[singing] [cheers and applause] >> wow. [speaking spanish] [cheers and applause] [speaking spanish]

>> all i have to say is i am glad i am not following this, but someone else is, and that someone is commissioner mark sanchez. [speaking spanish] >> good luck, commissioner. >> you are my hero. you are the hero of my family, you are a hero for all of us. i want to read the resolution that president mendoza read and i wrote in october, it passed by the entire board of education. whereas fairmont elementary is renowned school with a long history of providing excellent academic opportunities to the neighborhood community and across san francisco, the school is highly sought after by

families who value is schoolwide spanish dual immersion program. and it was founded in 1864. and by many accounts, established the first p.t.a. in the state of california. and whereas according to the neighborhood, the history project, the founder of the fairmont school, it has a significant history and legacy. the track that became known as fairmont heights plotted during the civil war will be the oldest neighborhood in san francisco. for more than 150 years, the school has educated generations of san francisco children on land once owned by the last mexican in the area. you brought this sun, the politicians brought the wind. [laughter] >> i can barely hold this paper now. the communities dedicated to ensuring that all of its students have access to an

education with a strong commitment to the development of their creativity, equity, empathy, self reflection and deep love of learning. and whereas the community has committed itself to the proposition of renaming the school because she has dedicated her life to improving the lives of others -- others. in her battle to provide access to the voiceless, to the hopeless and to the oppressed, and a commitment to creating a space of awareness and justice based on evidence of hard work, sweat, tears, and blood in her own unwavering resolve to deliver a message a better tomorrow. she has become an institution herself, an institution that safeguards and fights for civil and human rights, of those who feel the system encroaching on their dignity and efforts to thrive. she cofounded the united farmworkers and helped organize the strike in 1965. she was a lead negotiation or --

negotiator in the strike. she is the originator of the fate -- phrase -- [speaking spanish] [cheers and applause] >> we will get there. she has received numerous awards for her advocacy including the foundation, outstanding american award. united states presidential eleanor roosevelt award for human rights in the presidential medal of freedom. she was the first latina inducted into the national women's hall of fame. [cheers and applause] >> therefore, be it resolved that the san francisco board of education accepts the community proposal to rename the school to dolores huerta elementary school

and as the superintendent said, thank you for allowing us to name the school after you. thank you to the school community. you have done an amazing, brilliant job. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, commissioner. and now we are going to invite a special guest to come up. that is supervisor safai for some remarks, please. welcome. >> good afternoon, everyone. good afternoon, everyone. all right. that is about the only times we want you to yell. my name is supervisor safai.

i see a lot of families here today. many of whom went to school with my kids. it is good to see you. i'm so honored to be here in this historic day for the ribbon-cutting and the renaming of this school. her name signifies a hard-working, inspirational, and dedicated leader who not only helped to shape this state, but help shape this nation. and if ever there were a time that the work that she did in the sacrifice that she gave was more important, that is this time, now, in this era with the challenges that we are faced for everything that you fought for and dedicated your life toward. may we be reminded today of the sacrifice that she gave personally and she worked shoulder to shoulder for the

powerless, those who had no voice, and if any of you understand what that means and to the kids, what that means is, when someone has no voice, that means literally they are not being heard and they are not being listened to because people believe that they don't matter. to all the students that will walk in these halls going forward, you are walking amongst a legacy of a giant and know that every step that you take going forward remember that you are doing it in the spirit of dedication and sacrifice. you will be empowered and be present in every step that you take. be bold, be brave, and never let anyone tell you that you cannot do what you dream to do. it doesn't matter where you come from, it doesn't matter the color of your skin or the country of your origin or your

background, that is what the beauty of this country is in that is what the beauty of the women sitting there that we are going to name today, what she taught all of us. i want to thank principal rodriguez for your hard work and education -- dedication over the last few years since you have taken leadership. i want to thank principal matthews. round of applause for principal rodriguez. i want to thank the board of education. thank you mark sanchez. thank you former president of the board of supervisors. a simile men and educator for everything that you have done. i am here on behalf of the board of supervisors in the city and county of san francisco to say congratulations. this is so important for our city. i want to thank all the families , all the children that made this day possible. without you embracing this and without your leadership, this day wouldn't happen. and of course, the teachers for

all the sacrifice and work that you do. [applause] >> i will present a quick note to the principle. a certificate of honor on behalf of the board of supervisors. thank you to the educators and the staff and their families for all their hard work and work that they have done for the city and may you help to continue and shape the next generation. thank you very much. i will present this to the principle. may the spirit of the school live on in each and every one of you. [speaking spanish] [cheers and applause] >> all right. [cheers and applause] >> we will display this proudly, thank you. [speaking spanish] >> the voice of the people. the choir of the second grade.

