>> good afternoon and welcome to the february 26th, 2019 regular meeting of the san francisco board of supervisors. madame clerk, would you please call the role. >> thank you, mr. president. role mac -- [roll call].

mr. president, you have a quorum. >> all right. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. will you please join me in the pledge of allegiance. pledge of allegiance] >> on behalf of the board, i would like to acknowledge staff at san francisco government t.v. they make the transco his available to the public online. are there any communications. >> i have none to report.

>> colleagues, before proceeding with today's meeting, i would like as to take a moment of silence to honor the life and legacy of our beloved public defender, jeff adachi, who passed away unexpectedly on february 22nd. >> thank you. jeff served our public with conviction, honor and tenacity. as a lifelong warrior for justice, he never shied away from doing what is right, even if that meant being unpopular. he will always be remembered for the countless ways he shifted

criminal justice reform, and what it means to truly uphold the rights and liberties of every individual's regardless of income, race, or immigration status. he was a model public defender, and he has shaped the lives of so many young attorneys who have joined the fight and will do so with fervour. i want to extend my decent -- deepest condolences to his wife and his daughter. san francisco has lost one of our greatest, and before i turned this over to my colleagues to speak, whoever wants to speak, i would like to invite the acting public defender, matt gonzalez, to share a few words. will you please come up. >> thank you.

i would like to think of my title as chief attorney and that the public defender position is vacant right now. i came here today to hear your remarks, and i will be certainly conveying to the family that you have taken a moment out of your schedule to honor jeff, and certainly i know my staff at the public defender's office is very proud of jeff and will be very thankful for this overture by his colleagues in the city hall family. jeff was fierce, he was unrelenting, he chased after all kinds of fights, some would say perhaps a few too many, but with hindsight, judging from his success, you know, we are proud of his legacy. we know that what it will be remembered for a long time. thank you all.

>> thank you, mr. gonzales, for sharing those kind words. supervisor peskin? >> thank you, president yee, colleagues, to my former colleague, matt gonzalez, when i got that call on friday night, it was pretty devastating, and my wife has had to put up with me randomly having outbursts of tears all weekend, and i can't really imagine what jeff charge of family going through right now, and i wish them all of the comfort in the world. jeff has long been an institution in this city, and became a symbol of independent power of an office that was elected by the people. one of only two in the united states that elected public defenders to defend people that cannot afford the crime to the

crime of the legal profession, but get the crime to look at them for free. i came into public service with the class of 2,000. a bunch of individuals and including the acting public defender, matt gonzalez, that were truly buoyed by a tidal wave of community lead change and activism almost 20 years ago we were put in the service by neighborhoods who were really rebelling against the political machine at city hall at that time, and jeff's election happened right after that. he was the vanguard of that next wave in 2002 as an underdog in the race for public defender, or 2001, and just like many of the campaigns then and now, those campaigns forged lifelong relationships. people who got married on those

campaigns, and there was a sense of energy and of purpose, and jeff represented the opportunity to take the p.d.'s office in a new direction. it was already a great p.d.'s office under mr. brown, but he really shaped it beyond the status quo of that time to make it the most progressive and effective public defender's office in the united states of america, and i don't say things like that lately. he actively recruited a remarkable team of talented folks who, quite frankly, could have gone to higher paying jobs, but it is really their life's work. it is a scrappy, amazing team, and i do have to say, jeff and i had our differences, i am known for being a bit tight with the money. he would come in, and kemal harris was asking for three new

deputies, and then he said he should get three new deputies, and i would say no, the d.a. handles all the cases, you handle a subset of the cases, so let's do it on the map. he would stay here until 3:00 in the morning until the budget was done, and would ultimately end up with one more than he should have. but jeff was the of cool. this is the guy who could pull off wearing a suit suit, and he was also cool as it related to his legal innovations, whether it was drug court, the clean slate expungement services, of which i actually try to avail myself of, but was told, and everybody would know about my record, so i didn't do it at the time, and other justice reforms, not to mention his bar exam survival kit, but he also was totally into arts and culture. i think i went and got to see all three of his films, we actually bonded around japanese

