>> thank you. this is new music that's coming out this year. i'll be performing throughout the summer and into the fall. how about an oldie but a goody? huh? october 17th i'm going to do a tribute to marvin gay at the sf jazz. do you know the song? just sing along. ♪♪♪ ♪ brother, brother, brother ♪ ♪ there's far too many of us crying ♪ ♪ find a way ♪ ♪ to bring happiness ♪

♪ to each day ♪ ♪ oh brother, brother ♪ ♪ there's no need ♪ ♪ whoa ♪ ♪ not the answer ♪ ♪ you know ♪ ♪ we've got to find a way ♪ ♪ what's going on ♪ ♪ hey, hey ♪ ♪ what's going on ♪ ♪♪♪

♪ tell me what's going on ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ (singing)

♪ what's going on ♪ ♪ hey ♪ ♪ what's going on ♪ ♪ what is going ♪ ♪ going on ♪ ♪ what's going on ♪ ♪ what's going ♪ ♪ going on ♪ ♪ what's going on ♪ ♪ what's going on ♪ ♪ what's going on ♪

(applause) >> what's happening brother. what's going on san francisco? put them hands up. we're going to pick it up today. what's going on. are you loving yourself hard enough? are you putting good nutrition into your body, mind and soul often enough? keep in mind, your diet, all the things we read, see and hear every day. look at yourself and ask what's going on. thank you. i want to share this song from the heart.

the warmth of other suns. it goes like this... ♪♪♪ ♪ fear and exhaustion from ♪ ♪ having to hide who we are ♪ ♪ pretending ♪ ♪ that regrets will make you stronger ♪ ♪ from black pain ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ the -- ♪ maybe we'll find our light ♪

♪ in the warmth of other suns ♪ ♪ the warmth of other suns ♪ ♪ in the warmth of other suns ♪ ♪ maybe we'll reach out ♪ ♪ in the warmth of other suns ♪ ♪ the warmth of other suns ♪ ♪ in the warmth of other suns ♪ ♪ rid the world ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ i just want to be free ♪ ♪ we suffer from black pain ♪ ♪ for white gain ♪

♪ you don't consider ♪ ♪ all the work we have been through ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ the warmth of other suns ♪ ♪ maybe we'll reach our height ♪ ♪ in the warmth of other suns ♪ ♪ in the warmth of other suns ♪ ♪ in the warmth of other suns ♪ ♪ in the warmth of other suns ♪ ♪ maybe we'll reach our height ♪

♪ in the warmth of other suns ♪ ♪ the warmth of other suns ♪ my name is martin luther mccoy and this has been an honor but we have an excellent program. you're going to see the hard work in the back. it's a beautiful day. i'll see you all in the warmth of another sun. ♪♪♪ >> come on, let's give it up for martin luther mccoy.

thank you for coming. you look fabulous. do you feel fabulous? you feeling fabulous? i'm here to demand a ministry of reparations. i want a ministry of reparations now that we have a national holiday. okay? i want to get paid, baby. i want to get paid as a daughter, a granddaughter of a slave who built this country for nothing. for nothing. i want to get paid. but before we get paid, we have to really, really thank the native people, the native people on their homelands. give it up. as stewards we recognize their duty to honor them and

interpretation of ancestry lands. they were all here before we got here. and as uninvited guests, return their lands. this is an amazing day. there's somebody looking down and smiling, somebody who died who is black, blue, pink, yellow people. you all right? i'll get wild. i will show up and show out. i want to thank mayor london breed for inviting me to do this

and all of you for kicking off this juneteenth weekend here in long beach park. but you know it's nice they're giving up the national holiday, you know, don't ask, don't tell. you know what i'm saying? we can't teach our children about the history in this country of what all this means. we're so happy you can join us for the opening of monumental -- consider this afternoon a monumental reckoning and we have dana king who will break it down to us a little later. an extraordinary artist, sharing her extraordinary art installation that honors the history and resilience of black americans. we ain't going nowhere.

we built this country for nothing and still we grin better than anybody. monumental reckonings will reside in the park for at least two years. if somebody you know and love doesn't see it today, make sure they see it before it goes away. it will allow me to commune with an ancestors and the black experience. we built the white house you all for nothing. i want my acres and a mule god damn it. and what better time to open this show this juneteenth, celebration of our culture and acknowledgement of the struggle that continues today and as of just yesterday, a federal holiday. but before we introduce our poet

laurent, give it up again for martin luther mccoy and we're bringing on san francisco's ace poet laurent. where you at tongo? he's so gorgeous. i'm an old woman. i can't take this, okay? this is tongo. hello darling. thank you for being here. >> thank you. i talk facing away from the dead. they replace me with the change

in my pocket. a penny yet to be invented, you have to know how to cut a throat on the way to cutting a throat. after sleeping on a mattress, made from two garbage bags of clothes, i became content with the small gestures of planation fires. i realized how weird the universe was, so many things interrupt me while trying to dream like your correspondence lawyer. i have 20 books next to a bullet like an old man giving advice before a revolution. explored what is there and found no brain washing, i found africa lord. i have a future, it takes place in the south, modern militancy, i'll walk on a missile for food. i'll be tired face to face with the country. old verse bringing

multiculturalism replace me with a chest cavity. stories of travel through other people's stories, my mother remembers africa lord. she killed on behalf of you lord. i wore a machete all winter and nobody asked what it meant. i read 1,000 books in front of the world. watch people play for post working surfaces and recreations of a governor's desk, find the bureaucrat and some white people scare easier, fantasizing through the art of the poor, trendy lashes locked before god. i hand over my friends lord. lord, i think i'm going to die in the war. like a blue song with no spiritual effect, apartheid

white people who give birth to mathematicians, a sunday trip to church, a river mistake for a talking river. violence and drug use made in the image of god of white abolitionists. chemical assurances they were switched from black worker to white worker. in the same way i think about my childhood. fox hole friday nights. committee points out a plan to a priest. cotton king voluntary. thinking about reassuring the masses we can figure out our fathers later priest reads it before breaking his parallel, i have never before a poet before. little brother watches big brother friends, they leave rifles on walls.

it's a simple matter, this revolution thing, to write a poem for god. (applause) >> thank you. thank you so much tongo. we have the baddest ass poets in the land. give it up again for tongo. martha graham, the great choreographer says people from california believe everything is possible. here we is. here we is. and i wanted to also call this day a festival of bad ass women. we've got some bad ass women up in here. okay?

and the next one, my sister, my sister, she is a champion for the black community for san francisco and for the arts. she was raised by her grandmother in the fillmore where the yearly juneteenth festival was a highlight of her childhood. she would go on to be the executive director of the african american art and cultural complex in the western edition before entering a life of public service. okay? and today, this woman, she is the 45th mayor of san francisco and the first as she's the first african american mayor in the city's history. everybody put your hands together for london breed. i am scared of you. hi miss mayor. it is wonderful to be here.

thank you for having me. ladies and gentlemen. and let's give it up for tongo. >> martin luther, thank you so much for opening up today. what a beautiful day. and i just have to take a moment to pause. we're seeing so many beautiful faces without masks. we have been really through a very challenging time, one that we never anticipated. i want to start by thanking park and rec and the director of park and rec phil ginsburg. we were supposed to celebrate the golden gate park last year.

