mention is that i am on the steering committee and the focus is about transgendered inclusion. as those who worked before me, civil-rights is a human right and a fight for equality is an ongoing fight 24 hours a day, seven days a week. i will end with words for martin luther king jr. "when a person cannot feed themselves, are they really existing? a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and this is not something i speak about, this is something i lived with every day."

have a wonderful day. happy black history month. [applause] >> congratulations. >> i would like to bring up four powerhouses from the fillmore. they are known as caswell members of the -- cooperative. in my first week in coming to the elected office in 2005, we were confronted by hud is saying that what they would shut down the co-op. this is 211 units of housing. for those of you who don't know

what this is, this is a great idea in the 1960's that the federal government launched in order to give people of the working class a chance to own a piece of the rock. in san francisco, there was nearly 1600 units of cooperative housing. district 5 shares the majority of that housing cooperative. it is unfortunate that the federal and local government abandoned this strategy because this was a great entrance for people to get into housing ownership. in 2005, they met with some problems and the had the department wanted to shut them down. when we tried to meet with them,

they would not give us the time of day. we enlisted the whole community, the members who could not be here today, really rallied the community around the notion that by shutting down -- would be just as emblematic as shutting down the fillmore because of the fact of our urban renewal and gentrification and this would have certainly been exhibit a of one more insult to a community that was really part of the epicenter of the black community in san francisco the 1940's 50's and so on. with great perseverance, the community began to rally together and fetid proposals that finally landed on hud's

desk. thousands of hours of meetings where people who had a variety of mines and which way to go. these four individuals never lost focus and they never lost focus despite everything that came to try to distract them, of different strategies and gimmicks that tried to undermine what the total cost was which was saving -- you should see the rebuild. it is beautiful. but its predecessor was and what the units look like and what they are now, this pales as an example in a post redevelopment world in the film more area. the fillmore was governed by the san francisco government agencies. to see this in the aftermath of

the postwar development world is a signal of a community leader in the process and sending a very strong process -- a signal that this is being driven by the committee and it would not have happened if it was not for these individuals. on behalf of everyone else that came garvey, whether they were for this proposal or not, it came together and it coincides with some of the most well understood better missed that have occurred. public safety is never seen the level of drop in violent crime in 20 years. the level of enrichment and nourishment in some parts of the quarter of fillmore and the surrounding areas, they might be struggling but this is in a post development world that they are doing this without a crutch.

that is because of the leaders. let's hear it for those members of the co-op who are here with us today. [applause] >> i have been here since 1940. it amazes me to look at your wall -- at all of you. when i came here, there was nothing like this can tell i am proud to see this immigration. -- there was nothing like this. i am proud to see this integration. i am so proud, i can go home.

me, lee roy king, martin luther king, i was marching with them when they discriminated against us not having jobs, being teachers and everything. chinese, japanese, mexicans, we fought and that is what my dream was all about. i am so proud that i have lived to see this. all of the war does not mean anything to me. martin luther king deserves the credit. he made a dream come true for everyone i am so proud that our

city is recognizing all minorities. we have to stick together because we have a long fight. what keeps me going and i have fought for mar mr. king, i helped to build it, i sit down and the streets when the police would be us, they did not want us to have this. i fought so hard and i saw many things. one thing that i will live to see and i am proud, i am worried about the future for the people.

i hope that all of you take this in consideration, makes them proud, stopped them trying to kill each other. if you can be anything in your dreams can come true. that is all i wanted to say. thank you. [applause] >> to all of the supervisors that are present here today, i truly want to say a thank-you for the invitation of granting us the privilege of being here as african americans, leaders in this community. i want to began, i myself being a young african-american female student in their rural south, 8

years old, not really knowing what prejudice was all about. but being able to understand when the late start your martin luther king gave me the great opportunity to be able to stand here today as one of the individuals that spoke before me to give me hope and hope for a dream that we all can be successful. the labor of love was invested in martin luther king, marcus garvey. my husband was one of the first african american labor union president said. that was very instrumental in helping us to get our mr. king

and he was earnest yoke them -- and he was --, one of the great african american leaders of the city. it is a privilege for me to have been able to assist in saving martin luther king because we were grandmother's, parents, raising grandchildren after raising our generation of children. i am also a foster parent of six lovely children that are also raised in that community. it was difficult times for us to come together when we knew that we were going to lose our homes. we banded together to say that we were going to save it.

carmen johnson, brooks, landry, never will happen. most of all, i want to think a supervisor, who had a heart before the community, a love for people. it takes more than just one to save a community. supervisor ross, i would like to thank you for being that person, that supervisor that you are. the love that you have not only for that community but the love that you have for every individual that you have served through san francisco. [applause] >> good afternoon.