internment camp experience, and executive order 966 back in the day, 20 odd years ago, when -- when in another walk of life before i was a supervisor, i worked for a nonprofit that bought the topaz internment camp and jeff was totally all about that, but most of all, he had guts, he had incredible guts, and he took on issues that none of us, myself absolutely included, would touch with a 10-foot pole. he wasn't afraid to go toe to toe with power. he was the real deal in that respect, and even the chronicle acknowledged that. he was not afraid of the cops. he was not afraid of exposing what needed to be exposed, and relative to the cops, and i believe most of this for another day, but i must say i am deeply troubled by the unprecedented leaking of a police report that

members of this board, and members of the press and any other circumstance would not receive, but i would receive that for another day. it is a huge loss, not only for the a.p.i. community, but for the african-american community, and i want to acknowledge that. i want to thank matt for being here in the supervisor his chambers. i know you guys were a great team and were going through it, that concludes my comments. >> thank you, supervisor peskin. supervisor brown class. >> thank you. i did not even write down any of the comments that i was going to talk to about jeff today because it is still painful for me. i know i was, when i first heard on friday, and i knew -- and just trying to reach out to a lot of different folks in the community, and people reaching out to me, it was hard to wrap our brain around this world without jeff a dodgy -- jeff

adachi. i will talk about my personal experience with jeff. i met jeff a little over 20 years ago when i was teaching art at hunter's point. he came up, he wanted to know what i was doing, how i was getting the money, the impact that i thought it was happening on the community, i didn't even know who he was. he was still -- it was before he ran for public defender, anyway, he made a huge impression on me. when i was a neighborhood activist in the western edition, and we were fighting the violence in the western edition, and just how it was completely destroying neighborhoods and families, jeff started getting involved. he first started be magic in bayview which is an amazing program where it is a convenor.

they bring all the nonprofits together to talk about how they can solve issues, and the issue was violence at the time. i remember, we were all asking jeff to come into the western edition and start that steam -- same program, and he didn't want to do it. he didn't think the western edition was ready for it because he said it has to be organic. that was a favorite line he used to say. it has to be organic take, but there was a little bit of pressure politically at city hall, and then sister cheryl davis had said she stepped forward as the executive director for that, and he said okay, let's try it. so it was started. it was an absolute collective of all the nonprofits, the neighborhood working together, and looking at solutions of how to solve the violence with --

before it even starts, and i have to tell you, for a short minute, i worked for them and i worked for jeff. i went in there and he said yes, i want you to be involved. i think i worked for about two weeks and then a supervisor offered me a job in city hall, and i was really afraid to tell jeff that after two weeks i was leaving, so i had to go back in there and tell jeff, jeff, i'm leaving, i'm going into city hall. with the thing that was amazing about him as he was so excited. he said that is the place for you, go to city hall, because when budget comes up, i will have you help me get things through. it was a typical jeff answer. i went in there, entry to his word, he was here a supervisor peskin said to make sure we were pushing money through so the things that were important for communities like mo magic, be magic, his office, thinks he felt really passionate about. one of the things that jeff, and

all of his know this, anyone who knew jeff, is a lot of times he didn't do it was popular or what was politically popular. he did what he felt was right. he stuck with that, and in my role, coming in supervisor, the first person i spoke to was jeff about it, he said, i am with you, we are going to do this, i am so excited you are there, and i will be there for budget to talk to you about it. and i will miss when budget comes around when jeff should be here talking to me about it and sitting in my office, our office at whatever time, and eating whatever crap that is around to keep us going, he was they're right with us, eating cookies, and everything else to keep us going through the budget process. i will myth -- miss him. i think that is probably how most people feel. there will be all these times where we think, jeff should be