a lot went into making it is what it is right now. sounds and equipment things we may not see. and i want to thank for the work and fundraising done to make this amazing. so martin luther got the first opportunity to perform and it feels good. we're going to see more activities and events here in golden gate park. but today is so special. i get emotional every time i think about how far we have come as african americans. yes, there are challenges. and those challenges will continue to persist as long as we sit to the side and don't work and fight to do what is necessary. to change the lives of what's happening all over the country. not just here in san francisco. today we celebrate that milestone.

now, black people, we always celebrated juneteenth as a holiday. amen? so now, finally, people understand the significance of what this means for us. my grandmother, who wasn't far removed from slavery, worked as a share cropper with her family in texas. migrated to san francisco. and in fact, in 1951, that was when the first juneteenth parade took place. dr. wesley johnson junior, the owner of texas playhouse. in the fill-mo held the first event there, walked down the streets of fillmore on horseback. willy brown was a part of that group. so many of our ancestors decided on that day we're going to step out proud of who we are and what

we represent as black people. juneteenth is so much more than what we see in the celebrations and festivities. it's freedom. it's a new day. it's a welcomed opportunity for us to grow and to thrive and remember of course our history and to learn from that history. to learn now more than ever how we don't want to continue to see the next generation grow up and repeat that history. we have work to do. and today we celebrate. we celebrate juneteenth as a national holiday and in fact, yesterday, i signed declaration making it an official holiday in the city and county of san francisco. because i gave all city

employees the day off, they all left and didn't show up for work today but that's okay. what i appreciate about so many people, they said i want to take this day to learn more about juneteenth. i want to take this day to serve and to honor the ancestors. dana king and this exhibit monumental reckoning is about honoring those ancestors. it's about the 350 original slaves who were brought to this country by force. just imagine that. now, we know dana is going to talk about the exhibit a little

later. i couldn't stop thinking about the experiences of black people brought over in chains on top of one another. we can never forget the pain and the suffering. and today as we celebrate juneteenth, i know, i know without a doubt that i stand on their shoulders. i stand on their shoulders and the only reason why we're able to celebrate such an incredible milestone in history has everything to do with their sacrifice. i will never forget their sacrifice. i will never forget the sacrifice of my grandmother. i will never forget the sacrifice of our ancestors. so when we pour liebations to call their name, we honor them and make sure we don't forget them but we bring their presence to the surface.

this event, this exhibit is so much more to us. it means a rewakening, a renewal of our commitment to reinforce the need to make sure that we honor our history. we honor the struggle. we do the work to make it better for future generations to come. thank you all so much for joining us here today. let's celebrate! >> again for the mayor, come on, we've got some bad ass brainy black women up in here. okay? before we go any further, let's

reiterate and thank our city partners and civic leaders here tonight, thank london breed and rec and park general manager and his staff. they keep the park together. the park commission and president. director of cultural affairs. arts commission and president. and former acting director of cultural affairs. denise, are you here? i love her. i hadn't seen her. okay. everybody having fun? we still have part of this to do. and additionally, thanks go to these participants who aluminate the monumental reckoning team.

is the lieutenant governor here? okay. i just want to thank you for being here. all right. so we're going to move right along now. i'm an artist, i am just so glad to be up here introducing an artist, a black woman, a visual artist. she sounds scary to me, i love her already. we're going to meet dana king. (applause) dana king, who -- let me see now. dana will talk about -- i can read, i just have to find out which one of these papers this

thing is on. all right, dana reveals common threads and shared values and experiences and aspiration and likes to deal with sculpture and knows it helps those alive today compare and contrast their worlds with that of social pioneers. call on them you all, social pioneers whose commitment to excellence helped create modern society. that is where we are right now, is it not? please, i'm going to ask you all to bow down. bow down, please welcome dana king. dana, where are you girl? dana. (applause) thank you so much for your work.

thank you, thank you, thank you. she's an angel, check it out. i'm scared. >> thank you. how are you? you good? i'm seeing my people out here. it's like a family reunion today. doesn't it feel like that? a family reunion. thank you, thank you for being here. you know down stairs in the basement of this building and there is a pile of roots sitting there. i don't know if they were pushing us through the concrete or why they were there. but they were collected in a corner. it made me think that african

descendants had our roots cut. most of us don't know where we come from, we don't know who our people are. being here, we've been forced to build our own families and create our own environment and our own histories. but we have deep history. that has come with us, though we may not know all the stories. monumental reckoning is a gift back to the ancestors to let them know that though we may not know we love them. we love them, we honor them in

everything we do. and we have never forgotten them. never. there were hands that touched monumental reckoning. part of a new family of friends for me. 12 women who helped make the ancestors we're about to see. and i would love for them who are here to please stand up as i call out your names. i don't want to miss anybody. i did write it down on my notepad. (reading names)

i wanted you to hear those names. we were african descendants who built these ancestors,

philippine, chinese, italian american, mexican american, did i miss anybody? we are all family. all family. i doubt very seriously that our ancestors would want us to buy in to the division and separation that has been put upon us from oppression. monumental reckoning is about the truth of american history. the truth. and that truth is hard. and that truth is painful. and that truth is ugly. but unless we acknowledge it, it

will continue to kill us. we weren't taught our history. i'm a product of public education, all the way through college. i learned last year that francis scott keys was a horrible human being. not only did he own other human beings, he used his power and his prestige and access to double down on legislation that kept us enslaved for generations. he sponsored his brother-in-law to become a supreme court justice who wrote the dread scott decision and says african americans can never be citizens. so he was fully invested in the

business of slavery. monumental reckoning is the first 350 ancestors who came over here on the first boatload of slavery. the business of slavery. when they arrived in 1619, there were 21 on the boat. we will honor the 350 who were stolen from their people and their land, never to return. when something is a first of that magnitude, it would be the same as if we were sucked up into a space ship and taken to mars. they had no idea what was to

befall them and what befell them was terror. my hope for this installation is that you come and commune with the ancestors and listen to them. they have something to say and they have something to do. they will stand here for two years in the space of justice. and in judgment. i hope that you join them and that you bring your written words and recite your poetry and sing your songs and dance with them. i also hope that you take the time to recognize that the space that they have created around a

man who wanted them all dead is a safe space. it's a safe space to speak to people who don't look like you and share your stories and let them share theirs. if we don't talk to one another, this country will continue to be hateful. it will continue to harm. and there will be no way out. we are the answer. we are the answer. (applause) we are our ancestors wildest

dreams. wildest dreams every day. and it's a responsibility to be that. but it is the least we can give them. the least we can give back to our ancestors is to put forward kindness and love. and stand for justice for our people and all people. systems of oppression have existed in this country since our people were brought here. they exist in healthcare and they exist in banking and food insecurity and corporate

america. and criminal justice. we need a reckoning in the systems of oppression, right? (applause) we also need a reckoning within ourselves. yes, we do. so monumental reckoning stands to do all of that and to support us in our efforts, to become whole. to cast aside our bigotry, our hate, our divisiveness and join. join together as human beings.

our people were not seen as human beings. today we're going to see them in monumental reckoning. i hope that they stand as a reminder of your personal stories and the stories of everyone here. i hope you see yourself in monumental reckoning. i hope to see people in monumental reckoning and i hope you see other people in monumental reckoning. this journey began with the -- from the mayor of the city. mayor london breed. when we brought this to her, she said yes. phil ginsburg, your yes has been

extraordinary. it's a federal holiday and his people were here, apprentices in the program that teaches them horticulture and they have been helping us for four days. (applause) ralph remington, our new director of cultural affairs for the san francisco art division. your yes is the beginning of a reckoning within our system. i'm so grateful you said yes. thank you. (applause) it's pretty exciting today and i have some other work to do. i put a bowl here.

