>> please welcome former mayor of city and county of san francisco, willy l brown junior.

>> let me welcome each and every one of you@city haul of city and county of san francisco on behalf of mayor edwin lee. in just a few minutes you will hear from him. we're here to celebrate the life of an incredible human being. there will be a series of persons telling you from their own personal perspective about this extraordinary human being, but we will commence the program the way nelson mandela would have wanted us to commence this program, and that is of course, by celebrating his life through the voice and sound of people who can sing, very young people who can sing. in this case, the pacific boy's

choir academy, of all places, oakland, california. nelson mandela was about -- my daughter susan -- one of her many charitable activities that she does, this is one of them. if you will just kindly stand and the boy's will give you the national anthem of south africa and the national anthem of the good old usa.

[music]

[applause] >> marvelous rendition of our national anthem, but an incredibly impressive rendition of the south african national anthem. can you imagine those young persons, two or three days a week with every song and every opportunity for good music, being told by mayor ed lee about 48 hours ago what they

next had to do? and they started rehearsing and they rehearsed and they put it together and please, another round of applause for that selection. [applause] >> for the occasion, a man who presides over city hall and all of san francisco, mayor ed lee. [applause] >> thank you mayor brown. welcome everyone to the peoples' palace at city hall, san francisco. today we mourn the loss of a great world leader who inspired the world and forever changed the hearts and minds of millions. the outpouring that we have already felt and the unprecedented /treu buttes we

have already seen show us the love that the world has had for nelson mandela. former south african president mandela led a life of he fought of injustice and oppression to build a free south africa that set off a global movement. his values are san francisco values. and even though they took so much from him, they had courage and forgave the very people who put him in prison for more than 27 years in a racially divided south africa. he left his heart open and he changed the world. nelson mandela freed a nation. he led with grace and compassion, he challenged us to

do better. and his resolve to promote human rights, peace and democracy has inspired generations, including myself. san francisco is part of the global movement he created. he fought for equality and for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and he enshrined those rights into the south african constitution. he was a transformative leader in the fight to end the hiv and aids epidemic and he definitely cared for people living with hiv and aids. he fought to end poverty, to empower communities and brought his nation together. nelson mandela touched so many, so deeply. he brought hope and we saw in him what we seek in ourselves.

his life has been an inspiration to all who are changing the world for the better and his legacy has had the profound impact on our city and residence. san francisco mourns, as we have lost a friend and truly inspirational leader who never stopped fighting for equality and helped to empower communities everywhere. our hopes, thoughts and prayers are with the entire mandela family, the citizens of south africa and our friends around the world. it has been said that his passing was a mighty loss of a mighty life. we will continue to honor nelson mandela's legacy to help empower communities everywhere. we must never stop fighting for

equality for all. his legacy goes on in each of us. thank you nelson mandela, our world has changed forever because of you. let us all stand together now and in the days ahead and follow in nelson mandela's footsteps, take action for what is right and inspire that kind of change everyday in our lives here in san francisco, a city for the 100 percent city where the world class heart. thank you. >> when mayor lee caused us in

san francisco to pause for the occasion of mr. mandela's death, he was joined by his many elected officials in san francisco and i thought i simply might identify them. they're not speaking so we'll worry about it on two -- not enough time. public defender jeff is present with us, present with the board of supervisors, david chiu with his fellow members, david campos, breed, cohen, farrell, scott wean. iener. also present from the state of california is president lee,

citywide elected official and their various school board members, and i'll identify them in just a few minutes, as well as our police chief and our fire chief, of course his wife, the person who succeeded ed lee as the chief administrative officer, miss kelly. you see the official family of san francisco as posted for the occasion of the celebration of nelson mandela's life. many people did not know mandela personally, but symbolically, and it's, i think, appropriate mayor lee, the naacp nationally has caused everybody to pause, as was the occasion, the ceremony in south africa just two days ago when

our president and three other expresidents all showed up for that celebratory service. the ncaap in the state of california and like wise, and to give you the perp specktive on the life of nelson mandela and the people who have been a part of every step that he's taken to rid this world of inequality and discrimination, again, of the naacp of the west coast, miss alice huffman. >> thank you mr. speaker, to mayor of this great city and to our senators and secretaries and other s present, to

everyone that came out this morning, i am so pleased that i got this call at 4 o'clock yesterday from speaker brown to show up in san francisco from 8 o'clock from sacramento. only willy brown can make you do something like that, get up at 4 o'clock, but i am really honored to be here because this is a great occasion. i do bring your greetings from the naacp where i serve as a chair, but i'm sure that many of you did what i did. we watched, we stayed awake and tried to watch that ceremony when it started in the middle of the night. i know millions of people were up, enthused to sew see all the commendation they were giving to nelson mandela.

i must tell you, i felt like even though i watched it, i did my little thing with tv and i put my press statement out. i felt like something was missing in california. and so when willy brown called i was anxious to come over because i believe this is the piece that we need to do in california. now, i'm old enough now that i can consider myself a historian and i remember when mr. willy brown a and mi tried to get legislation through, the first time they put the bill up it was a joke. what is wrong with those crazy people. the next year they put it up it wasn't so funny. the next time they put it up they finally got the divestment

bill passed and that was the beginning, the greatest pension funds in america pulled out their investments in africa and that was the beginning of the unfolding of the economic viability of south africa and the movement began in california. so it's only fitting to do this commemoration here in california because i say that we were able to do that in california because willy brown was a veteran of discrimination and knew what it 'd take to get the world to listen and they had the courage to do it so i give them accolades, as well as mr. nelson mandela today. [applause]

naacp expresses deep condolences. we all feel a great loss of a great leader like mr. mandela. you know, when he began his movement with the nac we felt like it was a model that the naacp had set forth. we were right there arm in arm with him to try to end the discrimination. now, his life that he strived for liberation of african nations, challenged the dignity of the african people and endeavored to advance all african countries, and move forward with the world. he was an op to mist, kept his head pointed towards the sun, his feet moving forward. he never gave into despair during his many dark days. we consider nelson mandela the founding father of south africa's democratic nation. he created a south africa

founded on a sound civil human rights principles for all. he was confident in his call for one person, one vote for all people everywhere regardless of race, creed, color, sexual orientation. he felt that one vote was the most powerful thing they could do to turn the power over to all the people in south africa. he was a leader to many people still fighting the causes today. i heard president baa ma obama -- if you stayed up and listened-i heard him say if his speech that he gave president nelson mandela credit because at a young age he got caught in the movement in south africa and it molded him, and he gave him credit that he's where he is today because of the inspiration that he received from president mandela. the chairwoman of the naacp said the honorable nelson

mandela inspires hopes, dreams and aspirations and values of all who seek justice against tremendous odds. first lady michelle obama said we will never forget the inspiration from nelson mandela, extraordinary example of more courage, kindness and humility. miss secretary clinton said nelson mandela was a /khaplen you know for justice and human dignity with unmatched grace. nancy pelosi said we have lost a leader who advanced the cause and equality of human rights. i agree with them all, but i will add my point too. i think that nelson mandela taught people how liberating it is to forgive, for had he not, the anger over the brutality he had experienced during the time and the guilty and fear that white people had would have

caused a civil war in south africa. president nelson mandela's gift to the world was his ability to forgive. he pointed us to the best part of our human spirit. when president mandela appeared in oakland he praised california for the progressive role in leadership it had given to his progressive efforts. nelson mandela, a man of courage that we all revere, who thought many miles away though, was such an enormous figure in our lives that we will not forget him. we will remember that he taught us and loved us. he is the stuff that legends are made from. may we embrace the spirit of