asian pacific heritage and in recognition of all the heritage is that make up san francisco and california, and we will truly ana this month our heritage and our future. thank you so much. you have done so much for every single one of us. [applause] fo >> ok. all right. we've got some competition on the stage now. >> look this way. a couple of other people we need to thank -- our host is a mere -- our host is mayor lee, but we have a bunch of coast as well. supervisors mar, farrell, kim,

elsbernd, wiener, chiu, cohen, avalos. round of applause for our coasts, please. our even a chair. -- our event chair. [reading names] >> all right. thank you. >> thank you. round of applause. these people give money, so please applaud. >> next, i would like to introduce betty yee, a member of

the california state board of equalization, and the 2014 candidate for controller. >> good evening. as we celebrate the contributions of some very, very important figures in our history who have contributed to the development of our country, our stage, this great city, and as we honor the achievements of congressman mineta, the ongoing contributions of congressman hunter, and our own mayor, ed lee, in san francisco. each of us could not be doing the work that we are doing, that

we have done without the doors of opportunity having been opened for each of us. so we're making sure that we are developing the leaders of tomorrow as part of the integral programs of leadership development and civic engagement. the internship program is designed to prepare college students to become our future leaders by providing our interns with the opportunities to work with government agencies, they develop their leadership skills, gain public policy experience, and broaden their civic engagement. the insurance selected have demonstrated a dedication to the community, and they will continue their engagement by working professionally with their peers and mentors. learning and workshops to enhance their leadership skills, and for dissipating in community service projects. we thank the local, state, and

federal law offices for hosting in turns, and we thank the elected officials for their continued leadership and for opening the doors for mentoring our new leaders. please join me in congratulating and welcoming the internship class of 2012. will the intern's please join me on stage? [applause] they are --mayor, will you join us for a photograph, please?

>> thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. one more round of applause to the interns. [applause] if you look around you tonight, you will see poster boards celebrating, acknowledging the first asian-americans to do certain things. we have the first asian-american actress in hollywood, the first asian-american nba player, the first members of congress. these interns are the future of our community. these interns are the reason why we are here today. but we are also here to celebrate and recognize one of

the greatest members of our community. this year is the first year we are giving the lifetime achievement award. it is going to secretary norman manetta, who is receiving this award for many reasons. he is a trail blazer, a man who paved the way for many of us who followed. he was the first asian american mayor of a major city. i'm sorry, mayor lee, but you are coming in third now. he was elected to congress 10 times. he was the first to serve two presidents in the cabinet. it was on 9/11 that he showed us what he was made up.

when those planes hit the twin towers, it was secretary mineta who made the call to ground all the planes. he instituted a policy that tsa is following today to ensure that our skies are say. after 9/11, he prevented the profiling of arab-americans and muslim americans in our country. tonight, we honor him and give him this back for a very special reason. i want to thank the san francisco giants for donating a bat autographed by hall of famer orlando said payton. the reason why we are giving thisbat to the secretary is because of what happened to him when he was a young boy. like hundreds of thousands of

other japanese-americans, he was forced to relocate into the internment camps. as a young boy, the secretary was taken to the train station by military police officers. as a young boy, he was a huge baseball fan, and he had his prize possession with him -- his baseball bat. the military police saw the young boy with his baseball bat and said, "you are not taking that with you. that is a glut in." they took away a young boy is prized possession. later on as a member of congress, a generous person hurt the story and offered him an autograph- aaronbat -- hank aaron bat. as a member of congress, you are

not allowed to except his worth more than $200, so the government took away his bat again. we cannot replace what was taken away from the young boy, but we do give him something we hope will take its place just a small bit. ladies and gentlemen, i present to you the first ever recipient of the life achievement award for services rendered to the asian-american community and services rendered to our nation. i give to you, secretary mineta. [applause] >> i cannot think of a more appropriate gift tonight than to recede this -- receive this bat.

i want to thank everyone for co hosting this event tonight. all of us who have had the privilege of serving in public service have gotten to that point because we were standing on the shoulders of those who preceded us, and i want everybody here, young people, to remember that whatever they do in the future, bring everything you are and bring everything you want to the jobs you are going to be doing. there are tremendous opportunities that are out there. asian pacific american heritage week is a time for all of us to be able to show the majority

community what we are capable of doing, and it is also a time when people in the asian- pacific american community are learning about each other. many people say that the united states should be a melting pot, and i do not believe in the melting pot theory. when you have a melting pot, you put all of the ingredients into the bowl, stir it up, and everybody loses their identity. in the asian pacific american community, there are over 150 languages, religions, cultures, everything you can think of, and we do not want to lose that

identity of our own history, regardless of where our forefathers have come from. i want everybody to be proud of the language of their forebears, the religion, the history, the culture, the art. again, i do not want us to lose our identity in the community in this great nation. again, thank you very, very much for great leadership, to the board for this wonderful gift bestowed upon me, and let's go ahead and continue to hit the ball out of the ballpark. thank you very much. [applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen, we are going to bring up our founded to say a few last words, but before he speaks, we would like all the previous speakers to come up for a photo with the board, so if the board members could please come on up. it is the hard work of these board members that make any event like this possible. without their hard work, none of this would happen, so we are going to do a quick picture and then say thank you to everyone. we are also going to ask the board of supervisors to please come up.

we would also like to ask for the judicial officers in the audience to come up as well. also, if you are a sponsor, please come on up.

all right, we are going to have our founder speak a few words and thank everyone. ladies and gentlemen, we are going to start our cultural program afterwards. food will be served in the four quarters as the program is going on. >> thank you very much for a great presentation. let's give two hands to everyone. thank you. a special hand to organizers and

i want to thank everyone for coming here and celebrating heritage month, and a special thanks to the statewide leaders. some are here, some are not, but -- let's see, where is my -- ok, well, again, enjoy the rest of the celebration and have a good time. take care. thank you. >> ladies gentlemen, i would also like to give a round of applause to our mc tonight.