>> commission meeting. let's go with the "pledge of allegiance".

>> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> thank you very much, start with the roll call, sergeant reynolds. >> i'm here. >> hi commissioner walker. >> here. >> commissioner benedicto. >> here. >> commissioner yanez. >> here. >> commissioner oberstone is on his way. and we have chief over la czar from the san francisco police department. >> thank you, let's go with item number 1.

>> at this time the public is now welcomed to address the commission for up to 2 minutes on items that do not appear on tonight's agenda but within the jurisdiction of the police commission. neither police or dpa personnel nor commissioners are required to respond to the public. alternatively you may submit public comment in either ways. our written comments may be sent via postal service to the postal building 35rd street san francisco california, if would you like to make public comment, please appropriate the podium. >> is this on? >> i'm here to concerning my

son as always. who was murdered august 14, 2006. i have not used for it--[indiscernible] okay. this is my son who was murdered august 14, 2006. today his case is not solved. i'm here to give the names of all the perpetrator who murdered my son. thomas, hannibal tomas, andrew vardu, jason thompson, acne hunter, marcus maurice carter one of them is deceased. you have all the names of the perpetrators who murdered my son. what do we do about solving these unsolved homicides. i just met, they took the

overhead away. i just met with a, with a victim in pack panel in boca tee for first responders and all of that and i'm trying to get on the board to help other mothers and fathers like myself. again, my son's case is not solved. i'm all scambled over the place today and i'm very emotional today because of a bad meeting. and it brings back memories but i need to get involved concerning unsolved homicides. how do we find another way to solve these cases? what are the ways there besides the 250,000 where no nobody is coming forward to handle our sons cases. we have the verdict, i have not heard from my ver yet.

maybe somebody can find out for me. i just don't have the energy to do it anymore. thank you, i'll be back. >> to anybody that has informed on the aubrey, you can call us. if there is any public comment, please approach the podium. xwhitioners that is the end of public comment. >> okay, let's go to item number 2, sergeant. >> line item 2, consent calendar receive and file action. review report and in custody debt report for quarter. >> i'll make a motion to receive and file the report. >> second. >> second. >> on the motion commissioner walker. >> yes. >> commissioner walker yes. >> commissioner benedicto? >> yes.

>> excuse me a second, if anybody would like to make a comment online item number 2. please approach the podium. seeing none, go back to the vote. commissioner walker. >> yes. >> benedicto. >> yes. >> commissioner yanez. >> yes >> commissioner byrne. >> yes. >> commissioner yee? >> yes. >> you have five yeses. >> thank you very much, let's go to item number 3, adoption of minutes. >> line item 3, adoption of minutes action for the fub of february 1, 18 and 23, 2023. i need a motion first. >> motion to adopt. >> second. >> members of the public that would like to make a public comment online item 3, please approach the podium. and there are no public comment. on the motion, commissioner walker, how do you vote? >> yes. >> commissioner walker yes. >> commissioner benedicto. >> yes. >> commissioner yanez.

>> yes. >> commissioner byrne. >> yes. >> commissioner yee. >> yes. >> commissioner yee is yes, you have five yeses. >> thank you very much. let's go to item number 4. >> chief discussion, public safety concerns provide an overview of events occurring in san francisco that have an impact on public safety. commissioner safety described will be limited to whether to counter for future meeting. >> good evening, commissioners. director henderson, members of the public, members of the public i'm assistant chief lieutenant bar, i'm filling in for chief scott. i'll start off with homicides, let you know that we have had 7 homicides during this reporting period, which is a 17% from 6 homicides from this time last year. thankfully we have a clearance rate of 100% from the homicide unit year to date.

and we're doing well there. we have to continue to work on that. we have had no homicides during this rating period during this review period within the last week. our sexual assaults are down, year to date, we had 26 year to date, it's a 43 percent decrease. our aggravated assaults are staying within the same, versus 352 3* and our gun violence is down by 4%. there is two shootings that i would like to bring to your attention this evening. the first was on 21 of february in mcclairen park where an unknown suspect approached the victim from behind, the suspect shot the victim and fled. that suspect was eventually taken into custody. we had a second shooting, at 3

.26 in the morning. the subject tried to take the property of the victim. there was no arrest in this case, i stand corrected there was no arrest yet in the mcklairn. the third incident there was a hate crime on the 400 block of china basin where on the 22nd of february an individual called another person a very derogatory name, several times before striking the victim well a cane, that person was placed under arrest by southern officer they did a great job there. the next event was our attempt to arrest fentanyl sellers, one of our officer engaged in a foot pursuit, he hurt his ankle and foot in the process. thankfully that suspect was taken into custody, there was an arrest there.

and the third and final incident, i want to share this evening, we've seen a up take in burglary in cannabis dispensary. in this case, on the 26th about 12:46 in the morning on the 500 block of brandon, they kidnapped one of the employees brought them over to oakland and brought them back and about 5 suspects accompanied the victim where a robbery took place. i know we encourage our captain to be connected with dispensary owners and have on going conversation about safety and i'm going to ensure that we continue the conversations. it's very important to continue the relationship. thankfully, overall, overall crime is staying steady property crime being down, unfortunately violent crime is up by 4%. in terms of property crime, i

just want to mention that burglary we're seeing a decline, we're seeing a decline in 2022 versus 2021, we're continue to go see a decline in burglar, 800 burglary year to date. our auto debt is 19% increase. we're starting to see more auto thefts and theft in general is 16% down, even though we have been working with retail establishment and others to make more efficient our reporting of organized retail. we still see that number down. all right, the other thing i would like to see with you, we continue to see stunt driver take place at night. we have a stunt driving unit but we saw one on 24th and mission on the 24th and 5th and we saw that in the 5th in embarcadero. in ternlz of enforcement, we're still continuing our operations

and disruptions very klaesed in the last week or two about the work we're doing there. and then cap street, we're dealing with prostitution working closely with supervisor ronen's office to deal with the community what is out there. this evening depending on what time the commission ends, i'll be on a cop and residents coffee night, to talk about some of our strategies, that is taking place today. we have the polar plunge event where the chief and i and some command staff members will be jumping in san francisco bay. very excited to do that, you're more than welcome to join us. we do that to raise money for special olympics. yes, director henderson, hopefully we'll be jumping together. we enjoy doing that and we

enjoy raising money and other agency sxz special olympics. and would i like to conclude with one item i saved the best for last, to talk about the work that the staff is doing. the chief and is have the opportunity to read captain complimentary reports, this is where the lieutenants and captains write-up on reports on great police work that is performed in the field. and our zap tins are very really good about recognizing our members. the one that i would like to share is only the 249ing of january around midnight, there was a shot spoter activation, we have the technology where we hear gunshot detection and it happened just up the street on the 1500 block of goenld gate. so officers from the northern station responded to this location and they found shell casing and a suspect who had

was armed and hiding behind a vehicle. what the officer decide today use do* is use their vehicles as a blockade. they decided to create time and distance, they start today work on decalation, negotiations, they had all the safety equipment that they needed and eventually they talked to people into the custody. and this sentence, had the responder deescalation and planning this would have resulted in a officer involved shooting as as a result of rushing to arrest. this exemplifies the work that happens here and by the leadership of our chief, assistant chief, acting assistant chief flaherty are all doing these things to change the work and i thought i

would end with that, thank you. >> thank you for that report. could you just clarify what the outcome was of the two stunt incidents that you discussed? >> yes, so for the two stunt driving events, the first one in 24th and mission was disbursed, we had the helicopter assist us, we're fortunate to have the helicopter. and what happens is we find that it starts up again, they made their way to the 46th00 block of mission. and then a few violators were attached to the event, were stopped but the rest of the group went to richmond california. we have a unit that does a lot of follow-up after the fact. so that's the first one. the second one was between 1:30 and 2:30.

officers responded, they disbursed the group and we prevented them from setting up in san francisco again. >> great, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> vice president, do you want to take it away as chair. >> i will likely take over. i don't see anybody else in the queue. with that, sergeant can you take us to public comment, please. >> members of the public that would like to make public comment, please approach the podium. >> speaker: good evening, again. i was just linsing to chief la czar that saying doing a fundraiser for the special olympics. and i was wondering about fundraiser for unsolved homicides to solve unsolved homicides for families like myself.

this boy did not deserve to die. he died saving somebody else's life. somebody shot my child. i don't care how many years it's been, it still hurts. thed body keeps the score, have you read that book? the body keeps the score. i keep the score. people think i should be over this but i'm not. i was a no nonsense mom p he had a mother and a father

living in a good neighborhood, i raised well and somebody took him from me. and i refuse to let the system and people forget about my child. his name was aubrey habercasa. that's what i named him. i was at the schools. even though i went from hurting, to healing to helping, i'm helping other mothers but, the helper needs help. i still grief for my son. he was full of life! full of life! and they took him from me. >> that is the end of public comment. >> i just wanted to respond quickly so ms. brown. as always, we appreciate you so

much coming to our meetings and/or speaking so passionately not just about your own son but all the families. who have been affected by unsolved murders. we, you know as we know we did agendize the issue a few weeks ago. and i'll just speaking for myself, i think the next step will be when the commission has policy staff person on board which should be very soon. i think tasking that person with the role of looking at other jurisdictions approaches to rewards. as we heard at the presentation the last time, there are a lot of ways to do this. and seeing if there is best practices elsewhere that we can adopt here so that people are more likely to seek out reward. i just want to let you know that we have not forgotten about this issue and something that is very much on our minds and hoping that we can continue

to make progress. thank you. >> next item please. >> report on bp as and actions. whether to calendar any of the future he's raised director henderson. >> it was not turned on. my microphone was not turned on. we currently have 235 cases pending. and of those cases 26 cases who's investigation have gone beyond the 9-month investigation period. again there is still time on

the 3304 deadline which is a year, of those cases 17 of those cases are blocked. this in terms of the enumerated cases through the week can be found on the website but i will not go through all of them. i will report that there is still nine cases that are pending with the commission and there are still 88 case that's are pending with the departments with the chief's office. and just to clarify those 88 cases are counted based on the excel from the department that are still awaiting a chief's hearing, one of the concerns that we have, is and start to go toll the cases and we will continue making them more clear moving forward, 28 of those cases are more than two years old that are waiting a resolution. in terms of the cases that have come in this week into the department, 17% of them have been of the allegations from

the public having for allegations involving an officer failing to take required action and 12% of them involved allegations regarding an officer behaving or speaking inappropriately to the public. again the full break down of the full 100% can be found on the website. in terms of the types of cases, there are also listed on the website. we try to track as much as that stuff as possible and to make it as transparent as we can. in terms of precinct and i just report the top 2 allegations, the top 2 came from tenderloin which had 6 allegations and mission district which had 5 allegations. the allegations in the tenderloin involved

predominantly failure to take action and inappropriate comment wz the public. and in the mission, the allegations involved arresting somebody without cause and properly issuing a citation and failure to respond to a domestic violence call. again these are allegations, the full break down of the allegations can be found on our website regarding all of the allegations that have come in this week. in terms of out reach, last week, dpa hosted the ccoa, that's california coalition and oversight agencies, the organization founded at dpa. we had a two-day state conference to discuss best practices on police reform throughout the state. the first day, we had a keynote address, a cle training provided by dpa staff and jermaine johnson, jermaine jones.

i caught it though. on the second day, we provide the training so a big thank you for that. this is the first time that an oversight agency has participated in the training. i think it goes a long way and changed a lot of perspective for the folks to see and understand better the day-to-day operations of officers making decision sxz then evaluating use of force circumstances. really went a long way and again this is the first time that something like this has been provided. i wanted to acknowledge sfpd and the role that they played. i think it's going fob helpful moving forward.

