but good morning der community members, like the officials and colleagues. we are here to celebrate a day that san francisco should be proud of, a day that we should

all be proud of. the san francisco civil rights ordinance is officially signed into law. i have been the coalition coordinator for the past two years and have seen firsthand the committee's efforts and inspiring bravery to bring us here today. i have also seen as support of elected officials and allies in the community. please help me in welcoming a few of these people to share this perspective today. help me recognized supervisor jane kim, the sponsor of the organizers -- of the ordinance. [applause] >> thank you. i cannot believe we are finally here. it has been a really long journey. the for our office, i know we came on board in august when we started working with the saved san francisco coalition. but for the coalition it has been an even longer journey. the starting in 2001, but really, the organizing that has happened in the last couple of years working with the police

commission, the human rights commission, and organizing amongst community residents and community leaders that you see here today. we are taking an historic step here in san francisco. we are now the second city to put into ordinands that racial profiling is something that we do not do. for the sake of national security. this is already something that our police chief, our elected and community leaders have said and sat again. but we have now put this into ordinands. it has been a really long passage. i do not want to gloss over it. this has been a really challenging process for all of us. our community leaders, our office, the mayor's office, and many of our elected officials. we had many conversations. i know the chief and i have engaged a lot in what it means to keep our communities safe, but also how to create trust. i am proud to be standing here today.

to the effort of so many people like those that want to recognize who helped push this along to the end. we have the department of public works. and standing behind one of our small business leaders here in san francisco that helped us get to the point that we should compromise around a solution that will work for everyone here. and i want to recognize our police commissioners in the audience today, and our human rights commissioner, who helped advise us in this process. and my elected leader and co- sponsor, president david chiu at, and supervisor christina olague. we have people who want to speak, so i don't want to belong. but thank you for holding with us every step of the way -- so i don't want to be long. but thank you for holding with us every step of the way. [applause]

>> our next speaker is a coalition member and community member an active in the community. [applause] >> good morning, respected officials, honored guests, friends and family. i would like to greet you with the muslim greeting of peace, love, and justice. i am a proud member of the coalition for a state san francisco. and i have been working with the coalition for the last two years to address racial and pulled -- and religious profiling and discrimination of arab, middle eastern, muslim, and asian committee members here in san francisco. my family and friends and fellow classmates have all had to deal with this type of discrimination. after september 11th. it all boils down to the point

where eight city officials may discriminatory comments about our -- as city officials made it discriminatory comments about our community. and these comments were very frightening to community members to get it showed my community as a very scary community. we felt that we were second- class student -- citizens and we have lost some of our dignity and human rights. it has not been an easy road for the members of this coalition to get together. before this work, i had never set foot in city hall two years ago. i had never had the opportunity to work with such a broad based group of grass-roots community organizations. asian-american communities, latino communities, african- american communities, and different communities here in san francisco. it has been a great and i opening experience for me. at the member of the community,

i am thankful and proud of the many organizations that have come together in support of this. i am thankful and proud that san francisco has come together to speak for human-rights. i want to thank the council for their help in this struggle. for the mayor and his support. and all of the community members that will be working to support this. it does not matter how many pat downs, where checks, gps tracking devices -- why your checks, gps tracking devices. these are not going to keep us safe. what will keep the state is community coming together and working together side by side. at the end of the day, we're all here and we are all equal. i am proud and thankful to have been part of this community. my mother is here and it is her first time to be in city hall. this whole process has been a

great and wonderful experience for me and my community members. i look forward to the future to come. it was decades later before some supreme court decision finally apologized and passed something similar to this, but i'm so thankful and i'm proud to be san franciscan and part of my community. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you so much. our next speaker is the executive director of the asian law caucus. [applause] >> good morning. i'm the executive director of the asian law caucus, and we are also a proud member of the state coalition -- the coalition for a state san francisco. i want to thank supervisor kim in setting the standard against racial profiling. and in support of transparency

and local control of our own communities. and our sincere -- sincere thanks to merely for the civil rights ordinance. in the coming months and years, part of the coalition will be working to ensure that the standards enshrine in the ordinance are in a way that protect our communities and shared values. in particular, will be addressing the impact of the ordinance on the existing agreement between the sf tv and the fbi. we plan to meet with various stakeholders how best to meet the ordinance. and lastly, we work to bring the community leaders together as we have been to be sure that the ordinance robustly fights racial profiling. many of the people we will be reaching out to are in the room today. be prepared to our -- for our calls. we look forward to celebrating with you today and working with you tomorrow. thank you so much.

[applause] >> thank you. and our last -- next speaker is the president of the arab cultural and community center. [applause] >> good morning. i am the president of the arab culture and community center, a member of the coalition for a safe san francisco. the center has been working for a safe the san francisco for the last two years. to address very important issues of racial profiling and transparency in san francisco. many of the organizations and individuals that are working with the coalition are not new to this issue. our community has faced many difficult situations regarding our place in the city for many decades. each of us has tried to work to bring understanding, knowledge,

and representation of our community. the center has brought to our communities old and new, and to the issues old and new, and to bring about positive change in the san francisco civil rights honors. because of this board and the mayor's support of this ordinance, it is clear that the city of san francisco stands with our community and working against religious and racial profiling and transparency. again, i would like to thank the mayor, the board of supervisors, especially supervisor kim, the sponsor of this, and the police chief. thank you. [applause] >> thank you so much. i just want to say, we appreciate you coming out today, especially in light of the tragic fire that impacted a few of the buildings that you

manage. i know -- our next speaker is mayor edwin lee. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming today. it is a very, very happy day for a lot of people, for our city. i think it is true to say that every city on this side of the world, i think, are challenged with this a very basic conflict these days, that conflict that we see and read about almost every week between our civil liberties and public safety. and it is different in every city as to how it has been handled. and we see different examples of what we fear having happen here. and then we have examples of what could happen.

i want to thank the board of supervisors, particularly supervisor kim for her persistence and persisted -- or her persistence in moving this forward through the legislative process. i want to thank the chief of police and his commission to buy because they have also move this conversation forward. but most important and i want to thank the members of our community. they feel the sting or they feel the level of safety and care that the city might have with them and for them. it is in this spirit that we wanted to make sure that we would not end up in the days of apology. that should be long gone. we should not be apologizing for things that we do. we ought to be moving every community in our city forward with their civil liberties, and enjoying the basic freedoms this country has to offer. it is why everybody who has found a way to come to america,

and especially to san francisco. i want to especially thank f ouad, because there were moments where we were not sure what the basis of the relationship would be and what would be its foundation. he has been with us from the very beginnings of the human rights commission servicing the city. and we worked together to deal with other challenges we have had in the city. and it has built upon always a trust that our interfaith community is always helping us provide for committees of both faiths and immigrant communities. -- for communities of both faiths and immigrant communities. we never want to say we are sorry for something we could have prevented. it is with this legislation and

i am proud the today's signing -- proudly today signing that makes people want to enjoy their civil liberties and for generations to come, as well as feel that their safety is also the priority of our whole city family. safe and joins the liberties, where else can you see that happening? and i want to signal my appreciation to the ongoing asian law caucus. i know you are proud of your work here, proud of the bases upon which we do this. and for me, is always about putting the community first. and all two men become i believe this is the best legislation and one that balances the right tone for our city, but also, that protects these basic promises

that we have made for generations. it is my pleasure and my enthusiasm to sign this legislation that you are witnessing. let's do that. [applause] > > are we ready? there, it's done. [applause]