not make rules and regulations. that's for supervisor peskin. he can start that process but you have properly applied the law in my opinion and there's no showing here that somehow you're application was injust, number one, or in any way wrong. the instances they cite almost trivialize. they cite the relocation of a playground here in the civic center. come on, let's get real. they cite the theatre, that

theatre would collapse onto itself if there's not a rational adjustment. we're not pointing to that scenario. they altered a back door on the upper stories of the asian art museum here as some sort of an example. that was obviously an example where, yeah, you needed maybe access or whatever. but as president fung poses in his question, where have they ever done anything where they basically are taking and removing and in my way of thinking, destroying a piece of art. by taking that and removing that and hiding it from the public, that's tantamount to destruction. it's like me standing here and saying oh, you guys do not exist because i don't see you. >> commissioner: let's be civil, please. >> at any rate, not to flog a dead horse here.

i think i articulated my point in my brief unless there's a question the prior decision should be sustained and no rehearing should be granted. thank you very much. >> clerk: thank you. we're going to move on to public comment now. so one moment. >> commissioner: step forward. >> clerk: thank you. we'll begin with public comment. two minutes, please.

>> president fung, members of the board of appeals, my name is aaron peskin. i am the author of the aforementioned resolution which was introduced on the 24th of april. passed unanimously by the board of supervisors on may 1 and signed by interim mayor fairel may 9th requesting the hearing be regranted. i want to associate myself with the appeal from the historic preservation commission and art commission. as you may well know, i'm the author of proposition j. i do believe their decision to grant a certificate of appropriateness did come -- conform with the secretary of interior standards and commissioner fung you asked the right question and the charter

is very clear about the powers the art commission has to accession and put up and remove art in for instance. it's a rather extraordinary circumstance in as far as as a certificate of appropriateness being granted and i think it's need not be part of the deliberation but as a political matter it's a very important thing. it should be noted our mayor-elect, london breed, also voted for that as was our former mayor ed lee and interim mayor farrell and the right thing is to grant a hearing and get rid of the manifest injustice across

the street from city hall. >> commissioner: thank you. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor peskin. next speaker, please. >> my name's danny leonard. i know that there's been a lot of discussion about integrity of the historical process as a foundation for san francisco but there's been no response from this board regarding the potential danger and trauma for a young native american children's as it comes to having that statue. it's morphing on the lines of regulatory processes within the department of interior. my brother used to be the assistant secretary of interior. i've instigated a request if the inspector general of the department of interior to look at this to see whether this is a blind attack of racism using

interior regulations to do that. and if it is, it certainly should be investigated in washington, d.c. also i was an investigator all over the united states and when there was racism and -- when there's racism and children are being called named it required an investigation and required a hearing. maybe we're moving towards that process. so look at this as a hearing to see whether there is an implied denial of human rights using regulations to create racism. i look forward to your positive decision and hope we can come together and become compatible with each other. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, sir. next speaker, please.

>> i am a san francisco native, born and raised in the excelsior district. i want to honor the ansays -- ancestors who from stolen land and we have this monument telling my people and the natives of california otherwise. it is our duty to change the narrative. it is our duty to dismantle white supremacy and uplift the native community because their art is the oldest art here on this land not any of the colonizer art, it is their art. we should be uplifting their art. i want nothing more than to see this taken down because it makes me feel like i am worth less and i know that's not true. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please.

>> good evening to all of you. i am here as an attorney who's represented for the last 56 years, native american causes including two death penalty case where's there was an acquittal. so i have been honored to be privy to the inspiration and the ideology and spirit of native americans. i'm here to urge you for reconsideration. i want to quickly read from recent chronicle article, entitled "another chance to get rid of a demeaning relic . "

and the statue on fulton street between the san francisco public library and the asian art museum shows a swaggering spanish cowboy gazing out on the horizon while his religious catholic missionary berated the barely clothed native american man through the positioning of the bronze figures their clothing and their actions the message of early days is particularly that the conquerers of the land is here and said original inhabitants belong at our feet. this is an insult to native american. they suffer in the enlightened person who wants to rid our system of racism and wants to

extinguish the notion of supporting this particular view. i finish by saying if i offend thee, pluck it out and this is offensive to all people from the perspective of what it stands for to wit racism and genocide. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i served for my tribe. it's offensive to hear language about the oldest and most historic it's known as ramatash the people of this land pushed

