gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ♪ ♪ oh, say does that star- spangled banner yet wave? ♪ ♪ o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ [applause]

>> please be seated. and the asian pacific alliance, thank you for that beautiful rendition of the national anthem. the men's chorus was formed in 1989 to provide a showcase for the vocal musical talents for gay asian-pacific men. they also put on the main duty contest. i have judged them, they are a lot of fun. this is the annual asian pacific heritage month association and this year's theme is advancing education. it recognizes the many contributions of the diverse asian and pacific islander communities and their continuing efforts to promote unity, understanding, and appreciation among communities of color. i want to tell you how this month came about. president jimmy carter signed a resolution declaring one week in the month of may as asian-

pacific heritage month. it was expanded to the entire month of may. in 1991. in san francisco, we are showing them how to do it right. right back to you, thank you. i will acknowledge the diplomatic representatives from another of -- a number of countries including china, indonesia, japan, korea. the philippines, singapore, and vietnam, my people. we are also honored to have with

us tonight, mayor ed lee. as a city is a minister, he represented gavin newsom in defending this city's proclamation. and a new chapter in asian pacific american history when he was elected as the city's first asian-american mayor. ladies and gentlemen -- all right, join me in welcoming mayor edwin m. lee. [applause]

you have your own crowded back there. the m. in your middle name stand s for ma. >> thank you all for coming. i'm glad to be here on the eighth time we've celebrated this, and want to give a thank- you for helping us put this on. thank you! and of course, i join here as part of an official city family. thank you for being here. he is joined by supervisors carmen chu, jane kim, and eric mar. our elected officials, jeff adachi, the public defender, the

recorder assessor, hydra mendoza, and emily murase. we're also thankful for the chief of police, thank you. i would like to also acknowledges someone that has been a very special friend of mine, someone that has given me a lot of support and advice over the years. and also someone who has not missed one of these asian pacific heritage month associations, mayor willie brown. >> this evening, we are celebrating our communities from all over the world. i am so lucky to be the mayor of an international city. we talked a lot about diversity,

but we also celebrates in so many ways. it is marvelous to hear the names of all these council generals from all around the world. we also have some invaluable participants that represent the city relations. from osaka, singapore, shanghai, taipei, and seoul, korea. they're working with our offices and communities to promote education, trade, allow ourselves to educate ourselves continuously about the need to have a more advanced, smarter immigration policy for our country. and also one that we enjoy celebrating because we get a lot of talent from the other

countries, which is why we want to be a gateway to the world. that is why we enjoy the celebration so much. with that, i like to invite former mayor willie brown and also the supervisors, please join us on the stage and be part of the witness and of the signing of the proclamation for this year imposed a celebration of the asian pacific heritage month. and supervisor cohen, come on up as well.

[applause] >> with that, it is official, asian pacific heritage month is

on. thank you, mayor li and everyone that came out to help with the signing of the proclamation. they are the cumulative efforts of the asian pacific heritage celebration committee. please welcome the founder and chairman of the heritage celebration committee. you did not get to rest at all, come on back. >> thank you for being here. thank you for joining us. i know it is a little tough right now, but when you have a chance, look around you and look at the people sitting around you. you can see the diversity of our city. it is very diverse with over 50 ethnic groups, and how we can

see the vibrant fabric of our communities, and i will take this opportunity again for thinking the whole of our members and elected officials bringing ideas together. we provide the perfect opportunity for the community to protect the communities, who won the betterment of the community. but we want to connect with everyone. that is why every year, and a crew of volunteers come together and think about the best way to promote awareness so that everybody knows, it is

celebrated as asian-pacific heritage month. the mayor was very generous in thanking me, but it is not about me at all. it is a committee of volunteers meeting since november to make the celebration happened. a one has to thank those that are with us, you are helpful in joining the leadership team. and our co-chair of the committee. i want you to know that i think you from the bottom of my heart. this year, the team is celebrating heritage. i am so glad that many of you turned out to celebrate individuals and organizations that have dedicated their time and efforts events in

opportunities in education. and there is a myth out there that asians are all doing very well in education. but this is really not quite the case. there are many in the immigrant population that really need a hell. and they can use more opportunities that many of us have seen. i want to thank the nominees for this year. thank you for your work. before moving forward, i would like to invite the former press a -- the president david chiu.

last year, david said the landscape in san francisco is different today compared to 15 or 20 years ago when we were wondering who were the next asian pacific americans running for office, getting elected, and appointing the city offices. it is very different. >> do we have asians in the house tonight? thank you for being here. as she said, we have a very different picture in city hall today. we have the asian-americans on the board as well as the honorary members. we have so many asians at the board of supervisors that eric

mar and i get confused on a regular basis, jane kim and carmen chu get confused on a regular basis. that is a good thing. if you have a chance to look around at the 700 of us fulfilling this auditorium, we came here through very different paths. your asian-american supervisors, and none of us actually grew up in this city, how we all came to the city because after 160 years, a san francisco is the asian american capital of the united states. 2012 has been an amazing year. when i was a little kid, i liked to play basketball. my mom said, david, stop playing basketball because no asian- american will ever get into the

nba. mom was wrong. i know many of us thought that asian-americans with advance foreign politics, but i don't think that any of us thought that this year, we would see the first elected asian-american sworn in at city hall. and because of that, i want to take a moment and think of you. none of us would be here hall stage but for your stories, the challenges that the community has faced in surpassed. and diversity of the committee, we are moving forward. >> i just want to thank everybody for having all of us here. how to be honest, i did not

prepare a speech, but it truly is an honor to serve the city. it is not often that we have a city that is so beautiful and wonderful and also a place for immigrants to be able to serve. i am honored to serve alongside the mayor and my colleagues on the board of supervisors. i think that after all of the years i have come to this event, you have outdone yourself. the big hand, thank you so much. it is also an honor to be here, and i think if you celebrate the accomplishments of the community, it is incredibly important to remember the history, which is what asian- american month is about.

