>> greetings, community. my name is muvati williams. i am a san francisco native, born and raised in san francisco. i go by riti, and it is swahili for the tree of intelligence, and i just want to share some of my intelligence with you. this piece that i wrote today is for the women within our lives, the ever lasting backbone that gives us strength and salvation. so allow me to open up my heart to you.

♪ there's one thing in this life that i can comprehend and it's one thing that it takes to be a man. and i just want you to know that i love you, and you're doing the best you can. ♪ but sometimes i want to cry, i'm so grateful to be alive. ♪ 'cause sometimes when the sky turns black and cancer finds its cure, there will always be one thing about me that will always be for sure ♪ and that is how much i love you, even when we go to war

♪ sometimes i cry, i'm so grateful to be alive ♪ and i am yours, yours, yours ♪ >> you are the difference. you are the change you seek in an alphabetical order. amazing, you rise from ludicrous streets. women, you are amazing. articulately sweet, never artificial in all ways, stay on your feet. your soul,cau accustomed to be change. eating the earth's atmosphere to every day life, you can be a

cheer. you are the rose that grew from concrete. you breathe fresh air when no one else cares. you became unique. you are different from others, from being flipped in foster, foster care, foster parent, the fear still eats away, while hope seems to hot from street to street, you will rise, that group rose from concrete. this poem is about identity, your is serenity, making sure you're one one. from ignorance to info to technology now, they don't seem to put it into the kput enters to show you have our women, stand strong. for colors to ride on the bus, for colors to be here today. if you're truly about making that difference, you will say to yourself i am dedicated to staying alive, healthy, and

free. i am the change that i seek. so women, seek your change, be your trout of happines-- pursu happiness. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. i think first of all, i want to start off by welcoming you all and giving this crowd a round of applause. you don't know the point of view that i have right now, how beautiful this crowd looks, with young people, with older people, with middle-aged people. this is a beautiful crowd, so a big round of applause for all of you here today. [applause] >> my name is marisa williams, and i'm this year's black history month committee chair. on behalf of the san francisco african american historical and cultural society, i'd like to

welcome you to this year's black history month kickoff of 2019, black migrations moving forward. [applause] >> we have an exciting celebration that's outlined in your printed program, but as a brief overview, i will give my welcoming remarks, we will have an invocation, we will have the singing of the negro national anthem, our mayor will come up and bless the bodium, keynote remarks from lateefah sigh man, and remarks from the group's leadership. with all that being said, my goal is to get you all of here in one hour, so let's see how we do. the association of the african life and history has set this year's national theme as black migrations. the history of black migrations is why we can all gather here.

the theme emphasizes those of african decent who travelled to new destinations creating in turn new social realities. now we're tasked with making that national movement and -- taking that national movement and taking it one step forward. we pulled the moving forward from a dr. martin luther king quote that really highlights the spirit of this year's national theme. the quote reads, if you can't fly, then run. if you can't run, then walk. if you can't walk, then crawl. but whatever you do, you must keep moving forward. again, we'd like to welcome you to this year's black history month kickoff of 2019. without further adieu, i'd like to introduce reverend dorothy blake from the church of the fellowship of all peoples to

deliver our invocation. following that, we will have the san francisco interfaith choir and bridge to artsen assemble with "lift up your -- arts ensemble with "live up your voice and sing." >> i ask that you reach into your heart where you hold your fondest dreams. all pervading presence, abiding with us in great intimacy, tenderness, love, and stretching as to our more thgr

selves, the selves that respond to greater commitment, undaunted tenacity and unerring faithfulness. tailor the future, a future that must be fashioned, a future more just, more noble or troutful than any past collected journeys. we come today, realizing that in the united states, commenced 400 years ago in 1619, described by poet laureate springs, the great mistake that

america stubbed its toe, the mistake that jamestown made long ago. we recollect at this moment, the red summer of 1919. african americans returned home from the war with new assertiveness and were rioted against in dozens of cities, including houston, east st. louis, chicago, washington, d.c., omaha, tulsa, elaine, arkansas. black folks left the field of share cropping with backs weakened by years of hard labor, seeking not to become strange fruit hanging from the poplar street. some struggled to make america what it can and should be, a

new america, a new way of being, a new way of doing. from southern farms to southern cities, southern cities to the east, west, and northwest. from the u.s. to africa and europe, they moved, creating new ribbons of life, culture, entrepreneurship. some black folks are returning to the south sometimes because they just can't afford to live here or wherever they live with rents beyond their financial means. many are trapped, unable to migrate anywhere, not even to a shelter in the city of st. francis. so we pray for the leadership of this city and the enormous challenges before them. and let us hear the words and feel the spirit of mayor london

