th elected d.a. and our first hispanic american district attorney. [applause]

>> gavin mentioned all the various accomplishments that he has had introducing the chief of police here, a computerized crime tracking system, go ahead, that's an important thing. only more than one person should clap. [applause] >> only one thing i'm terribly jealous of is that during his tenure, murders in san francisco were the lowest they had been in half a century. [cheers and applause] >> i thought i was the one who did that. willie thought he was the one who did that. it was clearly gascon, the one who did that. he has also launched an aggressive program to reduce truancy in our city. bottom line -- he has been in law enforcement for 30 years. bottom line -- no one has found fault in 30 years. that's a rare commodity.

bottom line is he is a strong law enforcement supporter and i just view with enormous pride that you all are here today to say good luck, we are all part of the gascon team. thank you very much. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing for the singing of the national anthem.

♪ ♪ ♪ oh, can you see by the dawn's early light ♪ ♪ proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming ♪ ♪ through the perilous fight ♪ ♪ oer the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming ♪ ♪ and the rockets' red glare ♪ ♪ the bombs bursting in air ♪ ♪ gave proof through the night

that our flag was still there ♪ ♪ oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ over the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ [applause]

>> i was remiss in not introducing the great mission high school jrotc who did the colors today. thank you for giving them a big round of [applause] ! [applause] >> good evening, everyone. my name is gina and i'm a district vice president for the ymca of san francisco and

executive director of the bayview hunters point ymca. i am so honored to be here tonight and to be part of the swearing-in ceremony for district attorney gascon. in my years of experience working in the community, i know that the most effective way to prevent crime is to invest in our city's young people now. most people think of the d.a.'s office as strictly a prosecutorial agency. i would like to convey today is that the d.a.'s office is so much more. for the last two years, the d.a.'s office has provided critical funding for the bayview hunters point ymca's center for academic re-entertry and empowerment, a truancy project in the form of a school that helps teens get back on track to finish their education. 35 youths have graduated from high school. note, a majority of these youths have been out of school for two years. over the past 2 1/2 years, we

served over 500 youth with 70% getting put back on track towards graduation. we are very excited this past summer when 10 care students got to participate in an internship program through the d.a.'s office where they experienced the ins and outs of the criminal justice system. on behalf of the ymca of san francisco, the wonderful partnership between our offices, i want to thank district attorney george gascon for his leadership. we look forward to continuing our work together by providing youth, the services and resources they need to be successful. [applause] >> i would like to introduce senior pastor aurelius walker. [applause]

>> to the honorable and district attorney george gascon, distinguished leadership guests, ladies and gentlemen of the city of san francisco by the golden gate, a world class city and you cannot have a world class city if you do not have a world class leadership as well as a world class people and a world class district attorney in the person of george gascon. will you be so kind to indulge with me in a prayer by bowing your heads. mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. truth shall spring out of the earth. the righteousness should look

down from heaven. let judgment run down like water and righteousness as a mighty stream. as st. paul said, i quality, therefore -- exalt, therefore, suspect my indication, prayer, intersession be made to all men. kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty. for this is the will, this is the good and acceptable in the sight of god, our savior, who have all men to be saved and come into the knowledge of his truth. amen. [applause]

>> well, it's my great pleasure to be a part of today's celebration and to district attorney george gascon, i want to welcome you to being the -- and good luck. [laughter] as the next chief elected law enforcement officer of the great city and county of san francisco. it's a great job. it's a great job. it's so great that i always have a smile on my face as i'm traveling between san francisco and sacramento listening to kcbs and they talk about some horrific crime and they want comments from the district attorney and of course, i'm always like, did we respond and i realize that is george's job. but it really is a great job, george. you get to work with wonderful people like, of course, our now newly elected and soon to be inaugurated mayor ed lee. you get to --

[applause] >> you find that when you're the district attorney of san francisco, you definitely want to have friends in sacramento, in particular in the legislature because we have a very active office that is often finding ways that we can improve the laws and so we have found a great leader in senator mark leno who is here, of course. [applause] >> it's always helpful when the president of the board of supervisors was a former member of the office and that of course, is david chiu. [applause] >> and then when you got someone like dennis as city attorney who is always find his way into prosecution is helpful. so it's a great job. it's a wonderful job. i remember when gavin as mayor talked to me about the fact that he was going to bring in this new police chief and i had actually heard about him from bill bratton, who was the police chief of los angeles

before the current police chief, charlie beck. bill called me up and says there is this guy george gascon, he is considering to be the chief of san francisco police department. he is a really great guy, would you talk to him? and i did. and then he was appointed as police chief. i have to tell you, he would come down to the office at least on a weekly basis and we had many conversations over the course of a couple of years. and his perspective, the perspective of george gascon has always been the perspective of a leader in law enforcement who has, as a first priority public safety, but always with a mind toward how we can do the work better, how we can think about reform and how we can always aspire to that goal that we often call the smart on crime approach to criminal justice policy. and so when he decided to run after being appointed by then mayor newsom, when he decided to run as district attorney, i was very excited to support

him. and what i knew then was what we saw during the course of the last several months, which is that he understands the community. he has a way of understanding the power that we have as law enforcement to make decisions that have a very direct impact on the most vulnerable among us, but he also understands that that power must be respected and treated with a great deal of respect and regard in terms of how it can be used to empower our communities. i know that george gascon is the kind of individual as a leader in law enforcement who will make one of the greatest district attorneys of san francisco. [applause] >> he has talked with me many times about the men and women of the san francisco district attorney's office who are the support staff, who are the attorneys, who are the investigators and about his desire to support their work

and to continue its excellence. so as the former district attorney of san francisco, i know that we are in good hands as a person who lives in san francisco and cares still about this city no matter how far we travel and how big the state is. i know that in george gascon, we will have a future for san francisco that is really in large part in part of what we all are as the legacy that starts with the san francisco's d.a. office at least going back to pat brown which is having a d.a.'s office which is a model of what our state can do in terms of law enforcement and the smart on crime approach. so, george, i want to congratulate you and wish you good luck. you probably have that phone like i had, there is a phone that you have as elected d.a., greg in the audience knows this as police chief, if it rings between 10:00 at night and 6:00 in the morning, it is never a good call. it is the work that also is incredibly gratifying in terms

of knowing that whenever you stand before a jury or anyone else, you represent the people of the state of california and more importantly and equally important, the people of the city and county of san franciscoment thank you for that and thank you for the work on trunesi and back on track and wish you much success. i'm going to introduce a young man who represents a lot of what george stands for and cares about. his name is brandon santiago. he is a member of youth speaks. he is a high school dropout who will talk about his experience in the world and he is certainly an example of what george reminds us of all the time which is that we want to focus on public safety in a way that is about not only prosecution, but also prevention. brandon, why don't you come out here. [applause] >> i am honored to be here tonight. i'm going to share a poem about my experiences in education in

san francisco, so i hope you enjoy it. i was kicked out of my first high school the day before class. that's a true story. [laughter] >> and nowadays i wake up to the soft sound of a nostalgic regret playing over my morning prayers. dear god, thank you for this 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