more than one-third of the population is asian-american and pacific islander. you rock. next speaker is no stranger to this event, but within the last few years, he represented mayor newsome at this very celebration. in january of this year, a new chapter was written when the board of supervisors unanimously voted in city administrator edwin lee to be the mayor of san francisco. he was noted as the best candidate for leading the city for work because of his more than 25 years of experience as a leader in city government. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the hon. edwin m. lee, the mayor of san francisco. [applause] mayor lee: thank you. thank you for that wonderful introduction and thank you for being here. it is the seventh annual celebration. sydney already explained our history, what president carter did for us, and what we are doing for ourselves, joining the whole city and region in celebrating asian-pacific portage month. i am so grateful to the board of supervisors for this whole four months of leaving this great city. i will say once again as i have said throu

census, asians and pacific islanders make up 13.4%. asians have grown 31.5%. native hawaiians and pacific islanders are up 23.4%. a report by the group california watch finds that asians, native haynes and pacific islanders are largest populations in four counties. they are all here in the bay area. alameda at 27%. san francisco 33.7%. san mateo, 26.2% and santa clara 32.4%. >> the census shows the majority population in 28 cities and cupertino and milpitas 63%. staggering numbers. and we want to introduce our guest. president and ceo of asian-americans for community involvement. community based organization focuses on asians in santa clara county and mike is the daly city city councilmember and former mayor and steve is a trial lawyer and member of the board of trustees at the san francisco community college district. you are involved in some civil rights organizations. let's take a closer look at the census figures we were talking about. california being 13.35% asian right now is it a steady growth? >> i think that air yanks from throughout the world. you ha

law caucus and other asian lawyers and asian law students protesting the admissions criteria, the elimination from the admissions criteria. and there was janana here r invitingly and other attorneys to go on her show to talk about that. i remember that very first interview. the microphone was stuck in my face. "as a first-year law school student, what do you think of this?" and i went, "community." that was all i could say. but i remember jan, and i have watched you for so many years progress over so many different topics. both david and janana in my opinion are the media heroes i grew of with, and they continue even today to the marvelous job of continuing to inspire everybody, bring the news, the stories, the culture forward, so it is my privilege tonight, in light of their accomplishments, to announce that for the very first time, in these awards that we are announcing tonight, that we will be announcing both of them as our winners for the lifetime achievement award finalists. [applause] congratulations. and please come on up here. [applause] [applause]

and i want to thank those of you who are not asian on the outside but our asian on the inside. [applause] thank you for being part of the richness of who we are common here in san francisco. and i want to thank all of you who are the community leaders of this wonderful city that was founded as col down. we know we have had struggles over the decades and have accomplished many things. but i want to take a moment to say a quick thanks to those of you who are working to make sure that our asian american brothers and sisters, and grandparents who are still living in sro's, i want to thank you for the work you are doing for them. the work we are doing for asian- american brothers and sisters who still today may not have health insurance or child care. for young people who may not have access to the youth services they need. or to our grandparents who may not have access to the prescription drugs or senior services that they need. we have come a long way but we have a long way to go. i just want to thank you in this year of 2011 are coming together as a community for the work we have

and media partners, abc-7, a.m. 1400, asian week.com, comcast, and choir.net, ktsf tv, s.f. gov tv, the examiner and world channel. thank you so much for your support. [applause] and if you're -- this celebration also received the support of so many individuals as well as professional small businesses and community organizations. you'll see their names listed on the screen and in the program book. and on the website. a.p.a. -- apasf.org. those attending this celebration for the past few years, we have been treated to so many fabulous and unique ethnic, cultural performances. this year, certainly no exception. the northern california cherry blossom festival just celebrated its 44th year. during which the 2011 queen and court was selected. so tonight, the 2011 court will perform their opening number from the queens program, choreographed by mickey nowitzki and music by shina ringo entitled ringo uotota. please welcome the 2011 northern california cherry blossom court. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] >> thank you once again. the 2011 cherry blossom court. a beautiful performanc