breed. don't trap the city that knows how. let us translate that knowledge into a deeds done and mission accomplished. not all are guilty of creating the situation, but all are responsible for addressing it. give us grandeur of spirit and courage sufficient to become the shining city set upon the hills of compassion and effectiveness. we assemble here and celebrate with high hopes, a new spirit of authentic togetherness and kinship in human relations will bind us together in ways that make clear that we are each others brother, sisser, inex-trickably -- sister,

inextricably bound. bless us that all here may join this movement of consciousness, transforming chaos into

community. amen. [applause] ["lift every voice and sing"]

>> thank you again to the choir and ensemble. the next person on on the program is truly what we are about. facing adversity to now holding the highest office in san francisco city hall. she has continuously supported the community she's been born and raised in, she is a ure, b

importy, model, and a roll -- role model, and a role model to those underserved and underrepresented in this city. i am honored to introduce san francisco's first african american female mayor, mayor london breed, please welcome to the podium. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: wow. thank you? i feel the love, and i am so grateful to each and every one of you for your continued support and advocacy to make sure that here in san francisco, despite having an

african american population that's less than 6%, we still know how to make sure that our voices are heard. [applause] you know, when i think about the many months that we've celebrated black history month here in san francisco, and in particular, when i think about last year, it was a very challenging time not only, you know, for our city and for our country, that it continues to be, and sadly, we have an administration in the white house that continues to try and divide us. but here in san francisco, we are not going to let that happen. we are not going to be divided. in fact, we are going to come back stronger more than ever against those who try to do so.

but we also have to remember our history, because if we don't, we can sadly remember many of the mistakes that we've repeated in the past. and sadly, what i remember growing up in san francisco is having although a very challenging community, a very challenging set of circumstances in my life, i remember my church, my grandmother, many of those women who took care of and supported me, those names of people that you will never see in our history books. we looked out for one another, we took care of one another, and the only reason why someone like me from the most humble of circumstances could even think about serving as mayor of this great city is because of those ancestors and those amazing people who came before me.

[applause] >> the hon. london breed: i remember when people talked about me being the first african american to serve as president of the board of supervisors, and i had to politely correct people time and time again, no, that was doris ward. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: when i think about people that are not here with us today and the fight for the right to survive here in san francisco, the opportunity, for housing, people like eloise westbroom, reverend calvin jones, jr., and cal griff, they fought so hard in this city to make sure that we weren't left out in the process of housing, issues around education and addressing the achievement gap in our public schools. the reason why i had access to an opportunity to work for the

mayor's youth employment and training program is because they fought to make sure it not only existed, but the opportunities were provided to kids in the bayview and the western edition and the mission and our city. as we think about blast history month, let us be reminded about all the -- black history month, let us be reminded about all the things we've been able to accomplish. maya angelou worked for public transit in san francisco. we are known as harlem of the west because of rich history of jazz legends that walk the streets of the fillmore. we are known for just the incredible work at the hunters point shipyard which we are going to make sure we address that environmental justice and

get that place clean for the community. my grandfather worked there. my grandfather served in the army in this country. i think about all of the incredible people who just did so many amazing things. and today, we have something so celebrate. we have so many amazing african american commissioners who serve in the city and county of san francisco. i want to ask each and every one of you to please stand at this time. all the african american commissioners in the city and county of san francisco, all the department heads in the city and county of san francisco, our african american department heads.

[applause] >> the hon. london breed: i'm sure you've heard of belva davis, and how she was not even allowed in the board of supervisors chamber. she had to put her recorder through her hands outside the door in order to hear what was going on, and today, we celebrate so much, so much to be proud of, yet so much work to still be done. we know that there are challenges in this city, but i'm optimistic. i'm hopeful, i'm excited about the future and what we're going to do together. working with this community, we passed neighborhood preference legislation so priority for housing goes to the people who live in our communities first. we continue -- we continue to invest in pushing programs through sheryl davis and the human rights commission so that we can talk about equity in a real way in all of our city

departments, in all of our legislation, in all of the thi things that we do in our city. now i know that i'm not the keynote speaker. lateefah simon is, but i had to take this opportunity to just really appreciate how amazing it is, how much of an honor it is to be standing here before you, making history as the first african american woman to serve as mayor. and it is because -- it is because of all of you, it is because of the great people of this city, it's because of our ancestors who came before me and fought the good fight and paved the way. it's because my grandmother, who raised me and cleaned houses and hotels in this city and didn't give up on me and this city, and we are not going to give up on those same young