out by the enslavement and genocide of our people. that's what this monument represents. we're not afford the protection of our sacred place. we are not allowed to practice our ceremonies and cultures. if we want to talk about the oldest and most historic it's the burial sites that sit under the city blocks of san francisco. to talk about a monument that has been there or a history that is less than 160 years old, we have existed here for thousands of years and it's just a little blip on the screen of what our people endured. i want to read a statement from cal brooks who was not able to be here or stay. she states i'm the co-founder of the anti-police terror project. came here as a black woman on n

in -- indigenous woman and slavery is not only wrong but morally bankrupt. there's already been a unanimous vote. democracy has run its course and the community should not have to continue to fight a common sense decision. racism has no place. the bay area is supposed to be a beacon of progressive value. take down this statue now. >> my name is hugh dandroti and artist and free-speech advocate.

i wanted to address that question of free speech. and i wanted to stay that my understanding of free speech is that the right resides with the speaker. in this case that speaker is not the artist who died a long time ago. the work was made for the city of san francisco and the city owns the work and choose to displaying it. by displaying it we're speaking the intent and subject expressed by that work. i think that woe all know that is unacceptable. so i think we should not be engaging in any speech that actively denigrates or demeans an entire community or cultural group or respected and cherished members of our community. i also think if there is agreement on the subject of whether or not the statue is

racist we should listen to the communities affect. we should be listening to native americans peoples and we're hearing many today and a hope we hear some more. that's it. thanks. >> >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i call on all angels to come forth and employ your strength and love supported from beyond and above and be clear those with ears that here that comes with applause true cause for

trembling in fear. onto constitutional patriots and all warriors including the russian and shamrock angels i call by almighty's command, loose your power for all dominos now fall. i'm here to finish this fall against the corporate store. aphrodite and more be clear and the trials and tribulations of revelations following the 40-day freedom strike overcome and transition back to genesis. i am peter, i am. from darkness to light to finish this fight the authority be mine every wronged overturned and all resistance i will burn by the light of the one it already be done. to all my relations, arise. free of all christmompromise an seeing no other option or cancers to the cancer option and semper fi it's do or die.

and if you're clear this command is sun kissed when i turn around i kindly hope your warriors have raised your fist. for i am that i am your servant as i say it so be it it is done. all it requires is for you to begun. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i'm with the native were alliance. we are here today to show our disapproval with this racist statue trying to glorify the white savior complex they're damaging to the people and creates a fall narrative that colonization did not harm indigeno

indigenous people and they would beat us for practicing our language and our culture. the resistance hasn't gone anywhere. we're here today to show that. to represent the strong voice of our community we're the indom inable spirit of our ancestors and we're not going anywhere. . >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is ruth bornstein. i'm a resident of san francisco. on the issue of whether the historic preservation commission properly applied the relevant standards, my understanding is they may be interpreted at the local level. it includes san francisco has been and hopefully still is a place that welcomes diversity and strives to people people with dignity and equality. this hateful statue flies in the

face of those core values. if our circumstances require glorifying the subjugation of native people then this is no longer the san francisco i know and love. >> clerk: thank you. next >> i'm allison collins a blake parent and educator for over 25 years in san francisco unified. i've been fighting in my children's schools and the schools i've worked to ensure all students feel valued and visible and they feel welcomed. and as a parent as a black parent, seeing statues and images like this is very upsetting. because these racist items are more than just art, if that's what you want to call it and the i'd of a discussion going on around history, my question is

who's history? i grew up never seeing my history and if i only saw it it was enslaved people. so when i see images like this it's traumatizing for me and i know it's traumatizing for my children. i can't imagine what it feels like to be native american and have to see that every day in a town center. i'm asking as a parent for to you take down the statue and i'm also reflecting on the fact that if this isn't white supremacy -- not just the statue, but this whole process, i don't know what is. we have a few privileged white people basically telling indigenous people whether they're native americans or san franciscans we shouldn't have a voice in what we celebrate and memorialize. i hope that our city chooses not to memorialize white supremacy and we choose to celebrate the

indigenous populations and put those at the center of our conversations. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i'm paula rand from united methodist church. i don't think the statue should disappear from public view but perhaps given to the san francisco historical society. they can keep it in the basement and when they bring it out they can have all kinds of information on how it represents a celebration of the vanquishing of native people. it celebrates murder. it celebrates rape. it celebrates theft. it celebrates the ongoing brain work of indian children over many years. people should be able to see that but they should understand what it is saying. it should not represent the character of our downtown district or civic center. it's not in the character of