here. i just want to say, thank you, jeff for all the work that you did for all of us, for where we are now, a lot of us are where we are now because of you and your support, and i want to reach out to his family and give them our thanks for having this wonderful man in our life, and how supportive they were for him to do this. thank you. >> thank you, supervisor brown. supervisor fewer? >> thank you, president yee. i hope i don't start crying, but i am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of our public defender, jeff adachi. i want to express my deep condolences to his wife and his daughter. during my time a supervisor, i had the opportunity to work closely with jeff to create the unit in his office to provide legal representation to

incarcerated, documented individuals awaiting deportation hearings. however, i knew jeff as a friend before i was elected to the office of supervisor. my husband and i worked on his first election campaign for public defender, and at -- as a school board commissioner, i looked to him for advice and consultation on matters of adjudicating youth. i knew jeff dossey as a man with a big presence, but also a gentle and kind and steadfast determination to deliver justice to those most marginalized in our society. he led a progressive vision for the public defender's office to be the voice for those whose voices are not heard in the justice system. he was unafraid to shed light on injustices like police criminal behavior, harmful bail practices, and racist policies like gang injunctions.

he believes that every human deserve to be treated with respect and humanity. perhaps it is his own humanity that i will miss the most. his smile, his warmth, his belief in people, and yes, his big, sometimes showy personality too. thank you, jeff for what you have done to make us better and may you rest in peace. >> chair peskin: thank you. supervisor ronen? >> thank you. as you all know, my husband, who is here right now, had the honor of working for jeff, and so when we heard the news, i was most focused on him and making sure he was okay, because i knew what it would do to him, but i didn't expect what it would do to me. i really didn't. i have been walking around since friday night feeling like i have

been punched in the gut, and just have that hole in my stomach. i don't have an appetite. that feeling that you get when you're you are gutted. and when something really bad just happened and i have been trying to understand, aside from the obvious that we all feel about losing jeff in our city, i have been trying to understand how it feels so deep and so personal to me what i have been thinking about, and what i've come to realize is that there is very few people in this business of politics that go into it because they feel that society has broken, and that there is a whole class of people, if not, you know, sometimes it feels like the majority of us who aren't left behind, and who are

not held up and protected, and there are very few people who go into this business with really genuine, prime objective of fighting tooth and nail for those people, and jeff was one of those people. and so much so that when francisco said walking in a tenderloin with jeff was like walking with steph curry or beyoncé. people on the street felt like he was theirs, that if they had gotten into trouble, which they inevitably went because they were poor, and they were black or they were brown, that they would have the best of the best representing them, and people don't get that in most places in our country, and they got it and they get it right here in san francisco. and that is something that is just so special that i think that is why i am gutted, and

that is why we all are gutted in a very personal way. i will also just say, on a personal level, getting to be married to someone that worked for jeff and matt, because jeff is jeff, but matt is matt, they are a team, and we are 18 -- we are a team. and seeing san francisco -- singh francisco's excitement for his job, one of the hardest job so you can possibly do. representing people who are very unpopular, you have their entire life at risk, is one of the most stressful jobs you can ever imagine. but they have each other's back in the public defender's office. they demand excellence, they demand it, and what happens to the lawyers that are in this office is not only do they feel like they're part of a team and

a family that are fighting, but they know that they are expected to rise to the occasion, to fight with everything they've got, for every single client, to take risks, to push boundaries, and at the end of the day when they do that, that jeff and matt will have their back no matter what happens. and that is something really special, and i just want to thank jeff and to think his beautiful family for helping and supporting him to create that kind of environment in the office for giving the opportunity to my family. i want to thank matt for holding it together for olivet right now, because i know the burden on your soul shoulders, and we want to know we are all with you and we love you as you are doing that. i will just end by saying that god, i don't know how jeff did it. he might have had only 59 years, but man, he did not waste a

