>> ancestors for freedoms and all others who dared to define, defend and develop our interest as a people, we pour. for our elders who helped us give us wisdom and strength for our fathers, mothers who rest in the valley of the departed, we pour. for the youth, who represent the future and tomorrow we pour. for remembrance of many women, men, and the human rights struggle,

we pour. for the new world we struggle to build, we pour. for the principle as our guides in and out of every day live, we pour. for our all mighty creator who makes all things possible, we pour. thank you. we now want to bring up our mc for today. mr. shawn william. >> we are not doing that. some of y'all is acting like you don't have hot burns on the back of your neck right now. acting real upty, this is our celebration and you guys are acting real real real upty right now. happy juneteenth.

[applause] stop playing with me. this mic moves, i can go everywhere. i see you. we are going to be celebrating us, black music. really just music because music is black music. we create when we have nothing-we create everything, not something, everything. so, we are going to be celebrating ourselves, our music, our culture, our heritage and there are two rules. rules on a celebration? yes. rules on a celebration. rule number one, there are a lot of influential people, inspirational people and young people who are inspirational in here. look to your, front, back, right. we are family in here. get all this

golf clap out of your system now. we are not doing that today. introduce yourselves. get to know each other. yes. alright. i like that. i like that. we will be passing around the offerings in a minute, because we still have building fund to make sure we get that building. rule number two, and this is very important, i am mc for the evening. that means my job is to move this crowd. i receive my check early. it cleared. i would like to be the mc this year and year after that. you guys, rule two, enjoy yourselves. there will be a lot of great music up here. we are not people of trouble, we are people of bass and drum so when the music hits your soul you better not give me that piedmont golf clap stuff. i know some have good iras and

credit scores, but leave the 9 to 5 on the shelf and enjoy yourselves. we are going to enjoy ourselves. we are going to act like there is a wood en spoon and fork on the wall. we are going to act like there is a freezer behind me with a crisco can and chicken grease and you cannot mix those. we will be black like you got to go to the kitchen, go out to the garage, to the third freezer and get that meat. get the neck bones and ham hocs and thaw it in the sink. we are going to enjoy our blackness. i like to come back next year. there are a lot coming up and move you. a lot of great speakers coming up. this is second annual. enjoy your is lf. celebrate yourself, embrace your blackness and learn how far our music has

come. with that being said, i will bring up the first speaker, coming up. it is a honor and pleasure to bring up this woman. please make sure your respect every person-not yet? we are go toog ing to get in the african dance. hold on. we are going to get in the african dance. (indiscernible) they are not asking me to come back just for that.

shoot. amira. i got help. my family helped me out because i like to come back. give it up for the african dance act. no, no. that is golf clap. i messed it up. let's make the noise and start clapping. let's start clapping. thank you very much.

[music in the background] >> [unable to hear speaker]

[singing]

[singing and clapping]

[singing and clapping]

>> we are free! [singing]

[applause]

[singing] >> give it up one more time. give it up one more time!

[singing and drums] >> everyone please give it up one more time! >> clap it. clap it up. clap it up for them. >> also, we are asking if you are in the back to please minimize your conversation, because we can hear it up here in the front. i want to make sure we give the performers the respect they deserve. >> sarah can you hear me? >> i can hear you!

>> can you hear me clear? >> loud and clear. >> that means if you can hear me back here you can hear me talking back here so we want to respect everyone who comes up to the microphone. i know you are talking about the show is so great and look at the costumes, but if we can keep it to a church whisper we greatly appreciate it for all the artists who comes up here and speakers. it is very important we listen to everyone as they come up. also, you don't have to stand. you guys do to protect us. you don't have to be on the wall. there are all kinds of seats where you can sit. there are seats over there, so please, you will be here a little while, so please, keep it going. so, with that being said, i'm going to bring up the next speaker, the correct speaker, thank you very much for the assistance. we are going to bring up an very important person, start clapping now, not the golf clap

for ms. felicia jones. keep it going. [applause] >> thank you so much. thank you so much. what i want you to do is everybody stand up. put your hands up in the air and wave them flags like you just don't care. it is juneteenth. freedom day, jubilee day, emancipation day. wave them line you just don't care like you are enjoying what we are doing for you. thank you so much. i see you in the back. thank you so much. we are happy to have you. thank you and look you guys are in here honey. our second annual mayor london breed juneteenth kick-off. yes. and we want to say thank you to our

mayor and often times i call her my mayor, my boo, and anyone who knows me knows how much i love me some mayor breed, so we want to say thank you for all that you do. i understand that you have been on the news a lot, but everybody want to look at what she's not doing, but honey, you need to start reading those press releases so you can learn about what she is doing. [applause] alright. clap it up. what she is doing! clap it up. come on people. clap it up. all you dki recipients up in here, getting money because of mayor breed and shamann walton, show your appreciation for these two on juneteenth day.