i've got all this hair, i can't really see. monumental reckoning is bigger than all of us. and i'm not speaking of the ancestors here. i'm talking about a reckoning in this country. it's time. the time is now. the place that it begins for us is here. (applause) i'm a different person than i was before i got a call from a man named ben davis who asked me if i would be interested in talking about doing art here in this space. i never thought that -- i won't

say that we didn't really get here. i knew once we got on the path we would get here. but i want to thank you for your vision, your creative vision which has provided so much beauty and awe and joy for the people of san francisco from the bay bridge lights to the pink triangle to grace cathedral being lit up, to the beautiful conservetory of flowers. thank you. thank you for letting me do what i do and giving me the space of your grace to do my work. i'm grateful. i'm grateful. i'm full of love. i'm so full and i'm so grateful you are all here to bring in the

ancestors. thank you. thank you so much. (applause) >> we love you dana! >> i love you miss blue. we're a tiny team, tiny but mighty. (reading names) thank you. thank you. i mentioned january 31st. we started a conversation february 1st. the ancestors were built -- i forgot three people.

i have to stop right now. i need to acknowledge alex nolen and john woolworth. rachel arambola. are you here? yes? i heard it. they agreed to do it in seven

weeks. it then went to an incredible neighbor named alonso. is he here? and his business partner ryan. they painted the ancestors. and then the 12 women that i introduced you to, including rachel, we finished the ancestors. seven weeks time. (applause) we are going to go see the

ancestors. are you ready? i'm going to ring this beautiful instrument four times. every ring of this gong, this beautiful bowl represents 100 years of slavery. and after i ring that, we're going to ask the elders if we can proceed. we have elders waiting down at monumental reckoning. and i'm seeing their support. the elders have given their approval for us to proceed. we will sing as we march down, lift every voice and sing. and if you don't know, look it up on your phone. there we go.

we have -- we have it on paper. i hope you received it. there it is. i'm guessing you all know the song though. it's the black national anthem. and it is a song of liberty and justice and it is an uplifting song of inclusion. and it's much different than the song written by the man with the song of war and killing. a song that asks the enslaved be put to their graves. we intend to bring a new anthem. lift every voice and sing for america. shall we? all right. we will then be led in the

procession and pray on the ancestors with my pastor from heart and soul center of life and the choir from heart and soul center of life and choir of grace cathedral is in the house. if you can't sing, stand by them. that one didn't count.

(singing)

♪♪♪ >> good afternoon. welcome to the program intersection and act vision in the arts. i am the coordinator of the apa heritage celebration community. the apa community has been

faced a tough year. the need to stop racism priorities that are widely recognized. to address racism also requires a diverse, multicultural approach. this is what the program is about. in the next hour, you will hear a number of conversations between artists of diverse ethnic backgrounds talking about issues of cultural identities and sharing how they seek to advance social justice through art. and now, i would like to introduce san francisco mayor london breed to give opening remarks and share her thought about the impact of art on bringing diverse communities together. let's welcome mayor breed. >> hi, i'm mayor london breed.

i want to thank the apa heritage month committee and nonprofit and community partners joining us here today. while many of us think of apa heritage month we think of the incredible celebrations, performances and events that happen throughout the month of may. but this year, in light of the challenges we face, from a global pandemic, to fighting systemic bias and racism, to violent and hateful attacks, we are here, united, committed to working together to build bridges between our cultures and build a brighter future for all people. we stand up to the hatred and discrimination and say that not only will we not tolerate it, we'll actively work to dismantle it by coming together, supporting one another, celebrating and embracing our differences. thank you to the apa heritage

month committee for recognizing the importance of hosting this event because celebrating our diverse cultures and practicing love and compassion for each other is how we build stronger, more resilient communities. take care and stay healthy and safe. >> thank you mayor breed and thank you for inviting me. i'm the executive director of sf films and san francisco international film festival, the longest running in the americas. i'm honored to introduce the program for intersection and activism in the arts. for the first time, apa heritage month is showcasing artists from diverse, ethnic and racial and cultural backgrounds which is

very exciting. with the conversations you're going to hear, certain things bubble up in the most intriguing way, the emergence of art as activism, art as a social impact tool and a way to understand similarities as human beings. to put it simply, art as intersectionalty and unity. tongo eisen-martin is a poet, educator and organizer serving as our current san francisco poet laureate and he was born and raised in san francisco. he will be in conversation with michael lambert, the first asian american to serve in the role of director of libraries. >> happy asian pacific heritage month. i'm the city librarian for the san francisco public library.

today it is my distinct honor and privilege to be in conversation with san francisco's newest poet laureate, tongo eisen-martin. tongo, welcome, we are delighted to have you at the main library at our chinese center and congratulations on your appointment. >> thank you. it is good to be with you. >> right on. poetry and art can seem personal but you seem to enjoy building, empowering and participating in creative communities and endeavors. do you enjoy collaborating with other poets and artists? >> poetry is kind of a national hermitage -- in a way there's a certain aspect of craft, but really just experience with you. and for yourself. but, you know, renaissance or

modernzation of a craft only happens in collaboration, only happens with us bucking up against each other. and so, you know, whether it's intentional or whether we're going to have this workshop or this writing group and bounce off these other organizations, no matter how formal or informal it is, i know that just kind of being around other people has accelerated my growth or even just -- it's not even necessarily steel sharpens steel but steel reminds you are steel. even just watching -- just being in the front row of one of

these geniuses doing their thing. and that's just the selfishness of craft. on the other end, just helping each other as much as possible. this is crucial to the process or how you started the own publishing house and the vision behind that? >> i have -- we're going to capture the needs of cultural production. i have that kind of objective. but it really did start with

just -- just a way of being of some kind of help. you talk to poets, they will ask me for advice and as i would listen to them, i would just, you know, i'm just in my head thinking, you don't need advice, you need a break, you know. so to just kind of give some of these poets a first step in, it's really very much at the heart of the operation. it's our own little humble slice and there's not much of a physical reality to poetry, but still for a process of reality to be facilitated by people outside of institutional kind of permission or prescription, i

think is crucial to consciousness that wants more control over our reality. so i would say those are the basic food groups of the press. >> as one of the stewards of the institution now, as the poet laureate, we have 376,000 square feet here to serve as a stage for some of these poets. so i look forward to packing the chinese center, the african american center, all the spaces in the library. it is going to be exciting. you have spoken with a high level of excitement about san francisco's 8th poet laureate and how you feel the opportunity can allow you to connect with the people of san francisco. can you share more about your vision for serving as the poet

laureate to advance racial equity and social justice? >> i think one path really towards it is the healing of our eternal contradictions, the nurturing and growth of our consciousness and poetry is beautiful cultural tool for helping facilitate that evolution. just a heavy emphasis on education programs as well as kind of public cultural works. to push poetry to the imaginations, these are the efforts i'm most looking forward to.

it's actually like a beautiful almost collective, this position. really like a collective imagining of what can be done. >> we are so excited to partner with you and throw the full weight of the san francisco public library behind you as your platform. >> this is my favorite pirate ship so far. >> that's great. so recently, i also heard you mention that you feel like meditating when you are reciting poetry. i'm intrigued by this concept of consuming poetry akin to meditation. and it comes across as musical at times. can you elaborate on your approach? >> the objective is to not protect yourself.