those speakers included our own president elias chief scott and representative who was represented by damon brown and myself. it was a great conference and i was glad that so many folks came to be part of it and learn and see what we're doing in san francisco and share their ideas to develop best practices. moving forward, dpa will be presenting this week at the haze valley neighborhood association. that's on monday at 6:00. this is also open to the public in case people wanted to hear that presentation via zoom and its roll and how to contact dpa. it's basically our dpa101 for more information you can visit

haze valley sf.org. chief organize, dia na rosenstein participated in the panel discussion for the national council of jewish women about the national approaching police reform. that panel was done with civil rights attorney john and retired san mateo chief of police, susan that was on february 27 of this year. in terms of the audit, dr psd, is prepared to send the draft on monitoring of communication that will be the final step, the input for that review before it gets published with through the commission. we can expect that shortly. and there are no outstanding information request related to the audit division.

again, i'll continue to report on that as we move forward. from our legal team, we're seeing a disturbing uptick and department denial for two reasons. these are questions that have been provided routinely and two the focus is on the officer involved shooting cases. so i will continue track thating and reporting out on that as we move forward. i'm hoping that the on going conversation that i'm having directly with the chief are going to address that but i'm raising the issue as a concern in something that we're noticing in-house. we have no cases in closed session this evening. also present in the audience in case there are issues that need to be addressed is senior investigator brey and chief of staff sarah hawkins and i will reserve my comments to issue the rest of the issues as they come up in the agenda so as to

address them in order. that concludes my presentation. >> commissioner benedicto. >> thank you, mr. oberstone. >> i don't know if it's right yet for the commission for public conversation about the actual cases but like i said, my concerns were raised immediately because these were the type of requests that were presented to us.

i hope that this is they're solved. >> these conversations have been going on with the chief directly, i just don't know that know, specifically. >> okay. that makes sense. okay, keep us posted on that. >> oh don't you worry about t you'll hear about it. i'll have specific details. >> all right, thank you director henderson. seeing no one else in the queue, sergeant can you take us to public comment. >> members of the public that would like to make public comment regarding line item 5, please approach the podium. and there is no public comment. >> okay, next please. >> line 6 commission report will be limited to brief description and announcements.

will be limiting whether any of the issues raised will be raised for commissioner meeting and schedule of items identified for consideration in the future commission meeting. >> commissioner benedicto. >> thank you, vice president oberstone. just a couple of quick things for my report. and the privilege of attending the black history brunch that was put on, it's safe to celebrate as many black leaders as we have in our community. we have to, i got to sit and i got to see commissioner yee and it was, it was the first time that has been held in the community and a great, a great community event there. last week commissioner walker and i attended the internal

affairs dpa training for officers that was put on by dpa and internal affairs. and that was, i was really glad we got to go to that. it was really helpful to see the questions officers asked on the process to dispel some of the misconceptions that may exist about the disciplinary process. i thank ia and dpa for putting on those training. commissioner yanez and i had another productive on 7.01 which covers the sfpd procedures around juvenile. and we did a lot of progress. we're hoping that the working work process will wrap up in the spring and will go into the next stage of developing process and will be before the commission as soon as possible and making progress there.

i also did meetings with on develop order 10.11 which is an update to our body the sfpd body policy and working groups are also starting in the spring. and that concludes my report. >> commissioner yanez. >> thank you, vice president oberstone, ac lasar and the community in general. my report has commissioner benedicto says, we've been having a lot, making a lot of progress with the juvenile dgl division and in request and coordination with chief scott, i've also had some additional conversations with partners that offer convergences, the the sent ne la organization in los angeles which does a

restorage prebooking program. and that wuz a very very inform tiff and helpful conversation as we are embark in a process to develop additional capacity and diversion efforts, right. and the beauty about the program that they're offering in los angeles is that it's a prebooking diversion effort that is actually run by the police department in conjunction with some community partners. so welt be having a commission request meet ing, who reached out and we are scheduling the meeting for april 12 to talk about best practices and juvenile diversion in general and how the probation department can better coordinate efforts to ensure that we're on the same page. in addition to that, i did

receive some information from the city's important's office, thank you very much alicia for providing us a summary of use of force settlement that the city has made in the last few years. and i do want to agendize this for a future conversation. i did request that that information be shared with the rest of the commissioners so we can discuss how the city, and dpa, and dpa of course, how it is that we can communicate to our partners and to our community the impacts that some of the settlements have on policing in general and what it is that we can do to have a formula to improve the to improve in general i think in our department and not having to put ourselves in that

position to enter into settlements with people who make certain allegations. thank you very much. >> commissioner yee. >> thank you very much, vice president carter oberstone. i just want to follow-up on what commissioner benedicto said. it was great to join the sunday brunch and our chief william scott. pretty much, officers in uniform and district attorney in their suits and ties and the community members out there, really blissful sunday brunch. i really enjoyed including the custard tart that was down there and a lot of good food and people. it's a first in the city here.

i hope to see many more that follow. it does not have to be in black history month, it could be every day of the year. thank you very much, that's all i have to say. thank you. >> thank you, commissioner walker? >> thank you, vice president carter-oberstone. we had a, we had a zoom meeting the other day about 6. 1-d g.o. 6.1 missing persons and that's in the update process. it's been a while since that's been updated. it's one of those on the long time list of at looking at reforming them, i also met with dpa the other day and

professional technology that is working standardize and auto mate maintaining camera data also it's an interesting process of auto mating all the cameras but also streamlining getting it downloaded and tags. so we're going to be setting up a meeting with whoever in the staff that we need to talk about technology, there is an interest in moving this forward with somebody who has a patent on the effort and can get grants and we can really do something that is meaningful on the reform of managing data in a better way, especially around cameras. there is so much tension around cameras that it's important to get it right, to get it very affective and efficient and transparent. so i'm really excited about

that. it's going to be a good thing. on going meetings with, with folks in the the community around mental health and responses both with homeless as well as housed folks. you know, there is so much conversation and how our departments are working together. and there is so much need to work better together and collaborate on these things. and on going meetings with scheduled with the department as well as the folks still involved in the patrol specials to get an assessment, the city attorney is going to be meeting with me on those meetings with the both the community as well as the staff to sort of figure out where we are so that we're able to have an agenda item to discuss and figure out if there is a good way to fill out possible gaps.

i appreciate the efforts and communication going on about that. so that's my report, thank you. >> thank you, sergeant can you take us to the public comment please. >> those with public comment, please approach the podium. and there is no public comment. >> great, line item 7 please. >> sfpd demonstration of the 30-day public portal, discussion. >> commissioners we have captain dennis strategic management who is here to support our team from technology, technology division that will provide the overview. so thank you.

>> good evening, president elias vice president carter-oberstone, commissioners and of course members of the public. i'm a civilian member of sfpd within the technology division. tonight i'll demonstrate the new process for collecting and responding public comment regarding new department orders, d g.o.s. the process consist of three main parts. one a public facing web pages that allow anyone to read draft

dgos and submit comment within the 30-day public comment. two an internal system where police accountability will read all public comment sxz compose a joint response to each. and 3, the subsequent public release of all comments and their associated to joint responses. skem. excuse me. the first part of the system begins here within sfpd public facing website. this page will contain a list of draft dgos that are available for public comment. click on them and will bring up the documents full text. for example. clicking on this link brings up

the public comment form page. the explanations and the description and form in which anyone may submit their comments. the dgo is available for public comment are listed in the drop down here. users have the option of specifying which section of the d g.o. they're commenting on. the comment right side typed in here. their name organization and email address can be submitted here although it's not necessary. and then upon completing the capture and pressing submit.

they will receive a success page that restates their commission and give them a unique comment id. part two of the system where the police accountability read each public comment and respond to each and state whether the out outcome of the comment will be included in the dgo and in the new draft dgo or will not be included. the third and final part of the system take place after each dgo comment period has ended and all comment period will be processed.

the comment and their response will be publicly posted and anyone who submitted the comment can look it up using their unique comment id. that is the system. many thanks to the commission, dpa and my demand staff and the public for allowing me to introduce this new comment system. i'll be able to answer any questions, for anyone involving dgo3.0. thank you very much. >> great thank you very much, for bringing us this presentation. this brings back memory where our staff uploaded every comment and letter that we got to our website or email. so i'm not the only one that is excite beside this streamline process and thank you for taking the time to present it. >> thank you.

>> commissioner benedicto. >> quick question, at what point, i know the comments are put to the system and internally, does internally mean commissioners see them. at what stage are the commissioners able to see the comments? >> good evening, right now, the comments will not be available to anyone except for internal until the 30 days are up. that's our process as we know it now. and as we're anticipating and after the 30 days, then you'll see it as well. >> okay, so under the current system the commissioners will have access until sfpd, until after the 30 days are up, is that correct? >> that's correct. >> do you want to?

>> according to 3.0, we have a joint with the dpa and police department and submit that back to the public. there is no provision for the commission to see it prior to that. >> okay. that's very helpful, thank you. >> okay. >> great, i don't see any other questions, thanks for the presentation. sergeant can we go to public comment, please. >> for members of the public that would like to make public comment online item 7, please approach the podium. okay and there is no public comment. >> all right, item number 8, please. >> public comment on all matters pertaining to lines below closed session, including item 9 vote whether or not to hold 9 in closed session. if would you like to make a

comment, please approach the podium. all right, and there is no public comment. so line item 9, vote to hold item 10 in closed session. >> move to go into closed session. >> second. le >> on the motion, commissioner walker, how do you vote. >> yes. >> commissioner benedicto. >> yes. >> commissioner yanez. >> yes. >> commissioner byrne. >> yes. >> commissioner yee. >> yes. >> vice president carter-oberstone. >> yes. >> you have six yeses and we will go into closed session.

[police commission in closed session]

>> we're back in open session. >> can we recall item number 3. >> adoption of minutes for. february -- ~>> commissioner benedicto. >> my fellow commissioners, i noticed a small, oversight in our february 15th minutes that require a minor revision, february 15 minutes on 12-a, this commission voted unanimously to disclose some factual information regarding

the upcoming negotiations between sfpd and affective bargaining units that was not subject to attorney-client privilege. on my part i neglected that we included some of the details in particular the upcoming dates. and so i would like to make a motion to a assume the approval of february 15 minutes and we'll bring that back up but keep approval of february 1 and 8th minutes. >> is there a second? >> i'll second the motion. >> on the motion to resinned commissioner walker, how do you vote? n.yes. >> commissioner benedicto. >> yes. >> commissioner yanez. >> yes. >> commissioner byrne.

>> yes. >> commissioner byrne is yes, commissioner yee. >> yes. >> and vice president carter-oberstone? >> yes. >> you have six yeses. >> can you, do we have have to go to public comment again? can you take us to public comment. >> members of the public if would you like to make public comment on recalling line item 3, please approach the podium and no public comment. one more time for the vote, commissioner walker. >> yes. >> commissioner yanez. >> yes. >> commissioner byrne >> yes. >> commissioner yee. >> yells. >> cartero fehr stone. >> yes. >> six yeses.

>> item number 1, discussion vote on session san francisco administration code section 67.12 action. >> motion to not disclose and sert the attorney-client privilege. >> second. >> members of the podium, if you would like to make a public comment, please approach the podium. and there is in public comment. commissioner walker how do you vote. >> yes. >> commissioner benedicto. >> yes. >> commissioner yanez. >> yes. >> commissioner byrne. >> yes. >> commissioner yee. >> yes. >> vice president carter-oberstone. >> you have six yeses. >> line number 12, adjournment.