[speaking spanish] [speaking spanish] [indiscernible] [♪]

>> harder, harder. >> here we go. [♪] [singing] [cheering]

[singing] [singing] [singing] [singing]

[singing] [cheers and applause] [♪] [singing]

[singing] [singing]

[singing]

[singing]

[singing] [cheers and applause]

[speaking spanish] [cheering] [speaking spanish] [cheers and applause] [speaking spanish] >> we have a special moment right now and i want to invite evelyn rose, the founder of our historic association. evelyn, welcome. [speaking spanish]

>> good afternoon, everybody. what a day. i want to thank you, mr. rodriguez, and the members of the transition community and the p.t.a. students and parents for today. this glorious day. it is a pleasure to be here today, also with the representatives of the san francisco unified school district, the board of supervisors, and of course, it is a very special honor to be here with ms. dolores huerta. the fairmont district is a long and rich history. in 1776, after selecting the site for the presidio and mission, the. [speaking spanish] were the first europeans to exit the northern san francisco peninsula through this very district. over a gentle pass between today

's fairmont hill and the hill behind us. it was a route that was likely following a well-worn trail that had been established by one of our local native americans. when we compare early maps of what was called the old mission road with modern street maps, that well-worn route ran right through this property. it was, at the time, considered to be the only natural route out of san francisco. the easiest route to go south. when the route of the railway was established in 1862, the start of the civil war, along what is now san jose avenue behind me, a new residential district, one of the oldest in our city now was first laid out, the fairmont homestead. the association president was a

california pioneer. as one of the oldest districts in san francisco, over time, fairmont has become linked with the important history in agriculture, immigration, civil rights, railroads, aviation first, post- 1906 earthquake recovery, mid 20th century redevelopment and environmentalism. many of those which link our neighborhood's legacy with the legacy of dolores. then in 1864, the first fairmont school welcome students, making it one of the oldest continuously active schools in san francisco. and for that reason, a plaque is being placed to commemorate the legacy of fairmont school in the fairmont district. we can go ahead and unveil, and i will read it for you. so the plaque will say, the

historic fairmont school, the first fairmont school welcomes students -- welcome students in 1864, two years after the founding of the fairmont district. new school buildings at the street were constructed in 1867, 1877, 1917, and 1977. there is certainly something with lucky sevens in there. with a continuously active p.t.a. since 1923, and the brave decision of teaching spanish, bilingual education since 1974, fairmont, now dolores huerta elementary is determined to continue embracing what is just and doing what is right for generations to come. we will have the plaque dedication date of today, with the support of students, teachers and parents of dolores huerta elementary school. fairmont residence, the san

francisco unified school district, and the glen park neighborhood history project. we are very honored to have this important legacy of the school here in our district, and now having it after 155 years to be named for dolores huerta, it is truly an honor to be here with you today. [applause] >> thank you, evelyn for that wonderful plaque and the work you made -- he did into making it possible. the plaque will be on the street where we have the sign right now that says fairmont university. [laughter] [cheers and applause] [laughter] >> fairmont elementary. there is a little plaque on the sidewalk where we will be adding

-- we are working on how we will make this visible to everybody. thank you, evelyn for the hard work. [speaking spanish] [applause] >> that gives me time to get my papers. i also want to recognize united educators of san francisco. thank you for being here, welcome. [speaking spanish] >> thank you for being here, and all the members of the cabinet, thank you. the decision to change the name of the school was shared in a board meeting in august, and

with different community members throughout the process. yes, i think it is important that we revisit the motivation behind it. in a political environment where being a person of color is generally devalued, and being of mexican descent is equated with being a criminal, and the political environment where ignorance of the other turns into hatred of the different, and in the context of our mission and of sharing our spanish-language and our culture the idea of changing the name of the school to one that is better transmitting acceptance and inclusion began to take shape. a school, at the most basic of its function, is supposed to lay the foundation -- to lay the

foundation that will support the improvement of the lives of the children who attend it. a school is an institution of learning, and institutions with a responsibility to help students build bridges of understanding instead of walls that segregate. and where we teach our students the power of voice, the power of presence, the power of being, the power of standing up for dignity and fighting for equity, an institution with a responsibility to teach our students to stand up for justice and to challenge the status quo, which perpetuates systems of oppression where only a few privileged ones get to decide the fate of the many. therefore, we began to think