asian americans have a lot. thank you. [applause] president chiu: another supervisor has two from his district. supervisor farrell: what can i say? i'd like to bring two of. if you both who are here, and maria is accompanied by her daughter here today, as well. i will keep this shorter. just to let you know about maria, i got to know her on the campaign trail, and i got to know her. this was about empowering individuals. there was a board member and board chair. multi-cultural child care organizations, for affordable child care services. teachers, children, and their families to have a learning environment that allows children to develop to their full potential, and while serving as board share for the child care services. she is also a 10-year board member and chair person for the bay area business development center, which is for eight business loan guarantee. the in power steering entrepreneurs to end poverty with microfinance loans and help low-income entrepreneurs grow their business, and by 2010, gumball capital had

as asian-americans in this country. as we look toward the new year, i think we can say that the asian-american community has come far in san francisco since we first started immigrating here in the 1950's, and there were many challenges for our community, beginning with the first exclusion act, immigration and for men and women that came for san francisco, to labor issues, and also segregation that we faced. and that was then brought forward as a court case to look at what it means to be equal but separate in our public schools. there is much work we have done here, and now we see we have our first asian-american mayor, the first time we have seen four asian american sitting on the board of supervisors. it is certainly an honor and privilege for me to be here today. i want to recognize the history not only of our communities, but of many communities that have fought for us to be here today. again, happy new year. thank you for being here and joining in on the celebration. [applause] >> thank you, supervisors. assessor p

asian-american communities as well. we were joined a few minutes ago by several of our school board members. i know as a former member of the school board -- jane kim as well -- they serve our communities well. one thing that mayor ed lee brought up, for me, personally, lunar new year was a time to get together with family. i remember my grandmother cooking all of the great new year food. it brought us together but it was also an opportunity to share our culture with others, bring more unity among all of our communities. half the lunar new year to everyone and let's unite our communities together. thank you. [applause] >> good evening, my name is carmen chu. i will keep my message brief. i want to wish everyone a happy lunar new year. again, this is a time that is important to many of merit -- asian-american families because of the importance of bringing together family. i think we can all replicate this, the matter what community we live in. so i want to say happy new year. [speaking chinese] [applause] >> good evening

mayor of oakland, the first asian mayor of oakland, and the first asian- american woman elected as mayor of any major city in the united states. she and ed lee, the first asian american mayor of san francisco, make a rare and great hair. their selection indicates progress. slow progress, but progress nonetheless. our mayor is a woman of many firsts. she was the first asian-american woman elected to the open school board and the first to the oakland city council. but always first are the people that she serves. a 32-year oakland resident, she has dedicated her life to making government work for people. her experience and inspiration came from the civil and human rights struggles of the 1960's, as did ed lee's, my own, and their number of people in this room. personal history is important. her history, determination to deal with the complex histories in the world give us a lot of hope for the struggles facing our city. her soft-spoken manner, her campaign style, her work ethic, her focus and ability to connect with everyday citizens, plus, her truly amazing energy. she is everywhere and al

and this is a show where the asians and the asian americans in the show are not necessarily portrayed as villains. there are villains... there's the good guys, and there's the villains. or what is perceived as the villain. because stereotypically a lot of asian actors in a lot of american shows would be maybe the triad leaders, or gang leaders, or what. but with this, the romantic lead is asian, the romantic lead, the leading lady is asian, and george takai is the lead guy. >> hinojosa: what i love is the fact that you are here, this international star. because your music, you've, like, what, gone multiplatinum on who knows how many records? but you still have to go in sometimes and read for a part. >> yeah. >> hinojosa: right? >> absolutely. >> hinojosa: you still have to do that. and people might not know this, because, you know... >> i still have to audition. >> hinojosa: ...people don't necessar... i always watch all of the credits on everything, especially because i have kids. whenever i go see anything animated i want to see who did the voices. >> right. >> hinojosa: you did the