you know, one of our first kind of instincts or skills or just nature is to create a representative to present to the world. so that instinct only gets amplified with the terror of public speaking. so, you know, the trick is to kind of dissolve per sona or dissolve the persona you want that protects you. so much of the goof is just kind of figuring out what somebody like me would say next. so it's really all i'm doing -- similar to a meditation where you just kind of like, the

trigger is to know when you're leaving. it's the same thing. i feel myself going into an ego cleanse or however you want to say it. really in a way you let the poetry play you. if you are writing really from a political practice, your poems are really, not to be grandiose but your poems are representatives of the world, of all this reality.

so, you know, in at least kind of in a subtle way, it's the world playing you. >> uh-huh. >> right? that's the opportunity and that's all i'm looking for poem to poem performance to performance. >> well, with what's going on in the world, the tragic waves of violence against the apa community locally and the george floyd trial underway, can you speak of the intersectionalty of marginalized and oppressed communities and the arts to bring people together? >> i'm blanking on who said it, but the phrase, they come for you in the morning, they'll come for me tonight.

whether we're monsters or objects, you know, they don't intend any humanity for us. not just for our survival but to help evolve the human journey, you know, kind of politics and unity and healing is necessary or we're in deep, deep trouble. >> truth. thank you. you have written that poetry has the power of naming the world, can nature the eternal life of

someone to find a way to foster positive powers lost behind a wall, especially the power to name yourself. how can we give power to those without a voice, especially our undocumented and immigrant communities? >> i was really like, you know, kind of beyond heartbroken with the kids in the cages with the children of the asylum seekers torn from their families. like what's cultural going on in the united states. what people seem to be capable of. even before the kids went in the cages when there were ice

checkpoints in new york subways and all of these raids, and having to talk to friends of mine, if they take you, i'll take your kids. these were the types of conversations we had to have and i noticed everybody was just still sipping their coffees and too much going on -- just trying to stick to their regular scheduled programming. it's the flavor of attitude toward all of our immigrant communities. so i would like to say, in answer to the question, i actually think it's time for us to put the coffee down. we can't have -- i don't know why we got out of the streets.

we can't participate in a status quo as long as any people are basically suffering acts of genocide. if you look at the u.n. definition of genocide, you know, the united states -- the united states is guilty my brother. and you know -- i think what we have to be clearer on, no matter what the tide of it is, no matter the manifestation of it, no matter what the scales of violence and areas of violence, it's the same tendency that therefore has the same potential to ramp up at any moment.

>> yeah. that just really affirms the power of this conversation and the fact that we are in the public library, the most democratic of institutions and it just really brings home this quote from one of the civil rights leaders the progress of the world will require the best that we all have to give. i know you have worked with incarcerated youth and adults. how has your work with these folks shaped your view of poetry and art? >> you know, one of the first things that struck me when i started working with the incarcerated youth was how in a cell block of 50 kids, only maybe one, two, three at most

actually needed a time out. you know? the rest of the kids were just part of a liquefied working class. it's interesting to basically see jail world which is just where this kind of surplus population is flushed to. when people are imprisoned, they become a symbol. even if they keep their

humanity, they become abstract. some kind of unnecessary metaphor. that's not the case. they don't go into suspended animation. life is back there. >> we have a jail and reentree services, the acronym is jars and we have a couple of librarians in the jails providing access to collections, reference, information services, so we'll have to work with you at some point and introduce you to those individuals. i know they would love to meet you. >> absolutely. >> well, i know our audience would love to hear your work. do you have a poem you would like to share with us today? >> i got you. >> all right.

from a two floor skyline an abandoned house once talked to me. it said young man, you are heroic and 10 years-old. among 20 generations of friends, your friend will freefall away, they will freefall up. they will freefall the walls with fifth grade speed to industrial paint use quick knife tones. be brass, you always leaving, always want to change the clothes from the door, life an escape. two floor skyline to guide the dodge in the middle, defend more

blues than skin. place with the 90 mile per hour right eyes, two feet high and roaming and repeating and hanging your opinion though, tagging along, whistling two shot songs, you will be useful, from a $20 family -- around walls except these walls may suggest you may rise out of highs and currency. young man, you will come to a myth that sometimes suicide is power. because some people live stronger as ghosts and sometimes the after life is empty. like playground bullets and abandon door frames, even broken glass proves it has a voice. look over your shoulder, can you hear it. the sound of piano parts

learning between the fascination attempts. be invincible again. professional finger tips. be here the first month of probation, look behind you again. be invincible again. never look away. the after life empty and walk you home. >> wow. bravo. tongo, thank you so much for joining us here today at the san francisco public library. happy asian pacific american heritage month. we're so glad everybody could join us for the special program. thank you sir. >> we now move to conversation with the executive director and co-founder of the american

indian district in san francisco. >> hi everybody, i'm director of cultural affairs for the san francisco arts commission in the city and county of san francisco and i'm here with... >> i'm the executive director and co-founder of the american indian cultural district. great to be here with you. >> so great to be here with you as well. and you know, we're in quite a time right now with what just happened with the chauvin trial and all of the things happening. we just lived through the last four years of horror with the presidency. and hopefully we're at the beginning of a new period. we work in the area of arts and culture and cultural expression

and i know we talked some off line about how do you deal with art and culture that is created for white consumption or the white gaze and arts and cultural experiences created for the community they come from. what are your thoughts around that? >> interview: i think the way i see us doing it at least as a city right now is we're coming together strong, we're coming together as people. we're moving up the chain to our leadership. i think how we deal with it is we take that voice back and we take that power back together through our work, through how we elevate each other. i think we really start doing

that by looking at our similarities. i think that, you know, what i keep hearing from folks over and over again and being completely valid is hey, can we have this moment but we're not going to have this moment forever. we're in it right now but may not be tomorrow. the way we take it back is we talk about how can we strengthen each other and build each other up. this is an amazing and important times is black lives matter and they always should matter, talking about stopping asian hate, the only way it is sustainable, when we look to our brothers and sisters and say how do we make sure it continues. how do we make sure we're all sitting at the table and once it is a bigger issue, we take into our own hands, then i think it starts to sustain itself. when it goes away it's political and media level, we're still as

relatives as brothers and sisters elevating each other's voices. >> how do you think we can authentically show up for each other in each other's communities? admittedly there may be certain ignorance that people have about each other's communities, whether you are native, whether you are african american or asian -- >> let's have good conversations about acknowledging our own harms. you just brought up a great point. the trial with chauvin, i know there's tensions between the

communities, do we talk about the fact that he also shot two american indian men and is that okay? is that going to create conflict talking about that. and we're not just talking about those sort of things, do we talk about where it happened, in minneapolis. it's also the home of where the red power movement for indian power movement again and it again because of police brutality. it's okay to acknowledge that too and we have way more in common than we have apart from each other. and when we start those real conversations with each other, hey brother, hey sister, hey relative, i see you, i hear you. then we are not creating battles amongst each other. the political battles, we're strengthening and having the real conversations and i'll be honest, for me, the folks who have reached out to me are our brothers and sisters in those communities. how can we help you?

when we're at the events, i feel it's us at that level having the conversations. i think that's where the healing needs to start, be real with each other to see where we intersect and get along and show up in each other's neighborhoods. i love when i'm invited out to the mission or what we're doing right now, bayview, african american arts district, organizing a walk for the youth. that's where we show up, let's start to get together with each other and start to see each other at that level for our kids, our youth and start the healing conversations early and at a community level. not just the mayor's office or the press releases. let's get our children together, our people together and have a barbecue. i think one of my other relatives was talking about let's have a weekly fire pit at the beach. we'll bring our communities together. things like that, we're doing it here and continuing to create

that foundation, even if it -- >> i look at art from a position of director of cultural affairs and i look back in my life and look at art as something that saved my life. my father was a visual artist and grew up in west philadelphia and i saw a lot of despair around me. people dying and getting shot. for me, i never just connected art from social change. so for me they work together.