i am ecstatic to be here. i am so proud to support the western addition in which i was raised, i grew up in the western addition, i raised four sons. marcus garvey gave a safe housing, a safe neighborhood for me to raise my son. i can come home and i knew they were safe. every parent in marcus garvey, what looked out for the children when we were gone. it is true that they say it takes a village to raise our kids. i am so grateful to ross.

i used to work with him and i always knew that he was going to go somewhere and he is still going somewhere. i worked at the d.a.'s office. when we called and told him our situation, he did not even hesitate. he got right back with us. he brought in pelosi, he brought in feinstein. it took endless fighting for the reduction of criminal activities in our neighborhood, the

neighborhood watch, the criminal watch, we have gone from place to place was shares and tables. we've run you out of the neighborhood. the one thing it took was that it took that big step of landry and stepped a long way from 1967 to where we are today. what it really took was leadership. i appreciate u.s. a portion. when something is going on out there, he is out there.

you will see him before you see the police. he is in our neighborhood taking care of us, asking us what we need, what can i do for you. not everyone will get a better bet that 3 in the morning but he does. we appreciate it. i think you and i think the supervisors for this recognition. [applause] i would like to give honor to the supervisors. a gesture the been a long battle. the battle is not over. we have to continue to stay focused i would like to thank you, supervisor, because of what i made that call to you and told you that we were in trouble and

that we need your help, i want to thank you for responding, moving quickly, and getting the mayor involved as well as setting up a task force of the supervisors. getting the speaker of the house involve, redevelopment agency. pulling together a team to work with us. we have had a lot of opposition but yet, opposition was coming from the outside as well as some of our shoulders. i sang god that we were able to persevere and move forward and to accomplish the goal that we needed to accomplish. hud had vouchers ready to go to give each of us the units.

the vouchers were ready, but if it was not for his leadership, if it was not for the leadership of the board, we would have vouchers just as other developments have had vouchers to move out of the city and county of san francisco. i would like to commend you for your people love. i want to commend you for your strength. stepping up to the plate and looking for those tough situations where you have to get into the trenches. i know that all of you had to be behind him so that he could do what he had to do.

-- will not issue vouchers to them. we will step in and work with them and that is what he did. he formed a team and they worked with us. again, i want to thank you. all of you need to be commended for this day and for future days to come. god bless each and every one of you. [applause]

>> thank you. >> thank you. if i can fight -- up to the podium and also all of her adoring fans and her husband. today, it is my honor and privilege to be able to recognize -- she has worked tirelessly on

behalf of some money used in our communities. something which i think is very important. we have many families and sometimes people don't think that we have populations who are in need but we do, we have those who really do need extra support and extra help. -- has released and someone who has done that. she not only worked at the guidance center but she spent 25 years at the school district. she is someone who will tell you that she is a person who loves and loves big and is someone who always speaks remind and always tells you the truth. not only did she work at the san francisco unified school district, she was supposed to go into retirement but could not do it.

she is working with an organization that really helps all of our youth. i have the privilege of saying thank you to -- for all of your work. we look forward to what you will be doing even in your retirement. we don't want you to ever stop. thank you for everything you have done. >> thank you. >> well, supervisors. thank you. i know that the afternoon is getting longer. if this is my 15 minutes i would like to take just a few for myself. i grew up in a family of six kids. mom and dad refuse to to let us work. they required us to do community service starting in the ninth

grade and finishing when we graduated from high school. my father said that there is no greater honor than to do service, to be in service to a dream that advances humanity. so, i grew up in a time of the dreamers and big dreams. the kennedy presidency, nasa, but dr. king. i married a man who was also a dreamer. i have been blessed to have been in jobs where humanity is

served. 80 people had a dream that the of hard first could be heard through them. -- believes that the youth in san francisco should have a say of what goes on here and and they should be represented in

some way. i am privileged to have gone into a job like this because it is and honor to serve about a dream. thank you.

get the >> it is might honor to make the next introduction to our next honoree. i would like to invite up -- ibm honor to recognize -- it was peter's father. alan smith was an amazing jazz

musician and educator who helped to break the color barrier in san francisco nightclubs, particularly in my district. he passed away very recently, literally about a week and a half ago, and i want to extend my condolences to the family. allen arrived in san francisco in 1946 and attended san francisco state on the gi bill. he played with a stunning list of jazz giants such as duke ellington, quincy jones, bennie

goodman, as well as elephants jerrold, frank sinatra, and sammy davis jr.. he was one of the musicians at the cotton club which was the first desegregated club. he was one the and -- of the artists to help to end nightclub segregation. he was a school district for many years until he became the principal of the school. after retiring from education, he performed regularly with local artists. he was a friend to teachers and a mentor.

before i asked his son to play a selection of his music. this is from the alan smith court that -- quartet. ♪