discrimination. i urge you to act and take a step toward resolving this crisis by doing what needs to be done to end this tragedy. thanks so much. >> thank you. [applause] >> good evening. first and foremost, i would like to thank the police commission and the hrc. chief suhr, one thing i would like to say is strength in the trust between the community and the sfpd by supporting the initiative that was passed in portland. i am a community of record nadir. -- i am a community leader. our members have been scared to death about coming to our mosque

just to pray or attend one of our dinners. it is to a point where many of the members don't want to come to our center. they go to santa clara, fremont, or elsewhere. they say they don't want to be spied upon. you have to do something to increase the trust between the community and the san francisco police department. also, what i am really upset about is while this hearing is going on, why is the fbi not present? as a coordinator, i go to many commissions. i have gone to the entertainment commission hearing were the fbi serves no purpose. they were there. maybe we should have free food next time. please, they should be here. this is something that relates to them. the entertainment commission has nothing to do with them. they should be here discussing with you. if we are wrong, they should

address that in front of us. thank you very much. [applause] >> good evening. i am an iranian american attorney. i came to this country about 16 years ago to go to college. until the point, i lived in four different countries across three continents. unlike my other friends, who felt excited to go home for long holidays or after vacation, i felt like i belong to know where. i did not have a home. these days, it is different for me, whether i am driving down the freeway, or even on a rainy day, i feel like i have a home. i belong. it would be sad to have that feeling again. over 2500 years ago, the persian king wrote and reminded himself that in all his conquests, "i

kept in view the needs of the people and all their sanctuaries to promote their well-being." if you listen to the testimony before us today, there is no dispute that the community is telling you that there needs and their sanctuaries are no longer kept in view by our laws, policies, mou's and partnerships. you will hear that the community is no longer feeling safe in cities. they feel unwelcome, unwanted, and targeted. i sincerely hope that 2500 years later, if not better than where we were then, we can at least do as well. we can revisit and rethink our laws, policies, and mou's and partnerships, and reverse the direction.

it is a wonderful feeling of being safe and feeling at home. [applause] >> hello. i am a research associate at the school of medicine. i am here tonight because security is an important issue to me and i feel the security of over 300 million people in this country should matter. i also feel that after my experiences, the fbi will go to any length to do what they believe is protecting security. what they believe is not necessarily what will secure our security. i want to give you an example. in 2009, i had a friend stopped by tsa while boarding a flight. they took him to a back room. fbi arrived and interrogated him. they asked if his wife worked a job. he is a resident of lebanon. they asked him how far away he

lived from the security barriers. they proceeded to arrest him. they did not taken to a magistrate within 24 hours. many other things. at 1 point, they asked him, they got agitated, and they said, do you want us to shoot you? the right leg or the left like? -- leg? they charged him with bank fraud. this was at a time when people on wall street were running away with billions of dollars. the agent lied in one instance, saying that he had told us about these charges. before the grand jury, -- he had said the reason he followed this because it is what he told us in

interrogations'. bottom line is i don't feel safe. i live in fear for me and my family. sometimes i think, take me to jail. that way i don't have to pay -- [tone] that is all i have to say. [applause] >> my name is vera and i'm with the immigrants' rights commission. i was hoping to see the report on your sept. 2010 meeting. i was there and we have not seen the report. i was so happy to see that the recommendations are being acted on from that report. our president was here a little earlier, but he had to leave. i wanted to let you know that we are certainly -- we do have a town hall meetings and we would like to have more. we have never read meetings and

we often get complaints at our monthly meetings at city hall especially about the airport. the idea of having an ombudsman at the airport makes a great deal of sense, if we could help in that some way, it would be marvelous. people are harassed and kept longer and kept overnight sometimes while they're being questioned. i know the sfpd cannot be the police there. we have an ombudsman, a lot of problems could be solved on the spot. i'm glad to see you are working on solutions and that there are recommendations, and you are willing to help. >> good evening. thank you for putting this on. i am the director of the fund

that supports a 17 a-area memsa communities. there were earlier comments about the trust we should put in the u.s. attorney general. as a community member and someone who works with community members, i can tell you the actions the fbi have taken have eroded the trust. the men and women are supposed to protect us. instead, the community, community-base organizations as well as individuals, feel pro failed and -- profiled and surveillance. this will spread even more in terms of relations and perceptions of the sfpd. i encourage you to strongly consider the resolution options and burn our community's trust back. you can protect our civil rights and keep us safe. if you ignore the resolution option, you will be sending the

community a message that you don't take seriously our lives and concerns. i would also like to respond to comments about many members of the community's coming from countries that have different standards and laws. actually, some of these community members have shared that they have come to the u.s. in the hopes of seeking a different circumstance and in the hopes of seeking more protection, and an ability to speak up for themselves and their rights. however, are people say they're surprised, especially in san francisco that they continue to feel they are not able to speak openly and that they're being profiled and surveiled. thank you so much. [applause] >> good evening. police chief, i want to

congratulate you and welcome you to our community. commissioners, this topic looks kind of very deep. in looking at the law, i want to thank a good gentleman, jean, and i think you should consult with him. he's knowledgeable and it seems like there is a fight here, and administrative fight, outside the law itself, concerning our communities.