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>> my family's starts in mexico in a small town. my parents are from a very, very small town. so small, that my dad's brother is married to one of my mom's sisters. it's that small. a lot of folks from that town are here in the city.

like most immigrant families, my parents wanted a better life for us. my dad came out here first. i think i was almost two-years-old when he sent for us. my mom and myself came out here. we moved to san francisco early on. in the mission district and moved out to daily city and bounced back to san francisco. we lived across the street from the ups building. for me, when my earliest memories were the big brown trucks driving up and down the street keeping us awake at night. when i was seven-years-old and i'm in charge of making sure we get on the bus on time to get to school. i have to make sure that we do our homework. it's a lot of responsibility for a kid. the weekends were always for family. we used to get together and whether we used to go watch a movie at the new mission theater and then afterwards going to kentucky fried chicken. that was big for us. we get kentucky fried chicken on sunday.

whoa! go crazy! so for me, home is having something where you are all together. whether it's just together for dinner or whether it's together for breakfast or sharing a special moment at the holidays. whether it's thanksgiving or christmas or birthdays. that is home. being so close to berkley and oakland and san francisco, there's a line. here you don't see a line. even though you see someone that's different from you, they're equal. you've always seen that. a rainbow of colors, a ryan bow of personalities. when you think about it you are supposed to be protecting the kids. they have dreams. they have aspirations. they have goals. and you are take that away from them. right now, the price is a hard fight. they're determined.

i mean, these kids, you have to applaud them. their heart is in the right place. there's hope. i mean, out here with the things changing everyday, you just hope the next administration makes a change that makes things right. right now there's a lot of changes on a lot of different levels. the only thing you hope for is for the future of these young kids and young folks that are getting into politics to make the right move and for the folks who can't speak. >> dy mind motion. >> even though we have a lot of fighters, there's a lot of voice less folks and their voiceless because they're scared.

good afternoon. happy lunar new year. going here, fat choy. senior in kuala and a happy black history month. yes. i'm michel lambert. i'm your city librarian. and thanks to mayor london breed. i am the first asian american to be appointed to serve in this role. i am so delighted to welcome you here to the correct auditorium. every

year we begin our celebration of black history month at the san francisco public library in january with our more than a month programming. and we continue our unapologetic celebration of black history and culture year round through the activities of the african american center here at the main and this year we're also celebrating the lunar new year and the year of the rabbit. having a joint celebration of these two special occasions is really long overdue. the library is so excited to host this special program and partnership with the san francisco human rights commission and so many amazing community organizations. but before we get started, i want to give a shout out in particular to two phenomenal women. the first is claudine ching, executive director of the san francisco apa heritage foundation. and dr cheryl davis

, the director of the human rights commission, and recently published children's book author. yeah. dr davis and claudine have been instrumental in bringing our african american community and our asian american communities to stand together. and recognition of the shared struggle against the multiple forms of discrimination and racism that combine overlap and intersect to affect our communities. and i also want to offer special thanks to our amazing partners, the booker t. washington center. both sides of the conversation. university of san francisco leo mccarthy center. the chinese historical society of america. and the friends and foundation of the san francisco public library. i also want to acknowledge our

wonderful library commissioners who are in attendance. president connie wolf, president of the san francisco public library commission. also susan mall. past vice president of the commission and doctor at iranian lopez. she's expected to be here as well. thank you all so much for your service. you know, every day we are so fortunate to live and work in a beautiful city that celebrates the cultures and heritage of our diverse community. it was just two weeks ago that we were kicking off the lunar new year celebration at city hall, which was followed in quick succession the very same week with a kick off celebration of black history month. these cultural celebrations are made possible because of the leadership of our mayor, london breed who is always seem to it to unite and uplift our community. and now it is my honor and privilege to welcome our mayor. london breed.

thank you so much, michael, and it's great to see all of you here today. i really want to start by acknowledging as michael said, this is one of the first official cities event. bringing together are asian and black communities in san francisco, and i can't be more proud to be here as we celebrate. the heart beats and the drumbeats and the excitement around music and history and our culture. and i think what brings us together so much is really a respect and appreciation for the arts. and i want to just take this opportunity to really acknowledge and appreciate claudine cheng for continuously. ah doing a number of events in our city to really spark hard conversations, but also respect and appreciation and love for one another. and cheryl davis,

thank you for all your work and your advocacy with the human rights commission. um also, we know al williams is here from the historical society, and it's also great to see our share of paul miyamoto. so many of our commissioner, so many of our leaders bringing together our voices to really appreciate this moment. when i was growing up in the city. i always have a story clearly. but when i was growing up, i remember having these great assemblies. i went to galileo high school, and we would have these wonderful assemblies where not only the students would perform and be a part of the program. but also we would bring in a number of outside individuals who would help to educate us about why something was significant or why. something was important to a culture and we grew up in san francisco, learning that learning the significance of one

another's culture, having friends of different races and really, you know, sometimes joking about but also appreciating the differences that exist. it's what it's what makes san francisco so special. we always hear people talk about our diversity being our strength . and our diversity truly is our strength. you know how we learn from one another how we grow together, how we're able to appreciate one another's performances or fashion or whatever it is because i'll tell you you always see me especially during lunar new year wearing some amazing and you know, mostly chinese inspired outfit. it's because the clothing is so beautiful, so bright and so festive and it just puts a smile on my face. and so that's why i show up and i love to, uh, explore the various outfits. that's my thing, but also just really see the performances in

the excitement. i don't know about you, but when i see the dragons perform. i know they're not real, but for some reason, i always get a kick out of how they give me a little nod here and a nod there almost like it's a pet. ah ah, and with drumming with the african american community and how beat and rhythm and drums play an important role, not just in our enjoyment for music, but at a time during slavery. it was how we communicated, so i love what this is going to do. it's going to help us to not only learn about one another, but to really come together like never before. so i'm glad to see each and every one of you here for this wonderful joint celebration. uh i think we need to make it even bigger and do even more because this is the performance and this is the conversations and the toxic you'll hear, but i know that without a doubt, both of our communities know how to have a good time and party. so at the

end of the day, we still want to break bread together and celebrate food brings us together. music history, culture , all of that, and a bag of chips. so tonight i hope you enjoy the experience is brought to you with the help of the san francisco library and the human rights commission. thank you to these great directors for working together to have this inspiring event. and thank you to the community. i want to end by, you know, just acknowledging this year. the theme of black history month is black resistance, resistance against oppression and a number of other challenges that continue to persist, and i am hopeful through that resistance that what the year of the rabbit represents mercy and kindness will prevail. mercy and kindness for one another mercy and kindness for our neighbor and for the people that we engage with in the world, because i gotta tell you, we could use a little bit more kindness in the

world today, more than ever. and so less began the event with that, uh, with that send off that this is what we want to see the world become, and this event hopefully will inspire you to go on and change the world from here with this great experience . so thank you all so much for being here. happy lunar new year happy black history month and everything in between. thank you. thank you so much. mayor breed. we appreciate your leader , leadership and commitment to celebrating the diversity of our community. and that's really what this evening is all about. showcasing both the asian american and the african american communities, cultures. drumbeats heartbeats communities as. one in both the chinese and african cultures. drumming is an integral part of community celebrations. to get a started.

please welcome the deny a dance and drum company for a performance of african drumming and dance, followed by the traditional chinese drumming and lion dance performed by lion dance me, alright. yeah.

yeah.

literally fighting. yeah.

yeah.

yeah. hmm.

awesome. wow. that was amazing. if you all want to stick around for a second, we have our professional photographers here. so we'd like to get both. sets of drummers and dancers up on the stage together. yeah, let's give them another round of applause. ah! cut. yeah. awesome. thank you so much. it's truly amazing to see these two incredible groups of drummers and dances performing one following the other. this truly reflects the

spirit of this joint celebration . and before we move on to the next amazing performance, this is a good time to learn something about these two annual cultural celebrations, and the asian, american and african american communities to tell us more about black history month. we're delighted to have with us al williams. president of the san francisco african american historical and cultural society and chairman of its board of directors and following mr williams you'll hear from justin hoover, the executive director of the chinese historical society of america, who will share with us the tradition of the lunar new year celebration. please welcome al williams and justin hoover. thank you very much for having me here today. i don't know how you follow that perform those performances with the drums now go way down to talk about something about the

history of black history month. um feel that settle down for a moment here. give me energy down. i thought what i was asked to share a little bit about the history of black black history month and its meaning, and to do that, i did a little reading and research to go back to try to pull some themes together that might bring it home in a couple of minutes that we do have like to read a couple of notes something from blogger from the mechanics institute, who wrote something about the history of the black history month and then dr lonnie bunch who is the founding director of the african american museum, the national african american museum. ah the blogger from the mechanics institute road back in 2012 black history month mechanics institute blog notes that the wilder mechanics institute is

the oldest known library that still exist in these parts. gold rush era san francisco actually had several libraries that predate the mechanics institute. the mercantile association. the first established library was founded in 18 53. the mechanics institute with whom the mercantile merged in 19. oh, six, was founded in 18 54. but this gentleman read had recently discovered that another library predated its doors opened its doors just before they did. the san francisco anthony um and literary society. very well have been the first circulating library in the west. it catered to a small but growing black population of san francisco. it was a meeting place for african american men and women. from all echelons of the san francisco society. the anthony um, library , reading room and saloon and

had a saloon in it. no not listed in the san francisco city directory where housed in a two story building at washington and stockton's he goes on to say that it's notable. it's notable library consisted of some 800 volumes and periodical from around the world and within its first year, it boasted 70 members and receipts of $2000 a remarkable achievement considering an african american community of san francisco. we're listening 400 people. in 18 50. while the anthonys existed was relatively short lived, its spirit went on to form the san francisco african american historical and cultural society. so we're the lineal descendants of that institution that was created back in the 18 fifties. no one is, uh dr bunch, then goes understated. no one has played a greater role in helping african at all. american all americans know the black

past than carter g. woodson. carnegie which in believed his role was to use black history and culture as a weapon to struggle for racial uplift of all people. in 1916, which and created the association for the study of african american life and history. in 1926. he created black history week, which became black history month 50 years later. the san francisco african american historical and cultural society was founded in 1955 and merged with the local chapter of the of the association for the study of african american life and history in 1958. uh since then, the society is was because of its affiliation with the carnegie, which in group, the official sponsor of black history month in san francisco and has and is presently located at the african american art culture complex on fulton street. dr bunch suggests that

despite the profound change in race relationship that has occurred in our lives, carter g. woodson vision for black history as a means of transformation and change still is quite relevant and useful. he goes on to say that the african american history month was a bit of tweet with a bit of tweaking is still a beacon for change and hope that is still surely needed in the world. the change of slavery of gone we are not all free yet. the glue of america. african american past reminds us not just how far we have come. but how far we have to go. the african american historical and cultural society is committed to moving, change forward and working with all groups in the community, and i noticed some of my friends who haven't seen in quite a while. and he and i go way back to a variety of state commissions and bodies. we've worked on florida and i have been close allies over a period of time and i even date myself

back to the san francisco rainbow coalition. with jesse jackson's campaign for president when we brought all communities together and representing all communities and work closely together to achieve our common goals of freedom, justice and equality for some delighted to be here today, thank you for the opportunity to share a little bit about the historical society and look forward to somewhat germane to live in the crowd up again. thank you very much. alright can i get my drum set out here, please? now i'd like to show off my skills. okay i did use to practice lying dance, but you don't want to see me do that right now. um so my name is

justin hoover. i'm a chinese american. i'm a son of a chinese immigrant from taiwan and american father and i'm very honored to be here. thank you, michael. thank you. mayor breed . thank you. everybody put this together. claudine all of the folks from the human rights commission. uh, and everybody, really, who made this possible? it's such an honor to be part of the chinese historical society of america. we go by the not the name of chinatown's museum. we are a learning center. we are in archive and we are a museum who's been here to see the chs a as you like. yes that's good. i want to see everybody's hand's up eventually. so you're invited for free to come. just say my name and say he invited me personally. i am not kidding. i am serious. my goal is to bring everybody to this museum. alright we are located on clay street between sacramento and powell in chinatown. we have a currently we have an exhibition on bruce lee. um and it's about

the way that bruce lee represents a bridge between cultures. he touched so many people, not just in the chinese community. in fact, largely, he was rejected. by the chinese community for being non traditionalist, but it was the african american community that really embraced him. furthermore i was asked to speak today about the lunar new year celebration of what that means personally, it's a time of receiving your hong bao right that you get the money, the red envelope and then your mom takes it from you never see it, and that's the tradition. and then they say, it goes your college fund and you don't know so my kids get the homebound and i go and buy donuts and coffee in the morning with this, so no, i'm just kidding. but the home buyer was always fun, and they're always the traditions. sweep the house before new year's clean it out. don't do it during the festival, or you might miss the auspicious luck that comes in right got eaten angle certain type of food got a certain type of meal. it was a time to celebrate, traditionally. it's the idea of removing the bad. removing

letting the old go away and welcoming the new and the good worshiping your ancestors exercising the evil spirits. and celebrating for auspicious life in the coming year. and you have to look at one of the biggest. what's the biggest thing that you guys know for the chinese new year or lunar new year? what do you guys think? what do you think about that? the parade right? the parade. what the dragon. exactly now, when was the first dragon that you that you know of? i had a slide of the first dragon can pull that slide up. no okay. anybody know the first dragon like what was there we go. alright, there we go. look at that old dragon. i love this dragon. the dragons have been around here for a long time as long as china's immigrants have been here, so we heard from al there at 480 in 18, 50 african americans. is that right? so i don't know the 18 50 date, but in 1960 we had 59,000 chinese in san francisco county. all labor, mostly men, 27 to 1% men to women at the time. now they're here for labor

as a force for mining for everything else in the sixties obviously became railroads, but , um, a lot of this also came with the traditional celebrations of the dragon and the lion dance, right. but within that is martial arts is movement. art is musical art is weapon arts, you know, but what's also in that is an opportunity to say to the white community. hey, this is a chance to take your money. yeah and i'm not making that up that was written in the goals of the chinese american community. the 19 oh nine portola parade when they thought rich rebuild chinatown, but we need money and we need an opportunity for chinese americans and white americans to come together through business development and community building community growth. looked in. ely hired white architects to come up with the chinatown plan that we know today all of the kind of what some people call stereotyping, representations of architecture

