demographics of the population in county jail. they're out there on the street sometimes selling small amounts of drugs. until we address that problem and expand exponentially. jails will still be filled with poor people and people of color.

you're not ending the war on drugs. we need to think of at holistic play as a public-health problem. not as a rush also the people who are selling and people are selling a rock to a police officer pretending to be an addict. all those people need help. >> i think that have given my all for the cause. i will leave it to george to put the capper on it.

>> what is the sanction for opposing -- he is one of your members. >> he is and he is a valued member of the association. as an elected official, he is entitled to his own opinion. >> thank you. i have to say that, i want to think marty for coming here. he knew he was coming into this. i want to repeat. i am in the minority in the association. i think concerning this item, it is important for me and all of us to recognize there are ballot

points of view. if we're serious about developing solutions that work for all of us, we have to entertain those points of view and tried to reach consensus. that is the only one that we will create a workable, sustainable solutions. all we're doing is spinning our wheels. my reason for being here is because i truly have come to the conclusion that it is not only based on years on the ground operationally but years of working on development of public policy, working with state governments and justice and lower in corp. -- incarceration and working with other people. a variety of settings. i do not believe that incarceration has taken us where we need to be.

i believe the war on drugs has been a failure. when we institutionalize people over extended periods of time, we take low-level offenders in the early stages and harden them and we send them to the university of crime. by the time they get out of prison, they become a bigger social problem. where i come from, whether it is the [unintelligible] i am on the side of saying we need to reform our system and reduce the number of people we send to jail or prison. we need to reserve that space for people that are truly dangerous and have no way of fixing themselves. we have to realize there will be some people that will go to prison because the rest of us need to have some people in prison in order for us to be safe but that is a small

minority. there are many other solutions out there whether it is someone who has engaged in drugs or has a drug addiction. or engaging in some other low- level crime. every move away from a cursory those people in the early stages and deal with different forms of behavior modification, we're not only going to be a safer society but we are a more just society and we will spend more money in parks and schools and many others. [applause] >> i will give you the final word. >> i thought a person who was most provoking was marty. but it was [inaudible] i wanted to finish with this. i wanted to bring it back to what i think are three key ethical -- the first one is

this. i do not think that there is any legitimate basis in science, medicine, or any ethical code that i know of or the bible, for that matter for our criminal law tdistinguishing between those wo have alcohol and tobacco and people who put other substances in their body. there is no legitimate basis for distinguishing between the alcoholic on the one hand under criminal law and between the drug addict on the other. that is first. the second ethical point is i hope most of you agree with this. i do not believe that anybody should be punished simply for what we put into our own bodies absent harm to others. nobody deserves to be punished

for what we put in our bodies absent harm to others. hurt somebody, yes and not tell me your addiction was the excuse. we need to be regarded as sovereign over our minds and bodies. the criminal law should not be treating anyone as a criminal for what we put in here. when one is trying to pursue a particular public health or public safety objective, reducing the harm of drugs or whatever it might be. and when you have powerful evidence that a non-course of system can accomplish that public safety health objective as well or better than a course of system, when the portugal- like object of can accomplish that for better or lower cost, it is a matter of good public policy and a matter of ethics and morality. those three key moral points are

fundamental in the state in this country. thank you. >> in closing the program, i want to thank all of you for coming to the 2012 justice summit. one thing that has distinguished our work in what we have done at these summits is action. if you look at over the past nine years, we have the evidence to prove that. out of our first summit came the call to have a community based collaboration that helped use and families work together on a community-based level. we have developed the programs

for growth in our communities. out of the second summit came a call for better coordination of services and from that sprung the re-entry council. the official policy body. what we're looking to achieve this year is to make strides going forward particularly in the area of violence reduction and gangs. we have heard about the strategies today. we have seen the promise of law enforcement being able to work together with community-based organizations dedicated to violence reduction. this is possible but only of you all get involved. so for those of you that are here and watching at home, get involved and pick up the phone. you can go to our website to keep up with developments, sfpublicdefenderorg. we are creating initiatives around gangs and violence

reduction. and applying brain science to the law, and advocating for reform. this is a banner year for criminal-justice. we have the three strikes initiative. we limit it to only serious offenses. also, the ballot measure, the state measure which will eliminate the penalty. thank you, all of you for coming and for all the volunteers that made this possible. i want to thank the san francisco public library, every year they have provided us with a venue to do this event and also for sfgovtv for putting us on the tube. we will see you again. keep in touch. thank you. [applause]

and before i be a slave i'll be buried in my grave and go home to my lord

and be free no more violence no more violence no more violence over me over me and before i be a slave i'll be buried in my grave and go home to my lord and be free

>> i want y'all to sing it with me now. ♪ oh, oh, freedom oh, freedom o freedom over me over me and before i be a slave i'll be buried in my grave and go home to my lord and be free (applause) >> thank you. >> thank you very much. thank you.

good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. i'm al williams, president of the board of directors of san francisco african-american historical and cultural society. on behalf of the society and our co-presenters, the san francisco african-american chamber of commerce, the bayview ymca, senator mark leno's office, the san francisco public library, and the mayor's office of neighborhood services, welcome to the 2013 black history month program. the 2013 black history month theme is "at the crossroads of freedom and equality, the emancipation proclamation and the march on washington." the society is the lineal descendant of the san francisco atheneum. it has been the only san francisco institution that is dedicated to documenting, preservinging and presenting true accounts of the history of

people of african descent in san francisco. the society is a membership-based organization. without the hard work of our members and friends, the society wouldn't be able to present programs like today's kickoff. i'd like to take a moment here to thank members of our board of directors and the black history month committee who are here. amongst the board of directors members we have here today are dr. bill hoskins, and please hold your applause until i finish the list because we want to give them all a round of thank you. our executive director, ellis joseph our treasurer and michael forks on the board of directors. the members of the planning committee are b.j. jones, lamont bishop, lance burton, trevor honeycut, melvyn phillips, eldoris cameron, dr. fanny preston wylie and peter