minute. how do you run the best public defender's office in the country , and personally try these incredibly hard cases, and get acquittal after acquittal, make movie after movie after movie, go to every event, because all of us know we go to events, but he is just not in district nine, he is all over the city all the time, and just get up every morning to work out. who is that guy? i was always like, damn, i wish i didn't have to sleep like jeff, he didn't seem to like he had to sleep. at least we know he never wasted a minute, and that he not only fought with everything he had, but man, he had fun in the process. may you rest in power, jeff. >> thank you. supervisor mar? >> thank you, president yee. i join with all of my colleagues and so many diverse community members here at city hall today, and throughout our city and

beyond in mourning the loss of such a courageous and groundbreaking public servant, and a genuine superhero to our most marginalized and oppressed community members, and really to everyone who believes in the aspirational and unfulfilled vision of liberty and justice for all. like so many others, i was really honored and privileged to have counted jeff as a friend and a mentor. he was also an incredible inspiration to me personally in many other a.p.i. community activist -- a.p.a. -- activists. we both grew up in south sacramento and we bonded over our common roots in the asian-american community there, and also how that influenced our worldviews, our dedication to serving the people, and the trajectory of our lives. jeff was, and always will be, one of the coolest dudes to come

out of my hood, and i feel like i sort of followed in the trail that he has blazed that goes through u.c. berkeley, and ends up in the west side of san francisco, but of course, it includes a lifeline commitment to activism and leadership on righteous causes to protect and expand social justice in our city and beyond. my heart goes out to his family. i hope they know how deeply he was loved and respected by the city and communities he served. resting power, jeff. thank you. >> thank you. supervisor mental men? >> thank you. unlike some folks, i did not have a close personal relationship with jeff. i knew him, we are friendly, i would run into him at the gym, we would extreme -- exchanged pleasantries, but i knew of jeff, even before he was public defender, because even as a law student 20 something years ago,

jeff adachi was a giant, and you heard about him in law school. if you're interested in social justice, or you're hanging out with the national lawyer's guild, we thought you might take the bar at some point, his name was going to come into your consciousness and you were going to be aware of this person in the public defender's office he was also doing a million other things, and i knew he was extraordinary then. when he was passed over in 2001, i knew it was wrong. i knew it was an injustice. the politics were against him. the san francisco political community, including a lot of people i am close to where supporting his opponent, but he was the right choice, and he was the choice of his office. he had been doing the work, and the voters saw through the politics and did the right thing, and i was so proud of san francisco in 2001 when they did that, and he did such

extraordinary things with those 18 years in that office, and i shared the feelings that have been expressed by my colleagues about how extraordinary the people in that office are, and like jeff, like their leader, and like matt, they absolutely know that their clients deserve the best representation, and they will work there asses off to push every boundary and provide representation. they want to give folks the crème de la creme representation, the very best, which is what they deserve. i want to honor and remember jeff adachi, and i want to thank matt can doll it -- gonzales for all the work you have done in that office from 1991 to 2001 as chief attorney, and then coming back to that office in 2011. i thank you for continuing on now.

>> thank you. supervisor haney? >> thank you president yee. i also first want to share my condolences with jeff's family, with the members of the public defender's office, who i know are grieving now, and with our entire community here in san francisco, who i know are collectively grieving. as you said, jeff has definitely been someone in my district, in district six, who defended, who came to know, who stood up for so many people, who i now have the privilege of representing, and i want to share also on their behalf, our condolences. i came to know jeff probably most directly nearly 15 years ago when my sister became an intern for him, and she was in law school at the time, and i remember hearing that she told me, i got an intern with jeff adachi, and of course, knowing of him, i figured it was