. other people call them attractive decorations. you know, you'll say what you will. we could debate this. that's fun, but the idea is, it's a time to celebrate bridging a building bridges. and that's what i see as the lunar new year today, you know, it's a continuation of that effort, which began to say, you know, we got to rebuild chinatown. we need your help. please supported by sponsoring the dragon by doing whatever and that intention of collaboration for mutual benefit continues today and ch essay. you know, we're celebrating black history month . we've got a whole show right now about bruce lee. as i mentioned, um guest curator is african american curates melanie and melora green did a whole sub section of it looking at african american hip hop inspired by bruce lee. and so we're taking that one step further this sunday, we're exhibiting the film. the black kung fu experience at the great star theater. it's going to be up at two o'clock p. m. so please come to it. and it shows the story of african americans who took on the mantle of kung fu and chinese culture from chinese masters directly and how the

next wave of martial arts in america is a diverse wave like we've never seen and that's bridge building. in the style and spirit of bruce lee in the style of the dragon and the style of the lunar new year parade. so you know i'm here. my name is justin. i would love to have you all be our guests at the chs at the china town museum. and, um, that's my final word. so thank you. and again, thank you to everybody else who made this opportunity. thanks, frank. i love you. always good. my good side. uh thank you for this opportunity to share my passion for arts and culture and history. and i hope to see you guys at the chs a thank you so much. alright before i think al and justin, i just want to say anybody who is not seated. there are still a few seats. if you want to fill those in we also have an overflow room and our latin x community room just

outside. so we are streaming this same program in that room. if you wanted to make yourself comfortable in there, we just want everybody to be comfortable. so yes, thank you, alan justin again. let's give them a round of applause. really appreciated you sharing the context and meaning of the cultural celebrations and al in particular, as a librarian. i really loved hearing about the athenaeum that really predates the san francisco public library by about 25 years because we first opened our doors in 18 79 . so i learned something new today. thank you. alright for the next performance this evening. we have kyle xin, a chinese korean american rapper, singer and instrumentalist whose performance was molded by a mixture of historical forces and present day struggles and communities of color, please welcome kyle shin.

has everybody doing. alright, let's get right into this song is called miss love. tom a rapper, but i also enjoy singing this in r and b song about saying sorry to your ex a little bit. i'm tired of running races unlaced my track spikes. vinyl proves i never outgrew that past life. they told me shoot your shot. just let that pistol pop didn't know truly hunted arrest criminals guilty as charged and love is just a chemical there wasn't involved find myself frozen october 20th with women's emotions to give them a flood. we do when speaking about things, but we got to speak up. it comes from. to what she doing

. just wanted you. shoes. you gonna know it when you feel it that it's really grudges on forgiving? no still love us to god love you. what's up? really even if you're forgiven. i still got love for you. do you all right? so i'm i'm happy you're in korea. we do this little like heart like this. if anyone wants to throw it up with me this way back and forth, yeah. wow. so beautiful. thank you. thank you. keep it going. yeah. one day you'll be casting crumbles and we don't print so must be

humbled you young queen, but the world be twisted the land that we live in a misogynistic quick fish, but the point of business to look up in the mirror, but, um it was hidden father was hard with this bill presentment is to be ego. there'd be less pretending but no crook crops to be first amendment. i feel it in my heart doesn't happy ending story. it's another lost. you'll always be my north star. i was afraid of the shots, a stuck in my arm. mama. stuck in my heart . what good comes from lazy afternoon doing just wanted ever . seen with me if you can don't know it when you feel that it's real life. even if your brother is unforgiven, we're still just no western god loves her in the back cells going. thank you know it when you feel it that it's really brought is unforgiving.

always. still just no western shot. see you. for you. watch you doing doing beautiful vocals and julian. still got. failure failure. i'm a. failure i'm a failure. how's everybody doing? alright. i'm not gonna try to take too much of you guys time, so i'm just gonna do a couple more songs from my album. it's called from a rooftop in chinatown, and it's out right now and, uh, and i want to kind

of take you guys there with me on this journey, so, uh, there's a section in the song that goes like hmm. wow. oh wow. whoa! hmm. whoa with me. ready. whoa! oh whoa! oh, whoa! wow okay, you're gonna need that in, like , two minutes from now. okay okay. we're gonna do that altogether. let's let's do it from a rooftop. come on, go by the name of son of paper. how about taking chinatown? san francisco? chinatown yeah, yeah. hey, hey. and china sound just to get around jumping super and i was down had to put you in a song. hope you play it loud. move up in chinatown. just to get around dumping super

knowledge down had to put you in a song. hope you play it loud. what's cooking the walk is hottest torch flames to spot the food reflects like a board game when i'm on so they won't ask me where i wrapped because i'm mr chinatown to breathe my last breath until i walk. my last step, i'll be running up the shows. the one that got my trophies. city traffic on the 19th app recall the house parties that the homies trying to crash like last trunk windows right by golden gate park, your pockets chilling dark like a needle in the teal of the heart on my sf kid. you felt it from the start what's up from a rooftop in chinatown? just to get around pomade super, not with down had to put you in a song. you play it loud. yeah from our rooftop in chinatown just to get around made soup when i was down, had to put you in a song. hope you play it

loud, say, miss chinatown. i could take you on a date. we'll take the trolley from your parents where i won't be late. we might get a little bit lines in. we're gonna save all the flavors in the front pan camera . i'm opposing all the alleyways . cheeks are rosy. they remind me of the kelly hayes the coolest want you by my side when i'm turning 85 beautiful, fortunate, shoot some hoops out with the glad that i can share my little neighbor. hope it's you and costs a fortune just a tiny room, but i'm glad that i could share my little neighborhood with you. wow. whoa! whoa! whoa whoa! keep it going, y'all. keep it going, papa made jumping supernovas down. had to put you in a song. hope you play it loud. from a rooftop in chinatown busses just to get around pop supernovas

down had to put you in a song. i hope i made you proud. made you proud china. just say i made you proud. guards made you proud. good so china. thank you very much. how am i doing on time? am i out of time or one word, okay? okay alright, this last song, and he's a little bit of context. um so the song is called overcame, and it's kind of my exploration that in this album of trying to figure out what it means to be, um, an asian american trying to understand anti asian violence and come at it in a in a productive way, so my attempt is to look at the personal way that violence has impacted my life

instead of consuming all the media. um, and try to transform that violence into something more beautiful and powerful and build a community from it. so you're gonna hear some language in the first verse? that is kind of how a lot of chinese families there's a lot of anti blackness and in chinese families and in the asian americans in general, so i want to be honest and share that with you guys and show you how i transformed that. today, okay? the song is called, overcame. is everyone comfy? feeling good. is anyone here from san francisco? hell, yeah, hands in the air. let's go. sure. yeah. i gotta live in feeling pity it in my stomach. i'll probably face

the furnace on the day of judgment because my heart is biased from this urban violence . so what? put 10,000 hours in divine silence? it's what i had to do. did it get through school. black and white. the only colors in the photo shoot. i'm big stress. it's you know, my skin is red, peeling the support. we say it's just like dr king said. sometimes i wonder if i walked another path. would i make this kind of music will be working for my dad. my family tried to raise me your but help me back when i was busting, no discussion. i was fearful of the blacks. i got plex in my room and it's chip on my soul. there got knocked on my butt. now i stand that's a soldier. i'm fourth from a saint where i'm close to the culture. i quit playing games, but this life isn't over. if they don't love us. then let them hate for asian people. we overcame. yeah we were shaking, but we overcame. we were shaking bobi you overcame. if they don't love us.

then let him hey, for asian people we overcame. yeah we were shaking vote we overcame. yeah. we were shaking, but we overcame the beaten honest. just the other day. the homie tried to help and know the but they pistol with them in the eye. the instruments me of the time when i was 13, a white man broken some my home and then he broke me 10. long years i borrowed that up young heart bigger than trying to get some putting on weight. just trying to be seen that man. i want to be free step to my own two ft. you cannot shake my piece shows w overcame now i want to hear you say if they don't love us, then let them pay. for asian people we overcame yes. i was shaking, but we overcame. stay with me all we were shaking bobi you overcame. they say they love us. we all the same they say we made it. who's to blame. we were shaking

, but we overcame shaking, but we overcame and thai asian race discrimination thrown into the pit, but my heart is filled with patients double edge blade that i swing. when i wrote this when you turn the page, i'll be friends of proponents. my story of becoming as one of old we're coming the hate in my heart that poison ma well being into the man who tried to break me as crazy as it sounds of gathered enough love for you to thank you. wow, kyle that was deep. thank you so much. it's so moving to see how your music and art was shaped by your experience growing up as an immigrant and looking around this auditorium.

i know each of us has our own story to tell. many of us come from a different background and culture. but the spirit of this evening's joint celebration is about sharing and appreciating this diversity. it's about changing the perception that the asian, american and african american communities do not mix or thrive together. for the longest time, many of us have talked about how to change the narratives about these two communities and next like to invite john mcknight to tell us about the san francisco human rights commissions, changing the narrative art campaign. take a moment to just welcome you all. thank you for coming tonight and making this a part of your evening. my name is john mcknight. um with the services of human rights commission, and tonight i have the privilege of sharing with you the awards and, more importantly, the art that was collected through the changing the narrative art campaign. this year's campaign had a single goal. to highlight

our seniors. seniors have been fortunately the target of many attacks in this city and we wanted to make sure that there was a narrative told here that reflected the values. of seniors, not just in their families and their communities, but their extended families and all the lives they touch seniors in our black and asian communities share so much with the people around him and the artwork. we're going to show you tonight is gonna reflect it. the artwork tells stories of people that live here in the stories each have depth to them, and i'm grateful tonight to share with you. but let me take a moment real quick to introduce our judges and bring them on up similar right here tonight. i'm going to have him join us here up on stage. so let me please bring up amelia and adina of the million and dinner show. dr carolyn ransom scott, founder, black investors black excellence awareness project, diane gray of director 100% college prep institute. john henry, if you're here, john henry, executive director, both sides of the conversation. kyle shin, son of

paper who just performed for us, one of our judges, and, of course, our city librarian michael lambert and digging you if you're here from our francisco commission on the arts for those of us. i want to thank all of our judges who took the time to look at this art and provide us their future. thank you. hey, john, real quick. real quick. i just want to acknowledge our two elected officials in attendance today. our local district five supervisor dean preston, he was in the back earlier. and we also have district eight supervisor rafael mantle, man. thank you so much for joining us. thank you, mike. welcome all. the artwork here reflects something, the mayor said a little while ago that diversity is our strength. and each of the stories that are reflected we saw something about that diversity in the way it was shared in our communities. some