fits simmons. the members of the committee -- let's give them all a round of applause for their hard work. (applause) >> i particularly wanted to do that at the front end of the day's program because we always get to the back end when we're rushing and rush out and don't have an opportunity to acknowledge the people who really have done the hard work. as i mentioned, the society is a membership based institution that derives most of our operating revenue from membership dues f. you're not a member of the society, please join us or renew your membership today. i should note that anyone who joins or renews a membership today will receive a free autographed copy of our keynote speaker's new book, the title of which is martin's dream: my journey and the legacy of martin luther king, jr. we have a terrific program planned for you today. of course, the heart of the program will be our speaker,

will be the remarks of our keynote speaker dr. claiborne parson. you have a program in front of you -- with you, and we will be following the program. we do have a number of members of the city's official family here with us today. the list of which i don't have and the number of community dignitaries. i see that we do have supervisor scott wiener, supervisor president of the board of supervisors david chiu, president cisneros, barbara garcia is with us. naomi is going to be part of the program. naomi kelly is with us, kim brandon from the port commission is with us, and a number of others. i'll be getting a list, i'll be able to acknowledge others. i see police chief [speaker not understood] is with us. and as we get other names, we will announce those.

so, let's give them all a round of applause, please. (applause) >> as i indicated, you have the program before you. we did one additional note on the program, is that the city administrator naomi kelly will be introducing the mayor lee. and due to scheduling conflict, supervisor london breed will probably be arriving later and will make her welcoming remarks towards the end of the program. following the invocation by reverend harlan jones, nor a griffin will make a presentation, a dramatic presentation on the negro national anthem which will be followed by the singing of the negro national anthem. with that, i'd like to ask reverend jones if he would come forward for the invocation. (applause) >> let us bow our heads.

unite our hearts in prayer. eternal god, creator of the world, sustainer of life and lord of history, thou art great and beyond our power to fully know or comprehend. so, god, we come today to give you thanks for both the ordinary and extraordinary mercies of our lives. we thank you for the gift of living in a city where the richness and diversity of races and cultures is celebrated. and as we begin this celebration of african-american history month, we remember with fondness those who worked and sacrificed to make a life for themselves and their people. we remember those who marched, who sat in, who were jailed and who lost their lives that we might obtain in this nation of immigrants full person hood and full citizenship. we celebrate with joy notable african-american san francisco ans such as mary rodgers and

howard thurman, danny glory, willie brown and now london breed who have given of themselves, that all people, black, white, yellow, brown and red might reach their full potential. almighty god, hear us as we lay our lives before you to be blessed. help us to know ourselves through godly introspection, that in seeing ourselves as you see us, we may more readily revise and correct our lives. we know that you have made us one and all in your image. and, so, we pray that we will mirror you as we live our day to day lives. we are broken people living in a broken world, and we need you to help us to cope and mend our brokenness. we pray for those who have been pushed into the zone of desperation. we pray for those with

illnesses that medical science cannot cure. we pray for those in whom hate has become malignant and those in whom hope has died. bless our fair city and its leadership. bless our governor, and give strength to our president barack obama. this is our prayer in jesus' name, amen. amen. (applause) >> lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of liberty. let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies.

let it resound loud as the rolling sea. sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us. sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on till victory is won. stony the road we trod, bitter the chasening rod, felt in the day when hope unborn had died. yet with a steady beat has not our weary feet come to the place that our father's died. we have come over the way that with tears has been watered. we have come treading the path of the blood of the slaughtered. out of the gloomy past, till we

now stand at last, with a white gleam of our bright star is past. god of our weary years, god of our silent tears, thou who has led us thus far on the way, thou who has by thy light led us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray. lest our feet stray from the places our god where we met thee, lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world we forget thee. shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand true to our god, true to our native land. will you please stand and join me in the singing of lift every voice and sing? ♪

lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring ring with the harmonies of liberty let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies let it resound loud as the rolling sea sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us

facing the rising sun of a new day begun let us march on till victory is won stony the road we trod bitter the chasening rod felt in the day when hope unborn had died yet with a steady beat have not our weary feet come to the place for which our fathers died

we have come over a way that with tears has been watered we have come treading the [speaker not understood] of the slaughtered out of the gloomy past till we stand at last with a white gleam of our bright star is cast >> sing out, please. ♪ god of our weary years god of our silent tears thou who ha led us thus far on

the way thou who has by thy might led us into the light keep us forever in the path we pray lest our feet [speaker not understood] our god where we met thee lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world we forget thee shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand true to our god

true to our native land (applause) >> thank you, nora. we've been joined by a number of other persons i'd like to welcome first to the podium. i mentioned city administrator naomi kelly, supervisor malia cohen is with us and supervisor london breed, welcome. we also have in the audience with us karen roy is with us. we have karen roy. we have luis herrera, city librarian with us. mohammed naru who is the head of dpw. we have joanne white, the fire chief is with us. and linda richardson, commissioner linda richardson is with us. let's welcome them, please. (applause)

>> okay. we have greetings now in the program. i think we will go ahead and move forward with the greetings from the supervisors and we will then be followed by city administrator kelly will introduce the mayor upon the mayor's arrival. so, with that i'd like to ask supervisor cohen if you would come and extend greetings, please. >> thank you. amen, good morning, everyone. good afternoon. how are you? i have to say you look beautiful to look out and see so much red. this is an exciting time for all of us here in san francisco. and as i stand before you on this day, we celebrate black history month in san francisco. this is a day on which we acknowledge the being at the crossroads of equality and freedom. celebrating the em