about who embodied qualities that aligned with what we are trying to instill in our students. respect for others, working to effect positive change, being relentless and consistent, standing up for dignity, and fighting for justice. giving voice to those whose voices have been historically muffled or silenced, defending the basic right of a human being to exist. we knew it was important to select someone representative of our latino community. someone who possesses strong principles, and the conviction of resisting injustice and creating a more just world. after several conversations with like-minded individuals, we found the person we believe embodies these qualities. she is someone who personifies the struggle, the persistence,

the endurance, the commitment, and the conviction of fighting for justice and not just us. by adopting the name of a strong latino leader, we also want to send a message of empowerment to all our female students and particularly, our female students of color. [cheers and applause] [speaking spanish] >> we are make all because a woman who lent her name to our schoolmate history the moment she be up and down decided that when it was easier to remain silent. when she decided, when she demanded better working conditions when it was expected to be content just by having a

job -- being relegated to acquiesce them into subservience when she was brutalized for leading the protest when they would -- it would have been easier to pronounce a statement from a safer perch. [speaking spanish] [cheers and applause]

>> thank you very much. thank you very much to all of you that are here today. thank you for being here for this historic event. thank you for joining us. to all of the people in the administration here, i want to thank them for this great honor of naming this school after me. i want to thank the parents and the students for supporting that decision. [speaking spanish] >> i have seen all the beautiful performances that we have seen today and this school is about

justice and about human rights for everybody. [speaking spanish] [cheers and applause] >> we know we have a lot of work to do, especially for our students. we know that education is the foundation of our democracy. we know that if we do not have an educated citizenry, the greedy will rule our country. [speaking spanish] >> we all want to work for the

day where all of you, all of you students that are sitting here today, that you will have, hopefully, by the time that you graduate from high school, that we will be able to have free college education for every single one of you. [cheers and applause] [speaking spanish]

b we don't want one child to be left behind. we have to look forward to the day where our teachers will be compensated, they will be paid properly for the work that they do. [cheers and applause] [speaking spanish] >> and with the help of our legislators that are here present and our education leaders, that we will see the day where we will have art and music in every single classroom in our educational system. [cheers and applause] [speaking spanish]

>> dancing, also. we will have it in every one of our schools. we know that we have a lot of work to do. i want to say to the students -- [speaking spanish] >> i want to say to all the students here, that we are talking about justice, but it doesn't happen by itself. we have to work very hard to make it happen. and the one thing that we can do to make sure that we get justice for everybody is that we have to study hard to, we have to learn our lessons, and remember that whatever we learn, nobody can ever take it away from us, nobody could ever take it away -- the things that we have, and the things in our head that we can learn, nobody can steal from us. it is a treasure that nobody can take away. [speaking spanish]

>> i want to say one thing very important especially to our teachers and everybody, we want to end hatred in our society. we want to make sure that people really respect each other. [speaking spanish] >> one thing we have to remember is that we are all related. did you know that? did you know that we are all related, because we are one human race. [speaking spanish] >> i want to remind everybody where our human race came from.

>> i will ask the question and see if somebody knows. [speaking spanish] >> where did our human race begin? >> africa! >> that is right. our human race began in africa. [speaking spanish] >> what does that mean? that means that we are all africans. [laughter] [speaking spanish] >> i want everybody, please take the hand of the person next to you. [speaking spanish] >> everybody, take a hand, everybody hold hands.

everybody hold hands. hold the hand of the person next to you. hold the hand of the person next to you. hold the hand of the person next to you. i want you to say to the person next to you, hello relative -- hello, relative. >> yes. hello, relative. [speaking spanish] >> let's remember that, okay? let's remember that. let's remember that. [applause] >> this is important, okay, this is very, very important. if we are all related, if we are all africans, that means that we have to help each other out. that means we have to support

each other. [speaking spanish] >> if we see somebody who needs help, we don't have to wait for them to ask us. we have to help them. [speaking spanish] >> because when we come to this school of justice, that means that we are committing our lives to justice. [speaking spanish] >> we are committing to make our world a better place. [speaking spanish] >> i want to thank you all. [speaking spanish]. >> i know that working together

as you said in your song, and your performances, that we are going to make a better world for everybody. [speaking spanish] >> starting right here in the city of san francisco, the city of love, and the in the city of justice. [speaking spanish] >> so, i want to ask you all very simple little question, and i want you to give me the answer , and never forget that you have power. and the question i want to ask you, this is for everybody, for the students, the teachers, the administrators, all of our friends that at her joining us here today. [speaking spanish]

>> the question is very simple. i will ask you, if we want justice, who is going to give this justice? it has to be asked. i want to ask you, who has the power? i will ask you who has the power , and i want you to say, we've got the power. when i say what kind of power, i want you to say people power. can you do that? okay. let's go. i want you to shout it loud so that the haters can hear us, okay? [laughter]. [cheering] >> the haters, the racists, the homophobes, the misogynists, the sexual harassers, we want them to hear us. the climate deniers, okay? let's go. let me say it in spanish. [speaking spanish]