and just seeing what you think about that and what brought you to want to be a cultural worker and work with this arts and culture community. >> definitely. whether you see a fist or something, there's art to go along with it. the intersectionalty between the two, it's how we create that visual representation of each movement that has been so

important. i wanted to do cultural resource protection and i'm blessed to be in a role today where what we do is incorporate all of it, art and cultural resource protection and the way we're using it in the cultural district is create visibility. we're talking about creating the san francisco arts commission did something, it was indigenous project where they took photos called the continuous thread of all our communities. we're trying to continue the continuous thread by taking the images of american indian folks, that's one of the biggest issues we face, visibility. we're showing people we are still here and strong. we're the only community who has to say we're still here. where folks think you're dead. so we get to use that art --

thing of the past. we get to use art as sort of in partnership with you all to continue the narrative of activism to show up and show what we look like today. we don't all wear feathers in our hair or all live in teepees or things like that. so i think art is the way of that activism, is taking back the visibility. >> yeah. i just recently read there are more native americans in california than anywhere else in the united states and i don't think anybody knows that. i didn't know it. not that i'm an expert but i consider myself somewhat knowledgeable and i didn't know that. and i think our idea -- when i say our, the mainstream culture of the united states of america, the idea is to always keep native culture relegated to the 1700s or 1600s and the natives wore feathers in their hair and

live in teepees. while it's nostalgic for some people in some weird way, it has no bearing on the truth. it would be like relegating african americans in the country to how we were on the planation. that's ridiculous. i can't imagine how that feels in every day life. >> yeah. it's definitely hard. i just looked -- there's an organization and they did a study and found that 76% of folks across the united states didn't know anything about american indians or thought we were a thing of the past. 76%. a lot of people didn't know we didn't have the right to vote until the 60s or the census counted us as white or other and that still happens today.

it's not accurate that -- just like black relatives, we have been here a really long time and our numbers are closer to 1%. a lot of us are diverse, we're mixed. i identify with my indigenous roots but i also have spanish roots as well, but the messed up part, if i checked spanish and american indian, i might be categorized as other. i think that's where we tieback into art.l.

we're mixed with each other, certainly a lot of african american culture has indigenous blood within our culture. that was a natural part of our living and being part of american culture as it were, even when we weren't really considered americans. it's been a part of it. and that i often tell, particularly talked about this with african american and latinx brothers and sisters and say hey, there's not a lot of difference between latinx culture and african american culture. the blood lines are very similar, it's just the language of our colonizer is different.

european, white came over here and f-ed things up and that's where we are. we're a part of a product of that and it includes all of us and it shows how ridiculous the racial lines are and the fear of a dark planet. the fear of us all being one. there's a big fear in that, which is why interracial laws were set up for interracial marriages, except for the marriage of pocahontas. that story is wild. you're familiar with that? >> a 10-year-old girl, 13-year-old woman and how disney really just took that and tried

to make this a glamour story about a native woman needing saved by a white man to bring peace. the story itself was real nice, i get if you have no idea what went on, but to know the brutal truth of where they took it from is disturbing. i would love to touch on something you brought up. the one thing i don't care if you're latinx or black, if you have been here long enough and that's what you'll hear from american indians, no matter where you're from, if you have been brought here for a while, stolen bodies on stolen land. if you have been brought here for a while, one thing that is lost is a lot of them don't know where they came from and don't know their indigenous language

and cultures and original foods. that's one thing that can't be gotten back. if you don't know your roots and don't know where to start, you have been like so grateful for american indian folks that have that to go back to. i can go home and walk my lands and learn our language and our ceremonies. i can't imagine the pain and trauma. especially latinx where some folks are ashamed to acknowledge their indigenous roots. i'm mexican american, they don't have that, they lose their language and songs and that pride. that's a form of colonization. i have friends who live here and say i didn't learn how to speak mandarin and it's a shame. this is the first time i have

been proud to be chinese, i don't have to like blend in with the crowd. people are coming out and celebrating who they are and stepping out of the box. for a long time i went by a shortened name because i grew up in a town that was 98% white and i was tired of having my name butchered. i wanted to blend in. i didn't want to be the girl whose family came here to open a restaurant. i wanted to fit in. i think what's so beautiful in this moment and diversity, we can step up and be like this is me, whoever this is. some of us are reinventing that for ourselves, as long as we do it together. this is such a beautiful moment to step up and say this is my heritage and i'm proud and stand together and do it together and

come together and be unique and different and still be the intersection between each other. >> absolutely. it is so important. and that shows the fact that you felt you had to hide or not bring your whole self to your every day life and of course many of us, if not most of us in marginalized communities feel we can't bring our whole selfs the work, we can't bring our whole selves to waking up and walking down the street and interacting with people. and it just shows the white supremacy and how it works and how it is so topic and eraser culture, to bring people over here. that's why we had to create another culture apart from the tribal alliances, because we don't know them.

we created a thing called african american culture. we had to build that from scratch as being a culture that was part of the thing that didn't exist before but for america and the horror we faced coming over here and it's cellular and passed down through generation and generation. and that trauma lives with us today. high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke. how do you get it out? one of the ways is creating art, especially in culture, finding community in all of those things. speaking of culture, i mean, and i see a lot of people buy a lot

of native jewelry. how do you wear anything native or should you wear anything native. if you do, how do you do it respectfully. >> i think that's a beautiful and strong talk, i approached somebody at one point wearing a flesh color dress during halloween, wearing a large head dress and i approached her and just said, this is hurtful. this is hurtful. you're sexlizing native women in our cultures and it wasn't appropriate. this was a younger person of color actually and her response was f you and f your culture and threw a water glass in my face and you know who got kicked out? i did for approaching her. those are the instances that

it's not okay. buying stuff from folks or buying things on amazon ore bay that are native looking to wear in inappropriate context. it's not okay to paint on black face and it's not okay to go to football games and paint on red face and sit there and make war chants. i think in the appropriate use of native stuff is buy native jewellery from native people where they're selling it. ask them the purpose, what does it represent to you. and wear it respectfully. don't show up at burning man in a head dress and put on big native ear rings and necklaces and show up where folks are taking substances and wear it with something provocative. when we make our art, our

jewellery and medicine, whatever you are painting or doing, part of you goes into that. if you're not happy or upset, it goes in your jewellery. i beaded one time, i was hurting and i wanted to get something out for a relative and one of the beads on there was broken and it was like because you were creating that during that time. for me, if i'm going out or to an event with alcohol, i don't typically wear my jewelry. i ask folks if you're go to wear something, buy it from a native person. don't try to wear it in a sense where you are painting on your face a certain way or wearing a head dress or something like that. understand what you're wearing.

these represent missing and murdered indigenous women. and only 16 were logged into the system. art is activism and visibility. >> thank you. i know i find myself going through the same kind of anger and processing it when i see people having 70s parties and dressing up in afros and black face and black panther and it's like do you know what that means. or putting on fake dreadlocks. do you know what it means? is it just fashion for you or does it mean something.

