>> again, thank you all for coming. this is a celebration. >> excuse me -- >> (indiscernible). >> so, again, we are here to celebrate juneteenth, but for those of you who know me, we do want to celebrate juneteenth, but also part of juneteenth and the last place in galveston, texas, who were freed, it is also black people and our allies -- hi, andrew, i love you. is that we also have to talk

about our issues. we can't continue to hold up red cups with alcohol and party and nobody is a party animal worse than me, but when you look at black san franciscans, let's talk about black san franciscans and where we stand here in san francisco. we are experiencing trauma, pain, suffering, and all parts of our lives, all parts of our lives. education, mass incarceration, homelessness, housing, just -- mental health. and we have -- mayor -- a mayor who holds no guard to say that she fights for us, for all san

franciscans, but because she is what -- she said i'm black first and i'm a woman, and then our issues are important to her. and so we are here, not only to support mayor breed, but also to spend her a message that we need to talk with her -- black folk. we want to have a roundtable discussion with our mayor. because, one, the city departments, they're not doing justice by black people. we need to raise our justice. we need to raise up equity. and we need to raise up equality for black san franciscans. and you guys look fabulous. i'm glad you're here, because it is important. the more numbers is the more power that we have. and so without further adieu, without further adieu, she

always coming in looking good, right -- always beautiful -- and i have her back no matter what, i don't care who has it, i don't care who doesn't have it -- i have my mayor's back. so here you are, a genuine black queen, mayor london nicole breed. [cheers and applause]. >> thank you, phylicia. first of all, let me thank wealth and disparities and felicia jones for their unwavering commitment to address some of the challenges that continue to plague african-americans in san francisco. yes, we have the first african-american woman to serve as mayor. but we know the challenges that have persisted in this city far too long, not just with

african-americans in general. i am acutely aware of the challenges that exist with african-american employees. and i am committed to continuing to work with you all to address many of those issues. don't you remember juneteenth back in the day? raise your hand if you remember [applause] the pony rides. the carnival. the black cowboys. we put on our best clothes and we go show off and we go have fun. and there was barbecue. but, you know what? there was a history. there was a history in san francisco as to when juneteenth started. here in san francisco, it was around 1965 when walter johnson jr., who -- what that was club called, diane, linda? -- you know, the club that i'm talking about? the one they started at. anyway, i'll remember it in a

minute. no, it was way before the plaza so he started juneteenth and started one of the first parades and they were walking up and down the streets and it was black people at their very best and it was absolutely beautiful if you look at many of the photos, you see the happiness and the excitement, and it felt good. it felt good, despite the challenges that our community continues to face. it felt good to be black in san francisco. but, you know what, it should feel good every single day. it should feel good every single day that we walk down the street. and last year we saw a real reckoning in this country like never before. an uprising, where people said, not no more. people talk about the death of george floyd as a catalyst for the rest of the country. but, sadly, in the

african-american community, this is too familiar with us. on a regular basis we experience the discrimination and the death and the destruction that has plagued our community for far too long. but there is hope. we have an incredible opportunity. we have an incredible opportunity to rise up, despite those challenges. when you think about it, look at where we are today. we have a less than 6% population of african-americans in san francisco and you all still help to elect the first african-american woman mayor in this city. [applause] and the president of the board of supervisors is a black man. and the leadership of this city in so many ways presents us with an opportunity. an opportunity to see growth and to develop and to see prosperity

in our community. but you know what, i can't do it alone. it takes work and it takes us coming together and it takes us putting aside our differences in order to support the collective and as a result of so many of you who have been at the forefront of these challenges, today president biden is signing to make juneteenth an federal holiday in this country. [applause] now for black folks it's been a holiday, but we'll share the holiday with everybody else. no problem. and as mayor -- as mayor i plan today to sign a declaration giving all city employees juneteenth off as a holiday. [cheers and applause]. now if you are already going to