that district or hopefully of san francisco, period. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> thank you for letting us talk with you and i do a radio show called the voices of the native nations. i just wanted to say that first of all, we're not asking for the destruction of the statue and the art commission has said they were going remove it from the place where it is. so it's not in the face of the people. it's going to be placed somewhere else. we're asking that the place where millions of people come to

celebrate the life of san francisco are not presented with something that does not speak for us. if you want to know why that's important. there's the highest rates of suicide amongst native people because they don't see their worthiness when all they see are places where they're denigrated. and if you want to know why that kind of thing is important, the attitudes can effect millions of people. -- affect millions of people. the japanese in world war ii surrendered two days before thigh -- they dropped the atomic bomb. in order to enhance the united states' world position, they decided to drop two bombs after the japanese surrendered.

these are millions of people that died because of an attitude. so we don't want that attitude in the halls and the state in the civic center of san francisco. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. >> good evening, folks. thank you very much for having us here and listening to what we have to say. my name is called marcus arana and i'm kind of tired of having to come to hearings like this over and over and say the same things over and over. i'm a living aloni person so you don't think we're a sepia-toned pictures or god forbid a statue behind the statue laying on our

back with people pointing at us and calling us evil. a kid in san francisco as an aloni person, that statue has always broken my heart every time i saw it. and for somebody who desperately sought an image to uphold the beauty of our ancestors i couldn't find one and every field trip that went by that statue my heart would break a little bit more. it's not an abstract conversation whether or not this is a useful piece of art in that particular place. it's a conversation about how a process could be derailed by one individual from petaluma. so i drove out from petaluma so you drove out -- not everybody from petaluma hold these to be true. i'm the author of the report "nation by omission" and my name was taken off because it was too

culturally identifiable off the report. please, don't be a body that makes another mistake in erasing the native voice and native perspective. you heard from enough people how wrong and offensive this is and do what they have mandate and do the right thing and grant a rehearing. >> clerk: next speaker, please. >> hello. my name is [indiscernible] in the native tongue. my slave name is natasha. it's not often i get a voice in things like that because i'm a half breed. the other half was russian jew

so if you want to call that statue art, call it art. but would you have a statue of hitler in san francisco and call that art? i made some origami. let's tear down supremacy, period. those who have money and will listen to us now. thank you for listening. >> clerk: thank you. >> hello. i left the reservation in the '50s and grew up in san francisco. i had to learn the thing down there whatever you call it.

it's hard for me to express my feelings. i'm very traumatized and sad for the kids who grow up to be our future. they'll call i a dirty indian in class. how can i say the pledge of aleensage and one nation -- allegiance and one nation under god. >> clerk: thank you, sir. next speaker, please. >> i'm kim schuck. i'm the poet laureate of for instance and an art teacher. we met last time. i wanted to point out a couple things to you you may not know. when that statue was put up, it wasn't history, it was aspiration. it was a couple of years after a

war after which they cut off the heads of people defending their land that had been -- that hat -- had not been ceded and they cut off the heads to be sent to washington as trophies. that's the context of that statue. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. >> in his estate, james lick who partly made his fortune buying and selling native land stated $100,000 be a lot ford -- allotted for three bronze

statues to be placed before the city hall of san francisco. frank hatisberger failed on several of these conditions. it is not historically accurate, nor is it appropriate. it is culturally appropriative but not appropriate. the life-sized native man on the ground based on the hairstyle closely depicts an indigenous plains man. the artist clearly had little to know information of local native peoples. this further leads to the misinformation and stereotyping of native peoples. s symbol have power and when used without understanding they can be dangerous. call it what it is. this statue is propaganda. it is blatant claiming of land and keeps settlers on top. he came from a time where it was convenient for white people to

dehumanize native people. that was the plan from the beginning to excuse colonization the way the declaration described indigenous people is shameful rufrg -- referring to them for merciless india savages. i apologize. it's ironic native people have to debate in the same system that puts a price on their ancestors' scalps. the more i understand the history the more i support their request and find it condescending execution made to keep the early days statue up. because it's more than 50 years old it's history? when were those laws when they destroyed burial grounds nearly obliterated and half a century with zero protocol or respect

towards the aloni people. they built the oldest building in san francisco as slaves under the guise of religious salvation. so much is owed to them. >> clerk: your time is up. next speaker, please. >> i'm sure you agree for all forms of life, the human birth say great gift. -- is a great gift and all human livelihood to serve one's fellow citizens is indeed a great good. as your fellow citizen i hope you consider the testimony on item 7 on today's agenda with an

open mind. let the facts speak for themselves. in my personal, humble opinion, the history of america begins with its first peoples who cared for this land for millennia and who are still here. may the city and county of san francisco wisely consider the letting the historical message of its public artworks reflect that respect and be willing to change them. change the position given a clear need. even statues may not reflect eternal truth. i urge you to reconsider. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, sir.