we welcome you for celebrating the asian heritage month.ay, we will be recognizing 12 hard-working community leaders from our districts. supervisor farrell apparently picked two from his district, but these are people who have measurable and distinct successes in our asian american communities. the criteria was individuals to provide a platform for promoting communications and connections within the apa group or the broader community or those who have been providing a voice for the asian pacific american community and for providing issues that are of importance to the community or for those who have been promoting civic engagement for the asian-this of american community, and i just want to say that it is wonderful to see everyone in our chambers. obviously, in the city and county of san francisco, we have had a 165 year history, and it is great to continue that tradition before we start, i would like to take the opportunity to recognize the chair of the asian-pacific american celebration committee. i want to thank you for your hard work, a

that was important for me as a young person, not having role models who were asian-american, knowing that we had a history of making change, positive change, for this country. that is why i think it is important for us to recognize community leaders to continue to be part of that history. i am very lucky, being here today, and many of the books that have mentored me and my family here in san francisco are in this room, and i just want to acknowledge all of them. today, i get to recognize a young leader in our community, someone who came into a leadership in an unexpected way. steve is not a resident of district 6, but i was so inspired by his story and what he has done in such a short time, i thought it was important to recognize him. a 20-old city college nursing student, washington high school and france's middle school grad, and an active member of aspire, asian students from an immigrant rights, an organization for young in asia- pacific students. many of you have read about his story. on september 15, 2010, he learned for the first time the truth about his residency from ice off

putting the pacific islander in asian pacific islander. welcome to the board of supervisors' chambers. i am so humble to bestow this simple expression of love and gratitude. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome -- [applause] >> i think i can fate now. -- faint now. i am humbled for this honor. who would think? my mother came from samoa as a single woman and raised two kids. we never left these housing projects for five or six years. when we moved, we always seemed to move around district 10, never leading district 10. 54 years old and i'm still in district 10. that says a lot for my community service. i worked 23 years in the hotel industry and it was a job. this was because of the disability. i became disabled and i did volunteer work. that has been the most in powering work i have ever done. -- empowering work i have ever done. to give back to my culture, to learn about different cultures. my family is, do you ever want to come home? you can never believe the flexibility of all of these different communities. they ask me, aren't you kind

for the asian art museum, which is responsible for determining policy for the administration of our asian art museum, the city's duel that holds one of the most comprehensive collections of asian art in the western world. jim, you will be joining 26 commissioners who all share a fellowship based on the conviction that the asian art museum is unique, the best of its kind, and a tremendous asset to our city. your expertise will be a substantial supplement to the work of your fellow commissioners, and notably, your background in finance and work cochairing the campaign for the san francisco ballet will be an extremely welcome asset. like all the other commissioners, the import work done by the 27 commissioners, the strength of the museum greatly benefit our whole city. it enhances our quality of life, a reputation as a cultural center, and also -- an important point -- city appealed that brings in visitors and millions of dollars a year. thank you for your work and for what you will be doing with the commission. thank you for being here. [applause] on the commission of the status -- on the s

yet five ceos are asian or island pacificers.here is it in the "real world." >> not to be controversial here, but, listen, we all have expectations, i'm the product of two very different expectations being the asian side and hispanic side. >> your dad is dominican. >> my mother. >> the thing is with the hispanic culture, for example, they're very low education rates and the expectations there are very low. when it comes to the asian expectations in the workforce, we are excelling just as we did in school, but the problem becomes the personality that folks say or look at and say, you know, this person doesn't look like what i'm used to seeing a ceo look like, they don't see that and is does that hurt the personality traits that you need, are they there in your culture beyond the book learning? >> that's a lesson i learned early on out of college. >> well, jeff, it's interesting because the battle hymn of the tiger mother, which was the parent extreme parenting story has translate under to the battle scars of the tiger children and

i do remember the asian law caucus, by the way. 39 years, the celebration was friday. you were there. is truly an honor, and thank you for coming to celebrate this month. all of you and your presence means so much to those of us on stage and those of us especially being recognized with an award. it takes a community after all to move our voices forward, to move our issues forward, and you are all part of that community. whether you are the part of the community at the forefront making laws, whether you are the part of the community in the corporate forefront, and thank you to target and everyone in the corporate community. we certainly need you. and whether you are in a public service community. we certainly need you. those of us in the broadcast community -- i think david and i have truly said so many years that we need to have a voice, and we would encourage anyone to have that voice. and it has been an honor for me to be part of the voice to move the issue that we think is so important forward in terms of television. and those of us inside the broadcasting world hav