and in any case you shouldn't wear it. yeah, it's a lot. it's a lot. i tell you. well, is there anything you want to leave us with as we wrap up our conversation? >> just remember each other and reach out to each other and love each other. this isn't a time where it's one over the other. this is a time where we as people of color need to reach out and say i see you, i hear you, i love you. keep it simple. we're going to continue to work together and elevate you. and what can i do to elevate you. i need to do better. what can i do to elevate you aside from just show up. how can we do it together and bring it together.

i hope in addition to the amazing solidarity events, i want to see more art work across the city. i would love for a statue taken down, let's honor our diverse women leadership. i'm about women, less than 10% of statues are women. black women started the blm movement and native american have done amazing things, our asian communities. let's have the statues where we have -- maybe we put a bunch of women's faces. i don't know. elevate each other and keep it genuine to keep the movement going even when the support might fade in the media or policy. >> absolutely. so well said. i can double down on that statement for sure. thank you for that. it's been a pleasure talking to

you today. it's going to be part of our ongoing conversation over the next years i'm sure. thank you for spending this time with us and thank you for having this dialogue and everyone have a great day and better year ahead. >> thank you. take care everyone. ♪♪♪ >> we close our program today with the multidisciplinary artist and film maker hosting the conversation, the festival and exhibitions director for cam. which puts on the largest festival celebrating asian american stories. please enjoy. >> hello and welcome to the very special program. i'm the festival and exhibitions director at cam. and i want to thank so much to

apa heritage month planning committee. for letting me part of this cureration for this special event. i have been speaking with you for a few months about creating an event that can be inclusive and bring different diverse community members together. this is a tricky time in the world. having artists who can inspire different communities is really important. i'm the festival director of cam fest, the largest asian american film festival starting in a week, may 13th through 23rd. we'll have in person screenings at fort mason drive-ins and so many live virtual events and

over 80 films on our on demand website. today i'm thrilled to have with us an artist i have only known recently but i have been so blown away and i'll talk about what impresses me about her. a queer filipino cultural producer, creating work and performing professionally throughout the bay area and touring nationally and internationally. thank you for being here. >> thank you for the warm welcome. that was wonderful. >> first, i knew about you when you submitted your film that we'll talk about in a minute. when i watched your film, i was

blown away by the performance and passion in it and i reached out to not only my staff but others within the community and the first person people said, how do you not know how she is. you're so well respected. i feel guilty for not knowing you earlier, but i know your art is dinner, toter. can you talk about yourself as an artist? >> that's right. that's so beautiful. i'm thinking of our mutual connections and community exchanges. that's really my goal is to be -- to find the ways that the mediums and gifts that i embody can find really gin rated for a

while. that's how most folks know my work in the community and film is something that i kind of took upon myself because i wanted to reach more of my audience. all of our loved ones beyond the bay area and it really encapsulateds the various mediums and brings together things in a cohesive way that i don't think any of us in the cast and crew knew what was going on in my mind even. i don't know if i knew what was going on. i have to shout out the director

of photography and editor and designer and composer, the way we worked together to manifest through prayer and deep intentionalty has been amazing. >> we're going to watch a clip soon. so you'll all get to see a snapshot of the film. i should mention, it will be playing at cam fest. police come to our festival and check out this film and there will be q&a as part of that as well. when i think about you as an artist, we talk about all the different types of art forms from dance to performance, this film has it all. and i know you do them all also at times individually. i'm curious when you are approaching a project, are you thinking about how to present that and what's the best way or

is it more natural in having -- whether it is a ritual, figuring out does it come naturally or do you think the about form? >> interview: i fli r think first and foremost, i grab into the body. it is rare i will do a spoken word piece and just read it. that is really rare for me. i believe in so much the idea of being connected to the body and being able to express ourselves through the body. i think that's first and for most. so often times that will start with a dance or movement or freestyle and then from there, i

think i start to image and seeing what other electricses can inform the work or give it more fuel. how can i impact the audience. how ki impact them in a way that touches on body, mind and spirit. that's how the process starts out. >> that's wonderful. as a local artist, how does the bay area inspire your work? >> getting me emotionle. i'm not from the bay area. i grew up in l.a. county. i really chose to be an artist here. i went to cal and i thought i would move down to l.a. and kind

of pursue industry work, but i knew if i was going to pursue, it was rooted in activism and social justice in that level, i had to be in the bay. every day i give thanks to be part of the cultural heritage district and all of our relatives because the legacy in the bay is out of this world. i have traveled, i have been here, there, not every where but here and there and there's no place like the bay. there's no community like the bay. that's what it is. >> that's wonderful. i want to echo that. myself being from the bay area, seeing how vibrant not only the asian american community but

something that really recently has inspired me is all the vibrant, not only the arts, the restaurants, there's so much happening there, so much culture. entrepreneurship. i don't know, i'm just -- when i put the festival together it's easy in some ways because i'm so inspired by the artists who live here, the communities so excited to celebrate it together. i want to have everyone watch a clip so they can see a little bit more about your artistry. let's play that now. >> hinga.

♪♪♪ >> hinga. >> so you all got to see the clip. it is such a fabulous film. you know, to your point earlier, i watched it a few times. and in the programming process,

usually i'll watch one film and have to make that decision but with your film, there's so much complexity and it being very much a local film, so many neighborhoods, so many references in there that i wanted to watch it multiple times. you mentioned working with great collaborators to make the film come to life. can you talk about your team and how you made the film happen? >> certainly. thank you for that question. yes, i truly believe team work makes the dream work and i am blessed and fortunate that throughout my years of making art, i've gotten to work with the best, the best beings in the community. and for this film, this is actually supposed to be a live performance, it was supposed to take place on stage and when it wasn't possible, it felt kind of

natural, since i was already exploring film to create this work. the one collaborator i knew i had to work with from the vision was amehan, the program manager at the cultural heritage district, born and raised in the city, artist and she is of the next generation. i'll never forget seeing her perform for the first time. you know when you see an artist you're blown away with and you're like i'm going to work with you one day. that was the immediate charge when i first saw her. she knows what she is saying. she really has the intellect and

creative area to really put those things together, art and activism. both of us were in a pretty deep creative process for a few months and that's when we found out that a young activist in our community passed away, who is also her cousin. that grief, you know, that story, that wanting to honor her, slowly but surely became kind of a main part, point of the film. gosh, the team is- -- we are in -- we're all philippine crew and within our cast, of course our amazing brothers who i had

the incredible honor of getting to have been a company member with. every person in that cast, from cast to crew, there's really deep relations there, from either past works or collaborations. there were a couple of folks that were more so new but even hearing them speak to the power that production and the process had on their process and i think the whole filming really affirmed just the way we do our work and how that's not normal. i think i'm also reminding myself, that's right. what you get -- what we all, including myself, get from the

process when we are rooted in our ways in wanting to look at the myriad of ways in which spirituality and culture and activism can intersect and should, it is so fulfilling. >> yeah. and i think that's -- it's fabulous. those are all such ambitious things to tackle in a project, but in a film as well. i have to say, your film does that. what i love about it, the performances themselves are breath taking and i can definitely see this as a live performance piece. and as you talk about collaborating, i hope our relationship together continues on because i can see this on big stages. i think it's fabulous.

