and a new chapter in asian pacific american history when he was elected as the city's first asian-americandies and gentlemen -- all right, join me in welcoming mayor edwin m. lee. [applause] you have your own crowded back there. the m. in your middle name stand s for ma. >> thank you all for coming. i'm glad to be here on the eighth time we've celebrated this, and want to give a thank- you for helping us put this on. thank you! and of course, i join here as part of an official city family. thank you for being here. he is joined by supervisors carmen chu, jane kim, and eric mar. our elected officials, jeff adachi, the public defender, the recorder assessor, hydra mendoza, and emily murase. we're also thankful for the chief of police, thank you. i would like to also acknowledges someone that has been a very special friend of mine, someone that has given me a lot of support and advice over the years. and also someone who has not missed one of these asian pacific heritage month associations, mayor willie brown. >> this evening, we are celebrating our communities from all over the world. i am s

he was talking about the pan asian family. he spoke about not being a san franciscan, but serving san francisco. i was born and raised here. and extremely proud of that i went to school with some of your children or grandchildren, leases or nephews. the public school system as one of the most aversive systems here. it will probably give some of us, one of us are run for our money in a few years. but i don't want to show up david chiu or eric mar with the chinese i have been working on. i have been under the direct tutelage of the mayor. i want to say thank-you to the whole entire committee. when this heritage month represents is a solidarity had togetherness that we seem to have mastered in san francisco. it is honor to serve the community. he is from my district. i love you, thank you. i want to acknowledge everyone, it is a pleasure. >> i would like the members of the board tuesday for a few minutes. every year, we put on this campaign, which is a great reception up to the ceremony, we could not have done it without the supp

the asian weak foundation has been working the last eight years on the asian heritage fund. we're glad that on saturday we will be joining with the asian art museum and target stores and cloudy and to hold the asian american street celebration, the largest gathering of asians in america. it happens in front of city hall and the art museum. over 100,000 people will be here on 10 city blocks. we are proud we also have the largest event for asian- americans in the city. thank you for being here today. i want to commend mayor lee and all of san francisco for taking leadership in the asian-american community. they care very much. -- thank you very much. [applause] >> this is what i have been waiting for. i will like to bring up the co- chairs -- before i do that, i want to thank target one more time. they are the sponsor of many of our major events during the month. i would like to bring up the co- chairs of our awards committee to make the announcement. >> let's give claudine a big round of applause again. [applause] there are 3 co-chairs this year. let's give her a round of app

the asian business alliance, asian law alliance, the asian pacific american leadership institute, chinese-americantural association, chinese american political association, citizens for better community, culture to culture, why in the chamber of commerce of northern care of -- kawai and chamber of commerce of northern california, northern california chinese athletic association, national association of american professionals, national federation of independent business, national federation of filipino americans, the filipino chamber of commerce, around of applause for all of our community partners, please. that was a lot. [applause] >> i am so glad he had to do that. our next speaker is u.s. congressmen. he is representing the 15th congressional district of california in the u.s. house of representatives. in congress, he is a member of the powerful house appropriations and budget committee. share of the democratic caucuses, new media working group, house democratic senior went, and the original author of the equity and excellence commission now housed in the u.s. department of education. his distr

in partnership with the asian pacific fund. target has been a sponsor the last few years hand-held allows students to share their individual stories, and anyone who was there yesterday would be moved. it was amazing to hear their stories of growing up asia and in america. today, we had the opportunity to visit a couple of elementary schools. these are schools with a high student population and we donated four boats each student. all of which were written by an asian author. it was a great way to partner with schools to celebrate asian it heritage month and impress upon them the future of education. we're fortunate enough to bring one of the authors to the school, kristi yamaguchi. i recognize her as a gold medalist. the student recognized her as a champion from dancing with the stars. education is the heart of targets of living. target is on track for 1 billion dollars in education giving. we are responsible for the asian heritage street fair. i am so proud to be part of a target and got out of our involvement with the asian co

we have the first asian-american actress in hollywood. the first asian-american nba player. the first members of congress. these interns are the future of our community. they are the reason why we are here today. we're also here to celebrate and recognize one of the greatest members of our community. this year it is the first year we are giving the lifetime achievement award. the lifetime achievement award this year is going to secretary norman manetta. he is a trailblazer. a man who paved the way for many of us. he was the first asian-american mayor of a major city. he was elected to congress 10 times. he was the first person to serve two presidents in a cabinet. first as secretary of commerce to president clinton, secretary of transportation to president bush. it was on 9/11 that secretary mineta showed us what he was made of. he made the call to ground all of the planes. it was secretary mineta who instituted the policy is -- policies at tsa. it was secretary mineta who prevented the profiling of arab- americans and muslim americans in our country. tonight, we honor secre