internship with the office in some capacity, but she was literally his intern, and i remember talking to her that summer and asking her, what are you working on? thinking that jeff, as a public defender, was probably overseeing management things and that she wouldn't actually get to be in the courtroom, and she was writing motions for a murder case that he was the lead attorney on at the time. and i think that's one of the things that is so extraordinary about jeff, which is that he was not afraid to do anything himself that he would ask if anybody else, and i think that's really the testament to him and his leadership, in many ways, that not only was he willing to go to trial, if that's what it took, and we know from our friends in the public defender's office that they are often willing to go to trial, maybe that's what they are most known

for his willing to stand up and fight at a time when across the country, we were seeing, and we continue to see a situation where plead deals and making a deal is sort of the expectation. jeff never gave into that, not only was he willing to fight and ask others to fight, he would take the trial himself. he would take the case himself, and if it wasn't staffed as we saw by the city, he would say, i'll go do it then, and it is something that i have tremendous respect for him, and of course, my sister was his intern, and later came and worked in the office as an attorney, but jeff was also there for so many different communities in the way that he showed up, not only was he a trial attorney, but when the immigrant community was under attack, you came here and worked with supervisor fewer and

others to actually find a systemic solution to make sure they were protected. when there was police brutality, he led the fight. he let the marches, he let the policy change. i think the way that he saw his responsibility as a public defender, as extending from the courtroom throughout this building, to the state building, across the country, i think it's just an extraordinary legacy that he left, and he also, he was somebody, and everybody has a story like this when they had somebody who got in trouble, or had some sort of problem, he called -- he would call jeff directly, and he would be there for you personally. he would make sure if there was a family who had a sun or a daughter who was in trouble, you could call jeff and he would say, i will take care of it, i will figure out what is going on. that is egg and extraordinary thing for somebody who is always there for people at the most vulnerable moment, in the last thing i want to say is that jeff

had fun. i would always, if we were at an event, i would find him on the dance floor. you've had such incredible joy in him, and the best place to be at the pride parade was always as part of the public defender contingent, because of the way that jeff set the tone around celebrating justice and celebrating the struggle and my aunt and her wife, we would always march with jeff, because we knew that he had their back, and he was fighting for something that we wanted to stand with the pride parade, and what that meant for him standing with our lgbt brothers and sisters and siblings. i know that the work will continue on in the public defender's office. i'm very grateful to have one of his mentees working with me in my office and so many public defenders who will continue his

legacy. he is irreplaceable. he was our most courageous champion for justice in our city, but i know that he wanted his work to go on, and i hope that you will extend him to the office that we will continue to have their back during the budget season, and anything else, because the legacy that jeff has left us will continue on and our city needs it more than ever. >> thank you. supervisor stefani? >> thank you, president yee. why i -- while i personally did not know him all that well, i did know of his passion and commitment to his work. it was never lost on anyone, and i'm extremely sad that my colleagues lost a friend, a wife, husband, and dad, an entire office their fearless leader.

as a former prosecutor, i have gone head-to-head with public defenders, but it is not lost on me either that the role of the public defender is so critical, it is a critical one in our society. every person in the country deserves an attorney to defend them when accused of a crime. for nearly two decades, jeff led to that office with such boldness, even if you didn't like it, you had to admire it. last year when i was running for office, i didn't think -- i saw him a lot. i would run into him at events. he was always so kind and always so nice, and i did not think to ask him to endorse me because i thought because i was a former prosecutor, and i am moderate that he wouldn't want to. he sought me out and did. i thought that was very kind of him, and certainly tells me you can't judge a book by the cover.

i appreciate him for that. i know he works so hard. i have worked with supervisor ronen when we were legislative aides, with supervisor farrell and supervisor compos on some immigrant issues that were so important. we knew that jeff was going to be there for all of them. i have tremendous respect for him, also, i started in 2007, and it didn't take long to realize what a presence he had in city hall. i was here when mayor newsom asked everyone to make those cuts. jeff came back with the 1.7 million-dollar ad to his budget, and everyone, so many sentences started off in the offices where i worked, can you believe jeff a. she did this? -- jeff a dodgy -- jeff a doll she did this? the last time i saw him was at a

veterans dinner. i know he always stood up for our veterans, and that will never be forgotten. my thoughts are with all my colleagues today who i know are suffering and his family, especially his wife and daughter , and to the public defender's office, and his leadership there and how he brought everyone together it's really commendable. thank you. >> thank you. supervisor walton? >> thank you, president yee. it is a testament when you are a community and you know people are excited and would rather be represented by the public defender's office and a private attorney. it tells you a lot about jeff and the public defender's office this year, this time around, jeff and i were actually sworn in on the same day.