work, go ahead and go to work, because you've got the whole weekend. but you get a holiday in lieu, don't worry, you can take it off later. the fact is that we honor our heritage, we honor our history, we honor our culture when we remember the past, and we use the past to not repeat the same mistakes, we use it to grow and to become better. san franciscans, this weekend as we celebrate juneteenth with so many amazing events. at the african-american art culture complex, as we celebrate at gilman park in the bayview and as we celebrate at the ferry building, so many amazing juneteenth events this weekend, let's remember, let's have a good time, and let's re-dedicate ourselves to the cause that we all know that continues despite the gains that we have made. thank you so much for being here

today. have a wonderful juneteenth. [applause] >> excuse me, everyone, if you're not speaking can i ask that you step off the steps and go into the audience, please down below? if you're not speaking at this time, please go down the steps, please. thank you. okay -- okay -- all right, all

right, cheryl davis -- is cheryl davis -- i saw her earlier. where is cheryl davis? come on up. director, dr. davis, she's going to say a few words. director, dr. davis, come on up come on up. another strong doing marvelous things in the city and county of san francisco. and i just want her to say a few words to the people. and just come in your own way. just come in your own way. she's going to kill me later, but that's okay. >> i am like the mayor, i can't be up here, i'm distracted when other people are talking when i'm talking.

[laughter] just happy juneteenth, as someone who was actually born in texas and it is really a national holiday down there from our folks, and i'm grateful for the mayor's declaration and i'm grateful to the president, but ultimately this is not the end of it all, right? because i think that if we're going to be really honest, juneteenth was a signing of a piece of paper that was already two years in action. so we're not really as free as we think we are. so let juneteenth be a day to remember that we are still in the fight and the struggle, and similar to the folks in texas, some of us have not yet opened our eyes to the reality of freedom. so i just want to say to let's celebrate juneteenth, but let's not relax and sit down and let's not forget is that we need to keep moving. -- >> sing a song!

(indiscernible). >> no, i'm not doing no song up here. >> (indiscernible). >> i'm going to give you -- let me see if have a poem. no, i can't do that. so this is my -- one of my favorite poems, poets is mya angelou and there's a line in there -- there's a couple lines that i love and one she says, pretty women wonder where my secret lies and i'm not cute and built to the fashion model size but when i try to tell them they think that i'm telling lies. so our beauty and being special is not wrapped how we look, it's where we come from and that's who we are. she says, when you see me walking by it ought to make you proud, i'm a woman, phenomenal woman, phenomenally, that's me. [cheers and applause].

for those of you who don't know that mayor breed and president walton through police reform have given the black community $120 million. [cheers and applause]. $120 million. $60 million for this year, $60 million for next year, and also in her budget she also put $60 million to the black community at the baseline. and we want to make sure as black people that we are going to honor her wishes, that we're going to push back on the board of supervisors, and we're going to push back on the board of supervisors -- what? being black in san francisco. and so our group is called

"mega-black, budget watchdog group." so may i have them come and stand beside me on both sides. mega-black budget watchdog group. we're fighting. we're fighting. no doubt, we're fighting. we're fighting. we're fighting. and we're not afraid to go up in the board of supervisor's chambers and let them know, black folks, three reports, 55 years, and black folks are worse off now than we were 55 years ago, and we want our due. we want our due! come on, y'all tell me, power to the people. we want our due! we want our due! we have it coming. and then the other thing that i want to say, mayor breed -- oh, yes, she's still here is this --

y'all ain't -- don't be putting your hands on that $60 million, all of you 54 departments. you 54 departments, take some of that money from your budget and give it to the black community, because you have neglected us for 55 years. so you're not going to use us with the moneys that mayor breed and president walton have given us to say, oh, that's enough, go over there and get it from director davis. she has all of the money. no. so we're pushing back. and so i want to introduce our watchdog group, tanya williams. nate ford. john henry. tina heinz. and there's monique francine. and so tanya is going to come up and speak to you about what our demands are for mega-black budget watchdog group.

