are being recognized for their efforts. they are being awarded the gold medal of valor. [applause] >> captain paul chignell, along

with officers tastings ahastingd lopez. >> good evening to you all. my pleasure to introduce richard hastings and that lopez. -- matt lopez. saturday, july 16, 2011, officer richard hastings and asked matt lopez were on duty and in uniform. their primary assignment was to be on a fixed post detail on the imminence of a railway platform

on third street between oakdale avenue and plu avenue. this platform and the surrounding areas are notorious for high incidence of robberies, aggravated assaults, indiscriminate shootings, gang activity, illegal firearm possession, as well as a multitude of quality of life cripes. the bayview station has dedicated a high-level police resources to this area, particularly to a recent rash of robberies on and adjacent to the platform. well on the platform, officers tastings and lopez contacted the subject later identified as kenneth harding jr.. he was on the railway vehicle. the officers determined the suspect was riding without benefit obtained. the officers escorted the subject off of the vehicle without incident and requested he sit down on one of the benches nearby.

mr. harding complied with that request well officer lopez conducted a standard warrant record check. as he heard officers radio transmission, he suddenly leapt to his feet and started to run east across third street into the crowded plaza with officers and foot pursuit. suddenly, and from a distance of 10 feet from the pursuing officers, harding a ride of the northern part of the plaza and reached his right hand under his left arm and then fired several rounds from his handgun at both of the officers. the officers immediately engaged in a firefight with the suspect. he then it fell to the ground, suffering a gunshot wounds. officers approached the suspect to taken into custody and render medical aid. numerous responding officers arrived on the scene and observed the officers surrounded

by a mob, many of whom were screaming and provoking hostility towards officers. as they attempted to secure the time seen -- crime scene, the mom became increasingly provocative with the threats directed towards officers. ultimately officers from four police stations and the tactical unit arrived to clear the plaza of the mall. in the aftermath of the shooting, it was determine the suspect was of recidivist criminal who was wanted in seattle, washington, for the murder of young, pregnant woman just one week before. this inference is the police department delayed -- delineates the criteria that must be met for an officer of the san francisco police department to be awarded the medal of valor. that includes outstanding bravery beyond that expected in a line of duty, or failure to take such action would not justify censure.

with the rest of life actually existed and officer had time to evaluate the risk, and where the objective is of the sufficient importance to the risk, and lastly and most importantly, where the officer accomplish the objective. on july 16, 2011, officer richard hastings and matthew lopez the kill each and every requested criteria for the medal of valor. they exemplified bravery of the highest level. in doing their duty and deterred by the fact that their lives were in imminent peril. they engaged in a gunbattle with a career criminal who was engaged with the ones in respect for public life and wanted to escape to not be held accountable for a vicious murder. san francisco police officers know at any time and anywhere they need to put their lives on the line to do their duty to stop a criminal. july 16, 2011, officer richard

hastings and mathew lopez put their lives on the line and did their duty. for that, they're being awarded the most prestigious award, the gold medal of valor. [applause]

>> those were the last of the nominees and recipients. the chief amount to the closing. -- will now do the closing. many of the people on the stage and an audience were present. as amazing as the stories were, you had to see it to believe it. some of the actions these officers took. we recognize the tennis solomon a moment ago, but i want to recognize something. many of officers recognize are not first generation san francisco police officers. four of the six are not first generation san francisco police officers. can i get the other generation

of police officers that gave us these police officers to stand up and be recognized. [applause] >> talk about raising your kids right. another recognition i want to make is we are going to experience in the next 30 days of record exit of police officers, especially commissioned officers due to the sun setting of the retirement program. many of the people that are going out red nominations tonight. if i could, all officers that will be retiring and leaving us, they we think you for your service by getting you to stand. [applause]

that is going to close our program. know that all of these officers when they get back to work, they will go out again looking for trouble and probably find it. i trust they will demonstrate again what these officers do every day, and that is keep this city safe. the command staff and commission will be available for pictures. family and kids for sure. if you can get your metal back from this little guy. thank you very much. hopefully we will see you all again soon. keep the officers in your thoughts and prayers. keep them safe. [applause]