how the commission will deal with it, it seems very complicated, something that we, the subjects, we probably, we don't understand all of this, but i am sure the police chief, and you guys, you will get into some understanding. i am nobody, you know? i am just here, very interested. not doing well. but this issue of profiling and deeper to people has been

the same as immigration, federal immigration asks the police department to look to the immigrants. one police chief told me, i don't care where you come from. you do your job. also, you have to remember that in our community, it is a self- censorship. before anybody wants to do bad things for our safety, there are -- >> all right, sir. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] >> good evening. i am the executive director of the san francisco bay area office of the council on american islamic relations. we're the largest american civil

rights advocacy group. before i speak about our perspective, a pope of clarification. there have been questions about the fbi's present. it is my understanding, just so everyone knows, the fbi was invited to participate in today's hearing, and they declined. that goes to the question of trust and openness. if they are not willing to have these conversations in the open, the way they are in portland, the question comes to people's minds is, what are they hiding? why can't we have these discussions with them? that is that issue. in my line of work, i represent dozens of clients who have been visited by the fbi. what i usually share some examples of what we see. they highlight the reason for openness, accountability and trust. there's a reason we need these things. some of the things we have seen

with the fbi in the last year and a half is people being questioned on their views about osama bin laden. their question about the uprisings in the middle east, whether or not they know rebels in libya, tunisia, and egypt. african community members are questioned about the uprising in egypt and other parts of the middle east. we also find agents not willing to share their names, last names, affiliations, business cards, so all we get is mitch, george, and john saying they want to protect us. it does not work. i am urging this body to take up the recommendations that have been put forth to move us toward a resolution model so there is concrete, clear, and transparent accountability for the way law enforcement interact with this community. we need trust. we must move forward together. thank you. [applause]

>> good evening. i am with the advocate for human rights. we work with iranian immigrants, iranian asylees. i don't want to repeat anything anyone said. in our line of work, we have also seen our community organizations being harassed by the fbi. i want to underscore the importance of community organizations, security in knowing they are not being surveiled when they are providing services to the community. thank you. president mazzucco: thank you very much. any further public comment? >> good evening. i am going to be helping with translation. >> i am a tunisian american.

she will try to translate my story. >> i have lived in san francisco for 10 years. i work as a cabdriver. the fbi has come to my home and my work multiple times. i have been interrogated. in san francisco, the fbi has asked me about my religion, where i pray, my family's name, the names of my roommates, and how many times i pray, and very personal questions. in 2009, i was delivering to someone without pulled over by various sfpd cars and a van, including a red crown victoria. it stayed behind and there was a man that was walking. the officers told me to step out of my car. they handcuffed me and put me on the sidewalk while they searched my car. they went back and reported to the man in the crown victoria, who then left while the officers

spoke to themselves and seemed to be discussing what to give me a ticket on. i found out that i received a ticket for an unsafe right turn, which i did not do. i am saddened that this type of harassment happens to me. i'm not here today to speak about myself. i am here to speak about my family that i wish to reunite with. i have a daughter and a wife i want to bring here in the next few months. i don't want this to happen to my daughter when i bring her here and i don't want this to happen to my wife. help stop the abuses. [applause] president mazzucco: is there further public comment? public comment is now closed. item three? item three is adjournment. >> i want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their hard work. i want to thank the audience.

very compelling to hear your story. we as a commission, we are all individual commissioners with equal power and authority. i think it is fair to say that we the commission will not tolerate any form of discrimination, any form of profiling come in this city. that is not acceptable. i know that chief suhr will not tolerate or allow that. we will make great strides to clear up some of the perceptions this evening. i want to thank john crew from the aclu for presenting these issues and bring in the audience forward. the folks we heard from, especially those individuals who have been affected, it is important that we send a message that we are not born to tolerate this, and that we will protect civil rights. again, this is an unprecedented hearing. i want to thank the human rights commission. we're sending a strong message to night.