ain't nobody else did anything for black folks in san francisco like the dki initiative. and so we say thank you. we say thank you. i want to say hello to all our esteemed guests. chief. hi! chief nicholson, hi! deputy chief, hi! okay. hi! kimberley, hi! shamann, hi! i i don't know you. >> i'm new. i'm engardio. >> thank you. da brooks. and then too from my other employer, chief adams. assistant chief carter. chief fisher in the back. anybody else from san francisco sheriff

department? anyone else? did i miss any other electeds? who? you are pointing, i don't know who you are pointing to. oh, preston. hi, dean preston. supervisor preston, welcome. yes. of course. where is dr. davis? director dr. cheryl davis. yes, we love her. we love her. and so with that, you know, i'm going to let you sit down while we bring up shamann. throw the flags in the air and wave them like you just don't care! it is juneteenth. it is juneteenth and here's shamann walton, board of superriser. >> thank you so much felicia. real quick before i say a few words. i you want to stand up if you black. stand up if you

black. so, i did that because i just wanted to see who claim us. so, i know when i walk outside. thank you everybody. you can sit down. so, first of all, as you know, juneteenth is a celebration, and it is celebration of a time period where slaves in texas did not realize and understand they were free and this was in 1865. and it took us all the way till 2022 to be recognized as a national holiday, but i want to thank everyone in this room. i want to thank all the leaders in the city. i want to thank everyone across the state and country to come together to make sure juneteenth is recognized as a national holiday. you did that. give yourselves a hand. [applause] and we should not just

be celebrating juneteenth and celebrating freedom when we get to this certain time period in june. we should be celebrating freedom, juneteenth, the accomplishments of black people, 24/7. not just in june and not just in february. [applause] now, there is another thing that happened in 1865, which makes the work we have been doing here in san francisco so prevalent today. we were promised 40 acres and a mule in 1865. raise your hand if your ancestors got that 40 acres and a mule. okay, just checking. just seeing who is here with me. so, as we continue to make sure that we do everything we can in black leadership here in san francisco with the dream keeper initiative, with the folks who are working down at community making sure

our people are connected to services, connected to resources, receiving or just doing san francisco, it is also very prevalent that we remember the reparations we were promised that we never received. so we'll keep fighting here in the city to make sure that black people receive their just due. we will make sure we right the wrongs of the past and we will make sure that we achieve equity here as a black community. i just want to say, thank you all for coming to celebrate with us on this second annual juneteenth celebration right here in city hall. as you know, we have a black mayor. as you know, we have a lot of black leadership here in san francisco and we cannot let this be the end of black leadership as we go into the future. [applause]

so, with that said, remember we have a gala tonight, remember we have a celebration in fillmore tomorrow, celebration in bayview sunday. celebrate juneteenth, enjoy yourself, have a good time and make sure you understand the meaning and why we celebrate this now, national holiday. thank you. [applause] give >> give it up one more time for shamann walton. about to get into the music portion. you ready for some music? that was weak. you ready for some music? alright. we are about to get into right now. it is a spiritual with director cheryl evan davis. father daughter dance. our journey continues with jazz with sara and blues

are teri. make noise now for the artists who are about to rock the stage right now. let's go. >> i often blame the mayor for people thinking i can sing. i will ask you all to do me a favor. first and foremost is recognize and understand the role of spiritual in the black experience and so i would say it is a dual purpose in the song and in the singing so i'll ask you to do your best as i'm singing to listen to the words, and think about them with that dual message. on one front, it is about hope, and the belief that things will get better. that it is about whether it happens on this earth or in heaven or in the by and by, and on the other hand it

is hidden message. it is call to freedom, it is call to the underground railroad, it is call to escape, so i'm just going to ask you to be thinking about that as we go through that. i'll ask you all that do believe to be praying. [piano playing and singing]

>> give it up one more time, one more time! for your director cheryl evan davis, lord! [music and singing]

[applause] >> please give it up one more time for rico and

mazia. [applause] [piano playing] [singing]

[applause] >> thank you. so, i think a lot of you might know

this, so go ahead and sing it with me. [piano and singing]

[singing summertime and the living is easy]

please give it up for marcus, dante and george. [singing]

>> give it one more time for sanging. that wasn't singing, that was sanging. everybody alright? we good? alright. you good in the back? i know you are, because we hear you. >> take a moment to

shake that off. that was good. sara. sit in it for a minute. i'm a blues singer. all this music you hear today, it came from the blues. we are the root. i'm going to do a song by one of my favorite blues singers, gospel singer ms. (indiscernible) can you put your hands together? this is message i think everyone needs to hear. [guitar and singing]