of the art showed people in the community gardens working. this story is of a young girl grew up with her grandmother going to the gardens throughout the city and seeing all the people there and another piece of art. we are sitting with the family as they prepare their lunar new year dinner, and she tells the story of how they cook for hours and all the food they make, and you can see the energy in the room together. one particular favorite of mine that will bring up artist michael. you told us share this. that's very simple picture of him and he is an asian man. he's now in college and southern california is not joining us tonight, but it's a picture of miss. lf. miss ella is now an elderly black woman and he shares how she was the unofficial babysitter of every child in the building. i want to share some of his words with you. you won't forget, miss ella because of her friendly smiles, her funny dance moves, silly

knock, knock jokes and, most importantly, her kindness in the way she made everyone feel loved . when you read that, and you see the picture, you can tell what's happening here. and i wonder if this young woman unsung hero of our city who lived out and excelsior district. i wonder if she knows how many lives she's touched. and how many children and grandchildren will somehow if not just in the retelling. those knock knock jokes feel her presence throughout their lives . this was the heart of what our campaign brought to life, and when you go out, you'll be able to see some of the artwork posted on posters as well as on screens, and you can see some of the stories tied to with that. let me start to bring up our artists. some of them are here tonight, and i hope we have a chance to honor themselves. do please welcome them when i call your name. just come on up. the only entrance is on this side. we're gonna present you with an award and we're all going to gather up here for a quick picture moving forward into the youth category. we wanted to honor the young people that were able to present this artwork. so let me please bring up is he appleton? who i know is here. is

he come on up. samantha wong. samantha wong, are you here provided the community gardeners and i want to honor jason and jonathan toy to young people who put together the african drum, musician, entertainment community and the adult water aerobics. thank you all and the youtube presented this art correct. we collected videos as well. we wanted to build shelter through different platforms and media and we had some beautiful stories. i will post these on our website when they come up these each of these captured the essence of somebody whose life was made bigger. by meeting another culture in one case, and there was a gentleman who found a martial arts group out in the park. and he's now found a community and the spirit and exercise that comes with it. and another case we saw inside of a story of a family and the way the seniors interact with each precious. i hope you'll see them so let me say in the video category in third place, there's

calvin wall. be brave. you can do it. in second place. jessica sent to segi loves luk tung kun . i'm saying that wrong can catch me later in san francisco . and don't allow who i believe is here. seniors teach us for the better, donna, i hope you're here and if you are come on up either way would give them all please update hair. there were so many amazing submissions. we created an honorable mentions category. these are not runners ups. in many of the cases, though, the artwork may have not caught the judges i the stories . qatar hearts. that's where michael wu's artwork comes in, but many others and i just want to bring up the five honorable mentions. olivia z, my grandmother and her best friend story of two women who taught in schools throughout their whole lives and brought so much to the youth here in the city, alicia woo lunar. you you're the family who i've got to get invitation

to go to dinner with some time because it looks like they have a great time cooking link. shealy our community garden, michael, you two friends. and stellan lind, a new beginning all of his precious stories. thank you for sharing him with us, and we just give them a big round of replies. and now i'm proud to announce the winners of our art campaign. i will pull them out starting in fifth place and going down. if they're going up. if any of you are here, please come on and join us. uh welcome mayor brown suit. fifth place hero, chance building bridges. thank you. birthplace melinda chan. seeds of change.

place ruben, youth sit and chat. second place josiah limb i am okeyo. our roots. first place kevin koe for unity, please. everybody give him a round of applause could bring. everybody on the stage with my joining us up. anyone's got a camera. would you get a picture of the five people that took the time to put together not just the art but the stories and give them one more round of applause. thank you. thank you very much for all of you that are still here. please go ahead and exit out the right way. be careful going down the steps. now i want to transition to the next part. we have some more amazing performers. thank you very much,

so i am going to bring up claudia nchanga, ringleader of all of this here today. according chang is the president of the a p a heritage foundation is a member of our stand together san francisco movement with the human rights commission. she is, of course of nature, and we're honored to have it here. how's everyone doing everything good time yet? i assure you, the rest of the program will be very awesome. um before i introduce the next three performers, i just want to take a couple of minutes to acknowledge the team that put this together. uh everybody said it takes a village, but it has taken more than a village. the mayor has acknowledged city librarian michael lambert and director showed davis falkenberg leadership of the planning committee. but it that we do have a committee. i want to thank the entire team at the samuel cisco public library or events team is amazing. um too many names to dimension, but i have to say i want to thank you

for working with masiello. michelle send mules. shauna jamie. everybody. i'm sorry if i need some names. let's give them a round of across the library team. and the human rights commission team. john mcknight, lisa amelia. everybody thank you so much for making this work. there are many also other individuals from all all kinds of organizations. um and we just want to say let you know that we really appreciate you. um i do want to give a special shout out to ryan babbitt. where's ryan? right here. ryan beppe it with the booker t. washington community service center. ryan was was the artist that help us put together the slide show that people gram slideshow. some of you might have missed it, but it's a phenomenal slideshow, putting together pictures that were submitted by organizations

in different neighborhoods in the city showcasing again. that our two communities do work together. our two communities, unlike was sometimes you wait in the newspapers. we do get along. we do have a good time and we really love to see that those images that ryan put together so thank you very much. and of course, we have to think i was sponsors because he bent like this do not happen without sponsors again. of course, the public library human rights commissioned aapi heritage foundation, and i want to give a special shout out to amazon. i mean, they have been really supportive of many events in throughout the neighborhoods. this particular event. um and you know, i don't know if some of you have been to the asian and black cookout event a couple of months ago that that you upgrade organization. asians are strong and both sides of the conversation put together at the transbay terminal. that was phenomenal event and amazon also supported it. thank you so much

. now let's get on with the amazing performances. um amazing performances. so this evening is really about bringing our communities together, and we have found some very amazing san francisco bay area local artists that they really were trying to showcase and all their work is about is to bring people together through music through poetry. um all of you hopefully have peace of our program with you, and they are listed there. um first we have, um, the jazz team of john zhang on piano and howard wiley on the sex a phone. both of them are awards winning. performing artists, recording artists who have traveled the world with their unique brand of music. john who will be on the piano is known for his musical language that merges chinese folk songs within the black music context. and howard, who

releases his first cd cd, when he was only at the age of 15 has been a trail blazer in the world of jazz, and they have been collaborating for many, many years. following that we have two poets michael war and chant you. the group is known as two languages. one community, the mission has been to an inspired communities to come together as one communities as one and to show that it is possible they are doing the work through poetry, and i hope you'll be inspired by them. like many of us have been and for the final performance this funny evening we have with us, the amazing rapper songwriter and music producer ruby be barrel. how many people have talked about her from will be the bearer just really great. um you're in for a treat. if you haven't heard her will be released her first album in 2017, and since two or the united states and the philippines and just last year

will be was featured in billboard campaigns for spotify and amazon music. now let's the show begin. enjoy. choi. black history matters. on behalf of howard wiley and myself. we wanna thank you for having us um, earlier today, mayor breed had, uh, reflected on her experience at galileo high school that specifically the special assemblies assemblies 60 b. um so i want to offer the story, um, at the stand school. the first segregated black school in jacksonville, florida. they held an event a special assembly. to celebrate the anniversary of

lincoln's birthday on february 12th. 1900. james weldon johnson, who was one of the teachers there. composed a poem called lift every voice and sing set to the music by his brother, j. rosamund johnson. well at the special assembly. 500 black students saying, lift every voice and sing with passion and reverence. after. the black students graduated from high school. they passed a song on to their state became teachers. and they pass a song on to their students. and students and the song spread like wild wild fire. across. the south and other parts of the united states. the birth of. lifting voice, lift every voice and saying arrived at a crucial moment in history.

at that time. the system of white supremacy. imposed jim crow laws that would dehumanize and terrorize black people across the country. and not only that lynching was on the rise. but it was made into a public outdoor social activity were white families would get together for picnics. well. watching it and enjoying as entertainment. a black man being tortured. and lynched. from 1900 , which was the year of the birth of lift every voice and saying to 1932. florida had the highest number of lynchings per capita. in the united states. so this this beautiful song. expresses the lily that can endure in the swamp. and as a

constant reminder that black history matters. last month, rhonda santis, the governor of florida bad and advanced placement. black. excuse me, african american studies course. and all the states of florida. so howard wiley and i. that's your cue, howard wiley and i, uh , we want you to join us in making a statement. and, uh, after the piano sets up. howard wiley is going to come in, and we would like for you to recite the lyrics from lifted your voice and sing and these these are beautiful lyrics. from the middle of the piece, so sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us. you know, you could say we don't have to say any news is it's when power comes in sing a song full of the hope that the president has products. so, um.

at the end on this note, so and if you don't know the lyrics, we can't remember. just raise your fist. stand up and raise your fists. um let's remember trayvon martin from florida today marks the midpoint between his birthdate february 5th and his death date february 26. so remember trayvon martin. mm hmm.

mhm.

mm hmm. mhm. ah!

yeah thank you so much. you can have a seat. get comfortable. it's cool. it's cool. we don't give it up. we don't give it up. this next tune. whether what i should say a composition rather is, um based upon, uh famous chinese legend. about 2000 years ago in china. young woman wanted to go to school. but was forbidden because it was illegal. she disguised herself as a man who was accepted in the school soon. therefore after a young man discovered that she was definitely a woman, and you all know what happened. they fell in love but were forced to break up because of arranged marriage. the man died of a broken heart. and the woman traveled to his grave site. jumped in and was resurrected as butterflies. this is called the butterfly love song.

yeah. mm hmm.

yeah.

mhm. mm hmm.

mm hmm.

ah ah!

hello, everybody. happy new year senior. it's such an honor to be here with my co founder. two languages, one community program and we, michael war, make a war and we connect. chinese and asian american communities with african american communities with poetry and storytelling. we want to thank the san francisco public library and the chinese historical society of america. afford. for inviting us to participate in this amazing, amazing event. um. yes it's

really wonderful to be here and to see all of you one of the things i want to imprint on your mind. is that website two languages, one community dot com because you can see more in here. more of what we what we do. an example of an example of it is represented by this slide . this is a cover of a book the first one we put together called catching memory because that pictures you see on there are of our two beautiful mothers and when we first started working together, we looked for commonalities between our communities. would it be more common than your mother is right and our phones address? how the question and the issue of beauty was reflected, so that's an example of what we do. we bring people together in workshops, um and we get them writing about their experience to build these common, um, this connection. next fight. yes so i want to

also to thank that to amazing musicians, um, for their performance that yeah. greenness to almost 2000 years ago. it's time travel right and we are so profoundly connected by our our feelings and the understanding of the human story. so what i want to do here is to tell a story. of myself growing up in china when i was a child and china was, um, relatively isolated from the rest of the world, so i never saw a foreign child before but. in our classes. i learned about the black history here. what? um. you know the black children went through and due to this social

conditions, then my ice span half of the time at my grandmother's house in the countryside away from my parents , and my parents were split into two different locations, too. and we had cotton fields around us. so here. i just want to give you this moment. of how a young child in china. sell. such deep connection. to the black children she had never met. so this problem is called cotton. oh i could think of was little black hands. picking picking. and then picking snow white cotton. when i was a child learning about your people's fate. um the other side of the ocean in a winter classroom. was no heating. my country. red and

deep in revolution. isolated. from the world. i heard slavery. a turn. ancient and distant. reading announced in the land where i said with frozen toes. trembling was indignation and the yearning for justice. the original shut. pure goodness. at the heart of a child. revolution or not. red. black. or other. i have never met a child of another color. oh i could think of was little black faces. smiling like blooming cotton flowers bursting once in a