i attended his swearing in that morning and a little while later, he came and attended my swearing in. be magic was first formed and we developed a bond and a friendship from those early interactions. as we both advocated against gang injunctions, alternatives to incarceration for youth, and protections for immigrants, both documented and undocumented, and making sure that the policy was never violated under any circumstance, our friendship grew closer. more recently, and immediately after my election to the board of supervisors, i reached out to jeff about a report that i had read about the abuses of inmates in custody here at the hands of the sheriff's department, and

the fact that the sheriff's department was conducting their own investigations. that was something that we both knew was problematic at the very least, and unacceptable for a law enforcement agency to be conducting their own investigations when they were actually accused of misconduct. so we immediately began to work on the best way to ensure that there was some type of independent oversight for investigations, of accusations within the sheriff's department. and the fact that he passed away today -- and the date that he passed away, we're texting back and forth about information that he shared with me, and the best path forward as we had heard, also on the day that he passed that we had a date for our hearing so that we could push forward, and so that is something that we are definitely going to be working to see through together. not only with the public defender's office, but all of our communities. i will miss jeff not for his

amazing ability to win cases, not for his fun-loving spirit, and not for his brilliance in the courtroom, before his fight for justice in every aspect of his life. he really fought hard, epoque -- fought with passion and conviction, and very few people fight in the way that he did, and didn't feared consequences, but really focused on the end result, and i was making sure everyone had an opportunity at justice. so my prayers go out to his family, all of his friends, all of my colleagues, and of course, to everyone in the public defender's office. rest in peace. >> thank you. >> thank you. i want to add my name to the chorus of my colleagues here. we are honoring a man that truly gave his life to this city, for the amount of people that you hear and talk to that knew him intimately or worked for him, they know that he dedicated

hours upon hours of his life to serving those that did not have a voice, and truly gave his life. this is the second time in my short time on this board that i'm standing to talk about a public servants that gave his life to this city. and jeff was a true model for those that were underprivileged and did not have a voice, so i just want to honor him in that way, saying that giving his life to the city really means a lot, and he set an example that i know many of his colleagues and those that have worked with him, and that will continue to work in the public defender's office, will carry that torch on. i want to add one other thing. when i got on this board, one of the first because i got, and i didn't really have a relationship with him, was from him. i have to say, out of many of the people that i've worked with in the city, boy, did jeff adachi have class. he was full of class. he invited me out for breakfast,

he gave me an entire tour, personally, that took two hours out of his day, of his entire team, walking around from office to office, and sat me down and talked about the agenda and what he was about, and what he wanted to do. he did have a budget request ultimately at the end, and i was okay, because it was for undocumented people. it was for adding additional staff, but that is his job. he was really good at it. i have nothing but respect and appreciation for his style and for the amount of class that he carried, in the way he carried himself. may he rest in peace, and my condolences to his family, to his colleagues, and everyone that considered themselves a friend of jeff adachi. >> thank you for sharing your fond memories. as you can see, we all feel like he was a giant.

i want to share one story, one last story here. i think the reason why he is so good at getting -- getting money from the budget process, i remember early on, 15 or 20 years ago, i was at a community event where they're trying to raise some money. it was a preschool. they were going to buy the ywca building overeating jay town, and -- over in jay town. somebody asked him to come up. they were asking the audience, about 400 people for pledges. and i said oh, what is he going to do? jump up and down and do a dance or something? what he did was amazing. he knew everyone in the room. he would call them out by name.