i can go off and preach about the fact they think so many of us asian american authors and asian authors in general tend to go back and write about our ancestors and write about things in our past not our specific past but may be of of ancestors and mothers and grand mothers. we have been telling their story. i think the generation to come, will be telling stories of living here. it will be different stories. but the oppression of our voices have been for so many, many years, if you think back the first writer who was read in terms of asian american was maxine kingston. i read her in high school and was greatly affected by reading about the woman warrior. before her there were few. there were some but didn't make that economic splash. they were never read in a large way. maxine was the first one we read her in school we knew of her. she was not out there like anny tan was when she wrote the joy luck club. so much of it is timing. it meant all the history and the voices before then had been silent. my generation of writers came in and we heard stories of women and men and the family of a

we have had numerous meetings in collaboration with asian law caucus and the aclu on recommendations regarding civilian oversight of the law localjttf. the joint venture will combat possible acts of terrorism. it is memorialized in the memorandum of understanding between the parties. the issue of these joint terrorism task forces and their implication on civil-rights is a topic of discussion in many u.s. cities going on right now in portland and in oakland. you may have read the recent "chronicle "sports article -- " chronicle" article as well. a serious terrorism threat was uncovered after a city council resolution a few weeks ago. portland is the only incident of a local jurisdiction opting out of the jttf that we know of in the united states. issues we are facing now, as described in the recommendation, is not whether we should opt out, but whether we need -- what we can do to ensure that officers involved in activities have strong civilian oversight of their activities and report activities through the established civilian oversight mechanisms and procedures defined in 8.10. rece

welcome to the asian art museum. the museum's collections and programs represent more than 40 countries in asia and span more than 6000 years of history. our mission is to lead a global audience in discovering asian art and culture. so we are thrilled that san francisco will host the third apex senior's meeting in september. we hope to welcome many attendees to the museum and offer a place where they can relax and learn and feel at home. so please tell them about this wonderful museum and the wonderful programs going on at that time. we thank the city of san francisco, state of california, and other partners for bringing this event to the bay area and the bay area council for making this a success. we look forward to further strengthening our ties to asia. it is now my pleasure to introduce san francisco mayor edwin lee. mayor li was sworn into office in january and became -- lee was sworn into office in january and became the first asian american mayor of san francisco. as a commissioner, i had the pleasure of atten

concerns of surveillance, racial and religious profiling of arabs, middle eastern, muslim, and south asian communities and potential reactivation of sfpd intelligence gathering." >> when several members of the police commission attended the original meeting, september 23, 2010, there were concerns addressed by the public regarding their perceptions about what the police department is doing in their participation with the joint terrorism task force and other concerns. these are things that affect their life. these concerns were taken to heart by the police commission. when we received the report, there are allegations in the support, but there are not factual findings. there are concerned. these concerns have escalated to the point where the police commission feels we need to address these concerns. in doing so, background. how did we get here this evening? there has been work between the issuance of this report and to night's hearing. under the direction of the director of the human rights commission, theresa sparks, we probably had a good 8 to 10 meetings involving different participants.

this is also an historic day for the asian-american community. for a community that has been here in san francisco for over 160 years, i am a product of that community. i know that ed and all of us who are of asian-american descent feel the legacy. and i want to thank all of you who have been part of this historic moment to make this happen. and say that this is obviously not just about a chinese american community or an asian-american community. this is about the american dream. the idea that anyone from any background of any color from any part of the globe can come here and someday be at the very top of what our community is about. [applause] in closing, i also want to just say that this is an historic moment because we have overseen the orderly transition of leadership. what we have done at the board here at city hall is what separates a democratic society from less democratic ones. free communities from less free ones. we have overseen a truly orderly and wonderful transition of leadership from our lieutenant governor, gavin newsom, to our n