thank you. >> there's not enough noise in this audience. i need to hear y'all. i got some questions for y'all. you ready? so on the first of january in 1863, that was 158 years ago, the 16th president of the united states named abraham lincoln signed into effect an emancipation proclamation which changed the legal status under the federal law of more than 3.5 million enslaved african-americans, and let's be serious, we were called negroes then, from enslaved to free. so i've got one question for y'all -- anybody who is black in san francisco, answer my question. are we free? >> no. >> okay, there you go. so now you know why we had to establish what we've established. the mega-black budget watchdog group demands that the city and

the county close the gaps of black san franciscans. and three reports and 55 years of studying black san franciscans found we are worse off today than we were back then. so here go our demands. number one -- we demand that $60 million to be a baseline for the human rights commission to continue the dreamkeepers initiative for black san franciscans. number two, we demand $40 million to address black disparities in closing educational gaps, mass incarceration gaps, gaps in job training programs, and to reestablish the black workforce and to pay the fines and the fees that are associated with those disparities. number three, we demand culpability, meaning that we want them to be held accountable, all right, for all 54 city and county departments

to be held accountable again, so that everybody can hear me, for the disparities that i have deliberately caused to black san franciscans due to a lack of dollars, care, which they have, right, we think -- well, we know they've got the dollars and we don't know about the care, we're still working on that, okay, to this day has failed to address in our community. number four. we demand that the controller's office conduct a 15-year audit of previous moneys given to the black community and compare these dollars to all other ethnicities who received funding in the same 15-year period. and, lastly, right, is that we do not accomplish financial equity, we will never be free. so let me be clear with y'all, you're not asking anymore -- we're not demanding -- we are demanding -- we're not begging. it's not about begging.

i told you that it started 158 years ago, so it's time for us to get what we came here for, right, we, the mega-black budget watch -- sorry -- we, the mega-black budget watchdog group unapologetically are demanding that the city and county of san francisco finally address the disparities of black san franciscans. thank you. [applause] >> all right, power to the people. >> power to the people. >> oh, y'all sound so weak. come on, say it like you mean it. power to the people! >> power to the people! >> i love it. power to the people! >> power to the people! >> yes, yes, that's what we came out here, to regain our power. (♪♪)

>> restaurants will be open for take out only, but nonessential stores, like bars and gyms, will close effective midnight tonight. [♪♪♪] >> my name is sharky laguana. i am a small business owner. i own a company called vandigo van rentals. it rents vans to the music

industry. i am also a member of the small business commission as appointed by mayor breed in 2019. i am a musician and have worked as a professional musician and recording artist in the 90s. [♪♪♪] >> we came up in san francisco, so i've played at most of the live venues as a performer, and, of course, i've seen hundreds of shows over the years, and i care very, very deeply about live entertainment. in fact, when i joined the commission, i said that i was going to make a particular effort to pay attention to the arts and entertainment and make sure that those small businesses receive the level of attention that i think they deserve. >> this is a constantly and rapidly changing situation, and we are working hard to be aggressive to flatten the curve

to disrupt the spread of covid-19. >> when the pandemic hit, it was crystal clear to me that this was devastating to the music industry because live venues had to completely shutdown. there was no way for them to open for even a single day or in limited capacity. that hit me emotionally as an artist and hit me professionally, as well as a small business that caters to artists, so i was very deeply concerned about what the city could do to help the entertainment committee. we knew we needed somebody to introduce some kind of legislation to get the ball rolling, and so we just started texting supervisor haney, just harassing him, saying we need to do something, we need to do something. he said i know we need to do something, but what do we do? we eventually settled on this

idea that there would be an independent venue recovery fund. >> clerk: there are 11 ayes. >> president walton: thank you. without objection, this resolution is passed unanimously. >> and we were concerned for these small mom-and-pop businesses that contribute so much to our arts community. >> we are an extremely small venue that has the capacity to do extremely small shows. most of our staff has been working for us for over ten years. there's very little turnover in the staff, so it felt like family. sharky with the small business commission was crucial in pestering supervisor haney and others to really keep our