>> my name is dave diple i'm here to request you deny the appeal to reconsider. basically, i'd like to ask to you consider a walk from market street through the united nations plaza. and what you meet first is a statue of samoan boulevar known as the great liberator and in effect a good introduction to the early days and pioneer memorial. what did he do? he did his best to end the economic system of rape that spanish economies were built up upon, to and slavery and end

disease and death that spanish culture brought to the americas. another interesting fact about this sculpture, the early days, is the fact that clearly there say spanish missionary. clearly there is a native person but the majority of them were what the spanish considered tame or mission indians. any sculpture like this one is an aggregation of elements removing did, removing one removes the effect of the culture. i do believe that it should remain like the holocaust memorial as a reminder of where things can go very very bad. and someone mentioned adolf hitler as a statue. i worked at the legion of honor. we had a very disturbing photograph of a man in uniform dancing with children in

traditional dress. that man was adolf hitler. the art was very disturbing. we had people assigned to watch it to protect it. it was there for one purpose, to make people understand that this is something we cannot have and evil has a lot of different appearances. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good evening. my name is meagan uner and i am here on behalf of the san francisco human rights commission. we perspectively the board of appeals rehears appeal under 17-035 regarding the issuance of certificate of appropriateness to remove the early days monument. it's been problematic for the native american community for over two decades. the hume anrights commission and

investigating complaints of discrimination has been concerned publish report in 2007 and issues of concerns for native americans in san francisco. the h.r.c. is in agreement with the art commission and prehistoric preservation commission the board of appeals should rehear the case as it is exceptional and allowing the early days portion to remain will mean manifest injustice and the 2007 report highlighting the exclusion felt by native american communities in the area acknowledge the offensive nature of the early day portion of the pioneer monument and recommend it be removed and placed in an appropriate area like a museum too why it is offensive. the h.r.c.'s executive director

state the early days portion celebrates the conquest and genocide of native american communities and sends a devastating message not only to our native american communities but to our city as a whole. it is an affront to san francisco values and has no place in our city. as we are in such a perilous time in the city and country as well, the h.r.c. respectfully requests you rehear this case. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i was born and raised here in san francisco and my family's here through the relocation program. do the right thing, san francisco. approve the rehearing.

listen to the community. supervisors have asked and approved the removal. many others have come out in approval of removing the statue. it's detrimental to our community and youth who have one of the highest suicide rates. i work with the native american community and the youth and this is devastating to our community. i'm asking you to do the right thing by denying the certificate of appropriateness. the board of appeals is upholding manifestin justice against oppressed members of the community. it's not right to keep this here. this is blatantly racist. new orleans recently removed a similar statue. and san francisco, again, we're just saying do the right thing. listen to the community that it's affect.

we are still here. our people survived genocide, attempted genocide but we're still here and thriving and we need be want this statue to be removed. this is total does respect to many supervisors and the community and people who live here and a can't believe the statue that we're still here arguing about this asking for it to be removed that this is sitting in our city hall plaza where people who come through the city every day have to walk past that. our youth, who are trying to graduate high school sit in that library and look out the window and have to see that. >> good evening. i'm an enrolled member of the nation and i was born and raised here in san francisco. and i'm here to ask you to

implore you, to grant a rehearing so the statue can be taken down. it is painful as my mom who came before me said, it hurts the youth and i know because i was that youth and a work in the community and i did a lesson and we talked about the process of what's going on with the statue and the recent history and why it was put up, who wanted it to be put up and then took them on a walk to see it and every one of them said it hurts them. i know that because i was that native youth growing up in the city and it hurts to know you celebrate genocide and blood and racism. i'm asking you to do the right thing and have it taken down. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners. commissioner fung, las --