people who are counting on us to make decisions, so they can be the commissioners or they can be the police chief or the mayor of the city and county of san francisco. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: so at this time, in honor of opening up this month, this celebration of our history, our culture, our pride as african americans, i want to declare something that has not been done in the city and county of san francisco before. there have been certificates, there have been accolades, but we've never declared it. we've never declared today as the black history month in the city and county of san francisco, so i'm going to do it now. and we're going to celebrate every single day in city hall, in our schools, we're going to celebrate black history month.

thank you all so much for being here today. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you so much. let's teach about blast history. we're going to get it in the proud and make sure we're doing everything we can to highlight our proud history and culture. not just in our black history month, but 365 days a year. thank you all so much.

[applause] >> thank you, mayor london breed. next, we have an amazing woman sitting here who will make our keynote address, lateefah simon, a very accomplish san francisco native, and you know how proud we are when we have somebody from san francisco to give our keynote address, miss lateefah simon. [applause] >> so unfortunately our mayor said just about everything that i wanted to say, okay? so i'm not going to take up too much time, but i want to do a couple of things. can everybody hear me voice? because i'm not going to mince words, and as the girl that grew up in the fillmore that wanted to be mayor, i'm not going to lose my job. i think it's appropriate for all of us to gather here today and listen about that truth, the truth of the ancestral

lineage of african americans in the city. my grandfather was injured in the united states navy in the early 40's. in chicago, there was over -- [inaudible] >> -- he came to this city like many of our grandparents, not just for economic opportunity, he came escaping white supremacy. for the three generations sitting here, we came to escape white supremacy, and guess what? we found white supremacy right here. many of you didn't know the black national anthem because you didn't go to booker t.

washington like i did. when bunny simon, my grandfather came to this great city, he found unit in black culture and black resistance. he married my grandmother. they opened up eight night clubs and employed 1700 black people, lifting up the middle class in this city. so when i talk about our belonging here young people, i say we belong here. we helped to build this city, and we will create structures to stay in this city. our parents literally built this here city hall. so when we think about what we must do now, yes, we have an amazing mayor, and she is not only responsible for creating newness, we all are. one person cannot go into a structure that was built on white supremacy, a structure

that was built for white men and do it alone. i'm going to repeat that. one black woman mayor is not responsible alone for dismantling white supremacy. it is all of our jobs. and for those who are elected and those who are appointed, the activists and organizers that i am, you speak from what you not know about, but you listen to the ones that are most impacted by the structures that we're trying to dismantle, that you hear us. that you hear the young men taking life or death chances downtown in the tenderloin. selling a $20 bag and that they'll have a place to stay. with you hope you'll listen and your pin will be guided by your moral conscience. we hope you visit 15th and bryant in the early morning, and you see the young woman who

is incarcerated herself and in a domestic violence relationship, and we hope that for every single school in this beautiful city that you pay and prioritize teachers who love black children. who love black children, who don't fear them. we hope that in these 28 days, we begin a process of atonement in this city for the harm done not just by those in government, by those who lead the market to black and brown people. with a black woman mayor, what i know is all things are possible. because when we lead, we lead with the moral clarity that is clear. and so while you're not responsible alone, we follow your lead, we follow the lead

of our ancestors, we follow the lead of our beautiful people. my aunt lead the student strike in 1968 in ethnic studies at san francisco state. the only way white supremacy stays alive is when children don't know from which they come. the only way that white supremacy stays afloat is when children are taught to heed the powers that kill. a couple of weeks ago, i got this amazing opportunity to spend time with dr. king's inner circle. they're in their late 80's and 90's. mr. andy, minnie jean brown,

j.t. johnson, clarence t. brown, black leaders around the country, and they so the down and gave us an education. they said the black movement and desegregation wasn't knowledge, it was power. it was power. and so not should we be outside any longer with megaphones, but we should and must trade up ourselves to take positions of power to that last

beautiful, beautiful word of our black national anthem. i want you to think about that word. i want you to think about the last verse. because the men outside have weary feet. come to the place for which our fathers died. we can't give up, black people in this city. we belong here. we belong here.