♪ ♪ [applause] >> ok. that was really beautiful. we would like to welcome you to the third annual statewide celebration and recognition of asian-pacific islander american heritage month. this event is hosted by the mayor. i will tell you a little bit more. it is a non-profit, non-

partisan. since 2001, our focus has been on educating the public on public policy. and fostering the future leaders from our minority communities to serve at federal, state, and local levels. the mission is to empower patients and pacific islander americans in civic and public affairs to education, active participation, and leadership development. >> civic engagement, leadership development, and community servthe theme of tonight's evens a celebration of the achievements and accomplishments of asian-americans in the state of california and our nation.

>> ok'ing. -- ok. i would like to introduce our host for this evening. very well known as the first asian-american mayor in san francisco history. mayor lee championed balancing the budget to keep san francisco safe, solvents, and successful. he reformed city pensions. his focus is on economic development, job creation, and building san francisco's future. a great job, especially for helping out families. we want to keep families here. i also wanted to mention a little bit of his past. he was born in 1952 in the beacon hill neighborhood of seattle, washington. his parents immigrated to the u.s. from china and the 1930's.

his father fought in world war ii and worked as a cook. he passed away when the mayor was 15. his mother was a seamstress and a waitress. mayor lee has five siblings, he graduated from college in maine, he also went to uc- berkeley law school and finished in 1978. he and his wife have two daughters. i also want to mention, prior to becoming mayor, one of the key points in his contributions to the community is after he completed law school, he worked as a managing attorney for the san francisco asian law caucus, where he was an advocate for affordable housing and the rights of immigrants and renters.

mayor lee -- [applause] >> thank you. welcome to city hall. the people's city hall, san francisco. i want you all to note that that was such a wonderful rendition of our national anthem. please give another applause to the millennium -- melanie and her daughter. i am so excited about all of you and seen so many of you from all over our state. come to city hall anin san

francisco, welcome. i would like to welcome the former secretary of transportation. [applause] thank you for being here. thank you, john, thank you. our board of supervisors comment david chiu, thank you very much. david campos, thank you for being here. he is our adopted asian brother. we have so many of our state representatives here. so many of you are here. i have spent all night announcing your names, but they did not give me the full list. i will say thank you on behalf of our city.

from sacramento, los angeles, from all the communities in between, thank you for coming to our fantastic city to celebrate our asian-pacific heritage month. it is my pleasure to also provide you with a warm welcome and thank you for somebody who worked on this idea to bring everybody here to san francisco, my very good friend. thank you. where are you? when we first talked about this, we said there had to be the place where everybody felt comfortable. there had to be a place where we could feel the excitement of all very different asian american groups. we had to have a place where something wonderful had been accomplished.

a leadership change, one that we never thought in our lifetimes. by the way, as you know, i never thought in our lifetimes we would see an african-american president of the united states. what a wonderful location, that is something to celebrate. he has been here many times, president obama. the very surprised we had of being able to celebrate the first asian mayor of san francisco. it was not my doing, it was all of the people of san francisco saying it is about time we celebrate. thank you to the people of san [applause] i have a very short message. what did i have felt very strongly in my first elected year, but also during my tenure as interim mayor. we have a great deal of celebrate.

we also have a great challenge in front of us. there are so many of our asian american friends, iranian friends, friends from the philippines, friends from our japanese-american community, are chinese-american community, waiting for the opportunity to come together to celebrate our diversity, but also to signal to our european friends, our latino france, we are ready to help lead this state. and helped change the conversation and not only celebrate diversity, but use diversity for our strength. that is our strength. i want to signal to you, let's come together, let's use this opportunity to make sure we can celebrate our strength throughout the state. i also want to welcome carmen chu.

