the founder of the museum, rupert garcia and then the late renee ines and ralph, who presented and held down that space for so many years. they were joined by other people, including the artist who was the first curator. we moved on people like maria pineta were here to run studio 24. after liz, came catalina and then our own. so i liken it to a very long and bumpy relay run, where we've been passing that baton until we got to this unimaginable moment. this time in which we understand that we are beginning. i call it remembering the future. we are here because someone came before us and someone will come after us. and all of that is but one fabric of memory, of justice, of commitment, of resiliency and of art. there are so many artists in this room today. so many people. i can't see you all. but i know you're here. there was a moment in the making of the history that was one of serious struggle. there was police harassment. what is ironic, that many of the things we talked about then are present now. i have a favorite writer, walter benjamin and he says to articulate the past historical