my mother belonged here. she gave birth to me here, she will die here, and we want generations to come to see themselves and their leaders and their teachers and their fake bares. our leadership depends on it. thank you, san francisco. thank you so much, san francisco. [applause] >> thank you, miss lateefah simon. i'd now like to invite project bank danielle langton and her group up to the stage to perform for us today. >> good afternoon. my name is danielle banks, and i am the director of programming at project level.

it's a socially active program that nurtures the creative needs of at risk and underserved youth in san francisco. in san francisco, youth are enthralled by the arts. everything from their lifestyle to the way they dress is influenced by jazz, hip ho-hop and culture. our methodology is simple. we seek to expand and build upon the typical music program. through the year, we work with professionals to learn all aspects of the entertainment industry. focus areas clue music, graphic design to photography, video journalism, social media and business development. please be sure to follow us on facebook and instagram to check out the amazing work our youth are doing and support them on our upcoming college tour.

thank you, for allowing our youth a second year to perform. please help me welcome taliyah. [applause]

[performance] [applause] >> okay. so mayor breed, lateefah simon, project level, and me. what am i supposed to do? how can i deal with all of that? i'm dealing with acknowledgements. let's give all of them another round of applause, first of

all. pay some tribute for all that. [applause] >> and before i forget, i'd also like to take a moment to acknowledge the presence of randy saragucci and all his staff and all the leadership of young people academy. the black student's union from san francisco state university is also with us and volunteering to support us today. let's give them a round of applause. there's truly an intergenerational experience we're having today. none of this would be possible, however, without the support and hard work of our sponsors, our partners and our committee. i'd like to recognize now our sponsors and our partners and some of the members of the city's official family who are here with us. the committee itself is going to be acknowledged a little bit

later. before i go forward, i'd also like to acknowledge one of the founding -- you know, the society -- after the after man american historical society was founded in 1955, so it's one of the longest standing institutions in san francisco. it's been doing this work of educating the public of people of african descent. one of our founding members is here, mr. david johnson, an artist in his own right. and his lovely wife, jackie sue, is here also. thank you, david, for being here. [applause] >> as i said, this program is made possible through sponsors. the society receives no public work to work -- funds to do the work. it's all sponsors and donations to help us do the work. our gold sponsors are listed here. i wanted to shout out them a

couple in particular. our gold sponsor is prologis company. and who's with us today is our silver sponsor, one of our silver sponsor, from five points, lashawn walker. they've been one of our sponsors for a number of years, and i want to thank them. the golden state warriors, another sponsor of us. yoyo chan, who's familiar to a lot of us, who's the director of public affairs. we have a number of other sponsors, and they're listed in your program. in terms of our partners, we worked for many years with the san francisco public library as one of our ski sponsors and a lot of collaborative efforts with them. michael lambert is here today from san francisco public

library. i'm reminded that last year, threw oversight, i forgot to mention just a critical, critical partner, the san francisco human rights commission, miss sheryl davis. i saw cheryl earlier. cheryl? cheryl? okay. and san francisco human rights commission is here with us. the mayor's rights of neighborhood services, represented by de anthony jones. we have chief william scott is here with us, the chief of police. chief scott is accompanied by a number of members of the police commission here today. d.j. brookter is here, and miss

dama damali taylor is here, both of the police commission. derek brown is here. let's give derek a round, as well. [applause] >> every year, all the work we're trying to do is with the public housing tenants association. they're here also. general manager of the san francisco public utilities commission, mr. harlan kelly. [applause] >> and where is -- every year, director -- i have what we call the director of public works, mr. mohamed nuru. he -- mohamed threw me off today because i have a place called mohamed's corner. mohamed's usually behind the light post in the back, but he

shifted today. he kind of threw me off. the office of economic and workforce development, larry mclenden has been a great help. joaquin torres is in the back, and larry has been a great help, also. and i will not forget, karen roy has always been here, supporting us, the director of child services. chief joanne hayes-white of the san francisco fire department is here with us, as well. [applause] >> sheriff hennesey is with us, also, and you all are there -- somebody will get mad if i don't call these out. allen nance is here with us, the chief probation officer. fran see covington as vice president of the fire commission. jimmy loyce, the vice president

of the health commission. marisa rodriguez is here, representing district attorney george gascon. miss rodriguez is here, and robert torres who is here, the executive director of the rent stablization board. if i've forgotten anybody, please for give me. god isn't finished working with me yet. jeff adaci is here, carmen chu, the treasurer. there's a particular reason i haven't mentioned the supervisors yet. i haven't gotten to them. okay. everybody else, congratulations to everybody else who's here who's not a public official. [applause] >> okay. we do this work 365 days a year. i just have one question. we are housed at 762 fulton street in the african american