can you pledge 10,000, okay. uncle, can you pledge 5,000? auntie jenny, it was amazing how he could raise money. so when i became a supervisor and went through the budget process, and for him to fight for his budget, it didn't surprise me at all. i said jesus, this is like being in a community. i want to say that i think we will all miss him. we will all miss him in the budget process, for sure. he would keep us fairly entertained. basically, people in the art world, and even in the jazz world will miss him, and certainly he will be missed in the community. so, madame clerk, i would like to make a motion to adjourn this

meeting in memory of our late public defender, jeff adachi, and on behalf of the board of supervisors. do we have a second? seconded by supervisor peskin. thank you very much. without objection, the motion passes. thank you, mr. gonzales. colleagues, today we are approving the minutes from the generally 15th, 2019 meeting -- from the january 15th, 2019 meeting. are there any changes to the meeting minutes? seeing none, can i have a motion to approve the minutes as presented? motioned by supervisor brown. okay. motion to approve made by supervisor brown and seconded by

supervisor walton. without objection, those minutes will be approved after public comments. madame clerk, can you please read... >> items one through ten are on consents. these items are considered to be routine if a member objects, an item maybe removed and considered separately. >> okay. , colleagues, would anyone like to sever any items from the consent agenda? seeing none, madame clerk, please call the role for item one through ten. >> on items one through ten... [roll call]

>> there are 11 imac. >> these items are finally passed unanimously. madame clerk, let's go to our 2:30 p.m. special commendations. >> at this time, it is time for black futures celebration. >> thank you. today we will be commemorating black futures month. with special commendations from each of our districts. i will now turn it over to supervisor walton to make opening remarks. >> thank you so much, president he. as you all know, it is black

history month, and we wanted to make sure that as we honor history, we also honor the future, and the legacy of some of our young people moving forward, and i am glad that the city of san francisco recognizes the contributions of african-americans in the city, in district ten, we like to celebrate black history all year, and with the declining african-american population, it is important that we take the time to recognize the contributions of our african-american communities through their culture, art, and social justice and advocacy work. just a brief history. as a harvard trained historian, carter g. woodson believed that truth could not be denied, and that reason would prevail over prejudice. he hoped to raise awareness of african-americans' contributions

to civilization and it was realized when he and the organization he founded, the association for the study of negro life, and history, conceived in -- conceived and announced negro history week in 1985. by the time of his death, negro history week had become a central part of african-american life and a substantial -- and substantial progress had been made in bringing more americans to appreciate the celebration. at mid century, the mayors of cities nationwide issued proclamations noting negro history week. the celebration was expanded to a month in 1976. the nation bicentennial, gerald r. ford urged americans to seize the opportunity to honor that too often neglected accomplishments of black americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.

that year, 50 years after the first celebration, the association helps the first african-american history month, and now, at this time, i would like to call up a 20-year-old native that was raised both in the western tradition in the bayview. she is a poet, a policymaker, a community integration specialist who studies communications at san francisco state university. >> thank you. hello. i will be sharing some work with you today. i was given the title of what does a black future look like? as a leader of that, allow me to explain. the black future is full of liberations. in fact, it is poetic justice. the 53 trillion from slavery before the emancipation won't

even discuss us. in god we trust. the black future looks like the incarceration of bryant don ham, and the reinvestigation of the death of emmett fill. looks like black beauty would seem surreal. no words or need to kill, it looks like more graduations, and less funerals. nappy hair in cubicles and black girls doing their own hair and cuticles out of their own shops where the staff look like them. the black future will remember sandra bland, mario woods, oscar grant, eating rice as we hope they don't choke while screaming, i can't breathe.