summer harvest. oh i could think of was little black hands giving warm white cotton away. little black hands snatched away from hands of mama. and the grandma. they told black hands forever lost in the vast world. they told black hands forever reaching at, alas, it's all black hands forever, wiping tears. clear and the salty just like my own when i missed my mama. as a snuggled next to my grandmother. under an ancient oil lamps. her hands rough and from cotton picking for the ism and the revolution. which we must all love, and it gives

everything to stitching and cushion me shoes. night at tonight with their a few handfuls of cottons russian to her. and a long thread she spun with wooden spindle spinning since. the beginning of time and the memory to keep my feet warm. it's all black hands. where was your cotton. where. worse your threat. where were your mama? and grandma. i had never met a child of another color. when i learned your history as a child. all i could feel was your ocean of tears flooding into the yellow sea rushing the shore 100

miles away. and i can still feel it today. thank you. i just want to say at this very special new beginning of the new year. and at time it's and a time to remember history. i want to say, hold on to your cotton never let your threat break again. i just wanted to say that normally when tune and i do this together, we do the poems in english and chinese. and so tonight we're just doing them in english. but this is why you see that the chinese characters appear. and if you go to our website, you

can both see and hear us. um do the poems both in english and chinese. so this poem that i wrote to your salient who attacks us all was written in response to the heightened violence. the heightened level of violence against asian citizens. not only here in san francisco, but around the world when the covid 19 crisis. it also was written in response to an invitation from the chinese culture center. of san francisco to tune and i to write about how we were being affected as artists during the pandemic. i'm going to share that with you right now. to your salient. who attacks us all. do you call yourself? god fearing devoted to do onto others. does your god

condone your violence, your ignorance, corruption? does your god hate your neighbor like you do? does your god share your love for profits bearing false witness? fueling your grievance fever. do you swallow the lies every gourgeon tate. do you really have a reason? are you truly a true believer? of both god and golden calf. does the all knowing. no, you it didn't matter that they are watching your naked depravity. do you pray before you pray on innocence and it's guilty world. do you have your god's blessing? or are you as godless as you've seen. did your father teach you to beat the mean in maine? is he proud of your cowardice? does

your mother say? well done, son. did they train you in coward, nous and backwardness. do you feel bigger in your smallness content with active uselessness? is your inner bully. seething still beneath your concealed surface. are you comforted in your criminality stupefied by superiority simply insane or lost. are you? thank you. and again, you can hear and see these just by going to our website. two languages when community thank you very much.

how are you all doing tonight? everybody enjoying the show so far. please give it up for everyone that's performed and spoken so far for me. i'm so grateful to be part of this wonderful event. to me. this is what represents the bay area, our communities coming together. check check check. since we're about the end of the event, let's have some fun. y'all ready to have some fun? no need for introduction. you hear when you know why nose dive into an error with the loaf. i've put my face in the book as my people. the profile erased from the books and people are told last go fly . kelly grew me go. i mean, back in no fire, but you are growing wise price, with both eyes.

double dose of broke lies open. those sites are losing hope it goes, but i got bam to my left erica right here too, given you america like eric, correct. try to take my title never will to win her with the rights. that club in city's finest. put me on the five list color up the line. because that color like your iris hunger in my eyes and everything. the iris killer with my tongue every time it's a bit of free, but the work is never done, i believe will never leave because i'm here. look at your hairs and the yeah, it's not the greatest is here and i will make this my here. hey because i'm finally here. yeah yeah, we're finally here. ah yes, she's finally here. ah yeah, finally here. heck! you call yourself a rapper. talk less and take no swiss lace sheep respect those who praise deeper. next talk. the flexor finessed the blood does cast face catchphrase from stern to catch phrase. so let's start to cascade product. the mac dre wu tang in andre,

pregnant press play from the slums where the heroes double one people always song brown faces of the sons killed the city woman after spin it from the station. some routine and brother's son, the access my mattress, a pass out. this abstract the masses last up the practice back to back wraps when the lenoir bad homie, check the repertoire ball with the bunches up all we list at the bar. finally here. hey get your hands in the air. yeah, because now the greatest is here. ah and i'm gonna make this my year. yeah because we're finally here. yeah yeah, they're finally here. yeah yeah, you're finally here. yeah yeah, finally here, follow me. when i say drumbeats, y'all say heartbeats drumbeat. from b. i say drumbeats yourself a heartbeats. drumbeat from b what i say lunar, saying new year lunar luna. when i say black

lives your say matter black locks. butler. thank you all for participating. tonight i'll be performing a few songs from my first album called circa 91, which shares the experience of my filipino american immigrant experience growing up here specifically in the bay area, and this next song is called someday. hey. i wrote this album because i want my life to change how to be in short changed. i'm trying to remain sane hopped off the plane didn't stop all the pain. my father is still in debt, and we've been struggling to pay for what bedroom up. um ekelund app, which your foot just meeting half hence tactic against the odds. how you gonna even that people from the slumps once not

living the humdrum mama from the brought you superhuman weekend stunt once, mama i know it's gonna be fiber rubber. we go because we know you're raised the school to dream and be your hero was an ego to an equal free flow and i speak though my pipe dreams to people, my skin so filipino, often sam's my pride and satisfying hot side we booked the ocean was the day you learn to know. stop closed eyes , fingerprint ink with the most those times. mama never blinks. say the oath twice. i said, mama, we're gonna make it there . someday i said, mama, we're gonna make it there. someday i said, mama, we're gonna make it there someday. i said, mama, we're gonna make it there. someday i said, mama, we're gonna make it here, said mama, we're gonna make it here. yeah i said, mama, we're gonna make it here. ah i said, mama, we're gonna make it here with the free start to me you have been doing this is six years old, seeking on my own two ft survival pick and go pick a role. you can be the swimmer over six. so i was a six year old without a father

figure. roma silver sponsors. dinner roll. so what? your folder where you go? this thing like figaro, my people still invisible when you the put an image of a person that you hate makes sense. i'm spitting images of dawn that never breaks. nirvana never waits. it was upon a better fate in her head. i never wanted to be great. i study my mother wondered how she holds his family that minimum salary stretched as much as it can be stressful. keeps the ship from me. i'm just trying to fit and see your great but that acceptance psychic validates my sanity. i wrestled with affirmations settle from mask and faces after wallace stole the land, so over screen or places i said, mama, we're gonna make it then someday i said, mama, we're gonna make it there. someday i said, mama, we're gonna make it there someday. i said, mama, we're gonna make it there. someday i said, mama, we're gonna make it here. uh i said, mama, we're gonna make it here. yeah i said, mama, we're gonna make it here, uh, said, mama, we're gonna make it here. scuba deuce lunches with my mom is good for lunchtime. 95 minimum wage the bust line here right now and feeling the page.

we're in the bus from till the day i'm getting closer roles and punch last payrolls approach. time takes shows that crunch time break those front line like for mr because we never had left lies with these days i'm scared of, but michael through mama flo like result and i'm writing like og adorned mixed with thorne mobile. oh, no. what's the page, morin said. my name is born to make your face for me waiting. never met who are from another place. thorns couldn't break away just a breakaway being center stage of the page with the fadeaway never been the type of say scared of, but i have to face i'll let ever knew was being me. so all i ever need to say is i said, mama, we're gonna make it there. someday i said, mama, we're gonna make it there. someday i said, mama, we're gonna make it there something i said, mama, we're gonna make it there someday, said mama, we're gonna make it here. someday i said, mama, we're gonna make it here someday. i said, mama, we're gonna make it here someday i said mama. yeah, i made it here today if everybody in this

room right now this evening this beautiful event can follow me and raise the one in the sky just like this. and make this as a promise to yourself right now, right here as we sit here. whatever goal that you have in your mind, whatever passion that you have burning deep inside your heart right now that you're going to accomplish that goal, whether it's going to take you a day from now, a week from now. even a couple of years from now you're gonna get there. we're all going to get there someday, right? yeah. hey, yeah. said mama, we're gonna make it there. someday i said, mama, we're gonna make it there. someday i said, mama, we're gonna make it there. sometimes i said, mama, we're gonna make it there. someday i said, mama, we gonna make it there something i said, mama, we're gonna make it there. someday i said, mama, we're gonna make it there. someday i said mama. yeah, we made it here today. thank you all so much. i just have. one more track for

all for you all tonight, but before i share that last track, i just want to say thank you so much to fay. so marcy l and the entire san francisco public library staff for putting an event together as beautiful as this like i mentioned at the beginning of my set to me. this really is the representation of the bay area. you know, i moved to the us with my family in the nineties from the philippines. and we decided to move to the bay area as a family and for me, i'm very blessed that it was the bay area out of all places out of all communities because growing up here, i've always witnessed diversity people coming together and an event like this, you know, seeing the asian american and black community coming together. i think that's what solidarity looks like. um and i think you know solidarity to me means showing up. being present and being in community with each other, and especially for me, um , as an asian american artist that participates in a beautiful

genre in music, like hip hop that's created and founded by the black community. i recognized that i'm a guest in this space, but at the same time that it's my responsibility to use my voice to share asian, american and filipino american experiences. and in addition to that, um, i recognize too that as asian american as the asian american community and the black community, we share a lot of similar struggles. but within that we also have very different histories and experiences. but i think that allows us to recognize how you know how to learn from each other and how to be in a community with each other. so thank you all for celebrating. one another. happy lunar new year. happy black history month. yeah. uh huh. okay. uh huh. yeah uh huh. okay

uh huh. yeah uh huh. hey uh huh . hello america. break your black for dollars. they don't character 7000 miles away from home with language barriers. man of opportunity. tell me, is it good to you? but 60 deeper. solar land is where they're buried in november. 1991 papa came here with the 12 daughters . no money, but they wanted them a better life piece of through their name. so they piecing up the pain and the position is an immigrant. this praying for peace. the americana part for the queen of peace. the team they sold. you put it only with the dream for peace of mind to think that my mama could be seen as an equal not a foreign immigrant or in between. i was a kid in the sky that them between the center eyes, hoping that we will survive. but mama, those were the times telling this compromise. they always feed in a slice made to believe that don't exist, the less of rubber discussed because of it constantly, like two broken data like right to learn no longer recognize the person that was inside until we fade like the sun and we forget what we from then we still pay to live. done

and never questioned it once for mama, tell me we won the person data become help. a supper with tongue in the skin distrusted the significance of play set up from mr lincoln's people might hold the waiter but i've never slipping. i'm never looking down . do this for myself to the end of hold it down. and even when i'm sinking, i'm never looking down. i do this for myself to the end of all the town. yeah. mama won't make it in america. mama won't make it in america. mama won't make it in america. mama will make it in america. mama will make it in america. hey mama will make it in america . yeah mama will make it in america. hey mama will make it in america. building homes. cathy go. mama's never really home because she working all alone live in brooklyn need

alone. papa threat and mama's life, papa leopard. no goodbye. promise to myself inside nomad will never make me cry. now i'm thinking that i'm brought. all i wanna do is wrong running far away from home in the crowd of phil alone, mama should be working late last show went on her face to starfish to relate this stuff is to relate in your home because you're proud looking to the member oh, filipino blood and bones person in my skin into like i should be embarrassed, though. wider skin casinos gold. this is what we're always told. mama said. to learn the way everything and you're like a race over combined energy hague teachers said to have my song, they don't understand me, not hold my breath is forward along the path for their like a gun. i'm correcting mama's words . i'm embarrassed when she slurs will make me better than her. the sandwich was in her first. ruby can you get a grip? find a balance. you might slip mom and don and need you quick. stop thinking that shoot the ship 7000 miles from home, but a million more to go got to make it on my own. i could feel him getting close 7000 miles from home, but a million more to go got to make it on my own. i

could feel them getting close. mama will make it in america. mama will make it in america. ah mama will make it in america. yeah mama will make it in america. hey mama will make it in america. yeah mama will make it in america. hey mama will make it in america. hey mama will make it in america. hey mama won't make it in america. mama will make it in america. yeah mama won't make it in america. hey mama won't make it in america. yeah, mama won't make it in america. yeah mama won't make it in america. hey, mama will make it in america. your mama will make it in america. yeah mama will make it in america. mama will make it in america. mama won't make it in america. mama i made it in america. thank you all so much. please enjoy the rest of your my name is rubio, barra. thank you.