art and culture complex. it's a wonderful cultural institution, one of the best in the city. we've been there a number of years in that program. mayor breed was formerly executive director there. how many -- it's a rhetorical question, but how many of you have been to the african american art and culture complex in the last couple of years? wonderful. for all of those who have not been there, please come, visit. it's an incredible -- [inaudible] >> okay. i've got to go. so we're located in the cultural center, and that cultural center is located in district five. i want to acknowledge supervisor fewer and supervisor haney are with us. supervisor haney, supervisor fewer, let's give them, oh, oh,

oh . [inaudible] >> everybody got advocates. everybody got advocates. the reason -- city college of san francisco is here with us. i will you on my lift. alana griff and city college of san francisco. if you'll notice in your program, supervisor brown is on the program to make remarks, so i saved the supervisors till the end so that i could wind up with supervisor brown, to invite supervisor brown, please join us and make a few remarks. thank you very much for all of your help. [applause] >> supervisor brown: hello, everyone. i've got to put my glasses on

so i can see all of you. all of you are a little fuzzy right now, and i don't like that. so i just want to thank everyone for coming today, and i'd like to thank mayor breed. i think she went on to other great big things. and i see so many of you today that i'm familiar with, that in the past, you touched me and made me who i am today standing here. i'm proud to be the supervisor of district five, yes. [applause] >> supervisor brown: which has, for a very long time, has been the heart of the african american community in san francisco, but i'm prejudice on that. i love my fillmore. for over 12 years, i have served this community for two

different supervisors, and the last being then-supervisor breed, now mayor breed. and growing up in a native american community, one of the things that my community taught me and beat this into my head, community comes first. and then, coming to san francisco over 20 years ago, i was living at fillmore and lawler, and that's one thing that that community did, is they said you belong to this community, and i said yes, community comes first. last night, i was at an event in the fillmore, at the fillmore heritage center, and i heard from one of our city workers. she's a community health worker, and one of my constituents, cassandra perkins, and maybe many of you

know her. she's worked for the city for a long time. and one of the things -- i think it was actually two decades she says she's been working for the city. but one of the things she does, she supports keeping families together. she supports young people dealing with trauma from gun violence and displaced residences and actually, she also deals with, sadly, homelessly. but what she said last night, she said i'm tired. i'm really tired. but she told me she wasn't giving up, and she also said i better not give up. and when i hear something like that from cassandra, you know she's watching you. but the thing is, i'm not giving up. i haven't given up for 20 years, for 12 years that i worked in city hall. and i'm not going to stop working for you and the things that you want and you need.

your story has been a story of grief and loss and one that also is a resilience and power. let's not forget the power. what does empowering the community look like? it means black owned businesses need to open, but they also need to thrive. [applause] >> supervisor brown: it means we turn the tide of african american homelessness. it means black educators and our youth can succeed in local schools. it means we stop displacement of black families, and when they did find affordable housing, and they can actually find housing in this city. it means that black labor is prioritized and respected.

it means we close the equity gaps in our hospitals for babies, adults and elders. it means a fair wage for black workers. it means we finally address the structural racism and hold ourselves accountable to takedown the power that is an unjust system. and lastly, it's affirming that black lives matter again and again and again. [applause] >> supervisor brown: i'm currently working on legislation with my colleague, supervisor fewer, to get at the heart of the issues of equity here in the city of san francisco. i look forward to working with you on many things and realize

the vision of a fair, inclusive city. thank you all for coming today. and please, just like miss cassandra, don't give up because i'm not going to give up. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor brown. we've got a couple of other quick things. my mentioning of the supervisors, i wanted to acknowledge supervisor shamann walton from district ten is not with us today. he is out of the country. he did send a certificate of honor in his regard. he regrets not being here, but i want to make sure everybody knows it wasn't for lack of concern or interest, he's out of the country, with his deep apologies. so with that, i will now turn

to bill hoskins. thank you. [applause] >> good afternoon. let me try again. good afternoon. good afternoon and special greetings. my name is dr. bill hoskins, also referred to as dr. bill. i'm the executive director and curator for the african american historical and cultural society. and i am absolute delighted to be here for all sorts of reasons, but even more for the fact that you are all here, and even though we hit the bewitching hour, you're still here. so thank you so much. you know, after each event that we have every year for black history month, we all say