[applause]

i'm going to do a song i wrote. you see, we have seen a lot of changes happen around here in the bay area, and this song was inspired when was on facebook, and the police were called on the church for worship ing too loud and there was a drum circle on the lake and they were calling the police on the drummers. this song is entitled, gentrification blues. [drums, guitar, singing]

>> give it up one more time! it is beautiful how we can take pain and make it into just pleasure. i see people using fans now like it is church. it is getting hot, yeah! with that being said, we are about to take it to 1959. take it to a place called detroit, aka the motor city, where there was this brother named berry gordy

who started a company with only $800 and decided to call it motown, home of icon-i was about to say legends but icon like stevie wonder, jackson 5, michael jackson, the supremes and my mama's favorite, marvin. start clapping now for the san francisco theater company. nate the soul singer and ryan. >> how you doing? we got a couple temptation songs for you. you all ready for that? alright, let's go. [singing]

>> thank you thank you thank you. i'm rodney earl jackson, jr., artistic director of the theater company. >> anthony jackson. >> amen, amen, amen. we got one more for you because our wonderful may loves this song but dedicated to all the beautiful black ladies in here. especially looking at dr. cheryl davis and looking at my beautiful mother. alright. alright. i'm going to take the glasses off for this. get into the motown spirit.

[singing i got sunshine by the temptations]

you all know this next part. come on london, i need ya. [singing continued]

>> thank you so much. happy juneteenth!

>> hello everyone. my name is nate the soul singer and i'm going to come to you about r & b music. i'm a r&b artist myself. i had to do studying and get history. r & b music was born in the 40. lewis jordan is one of the first r & b artist with is you is or is you isn't my baby. since we had so much old school i decided to do more in my era which i think you'll all enjoy. r & b music has done

a lot of things. talks about love. talks about heart break. money. having it, wanting it, needing it. my job is to get you all out of you seats today. so, we can party to this r & b music. come on! and of course if you know any of these songs, please sing with me. [singing how will i know by whitney houston]

thank y'all. [applause] and there were groups by the

fugees. [singing killing me softly by the fugees]

>> thank you all. thank you all. while you are on your feet i got one. you all ready? one, two, three! one more time, you all ready? !

[singing outstanding by the gap band]

>> i want to thank you all again. happy juneteenth! keep dancing. keep loving and keep growing. [piano playing] how you all feeling out there san francisco? >> alright. give it

up for -my name is ryan nicole representing hip hop for you all and before we get into it, i want to give history. hiphop started as a protest. it didn't start as a party. we know hip hop music more blinging flashy and ratchet but that isn't how we are going to do it today. is that okay with you all? we are going to start with the word because the word is where hip hop started. it started as spoken word first. do you know we are the center black people are the center. another word for the center is the nexus. right? we make this whole thing go down. we make this whole thing happen, so juneteenth is about freedom and releashing the shackles but first freedom in your

mind. we are the nexus, meaning the freshest, meaning the center of attention, the essence, the light source, indandescence, the shunshine, bright florescent, caept reject it. better if you accept this. elevating position (indiscernible) people stay connected, i am what i am, (indiscernible) [singing]

let's get free. come on. first time being free. we got to get free in the mind. [singing]

[applause] >> thank you. so, hip hop. protest music. hip hop also talks about love. we

going to do some things we don't normally hear on the radio. we are going to do love stuff. i'll do the last song and get out your ways because we have more performances coming up. my name is ryan nicole. this is love song. a little sweet. it ain't but bumping and grinding, even though i'm not mad at that, but i feel you've been inundated with that. can you two step with me now? i'm grown y'all. i can't be bumping and grinding and twurking and all that. my knews hurt. got arthritis. [singing] erking and

all that. my knees hurt. got arthritis. [singing] [applause] >> lord have mercy. give it one more time for ryan nicole! give it up one more time for the san francisco bay area theater company and one last time when a sister tears up a stage like that you have to get her name right, nate, the

soul singer. we would like to also recognize mr. reverend brown. give it up. from the baptist church. you having a good time? you enjoying yourselves? why not because it is evolution of our music so of course you having a good time. i'm about to bring up a sister one more time to make sure she has announcements. start clapping right now had, give it up for ms. felicia jones one more time! [applause] >> yes! the evolution of our music. if you enjoyed yourself, one more time, stand up with your flags in your hand and raise them to the sky like you just don't care. i mean, i'm sitting over there and i'm just like, wow! if