lazarus, wilson. my mother was born in san francisco and i see this as an issue of bravery, mistakes and respect. now, many years ago i took my family to berlin on vacation and hoped to see berlin wall because it represented such a negative image to our family being of jewish heritage and the one thing i couldn't find in berlin was the berlin wall. it had all been taken down. so the people there knew what it represented and acted on it. all i have to say is i have tremendous respect for the commission and what you stand for and the hard work that you do but i do believe that a mistake was made and we saw earlier this evening when someone stood up from the city commission and admitted they had

made a mistake. i hope you all have the bravery to face up to what may have been a mistake on your part and definitely take this statue down. thank you very much. >> clerk: thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. part of the transcultural district and someone born and raised in san francisco. i'm happy to lend my voice to the many other voices that have spoken before me to implore you to reconsider the appeal. as someone who was born and raised here i'm very proud of my city. i'm proud of the fact that we have very progressive values in our world's leader but that statue has long been a source of shame for me and in san franciscans as it actively celebrates our history of racism and the subjugation of the first

nations people. we really need to reconsider this and to take the words of the art commission, the historic preservation commission, the action of the board of supervisors, the opinion of all three mayors very seriously as well as the opinions and words of the people who have spoken on the community. san francisco doesn't want the statue to stand. we are ashamed it's still standing and implore to you make the right decision here today. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. >> good evening, commissioners. i'm benet. i grew up in the city and proud of the city but this statue does not represent what i have seen growing up in the city and the values it has. it is extremely shameful and

painful. i'm indian american man and i work in many different facets in san francisco and as an asian-american i find this extremely offensive and we stand with our native brothers and sisters saying it's tantamount to having a piece that celebrates japanese internment and a piece that celebrates the chinese exclusion act. some piece that will celebrate slavery. that's what the statue is. and we need this to be taken down and need to actually not look at laws and words but actually look at each other as people and this is our moment in time now to actually be humans and look at the other side and feel empathy and pain and i urge you to grant the appeal and lend your support to taking the statue down. thank you. >> clerk: thank you.

>> good evening. my name is thomas simpson. i live in for instance and been here about 35 years in the art community and activist community. may hear me say some things others have said and hope you don't take it as just repeating what others have said. i hope you take it as it's important because it's being said again. as the againgentleman was speakn favor of keeping the monument up, he kept saying, well, that's my opinion. well, he spoke what some might say mumbo jumbo but a lot of things he said were his opinion. i think peas important to repeat there's some other people have who have opinions. the park service standards. we have to remember the board of

supervisors have stated their opinion. the human rights commission has stated their opinion. the current mayor has stated his opinion and according to what's read the past mayor who passed stated his opinion. you've heard a number of opinions being stated here tonight. it's never too late to do the right thing. the right thing to be considered tonight is to remove that statue. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. >> i'm with native warrior alliance. i just want to say that i find

this statue incredibly racist. i know none of you are not native and don't understand the oppression of what my people have gone through but i just want to say it's wrong. you need to take it down. it's disrespectful. i come to you humbly, thank you. >> clerk: thank you. >> i'm from district 6 community planners and the area is within the north of market planning area. i'm also a long-time founding member of the historic gallery and the 509 cultural center and have been with them longer than this meeting. i don't think the appealers are are actually adding new information. if so i think the historical relevance of the statue would be

increased. if you want to talk about signs of oppression we have sheriff deputies armed with tasers. where do you want to start? i don't mean that disrespectful. every edifice in this city reflects some kind of human issue. this statue was made by this artist in the early 1890s. he was commissioned to show something the land was being civilized in the most romantic and favorable way possible and he failed. perhaps it was his own ambivalence. perhaps it was subversion. what could be more san franciscan than subversion of an artist. this is art. do you think the beat poet of summer of love came from nowhere? the beautiful activists were looking at that stop -- statue

and the long shoremen viewed that statue during the strike. it's multi-dimensional. have you the truth sign pointing at it and the hero looking at it. persistent embedded prejudice is hard to get around. here's a picture from a book that's now in my neighborhood, this is their height of their excitement of the neighborhood. a man down. that's supposed to be the people of my neighborhood. why would we cover up reality? >> commissioner: your time is up, sir. >> i appreciate your work. >> sir, were you for or against? [laughter] >> your job, you're the judges and aaron's a very powerful man. i'm sure he can do whatever needs to be done. >> clerk: thank you.