gardner, taste the rainbow of my sorrow as we regurgitate the name, trave on martin, as we make our way to her grandma's house after dark only to be made into coroner art. stephan clark, planted deeper than roots, and here it is, we have our hands up and you still shoot. the black future will begin with the book of revelations, and at the hands of a black scribe. the black future will even look mexican too to let him know that even he has african roots. the black future looks like nine consecutive black presidencies, and the tenth being albino who will roar that he is black too, you see. the black future is tougher than hair glue on $400 frontal his. nicer than edges, lay for friday

nights, and stretch marks that lead to a road of heaven. the black future looks like me. skin is sun-kissed and alive, thriving and healthy, undisputed, deeply-rooted and so groundbreaking that gravity even has a new way to hold us down. the black future looks like the imminent incarceration. and the funny thing is, the black future starts here in this nation. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. now to kick this thing off, i will start with my future honouree. this is a young man who i have had the pleasure to watch grow over the last couple of years.

he is someone who has really stepped up and taken leadership in so many different ways. living in the public housing community, undergoing lots of change, in his district and his area. he has really stepped up in so many ways. as he walked up to the front, i want to say a few things about mr. gary, who is 17 years old, and he is a senior at city arts tech high school. [cheering] >> he serves on san francisco's my brother and sister's keeper youth council. he is the chair of the council's health committee, he is employed as a hope s.f. champion, he is a youth leader and advisor for hope s.f. which is the nation charge a first large-scale public housing revitalization project to prioritize current residence, will also investing in high-quality sustainable

housing and broadscale community development. more importantly, to know that he is an example to young people in his community. he is bold, he is courageous, he is not shy, he is not intimidated, and for that, i want to honor him. this afternoon in city hall. if you want to say a couple of words, you have a minute or so. >> hello, everyone. i am honored to be here with everyone. i am doing mostly just following in the steps of my grandma, and my mom. seeing them work hard every day and doing things for the community, and giving their very last to make sure the communities okay, especially my grandmother, commissioner titus, seeing her every day work tirelessly for her community and the people she really loves. i appreciate her for giving me the pathway to do the same thing. she has been a great example all my life, and bobble -- also hope

s.f. and others. i appreciate all organizers for giving me a chance to make a difference, because not a lot of youth have this opportunity. when i get a position to help other youth, i want to give people the same opportunity that i have. so thank you. [cheers and applause] >> we continue to dispel myths every day, all of our young black males are not out doing something negative. congratulations. [applause]

>> okay. , thank you, supervisor walton, for keeping that within five minutes. i also want to thank mr. williams for his presentation. right now, what i will do is, i will be calling supervisors in alphabetical order and if you will keep an eye on your panel, your screen, i will tell you how many minutes you have. try to keep it within five minutes for yourself and your honouree to say a few things. we appreciate it. so, first up, alphabetical order

would be who? supervisor brown. >> thank you, president year. today i am honoring four amazing women, community leaders. if you could come up, i am honoring sica garcia, jasmine thomas, sasha earl, and sala my hair. i wanted to honor these amazing young women because their community -- they are community activists. a lot of times we don't think of community activists, young women, or young adults as community activists, but they are. a few years ago, i think it was in 2015, they stepped up, because they saw an area of their neighborhood, the buchanan mall, which is six blocks right smack in the western edition, that was violence plagued, it

was surrounded by public housing, h.u.d. housing, and other housing, and no one used them all. six blocks of recreation and park. this area was closed and made a park in the seventies by mayor feinstein at the time. unfortunately, it was neglected. neglected by the city, by people that really should have been out there trying to make it a better place. it actually became very violent. people were afraid to walk through the mall, and so it was six blocks of a neighborhood of recreation and park that no one actually used, which is really unfortunate because we have community centers that are right on the buchanan mall. we have alley he'll hatch, the cultural complex, and the buchanan ymca just a little ways away, and so these women stepped

up, these young, amazing women, stepped up with another group and said, you know what, this is our home, this is our community, we will make it better. [please stand by]