wow. i don't know about you my feel my heart beating clearly. it's amazing. we invite all our performance of for a picture. john howard. poets. will be. michael. what a great picture this.

place. so, um. heart beast drum based hard base because today is february 15th, and yesterday was valentine's day, and we thought it would be great to think about hardware is because we are here for community some community love. drum base because we all wanted to build everyone to celebrations. start our celebration with the african american drumming and then the chinese drumming. that's such a spectacular picture. and communities as one because that's what we really wanted to be. and i think our artists

performing artists is amazing the messages that they were sharing with us so beyond a celebration. this is really a corporal action is a call for action for us to continue to build our community as one and work together. um i want to thank director showed davis, i think actually went in the in the middle of the middle. many meetings we thought about what what does this theme should be? and she really has inspired us that. what about hobbies. giambi's community as one and directed davis never meet miss a bit is always on the bit because it's always on the forefront of having of coming up with programs for all of our diverse communities, but before directly that has come up. i just want to share very excited. i just got a text from city hall. the mayor was so impressed with our john celebration that tonight when you leave, please take a picture . our city hall was lit up. i was told. actually, i've gotten my phone in. oh you were. oh, okay. i'll leave it for directed

the davis to see it. that's what we call doing things together. i was gonna say, because i thought it was interesting and i wanted to give recognition to our president of the chair of the human rights commission. karen clopton. thank you so much chair coughed and for being here but i don't want to steal claude ian's thunder, but i also wanted to recognize and acknowledge that, um, mayor brown is here and, um . and i do want to, even though he doesn't necessarily know what i wanted to credit him because martha cohen had reached out and i know that martha worked with you as well. and i think learned the art of all the things have really celebrating community. so tonight, city hall is lit up both in the, um city hall is lit up with the pan african colors

and then the dome is lit up in gold and red in honor of lunar new year, so make sure that you take a picture of city hall because it is representing the unity that we celebrated here tonight. so first and foremost, give yourselves a round of applause. um the teacher in me wants to give each one of you an extra star for staying until the end. i really do appreciate that. i've been teaching a class at usf and let me say i must be horrible because they're not always there in the class is over. um hi, sandy. hi, jeff. um i, um. i just am so moved and touched by the ability to hold this together. immunity tonight . so i want to thank because those of you who know claudine? no, she is persistent if nothing else, and i want to recognize and thank claudine because she

was persistent that this needed to happen. we have really struggled with the uptick in anti asian sentiment and hate, but then also really struggled with battling this false narrative about who's doing it. and the overrepresentation of, um, the narrative that it has been black people perpetrating the crimes. and so claudine was like this is really important. she has been trying for a year to make sure that this happened, so thank you, claudine for that. um and i am horrible with. i usually need somebody to write. thank you notes because i'm horrible with this, but i do want to recognize john mcknight , who was tasked with making sure that this did not fall by the wayside on behalf of the commission. so thank you, john to the whole hrc and public libraries team give them a round of applause. um i know michael lambert gets worried because i'm always trying to steal his staff

. but i would say marshall is like, you know, i might be knocking on her door because she's really good. give a hand from our cl for the work she's done. um so. ultimately i just wanted to say thank you. i think we have, um, witnessed some amazing art tonight some amazing history and culture and celebration of unity. and i hope that to claudia's point that is a call to action. this was not meant to just entertain. you write. this was about how do we come together? how do we recognize our connection, whether it is the drums whether it is poetry, whether it is song whether it is just even our own struggles through society and systemic racism or oppression or all the things that we individually battle that collectively represent our history and our culture. so this is a call to action to not wait till next year when we all come together again. but when you're outside tonight like talk to

somebody you don't know, connect and let's think about how we continue to build on this work so i could talk forever because i like to talk, so i'm not going to keep talking. i'm just gonna thank you again so much for being with us tonight and hope and encourage you to talk to each other on the other side. there's some food, grab your food and you can go into, um the latino rooms and celebrate and enjoy and be together. thank you so much for coming. racist unlaced my track spikes. the lanes are vinyl proves i never outgrew that past life told me shoot your shot. just let that pistol pop didn't now truly hunted her real smooth. guilty

>> as a woman of color who grew up in san francisco i understand how institutions can have an impact on communities of color. i think having my voice was important. that is where my passion lies when the opportunity to lead an office in such a new space came up. i couldn't turn it down. i was with the district attorney's office for a little over nine years, if you include the time as an intern as well as volunteer da, all most 13 years. during the time with the da's office i had an opportunity to

serve the community not only as the assistant district attorney but as director of community relations. that afforded the opportunity to have impact on the community in an immediate way. it is one thing to work to serve the rights of those without rights, victims. it is really rewarding to work to to further the goals of our office and the commitment we have as city employees and advocates for people who don't have a voice. i don't know of anyone surprised to see me in this role. maybe people have an impression what the director of the office of cannabis should be like, what their beliefs should be. i smash all of that. you grew up in the inner city of san francisco. my career path is not traditional. i don't think a person should limit themselves to reach full potential. i say that to young women and girls.

that is important. you want to see leadership that looks diverse because your path is not predetermined. i didn't wake up thinking i was going to be a prosecutor in my life. the city administrator reached out and wanted to have a conversation and gave me interest in the new role. i thought you must not know what i do for a living. it was the opposite. she had foresight in realizing it would be helpful for somebody not only a former prosecutor but interested in shaping criminal justice reform for the city would be the right person for the space. i appreciate the foresight of the mayor to be open how we can be leaders in san francisco. i was able to transition to the policy space. here i was able to work on legislation, community relations, communication and start to shape the ways our office was going to reform the criminal justice system. it is fulfilling for me.

i could create programs and see those impact people's lives. i am the change. it took truants youth to meet with civil rights movement leaders who fought to have access to education. being a young person to understand that helped the young people realize this was an important thing to give up. what we find is that young people who are truanted have a really high homicide rate in our city, which is a sad statistic. we want to change that. >> coming from a community we are black and brown. i don't reach out to other people. i don't think they feel the same way. >> i had the great opportunity to work on prison reform issues and criminal justice reform issues. we created a program at san quentin where we brought

district opportunities to lifers and talk about how we are all impacted by the criminal justice system. we brought over 40 elected das to san quentin for the situation. now we are inviting the police department. our formerly incarcerated group born out of this programming asked for the opportunity to work on a project where we could bring the men in blue on the outside to come speak to the men on blue inside to start the healing dialogue around how the criminal justice system specifically in san francisco impacts the community. i was attracted to the role. there was a component of equity that was part of this process. the equity community here in san francisco is a community that i had already worked with. before i took steps to visit cannabis businesses i thought it was important my team have a chance to go inside and speak to men who had been impacted.

that conversation needed to happen so we know how we are making an impact with the work that we are doing. the da's office as we were leading up to the legalization of marijuana in the state we started having conversations on the policy team what that could look like. the district attorney was really focused on the right side of history for this. we realized it would be quite a heavy lift for individuals who have been negatively impacted by the war on drugs to expunge the record. it was important to figure out the framework to make it seamless and easy. they put their minds to it after some time and many conversations the data analysts and other policy walk throughs on the team came up with the idea to engage the tech community in this

process. code for america helped us developed the rhythm to be used for any jurisdiction across the state that was important to create a solution to be used to assist all jurisdictions dealing with this matter. the office of cannabis is the first office to have a completely digital application process. we worked with the digital team to develop the online application. there are going to be hiccups. we are first to do it. it is one of the most rewarding parts to offer a seamless -- to offer a seamless approach. that is how they can find solutions to solve many of the community challenges. the best way to respond to prop 64 was to retroactively expunge 9,000 cannabis related records for san francisco. it feels like justice full

circle for my personal experience. in the past i was furthering the war on drugs just as my directive. really coming from a place of public safety. that was the mandate and understanding. it is nice to see that pass a society we are able to look at some of our laws and say, you know what? we got it wrong. let's get this right. i had the privilege of being in the existing framework. my predecessor nicole elliott did an incredible job bringing together the individuals super-passionate about cannabis. >> the office was created in july of 2017. i came in early 2018. i have been able to see the office's development over time which is nice. it is exciting to be in the space, stickily in thinking about her leadership. >> looking for the office it is always we might be before my

time when i was working for the forboard of supervisors. i learn new things every day it is challenging and rewarding for me. >> we get the privilege to work in an office that is innovating. we get to spearhead the robust exprogram. >> i am excited she came on board to leverage experience as a prosecutor 10 years as we contemplate enforcements but approaching it without replicating the war on drugs. >> i was hired by cam laharris. i haven't seen a district attorney that looked kind of like me. that could be a path in my life. i might not have considered it. it is important that women and certainly women of color and spaces of leadership really do

their part to bring on and mentor as many young people as they can. it is superimportant to take advantage of as many opportunities as they can when they can intern because the doors are wide open. plans change and that is okay. the way this was shaped because i took a risk to try something new and explore something and show that i was capable. you are capable, right? it was about leaning in and being at the table to say my voice matters. you find your passion, the sky >> shared spaces have transformed san francisco's adjacent sidewalks, local business communities are more resilient and their neighborhood centers are more vibrant and mildly. sidewalks and parking lanes can be used for outdoor seating, dining, merchandising, and other community activities.

we're counting on operators of shared spaces to ensure their sites are safe and accessible for all. people with disabilities enjoy all types of spaces. please provide at least 8 feet of open uninterrupted sidewalk so everyone can get through. sidewalk diverter let those who have low vision navigate through dining and other activity areas on the sidewalk. these devices are rectangular planters or boxes that are placed on the sidewalk at the ends of each shared space and need to be at least 12 inches wide and 24 inches long and 30 inches tall. they can be on wheels to make it easy to bring in and out at the start and the end of each day. but during business hours, they should be stationary and secure. please provide at least one wheelchair accessible dining table in your shared space so the disability people can

patronize your business. to ensure that wheelchair users can get to the wheelchair accessible area in the park area, provide an adequate ramp or parklet ramps are even with the curb. nobody wants to trip or get stuck. cable covers or cable ramps can create tripping hazards and difficulties for wheelchair users so they are not permitted on sidewalks. instead, electrical cables should run overhead at least ten feet above sidewalk. these updates to the shared spaces program will help to ensure safety and accessibility for everyone, so that we can all enjoy these public spaces. more information is available at sf.govt/shared

spaces. >> well, thank you for your patience. usually i'm always most low on time. so i appreciate you waiting. i'm san francisco mir london breed and welcome the brown bombers to city hall today! thank you to the parents and theville tierce, all the coaches and all the folk who is show up every day for our kids it make sure they are a success. both on the field and off.

when i heard from roberto hernandez how amazing you were doing i was excited. back in the day i wanted being a cheer leader but it was expensive. i know you went to florida to compete and did really u really good among cheer team usa from all overnight country. you came in second this year we going for first place, am i right! you gotta be proud. let me tell you, you sought other cheerleaders. bive it to 12d! let's give it up! because there is no way that our team usa healered have been successful without our cheer cheering them on. congratulations to 6u on their

championship and 14u on their championship! and what would you say, sweetie? nothing, okay. you know i'm happy to be here to celebrate young people in san francisco because you know our kids deserve the love and support and encourage am we can give them temperature is hard there nowadays and the fact that so many of you are engage in the this capacity to work hard and make sure your children are supported and others people's children are supported to raise the monand he resources and do do everything to get to a place like this, it is significant. i want to say, to raena and ross, as long as i have known rainen we grew up in the same neighborhood but he is way older than i am. i gotta tell you hoe is right or

die for the brown bombers. has been the president since 1999 before any of them were born, i believe. and some people come and gone in the various organizations but he remained consistent in advocacy to support the work of the communities. i'm honored to be here to recognize the accomplishment of the extraordinary, talityentsed young people and here to appreciate you for your work and consistency and being that voice for them every step of the way. without further adieu, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of san francisco, i want to front rainen ross with a certificate recognizing the brown bombers and the incredible w they do. [applause]. thank you. and with that i want to say a

few words to your folks who are here. >> thank you very much. so, first i want to say thank you to our honorable mayor london breed and everyone here. i have been working with the mayor's office the last week on this event. certificate was not mentioned. thank you. it it is a pleasant surprise. san francisco brown bombers start in the 1999. black history month fact. it was created in the name honor and image of mayor willie brown. and now today, 24 years later, this organization is being honored by the 45th mayor of san francisco, mayor london breed.