director asked me next year to do this again, it is like wow, what am i going to do, because this has been fabulous. this has been fabulous and can i'm so glad you enjoyed yourselves. we are going to close out with the caribbean vibration. the caribbean vibrations are in the house. uh-huh! they going to show you what they working with. yes! i love them, because my cousin, my first cousin, my second cousin have all danced with this group for over 30 years, and so, she has been asking to come into city hall and i was like, okay. evolution of music, i got to close this out with a bang. i got to close it out, girl. here we are. shawn, you going to introduce them? thank you all so much for coming

and again, i'm so happy you guys enjoyed yourselves and our house! and our house! and our house! and we have to be comfortable and coming into our house by the name of city hall. [applause] >> give it up one more time for ms. felicia jones. i'm go to read this off the bio so wasn't like i wasn't doing my homework but we want to bring them up correct. so, caribbean vibrations launched in 2010. you can start clapping right now. by founder, designer, dance choreographer trisha bell fast williams a native of-not only know for the vibrations and vibrant and beautiful costumes but the

ultimate and authentic carnival experience in northern california representing all caribbean islands. steadily growing and evolving into a powerhouse mass band and focused on our masqueraders. establish a new standard and serving becoming the first all inclusive caribbean carnival group. i don't think you heard me, established as a new standard. becoming the first all inclusive caribbean carnival group in california. caribbean vibration mission is deliver the masquerade with amazing costume, exceptional service and teaching of cultural caribbean dance. ladies and gentlemen, give it up for caribbean vibrations! [applause] >> caribbean vibrations!

>> caribbean vibrations! [music] [singing]

>> my name is tiffany cobb and i

work for the san francisco fire department. i was raised by a single parent. i grew up with a very strong work ethic mental ity. i would like to compare it to a bar back and anticipated the needs and the call. you will provide the needs and complete the call. >> the favorite part of the job is when i can actually connect

with a patient and utilize your people skills as a human being. sometimes it's not a medical need. they just want someone to talk to, someone to listen to and want to be seen as a person and want to be recognized and see them as they are. those are my important calls. i remember being a seven or nine year old girl and never seen anyone like me in a fire engine and that gave me hope that i can do that. there are people like me that can do that job. sometimes people need to feel nurtured and feel safe. i feel like i can bring that to my patients. >> you maybe feel afraid. just

try it out. that's what i did. just never give up. i was told no. i failed the fire academy. i'm still here and i never quit. just learn from your mistakes and never give up on yourself. i'm in station 49. eventually i would like to utilize my skills as a fire paramedic and hopefully become an officer some day. >> for san francisco, i said this in my interview, it's like the new york of the west coast. it has everything i wanted to be a part of. it has ems and has a rich history and blue collar history which i absolutely love.

>> hello everyone. welcome to the bayview bistro. >> it is just time to bring the community together by deliciousness. i am excited to be here today because nothing brings the community together like food. having amazing food options for and by the people of this community is critical to the success, the long-term success and stability of the bayview-hunters point community.

>> i am nima romney. this is a mobile cafe. we do soul food with a latin twist. i wanted to open a truck to son nor the soul food, my african heritage as well as mylas as my latindescent. >> i have been at this for 15 years. i have been cooking all my life pretty much, you know. i like cooking ribs, chicken, links. my favorite is oysters on the grill. >> i am the owner.

it all started with banana pudding, the mother of them all. now what i do is take on traditional desserts and pair them with pudding so that is my ultimate goal of the business. >> our goal with the bayview bristow is to bring in businesses so they can really use this as a launching off point to grow as a single business. we want to use this as the opportunity to support business owners of color and those who have contributed a lot to the community and are looking for opportunities to grow their business. >> these are the things that the san francisco public utilities commission is doing. they are doing it because they feel they have a responsibility to san franciscans and to people in this community. >> i had a grandmother who lived

in bayview. she never moved, never wavered. it was a house of security answer entity where we went for holidays. i was a part of bayview most of my life. i can't remember not being a part of bayview. >> i have been here for several years. this space used to be unoccupied. it was used as a dump. to repurpose it for something like this with the bistro to give an opportunity for the local vendors and food people to come out and showcase their work. that is a great way to give back to the community. >> this is a great example of a public-private community partnership. they have been supporting this including the san francisco public utilities commission and mayor's office of workforce department. >> working with the joint

venture partners we got resources for the space, that the businesses were able to thrive because of all of the opportunities on the way to this community. >> bayview has changed. it is growing. a lot of things is different from when i was a kid. you have the t train. you have a lot of new business. i am looking forward to being a business owner in my neighborhood. >> i love my city. you know, i went to city college and fourth and mission in san francisco under the chefs ria, marlene and betsy. they are proud of me. i don't want to leave them out of the journey. everyone works hard. they are very supportive and passionate about what they do, and they all have one goal in mind for the bayview to survive.

>> all right. >> all right.

>> 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.