thank you for joining us. we can really celebrate and we can bring this state for because i know -- he does not want to be alone in san francisco suggesting change. nobody wants to be alone. all of us can contribute to a more positive outlook on life. guess what -- when we look at where we came from, when we look at the parents that brought us here, the generations before us, we learned a great lesson. we learned lessons they faced, there were struggling to get past the barriers of discrimination. past the barriers of economic privilege, past the barriers of the new immigrants to this country. they forged ahead. some of us aren't new

generations, the generation of kids i want to -- some of us are new generations. make sure they have a big opportunity in san francisco. we hope you do not have those barriers that our parents did. we hope that you do not run into the road blocks that we had to struggle for. we hope that our lawsuits, are street advocacy, -- our street advocacy, and all the places we struggled with in our generations, that you never have to go through. the only way we can do that is to make sure the door is always open to everybody else. that is our promise, we have to keep that, we have to keep our education strong, we have to keep our economic foundation strong, we have to keep our opportunities strong. thank you. i am honored.

let us celebrate. on behalf of the city and county of san francisco, i officially declare this to be asian pacific heritage month in san francisco and the state of california. welcome. [applause] >> i am going to make one correction. he said president obama is the first african-american president. president obama crew up in hawaii. -- grew up in hawaii. it makes him an honorary asian- american. he is the first asian-american president as well. tonight's events would not be possible without our community partners. a group that helped make all this happened, i am going to

read them all. the asian business alliance, asian law alliance, the asian pacific american leadership institute, chinese-american cultural association, chinese american political association, citizens for better community, culture to culture, why in the chamber of commerce of northern care of -- kawai and chamber of commerce of northern california, northern california chinese athletic association, national association of american professionals, national federation of independent business, national federation of filipino americans, the filipino chamber of commerce, around of

applause for all of our community partners, please. that was a lot. [applause] >> i am so glad he had to do that. our next speaker is u.s. congressmen. he is representing the 15th congressional district of california in the u.s. house of representatives. in congress, he is a member of the werful house appropriations and budge committee. share of the democratic caucuses, new media working group, house democratic senior went, and the original author of the equity and excellence commission now housed in the u.s. department of education. his district includes silicon valley, the birthplace of

technology. mike has dedicated his life to public service and is lauded for his work on education, civil- rights national service, immigration, transportation, the environment, and high-tech issues. >> he is also the greatest karaoke sing their -- singer and all of congress. -- in all of congress. [applause] >> he just told me i had five minutes. what do you think of this program? [applause] it is about time. i want to thank francis and fong.

i think this is the very first statewide heritage month held with the mayor of san francisco. let me say something about heritage month in san francisco and your mayor. in the old days, you remember san francisco was known for passing all of these anti- chinese ordinances to limit the movement, the productivity of chinese in the city. we know two things. change happens. maybe the state of california is the state of golden opportunities, where we have a chinese-american mayor of san francisco. 35 years ago, congress members

passed similar resolutions in both house and the senate to formally recognize the first 10 days of may as asian-pacific heritage week. one year later, president jimmy carter signed into law a joint resolution to officially designate the annual celebration. 11 years later, president george bush extended the weeklong celebration to an entire month. you know and i know that our mothers say that every day is asian pacific american day. i want to recognize all of the milestones the api has made in the state of california and in the entire country. the caucus has a record of 42

members in the asian caucus in congress. one of their very first things we want to say is it was a young man who was the first member -- we want to make note of that. the reestablishment of the white house initiative by president obama was another accomplishment. president obama's cabinets has dr. steven chu. the very first asian-american -- as ambassador to the republic of china. we have a lot of accomplishments. it was not that accident, my friends. everyone of you know that you work hard. all these things are done on purpose.

i want to let you know that we also can boast twice as many asian-americans on federal benches. those of us to understand the impact of the supreme court and what it can do or on june, we know that having asian-americans on the federal bench is a line up for appointments to the supreme court. thank you very much for this opportunity. i want to say that silicon valley is the birthplace of high-tech. silicon valley is the birthplace of norm. five minutes? thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, congressmen. we would have extended the five

minutes if we got a karaoke's song. >> this event would have not been possible by the financial contributions of our sponsors. we want to thank chevron corp., wells fargo, mcdonald's, academy of arts university, at&t, southwest airlines. if you have not entered their raffled yet, do so later tonight. comcast, walmart, verizon, moon star restaurant. >> we go from the greatest karaoke's singer in the house of congress to the self-proclaimed worst karaoke singing in public office.