[applause]. i know it is not lost on anybody that today is february 6. black history month. i want to say to everybody here, the san francisco brown bombers born and bred out of the bayview hunter point communities, we are black history. we are black history! our staff, our coaches, our parents and our communities. >> i cannot go any further without acknowledging where i get my strength. it is from my wife reggina has been by my side and allowed me to sacrifice a great deal to keep this organization running. to our board of directors and our staff, and i'm proud to say this; of our nonprofit board of

directors has been together for 24 years the level of consistency and commitment we have given to the youth of the city and county. san francisco. you can give it up for the brown bombers and their work all of you are a part of that! [applause]. today we are here -- to honestor work of the organization but we are here to honor some of our teams for their accomplishments this past season. honor our d12 dance team that went to florida, finished second. missed first place by 3-1/2 points! they will give a better effort and do great again this coming season! this organization is a 4 time national dance champion. we know what it takes to win. we are here to honor our 16 and

14u for being championships in the turkey bowl playing against teams we never play exclude bringing home the gold trophy. again, just to shed the light on other folks in the organization, enough about me. i like to call to the microphone, mr. randy taylor head coach of the 14u football team. [applause]. >> good evening. thank you ms. breed. i have been with this organization for over 15 years. this is the big achievements we ever seen as far as you welcoming in our house. this past year has been rough starting off. once again, me and my staff pull things together. travel across to east bay and came out victorious. against talent we know nothing about. never seen or heard before.

our guys stuck together and came out victorious? correct, fellows? >> as of right now, i have about 4 kids eighth grade look to be getting scholarships, full rides! you know -- and that is a blessing. >> i want you guys to know this organization is topnotch from top to bottom! and we will keep on getting the talityents in the high schools. and wish all parents success in the kids that i coach and my staff, without me, there would not be bomber staff. my staff is what i roll with. they say my name but coach bill and terelf they started this they make me look good. [laughter]. with that said, we gotta cheer leader coach that is topnotch

and look cute. i welcome coach nija to the stage. [applause]. >> thank you. nationals. this year our national trip was exciting because it was our first time back since the 2019 due to the pandemic. return and new members were determineed earn their way back to the florida floor. each of the ladies worked and committed themselves to dance and one another. together, they showed up in glits and glam and showed out to the hip hop beat. sorry. we are blessed and grateful to be have gotten for the experience and proud of ourselves are frubing home a

prize. second place nationals, we'll take temperature one team, one dream. mission accomplished. and now i would like to welcome our dedicated team moms raquel. >> hello. good evening am i'm raquel nighten the member of nastia jones on 14 u i have been a parent in this organization for 12 years starting with my oldest son kirt who is is 18. this season was about development and growth. preparation and understanding how it is to play at a higher level. and to build lasting relationships before entering high school. these kids of they worked really hard. they fought and never gave up even when things got heard.

and i watched them continue to encourage each other after each game. i am grateful that my son has had just genuine coaches that care about him. his talents and his abilities as well as the developing him on approximate off the field. i want to thank you to the whole san francisco brown bomber's organization for all you do for our kids. [applause]. >> i'm so sorry. got nervous. next i will be have elijah and roberto come up. [applause]. >> hi i'm i liegea, i like to thank my coaches. parent and the mayor for having us. brown bombers are more than a

football and cheer program they build relationship and allowed us to show case our talents to high schools. in my year on the team i built strong relationships with coaches and team and others with the program since they were 6. thank you for appropriating mow for high school football and a great season. [applause]. >> good afternoon, everyone i'm roberto hernandez, thank you, mayor breed for having us today. we are grateful and appreciative of your time. this was my first year playing football for the bombers. first i want to thank my parents and families that event supported me and been to my games. secondly, thank my brothers that played with me. i had fun with them and i wish them the best for college and hopefully the nfl. finally i want to thank the coaches, coach sully, randy, t, sue, john and coach bill. i'm grateful you taught us the

game strategies, discipline and pushing us to be the best. thank you. [applause]. >> i gotta say, in 24 years since we start in the 1999, never was this moment ever a part of our thought process. when i was asked or tasked with creating a program in the bay vow to give kids an opportunity for a program where they receive youth leadership opportunity, i initiately said, amount i'm from the western edition. and as a good friends of mine judge perkins asked mow to come up, and asked me why did i tell this young lady, no.

and so i turned and told her i will think about it, low and behold dihad they asked. we started a program. here i am 24 years later still remaining as the president. and i gotta say, this is an all volunteer program. we have over 50 staff members. that give their time more than 20 hours a week during the season lasts 4 months. to love, to serve, to moteerate and inspire the children that come in our organization. winning is great. but this organization is built on creating. a new family for our youth >> whether they come from a great home or a home with challenges, we are that alternative family that will embrace our kids and serve our

kids no matter what. and that's what carried us for 24 years. so give it up for all the volunteers who give their time. all of the parents who give their love! money, bloods, sweat and tierce. to all the athletes who give us all their energy each day when they are out there representing that orange and black! [applause] let's give it up one more time for all the kids! let's go! all right! [applause] [crowd noise] honorable mayor, yes, we grew up in the same community. yes, we served on the nwacp youth leadership committee. yea, we have been each other. the woman you have become is amazing i watched you grow and

proud it have known you and more proud you are the mayor of my city the 45th mayor of the city of san francisco. for all our kids here this , is an opportunity to see what a dream can become. coming from the streets of fillmore. coming from that western edition, city hall is her office. she runs this city and we could not be more proud and say, thank you. give it up for mayor london breed! [applause]. mayor, before we conclude, we have some young ladyos our d12 dance team, ladies stand up, you

just stands up i need to you come here and take 3 steps forward. i need you to all turn to your right. no, face this way. this way. get that -- you need get that it it is all on you now. these young ladies would like to present you something on behalf of this entire organization. we hope and pray that it will adorn in your office for your next 6 years as the mayor of san francisco. mayor, if you could, please, come up. >> my goodness. why they would like to present to you! your framed jersey the number one sayer of the san francisco brown bombers. give it up for mayor london

breed! [applause]. you got it. i don't have any other jerseys or sports framed like this! so tell have to go up in my office. thank you very much! thank you. [applause] wow! that is so cool. [laughter]. that's a brand-new jersey. thank you. all right. well, let's take a few you want to take a few photos? okay! let's do it! i gotta follow eileen's rules here. we will bring update teams one at a time.

biggest to smallest the service u football team first to take a picture with the mayor! 6u players and staff and team moms.

>> you are watching san francisco rising. a special guest today. >> i am chris and you are watching san francisco rising. focused on rebuilding and reimagining our city. our guest is the director of financial justice in the san francisco office of treasure to talk about how the city has taken a national lead in this effort and how the program is comlishing the goals. welcome to the show. >> thanks so much for having me. >> thank you for being here. can we start by talking about the financial justice project in a broad sense. when did the initiative start and what is the intent? >> sure. it launched in 2016. since then we take a hard look

at fines, fees, tickets, financial penalties hitting people with low incomes and especially people of color really hard. it is our job to assess and reform these fines and fees. >> do you have any comments for people financially stressed? >> yes. the financial justice project was started in response pop community outcry about the heavy toll of fines and fees. when people struggling face an unexpected penalty beyond ability to pay they face a bigger punishment than originally intended. a spiral of consequences set in. a small problem grows bigger. for example the traffic ticket this is california are hundreds of dollars, most expensive in the nation. a few years back we heard tens

of thousands in san francisco had driver's licenses suspended not for dangerous driving but because they couldn't afford to pay traffic tickets or miss traffic court date. if they lose the license they have a hard time keeping their job and lose it. that is confirmed by research. we make it much harder for people to pay or meet financial obligations. it is way too extreme of penalty for the crime of not being able to pay. we were also hearing about thousands of people who were getting cars towed. they couldn't pay $500 to get them back and were losing their cars. at the time we hand people a bill when they got out of jail to pay thousands in fees we charged up to $35 per day to rent electronic ankle monitor, $1,800 upfront to pay for three years of monthly $50 probation

fees. people getting out of jail can't pay these. they need to get back on their feet. we weren't collecting much on them. it wasn't clear what we were accomplishing other than a world of pain on people. we were charging mothers and grandmothers hundreds of dollars in phone call fee to accept calls from the san francisco jail. we heard from black and brown women struggling to make terrible choices do. i pay rent or accept this call from my incarcerated son. the list goes on and on. so much of this looked like lose-lose for government and people. these penalties were high pain, hitting people hard, low gain. not bringing in much revenue. there had to be a better way. >> it is important not to punish people financially there. are issues to address.

>> sure. there are three core principles that drive our work. first, we believe we should be able to hold people accountable without putting them in financial distress. second you should not pay a bigger penalty because your wallet is thinner. $300 hits doctors and daycare workers differently. they can get in a tailspin, they lose the license. we dig them in a hole they can't get out of. these need to be proportioned to people's incomes. third. we should not balance the budget on the backs of the poorest people in the city. >> financial justice project was launched in 2016. can you talk about the

accomplishments? >> sure sometimes it is to base a fine on the ability to pay. consequences proportional to the offense and the person. other times if the fee's job is to recoupe costs primarily on low-income people. we recommend elimination. other times we recommend a different accountability that does not require a money payment. here are a few examples. we have implemented many sliding scale discounts for low-income people who get towed or have parking tickets they cannot afford. you pay a penalty according to income. people with low incomes pay less. we also became the first city in the nation to stop suspending people's licenses when they could not pay traffic tickets. we focused on ways to make it easier for people to pay through payment plans, sliding discounts and eliminating add on fees to

jack up prices of tickets. this reform is the law of the land in california. it has spread to 23 other states. we also stopped handing people a bill when they get out of jail and eliminated fees charged to people in criminal justice system. they have been punished in a lot of ways. gone to jail, under supervision, the collection rate on the fees was so low we weren't bringing in much revenue. the probation fee collection rate was 9%. this reform has become law from california and is spreading to other states. we made all calls from jail free. the more incarcerated people are in touch with families the better they do when they get out. it was penny wise and pound foolish. now phone calls are free.

incarcerated people spend 80% more time in touch where families. that means they will do better when they get out. we eliminated fines for overdue library books. research shows were locking low income and people of color out of libraries. there are better ways to get people to return books, e-mail reminders or automatically renew if there is no one in line for it. this has spread to other cities that eliminated overdue library fines. these hold people accountable but not in financial distress can work better for government. local government can spend more to collect the fees than they bring in. when you proportion the fine with income they pay more readily. this impact can go down and revenues can go up. >> i know there is an initial

group that joined the project. they had a boot camp to introduce the program to large audience. is this gaining traction across the country? >> yes 10 cities were selected to launch the fines for fee justice. they adopted various reforms like we did in san francisco. as you mentioned we just hosted a boot camp in phoenix, arizona. teams of judges and mayors came from 50 cities to learn how to implement reforms like we have in san francisco. there is a growing realization the penalties are blunt instruments with all kinds of unintended consequences. it is the job of every public servant to find a better way. governance should equalize opportunity not drive inequality. >> quite right. thank you so much.

i really appreciate you coming on the show. thank you for your time today. >> thank you, chris. >> that is it for this episode. we will be back shortly. you are watching san francisco rising. thanks for watching.

good morning. happy valentine's day. my name is bob, the chief operating officer at the institute and mayor breed and members of the press on behalf of the gladstones trustees, founding president and our gladstones community. we are honored to have you join us today as we talk about the expansion project that we have. our focus today is to provide you an update on the remarkable work being done here at gladstones and also talking about how we have an