but the fact that so many of us have served in the asian- american community whether we came out of the asian law caucus or the chinese progressive association, and have served and volunteered in many capacities. it is incredibly important to have asian-americans that are not just faces, but understand the needs and the history of the issues of the community because they spent time there. i am proud that our city has been able to elect an amazing cadre of the leaders that continue to support this leadership. why am excited to continue supporting the next generation as they come up. >> i feel really proud to be a chinese american and asian american. i think like many others that are here, when i am telling my

12-year-old daughter about asian heritage, it is about our history, pride, accomplishments, and the struggles. they are firm in the pacific highlanders. in detroit michigan, 92, how i became involved with social movements in the chinese community with the chinese progressive association celebrating the fortieth anniversary this year. it made me want to become more involved in the community, and i am so appreciated that this is a ceremony that brings together

the diverse organizations and individuals. and the pride i feel not only of accomplishments, but the organizations out there everyday make this a better place for san francisco. thank you for your work and i am proud to be here with you. >> hello, friends and family. he was talking about the pan asian family. he spoke about not being a san franciscan, but serving san francisco. i was born and raised here. and extremely proud of that i went to school with some of your children or grandchildren, leases or nephews. the public school system as one of the most aversive systems here.

it will probably give some of us, one of us are run for our money in a few years. but i don't want to show up david chiu or eric mar with the chinese i have been working on. i have been under the direct tutelage of the mayor. i want to say thank-you to the whole entire committee. when this heritage month represents is a solidarity had togetherness that we seem to have mastered in san francisco. it is honor to serve the community. he is from my district. i love you, thank you. i want to acknowledge everyone,

it is a pleasure. >> i would like the members of the board tuesday for a few minutes. every year, we put on this campaign, which is a great reception up to the ceremony, we could not have done it without the support of the major sponsors. i would like to invite some of them to come up, and they will be making brief remarks. >> i want to thank our presenting sponsor, mr. liu? [applause] >> think you, good evening.

i am honored to be part of this celebration of the asian heritage month. i am the son of immigrants that came from taiwan, a look at asian heritage month as a way to celebrate happy accomplishments of our parents and the bright future that our kids have. this is a story i tell my kids frequently. she came here with no college education. during her first week, she was visiting the gross restore in the maze of all the things you can buy the grocery store. she came across a can that have a picture -- had a picture of a drumstick. she thought, amazing. you can buy chicken in a can.

she opened it up and discovered it was crisco. [laughter] and it just shows how far we have come home and how far -- how much i owe to my mom and my dad. it is a great time to remind all of us that our success is dependent on our parents and grandparents. i am from minneapolis, have been here for two days and i was told it is always sunny and 75. i will be back soon. i am a director for merchandising at target. i am part of the team that pulls together what you see on the shelf, is a fun job. i have a sponsor for the asian business council. we have about 1500 team members

that are of asian descent. our group focuses on two things. how do we help ensure that the asian team members leave -- reach their potential and have success in their careers at target? how do we help target understand the community? only when you come to a place the realize how much opportunity we have to do even more? that is something that we are committed to educating our fellow leaders about what we can be doing. target is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year and i am proud to work for a company that understands the importance of community involvement.

today, it equals more than $3 million a week till local communities. some of those dollars are being invested right here, and i am so proud of their involvement of would like to brag a little bit of some of the things that target dozen san francisco. had to make art successful to families with the asian art museum. every first sunday is free to families. we make this offer available because it is all about the family. art making for the kids, cultural entertainment, and one of the largest museums in the world dedicated to asian art. if you this yesterday, on saturday, it will be another freed a courtesy of target.

secondly, we hosted the growing of asia and america awards ceremony. in partnership with the asian pacific fund. target has been a sponsor the last few years hand-held allows students to share their individual stories, and anyone who was there yesterday would be moved. it was amazing to hear their stories of growing up asia and in america. today, we had the opportunity to visit a couple of elementary schools. these are schools with a high student population and we donated four boats each student. all of which were written by an asian author. it was a great way to partner with schools to celebrate asian

it heritage month and impress upon them the future of education. we're fortunate enough to bring one of the authors to the school, kristi yamaguchi. i recognize her as a gold medalist. the student recognized her as a champion from dancing with the stars. education is the heart of targets of living. target is on track for 1 billion dollars in education giving. we are responsible for the asian heritage street fair. i am so proud to be part of a target and got out of our involvement with the asian community. and the target is pleased to be a sponsor. we also want to remain vibrant

and visible throughout the month of may. my visit has little to do with my day job, but rather than experiencing how target can really make a difference, and i thought, i don't know i could give up a couple days. i got a lot more out of it that i've put into it. thank you for allowing me that opportunity. target looks forward to the continued partnership with the city of san francisco. >> we have an appreciation gift from her target, a very unique japanese origami in the shape of the target logo.

i would like to invite susan poland representing them from the academy of art university. and the