>> let me repeat that because i talked a lot in between. the question i will ask is who has the power, you are going to say, we've got the power. what kind of power, people power all right? can we do that? but we shouted really loud. so all the haters can hear us. okay? all the neo-nazis, all the people out there. let's go. ready? are you ready? okay, everybody, back there on the side, who's got the power? >> we've got the power. >> what kind of power? >> people power. >> okay. , are we going to study hard? are we going to study hard, are we going to work for justice, are we going to help each other out? [speaking spanish] [speaking spanish] >> let's do it all together. let's go. [chanting]

[cheers and applause] [speaking spanish] [cheers and applause] [speaking spanish]

>> we are going to present to dolores huerta the mural that our fifth-graders were referencing at the beginning and we want her, for the unveiling of the mural in the cutting of the ribbon, to formally call ourselves dolores huerta elementary. [speaking spanish] [cheers and applause] [speaking spanish] [indiscernible]

[cheers and applause] [chanting] [speaking spanish] [cheering]

[speaking spanish] >> two more minutes. before we continue, i want to recognize our legislator, scott weiner, for taking the time to be here. welcome, thank you for being here. we have some gifts and presents for dolores huerta. we have brenda who will help us with the giving of the presence present -- giving of the present [speaking spanish] >> thank you, brenda, thank you marissa. [speaking spanish]

>> this art piece was made by second graders, and it's a beautiful, can you turn it around? [speaking spanish] [cheers and applause] [speaking spanish] [speaking spanish]

>> whatever we give her is not enough to really show her what we appreciate what she has done, not only for our school, but for all of us through the human rights works that she has done, fighting for farmers who feed us all the time, so this is just a little token, but we want to say thank you. [speaking spanish]

[cheering] [speaking spanish] >> big round of applause to dolores.

[cheers and applause]. >> thank you for making the time to come. [cheering] [speaking spanish] >> she will make her way to the top where she will be signing posters, and you can line up, but we have to make sure that dolores makes it to the top first. please make sure that she is able to get to the top so she can wait for you and start lining up and getting the posters done. we are also having our community fiesta in the lower yard. we have wonderful dancers who will be honouring us and celebrating with us, and blessing this day with us.

then we will have some music. but first, dolores has to go up. [speaking spanish]

>> you know i've always wanted to do this job that drives my parents crazy we want to help people i wasn't i did not think twice about that. >> i currently work as cadet inform the san francisco sheriff's department i've been surprised 0 work within criminal justice system field i had an opportunity to grow within that career path. >> as i got into the department and through the years of problems and everything else that means a lot i can represent

women and in order to make that change how people view us as a very important part of the vice president you have topanga you have to the first foot chase through the fight are you cable of getting that person whether large or small into captivity that is the test at times. >> as an agent worked undercover and prevent external and internal loss to the company it was basically like detective work but through the company from that experience and the people that i worked around law enforcement that gave me an action when i came to be a cadet i saw i was exploded to more people and the security he was able to build on that. >> unfortunately, we have a lot of women retire to recruiting

right now is critical for us we gotten too low faster the percentage of women in the department and us connecting with the community trying to get people to realize this job is definitely for them our community relations group is out attempt all the time. >> in other words, to grow in the fields he capitalized any education and got my bachelors degree so i can current work at city hall i provide security for the front of the building and people are entering entering but within any security or control within the building and checking personal bags is having a awareness of the surrounded. >> there is so month people the brunet of breaking into this career that was every for easier

for me had an on the with an before he cleared the path for laugh us. >> my people he actually looking at lucid up to poem like he joe and kim and merit made they're on the streets working redondo hard their cable of doing this job and textbook took the time to bring us along. >> women have going after their goals and departments line the san francisco sheriff's department provide a lot of training tools and inspiring you to go into the department. >> they gave me any work ethics she spider me to do whatever he wanted to do and work hard at the intersection. >> if you're going to make change you have to be part of change and becoming law enforcement i wanted to show

women could do this job it is hard not easy. >> finds something our compassion about and follow roll models and the gets the necessary skeletals to get to that goal with education and sprirmz whatever gets you there. >> if this is what you want to do dream big and actually do what you desire to do and you can go vertebrae far it is a fast job i wouldn't do anything else. >> ♪ ♪ ♪ >> good evening.

please turn off your cell phones. the signals tend to interfere with the recording equipment in the room. if we can stand for the pledge of allegiance. [ pledge of