>> i'm reed stewart. i do understand a lot of people have this feel like the statue is bad for children but i think it's been misinterpreted. i think they intended the catholic priest to be depicted as a creepy dominating person and the artist was an english-speaking person and think he was ridiculing the priest. i think the statue is intended to invoke sympathy for native americans and being misread by the activists.

i do believe new statues should be built east on the strip of land eastward perhaps one per century and i'm happy to help the native americans come up with a new statue that could cost $10,000 to $15,000 to do a browns pour once the wax is made and should have a new statue with the input of local ohlones and we should have new statues and other aspects of native american heritage celebrated but i don't think the statute discelebrated racism i think it was the catholics and i haven't heard. maybe the catholic church feels they're ridiculing the church

and that's a different matter and in somehow belittling the indian. i realize it's different than the holocaust but we have pictures from george seeingal -- segeal that depicts dead jews the point is the statue needs to be reinterpreted. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello again. david pilpow. this is clearly a difficult issue. my comments may in popular with some and not with others. this board is often known to some as the board of no appeals not the board of appeals. in this case, you exercised your charter authority, held a dinovo haefrg and granted an appeal and made a difficult and unpopular decision. if the voters wanted to grant

exclusive authority to the art commission or to the historic preservation commission they could do so and in some case have done so with other bodies in the city. and as it stands now and the board has the authority to review this c.o.a. and i'm not clear and asking for a legal opinion but i'm in the clear how the art commission or human rights commission comes before you with a rehearing request since they took a no-vote and the standard of rehearing and the standard is clear it's

either new and it would change the outcome for manifest insk s inskwus -- injustice and the information has come to light since your decision did not exist at the time and does not meet that standard and the standard overall is not met. was it an unpopular decision. yes. is there manifest injustice from your decision? i believe no. i think it's a difficult decision but i would encourage you to deny the rehearing request. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i'm been a member for 42 years and a voter and resident of san francisco. board members for their own personal biases have nothing to do with the permit to either

number one, intimidate other board members. two, it indicated the board of appeals discuss the meeting which would confident illegal by making the ruling nul and void under the brown act. so what i tried to tell you, we've been doing this for 25 yea years. first, we have the human rights commission. then we went to the commission of art. then we went to the commission of preservation. and then the supervisor, london breed, who represented the solution for removal and therefore board member swig's

assertion that there's not enough people wanting the remove is [indiscernible]. so i'm here to tell you we did this for 25 years. we have an art commission preservation and the people who did the interviews not only are we native american but we are the voter and resident of san francisco. so i ask you to reconsider. thank you. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> i wrote some things down so i don't break into tears. this is more than a matter of policies and procedures to me and my people as i think you're hopefully seeing at this point.

my name is elsatina and cherokee and navajo and white and i stand with solidarity with the ohlone with the land they stand and those who represent native americans or californians. this image is not only denigrating to all native people but existing in a world where we're severely lacking and proud images celebrating native people. please not only support removal of this very harmful image but please, i hope that all of you will always support visibility and celebration of the beauty of marginalized communities. it is all of our responsibility to raise up the next generation to do best than past generations.

it's more than a matter of procedures and processes. this say matter -- is a matter of future generation. we need positive images of our people. we need visibility. we need a voice. plaque -- black and brown lives matter. our lives matter. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> there are no new factors efforts presented by the appellants that would have change the outcome of the previous hearing. the san francisco art commission has a habit of resubmitting previous paper work with the belief that the more they say it

that it must be true. and that's been the case with me. regurgitating paper work over and over again believing i did what they claimed that i did. the pioneer monument is comprised of five statues. the proposed removal of one-fifth of the monument does violate the first amendment. that monument was created as a whole and to remove part of it violates the visual integrity of it. previous arguments pertaining to individual statues made in other cities don't apply to the pioneer monument because it's comprised of our five statues. the mayor of richmond, virginia, commissioned a study of monument avenue, which is a long avenue in richmond, virginia of confederate statues. the outcome was to let history stand.

a historian from the university of virginia believed was to erect a glass panel in front of each one of these confederate statues explaining the background and the history of the situation would allow the viewer to look through the glass with additional information called recontextualization and a suggest that happens with the pioneer monument. >> clerk: thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is randy burns. a city resident for 43 years. i came to san francisco 43 years ago. when i came here on a greyhound bus i call it gayhound bus but when it was located at 7th and mission and my first walk down market street i was introduced to the