no one should feel threatened by anybody. commissioner dejesus: i want to thank everyone for their participation. i want to say that i think we should have some next steps. on the commission level, we should follow up on the resolution aspect of this and continue to meet and discuss that and see whether it is feasible and how to proceed. i want to thank everyone for bringing this to our attention. i look forward to continuing to work with you to move forward. thank you. >> on behalf of the human rights commission, i would also like to say thank you and thank president mazzucco and his commission for sharing their meeting with us. i am sure i speak on behalf of everyone involved in sang thank you to theresa spar santazoey polk, -- theresa sparks and zoey polk, who have worked on this

issue. i'm proud of the work the commission does in san francisco. i'm proud we will continue to be on the cutting edge of issues like this to make sure that matters are dealt with and human rights are protected, and there is full view of these issues in public in san francisco. want to thank everyone. i want to thank everyone for coming tonight and we look forward to seeing you at our future meetings. >> do we have a motion? >> i want to say thank you. i will make a motion. i also want to thank members of the human rights commission for your detailed and thoughtful questions. i could tell there was a lot of work that went into it on your end, and i appreciate that. i also want to recognize the work of our president, president mazzucco, because i know that he

has met with members of the committee. with that, i move to adjourn. >> second. president mazzucco: all in favor? this meeting is adjourned. >> good morning, everybody. hi. how are you? so nice to see you. that looks like a great play yard. i know you're anxious to get out there and take part in all of the findings today. i wanted to introduce myself. my name is cates -- kate. i am a commentator for the golf

channel and i really want to welcome the over 300 students to our golf and leadership party here. [applause] can we did but cheer from the students from lafayette school? [cheering] how about a cheer from monroe elementary school? let's hear it for sheridan. [cheering] and a big hello from the students of jefferson elementary. wow. you guys have a lot of energy today. glad to not be in school, right? i know i liked to take a day off from school. we are thrilled to have familiar faces on hand for the celebration, which is the culmination of an effort by

pacific gas and electric and the unified school district to teach leadership and call skills to students in -- golf skills in 21 different san francisco elementary schools. that is a wonderful opportunity. as a a board member and a professional golfer, it is wonderful to see seven people having a chance to -- to see so many people having a chance to learn the skills provided by the game of golf. i would like to thank the pg&e president. [applause] mayor ed lee. and deputy school superintendent richard for taking the time to join us today.

i would like to introduce one of our biggest supporters in san francisco who also is a great golfer himself. mayor ed lee. mayor lee: thank you. good morning, everyone. i do not know about being a great golfer, but if i can brag for a moment -- how many of you have a hole in one. how many of you had three? [laughter] ok. those kids have their hands up. why? i have had three, in my last one was here. i am a happy guy whenever i come out here. and of course, i wanted to brag before i teach the kids humility, right? anyway, i am out here with good friends. certainly sandy tatum, who i have worked with for the last

two years, who helped initialize the whole first program when we started partnering with the pga. thank you for all your contributions. and you know, the first tee program, the partnership with the unified school district, and then this year with the help of pg&e, to really expand that to the fourth and fifth graders, that is a fantastic contribution. i want to thank peony because last week, we -- pg&e because last week, we were doing contributions getting ready for earthquakes, helping our youth there. i want to thank again pg&e for being good corporate partners of the county of san francisco. i want to thank the first tee program. i know a lot of members of the

board of directors are here today. it is totally of voluntary efforts to help our kids learn the game of golf, but learn the honest values, the integrity, the sportsmanship that golf brings. and ultimately, the humility that also requires you to have. wherever you go -- in the latest example -- i hit 16 shots before they finished 1 hole, and still, they finished the whole round. that was this past weekend. understanding, and humility, but also other values. kids are in for a wonderful experience when you take up the game of golf. i know you're going to love playing this game, but you are also going to love how you get support from all of us. this program is a wonderful

program. we have funded it. we have been finding it. this place has been posting the charles schwab cup of four years. it will be right here with all the past pga champion spirited play the final, most important round of the season here, and it is a wonderful contribution these professional players have with the first tee program. that is wonderful. it is a wonderful relationship we have with our school district. that is what it is all about. giving hope to the kids. support for them. they are going to take this specialized fitness that pg&e is trying to fund, to use its -- to use it so they can learn golf

skills of visitation valley, one of the first areas we opened up. i am so proud of this whole area. being a mayor who plays golf -- i am so humbled by being mayor. i am humbled by the game of golf. i learn something every single time i play this game. but i also played a lot in the city of san francisco. it is such a wonderful game for everyone in the city to have, including all of you 300 kids. thank you for coming out. >> and now pg&e president chris dunn. i know you would like to talk next. >> thank you. we are excited to be part of this program and working in collaboration with first tee, is a great organization in the city and county of san francisco and the school district. it is an honor to be here today.

mayor, i have had many, many more hole in one span three, but unfortunately they were on a putt-putt course. [laughter] my golf game itself is humiliating. it is actually humbling all the time. it is a lot of fun to play. you are going to have a great opportunity, because you are going to be able to learn a lot about lifelong values. this will serve you well. not just in school. but throughout your life. the great part is you get to have fun doing that. you get to play golf while you are doing that. it is going to be a great time for you. i have been blessed in meeting a lot of students to have gone to a first tee program and they have gone on to great things in college and post-college. college and post-college. and they've learned a lot of