what i love about the film though as well, there's so many things in there that feel so natural, not constructed but as you talk about, i guess the kind of honoring the kind of generations of artists and also having this space for new artists to come together to perform. what i love about the film, you touch on all these thicks in a way that's not overwhelming for the audience. you're getting the sense that you would get from a live performance through a lens. that's hard to do. i have seen a lot of live performance pieces. it is tricky to capture that. i hope everyone here in the cam fest or in the future please find this film and learn more. this event that we're here together, this conversation is part of apa heritage month. i wanted to take a minute to

talk through heritage month. this is a time not only for the asian american communities but communities in general to celebrate our legacy, our story. can you talk about why it's important for us to come together to celebrate all of the things you're talking about right now. >> i think doing community and cultural work, we're often siloed and maybe not always intentional but just the way institutions are set up and even capitalism, we don't always get the opportunities to see one another and i think my goal is really bridge these threads of activism through cultural heritage. all of those things i think are

really the pathways. we're in a time where there's violence against the asian community, black lives matter, still always every day, just the amount of grief we have experienced in the past year has i think for me as an artist and cultural worker made everything that i do that much more important, that much more poignant, that much more urgent. i think there's an urgency that i'm feeling. so, you know, i think this film helps us to kind of push that urgency a bit more whereas with a live performance, maybe it will go and maybe it won't. the way in which this film, you just spoke to it, we can take it

to this place and this place -- i'm really hoping that it inspires us all to look at our stories more deeply. to look at our own lives more deeply and how it is connected with the many relatives here on earth. >> right. we are out of time, so i do want to thank you so much. i think what a perfect way to not only kind of wrap up the goal of your film but i think heritage month in general, all of what you're saying is so true and such a vital time right now. i want to thank you for making this film, again, please everyone check it out. through heritage month and beyond, it's not really just one month, let's find ways to connect with each other and have

solidarity and so i want to thank you once again. ♪♪♪ >> that it is. thank you for being part of our program today. an incredibly inspired by the three activists spotlighted for unique perspectives and desire to recognize and celebrate other diverse artists, on behalf of apa heritage month, thank you for being part of the conversation today and i wish you all well.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ >> thank you all for joining us today, and happy pride. [applause] >> my name is joseph sweiss, and i'm the chair of the human rights commission. first, we're going to do a land acknowledge from commissioner

pellegrini, then, i'll do rapid fire acknowledgements, and we'll get the show on the road. >> we acknowledge that we're on the unceded ancestral homelands of the ramaytush ohlone. in accordance with their traditions, the ramaytush ohlone have never ceded, lost, or forget -- forgotten about the responsibilities of this place. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders, and the relatives of the ramaytush community and by acknowledging their sovereign rights as first peoples. >> thank you, commissioner. so before we get started, i'd like to do some acknowledgements of everyone

who's up on the stage, and i'll be quick. michael lack better, karen roy, jeff jaw, jeff tumlin, grant colfax. manu raju, supervisors ahsha safai and rafael mandelman, commissioner mark keller, disability and aging services martha knudson, we have chief nicholson, h.r.c. director sheryl davis, director of the office of transgender initiatives, clair farley, and jason pellegrini, who just gave

our land acknowledgement. thank you. [applause] >> we are all extremely excited to join mayor breed to officiate this new relaunch of the lgbtq + launch. i see amazing leadership in front of me, i see amazing leadership beside me, and without further adieu, i'd like to introduce karen clopton to introduce the mayor. >> i'm going to ask our vice chair, joseph sweiss, to stand

by me, in response to all of his amazing work, maturity, consulting the elders in how to do things and how to go about things because he's one of those that knows he doesn't know everything. we love you, we appreciate you and we want to give you this present. >> oh, thank you. thank you so much. frz frz [applause] . >> i also want to acknowledge commissioner amhon for all of her work on this revitalization. >> me, too? >> not yet. >> and commissioner kelleher. [applause] >> for providing institutional and historic knowledge. i am so honored to introduce

someone who, frankly, in this crowd needs no introduction, but yet, i feel compelled in the words of lin manuel miranda, love is love is love is love. this city is amazing because we have amazing leadership. our mayor, london breed, epitomizes so much that we aspire. she is not only beautiful, she is beautiful on the inside, and that radiates out. she is educated, she is radiant, she is eloquent. most importantly, she empathetic. she is also a loving

granddaughter, daughter, sister, friend, and she has provided love in her leadership, the leadership of valuing everyone. all residents of the city and county of san francisco are her constituents. i am so proud that, ten years ago, on the centennial of the women's right to vote in the state of california, as president of the league of women voters here, we acknowledged her as a rising star. well, her star is fully implanted in the universe, and we are fully blessed and fortunate to have her as our beloved leader. with no more adieu, mayor madam, london breed. [applause]

>> the hon. london breed: thank you, karen. i so appreciate your kind words, and it is so great to be here with members of the human rights commission to reconstitute a committee that is so vital to the protection of lgbtqi rights here in san francisco. in fact, this commission, constituted in the 1970s, has really shaped policies in this city around domestic partnerships, around same sex marriages, around all of the policies that have really put san francisco on the map as a leader for lgbtq rights in this country. and the fact is people look to us for what we're doing pushing forth similar policies. i'm so honored to be a mayor of

a city that prides itself on being inclusive, on putting forward ideas that people don't always feel comfortable with. like when i talk about guaranteed income because people need money in their pockets in order to take care of themselves and their families, and in san francisco, not only did we push this policy for guaranteed income for expectant mothers of african american and pacific islander descent, we are pushing for universal basic incomes. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: and it has a lot to do with the office led by clare farley and the office of transgender initiatives, the first office of transgender initiatives in

the country specifically. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: a lot of this work has so much to do with so many of you, continuing to come up with ideas that make the most sense based on our history. when i think about the compton cafeteria riots, and when i think about harvey milk and his breakthrough, becoming the first gay supervisor in this city and all of the milestones that people continue to talk about and point to when describing the history of this community, one of the things that was important to me and important to supervisor mandelman is how do we talk about this history, how do we remind the next generation of this history, how do we protect this history? and together, we worked together to make sure there was $12 million in the upcoming budget to have the first ever lgbtq museum in the city and county of san francisco. [applause]

>> the hon. london breed: martha, we've come a long way, haven't we? [applause] >> the hon. london breed: we've come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. there is still a need for change, and that's why this committee, which has such an incredible history in san francisco, that's why it's so important to reconstitute this committee. i want to thank sheryl davis and all the commissioners who thought about the need to do this, rather than working with the supervisors and making all of the decisions and the directors and making all of these decisions. they said this advisory committee will be representative of the arts, it will be representative of the challenges around mental health. it will provide input to us so that all of the investments that the city is making are

going to the right places, and more importantly, all of the local policies that we need to create are coming from the people who understand the impact the most. so today is a day to celebrate. yes, it's a swearing in, but you know what? it's the first time we've had anything on the mayor's balcony since -- since covid! [applause] >> the hon. london breed: so that's why everybody showed up. they're like i don't know what it is, but we're here. so before we swear in our advisory committee, i want to introduce supervisor rafael mandelman. so i'm so grateful for his work, his advocacy. sometimes he's the loan supervisor, fighting for the things necessary to support this community, and i'm appreciative of his colleagues who just support him and go

along with the things that we know are important. so supervisor mandelman, we have work to do, but i know that you'll handle it, so come on up and say a few words. [applause] >> supervisor mandelman: i'll handle it. you know, one of the things that i love about pride and being able to have pride here on the mayor's balcony is the opportunity to have amazing, phenomenal, and diverse leadership, and i see the folks who are leading in city government, and i see the folks that are leading in nonprofits, queer and otherwise, and the folks holding up the nonprofits, demanding change. i love our community so much, and it's so wonderful to be here in person, and so happy pride, everyone. happy pride 2021. [applause]