industry top of mind. we closed down on march 13 of 2020 when we heard that there was an order to do so by the mayor, and we had to call that show in the middle of the night. they were in the middle of their sound check, and i had to call the venue and say, we need to cancel the show tonight. >> the fund is for our live music and entertainment venues, and in its first round, it will offer grants of at least $10,000 to qualifying venues. these are venues that offer a signature amount of live entertainment programming before the pandemic and are committed to reopening and offering live entertainment spaces after the pandemic. >> it's going to, you know,

just stave off the bleeding for a moment. it's the city contributing to helping make sure these venues are around, to continue to be part of the economic recovery for our city. >> when you think about the venues for events in the city, we're talking about all of them. some have been able to come back adaptively over the last year and have been able to be shape shifters in this pandemic, and that's exciting to see, but i'm really looking forward to the day when events and venues can reopen and help drive the recovery here in san francisco. >> they have done a study that says for every dollar of ticket sales done in this city, $12 goes to neighboring businesses. from all of our vendors to the restaurants that are next to our ven sues and just so many other things that you can think

of, all of which have been so negatively affected by covid. for this industry to fail is unthinkable on so many levels. it's unheard of, like, san francisco without its music scene would be a terribly dismal place. >> i don't know that this needs to be arrest -- that there needs to be art welfare for artists. we just need to live and pay for our food, and things will take care of themselves. i think that that's not the given situation. what san francisco could do that they don't seem to do very much is really do something to support these clubs and venues that have all of these different artists performing in them. actually, i think precovid, it was, you know, don't have a warehouse party and don't do a

gig. don't go outside, and don't do this. there was a lot of don't, don't, don't, and after the pandemic, they realized we're a big industry, and we bring a lot of money into this city, so they need to encourage and hope these venues. and then, you know, as far as people like me, it would be nice if you didn't only get encouraged for only singing opera or playing violin. [♪♪♪] >> entertainment is a huge part of what is going to make this city bounce back, and we're going to need to have live music coming back, and comedy, and drag shows and everything under the sun that is fun and creative in order to get smiles back on our faces and in order to get the city moving again. [♪♪♪] >> venues serve a really vital

function in society. there aren't many places where people from any walk of life, race, religion, sexuality can come together in the same room and experience joy, right? experience love, experience anything that what makes us human, community, our connective tissues between different souls. if we were to lose this, lose this situation, you're going to lose this very vital piece of society, and just coming out of the pandemic, you know, it's going to help us recover socially? well, yeah, because we need to be in the same room with a bunch of people, and then help people across the country recover financially. >> san francisco art recovery fund, amazing. it opened yesterday on april 21. applications are open through may 5. we're encouraging everyone in

the coalition to apply. there's very clear information on what's eligible, but that's basically been what our coalition has been advocating for from the beginning. you know, everyone's been supportive, and they've all been hugely integral to this program getting off the ground. you know, we found our champion with supervisor matt haney from district six who introduced this legislation and pushed this into law. mayor breed dedicated $1.5 million this fund, and then supervisor haney matched that, so there's $3 million in this fund. this is a huge moment for our coalition. it's what we've been fighting for all along. >> one of the challenges of our business is staying on top of all the opportunities as they come back. at the office of oewd, office

of economic and workforce development, if you need to speak to somebody, you can find people who can help you navigate any of the available programs and resources. >> a lot of blind optimism has kept us afloat, you know, and there's been a lot of reason for despair, but this is what keeps me in the business, and this is what keeps me fighting, you know, and continuing to advocate, is that we need this and this is part of our life's blood as much as oxygen and food is. don't lose heart. look at there for all the various grants that are available to you. some of them might be very slow to unrao, and it might seem like too -- unroll, and it might seem like it's too late, but people are going to fight to keep their beloved venues open, and as a band, you're going to be okay. [♪♪