>> supervisor mandelman: one of the problems with being mayor london breed in the summer of 2021 is everyone is falling all over themselves to say nice things about her, but they are deserved because she did get us through this pandemic. [applause] >> supervisor mandelman: with an assistance from our gay public health director, grant colfax. thank you, director colfax, but she has also been from the beginning and before she was mayor, but definitely, i have seen her since before she was mayor, being a friend to the gay community, and the people she has lifted up in her administration that you see here, some of whom are doing great work, to the investments in lgbtq housing, in the

museum, in universal basic income for trans folks, it's truly extraordinary, and each year around budget time, she comes up with amazing things to do for the gay community. so thank you, madam mayor. that's an applause line. [applause] >> supervisor mandelman: and just yesterday, we approved at the board of supervisors to collect soji data. in the 80s, you would not have asked. if you asked, there was something wrong. why did you ask if the person was queer? that is not information that the community wanted gathered in the 80s. today, we know it's information that we want gathered and that is the work around same sex marriage and seniors and youth

and looking around at the factors of discrimination in our community, and we have now gotten to the place where we have federal, state, and local protections, and where we need to know to better serve the most vulnerable folks in the queer community to get the folks in city government to have this data. that's j

>> ♪♪ ♪♪ we are definitely pioneers in airport concession world a world of nationally if not entirely or internationally >> everybody is cop us right now. >> the people that were in charge of the retail this is where that began. >> i didn't think we would have a location at the airport. >> we've set the bar higher with the customer commerce. >> telling me about the operator and how you go about finding them and they get from being in the city to being in the airport. >> so first, we actually find a table and once we know what we want a sit-down we go to the

neighborhoods in san francisco and other people seminary of the retail let us know about the rain water and are excited to have the local operators in the airport. >> we have to go going through the conceive selective process and they award a lease to the restaurant. >> they are planning on extending. >> we that you could out the china and the length evens and the travel serve and fourth your minds and it's all good. >> how long for a vendor to move through the process. >> i would say it could take 80 up to a year from the time we go out to bid until they actually open a restaurant. >> i don't know what we signed up for but the airport is happy to have us here.

and, you know, even taking out the track simple things there's a learning curve >> with once we're here they are helpful. >> it's an award-winning program. >> we're prude of your awards we have won 11 awards the latest for the best overall food address beverage program and . >> like the oscars (laughter). >> the professional world. >> tell me about the future food. >> all the sb national leases are xooirz and we're hoping to bring newer concepts out in san francisco and what your passengers want. >> well, i look forward to the future (laughter) air are we look fo [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪]

>> so i grew up in cambridge, massachusetts and i was very fortunate to meet my future wife, now my wife while we were both attending graduate school at m.i.t., studying urban planning. so this is her hometown. so, we fell in love and moved to her city. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] >> i was introduced to this part of town while working on a campaign for gavin, who is running for mayor. i was one of the organizers out here and i met the people and i fell in love with them in the neighborhood. so it also was a place in the city that at the time that i could afford to buy a home and i wanted to own my own home. this is where we laid down our roots like many people in this neighborhood and we started our family and this is where we are going to be. i mean we are the part of san

francisco. it's the two neighborhoods with the most children under the age of 18. everybody likes to talk about how san francisco is not family-friendly, there are not a lot of children and families. we have predominately single family homes. as i said, people move here to buy their first home, maybe with multiple family members or multiple families in the same home and they laid down their roots. [♪♪♪] >> it's different because again, we have little small storefronts. we don't have light industrial space or space where you can build high-rises or large office buildings. so the tech boom will never hit our neighborhood in that way when it comes to jobs.

>> turkey, cheddar, avocado, lettuce and mayo, and little bit of mustard. that's my usual. >> mike is the owner, born and bred in the neighborhood. he worked in the drugstore forever. he saved his money and opened up his own spot. we're always going to support home grown businesses and he spent generations living in this part of town, focusing on the family, and the vibe is great and people feel at home. it's like a little community gathering spot. >> this is the part of the city with a small town feel. a lot of mom and pop businesses, a lot of family run businesses. there is a conversation on whether starbucks would come in.

i think there are some people that would embrace that. i think there are others that would prefer that not to be. i think we moved beyond that conversation. i think where we are now, we really want to enhance and embrace and encourage the businesses and small businesses that we have here. in fact, it's more of a mom and pop style business. i think at the end of the day, what we're really trying to do is encourage and embrace the diversity and enhance that diversity of businesses we already have. we're the only supervisor in the city that has a permanent district office. a lot of folks use cafes or use offices or different places, but i want out and was able to raise money and open up a spot that we could pay for. i'm very fortunate to have that. >> hi, good to see you. just wanted to say hi, hi to the

owner, see how he's doing. everything okay? >> yeah. >> good. >> we spend the entire day in the district so we can talk to constituents and talk to small businesses. we put money in the budget so you guys could be out here. this is like a commercial corridor, so they focus on cleaning the streets and it made a significant impact as you can see. what an improvement it has made to have you guys out here. >> for sure. >> we have a significantly diverse neighborhood and population. so i think that's the richness of the mission and it always has been. it's what made me fall in love with this neighborhood and why i love it so much.

>> i love teaching. it is such an exhilarating experience when people began to feel their own creativity. >> this really is a place where all people can come and take a

class and fill part of the community. this is very enriching as an artist. a lot of folks take these classes and take their digital imagery and turn it into negatives. >> there are not many black and white darkrooms available anymore. that is a really big draw. >> this is a signature piece. this is the bill largest darkroom in the u.s.. >> there are a lot of people that want to get into that dark room. >> i think it is the heart of this place. you feel it when you come in. >> the people who just started taking pictures, so this is really an intersection for many generations of photographers and

this is a great place to learn because if you need people from different areas and also everyone who works here is working in photography. >> we get to build the community here. this is different. first of all, this is a great location. it is in a less-populated area. >> of lot of people come here just so that they can participate in this program. it is a great opportunity for

people who have a little bit of photographic experience. the people have a lot, they can really come together and share a love and a passion. >> we offer everything from traditional black and white darkrooms to learning how to process your first roll of film. we offer classes and workshops in digital camera, digital printing. we offer classes basically in the shooting, ton the town at night, treasure island. there is a way for the programs exploring everyone who would like to spend the day on this program. >> hello, my name is jennifer.

>> my name is simone. we are going on a field trip to take pictures up the hill. >> c'mon, c'mon, c'mon. >> actually, i have been here a lot. i have never looked closely enough to see everything. now, i get to take pictures. >> we want to try to get them to be more creative with it. we let them to be free with them but at the same time, we give them a little bit of direction. >> you can focus in here. >> that was cool. >> if you see that? >> behind the city, behind the

houses, behind those hills. the see any more hills? >> these kids are wonderful. they get to explore, they get to see different things. >> we let them explore a little bit. they get their best. if their parents ever ask, we can learn -- they can say that they learned about the depth of field or the rule of thirds or that the shadows can give a good contrast. some of the things they come up with are fantastic. that is what we're trying to encourage. these kids can bring up the creativity and also the love for photography. >> a lot of people come into my

classes and they don't feel like they really are creative and through the process of working and showing them and giving them some tips and ideas. >> this is kind of the best kept secret. you should come on and take a class. we have orientations on most saturdays. this is a really wonderful location and is the real jewel to the community. >> ready to develop your photography skills? the harvey milk photo center focuses on adult classes. and saturday workshops expose youth and adults to photography classes.

>> 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. [♪♪♪]

>> president walton: good afternoon and welcome june 29, 2021 san francisco board of supervisors. welcome back to the chamber everyone. [applause] [roll call]