Transcripts For SFGTV APA 20240703

Good evening and welcome to San Francisco 20th annual aapi celebration. My brother from another mother al perez and thomas. [applause] im also help over see theso just want to put a plug in. How about a round of applause for the dancers from the legacy of the pacific and Polynesian Group for opening for tonight program and dancing. Big applause. [applause] the Pacific Islanders are made up of diverse ethnicities and the dance we saw celebrates the spirit of the tribe. What a treat and thank you. Thank you grace. Good evening. My name is al perez from the filipino parade and festival. Excited about this years celebration because it is the 20th anniversary. Im proud to be a Filipino American and working toorgt with all my aapi brothers and sisters able to put together a Community Celebration year after year for the aapi family. Tonight we are going to honor two amazing organizations for their milestone achievements and two Exceptional Individuals for their impact in our city. It is just like the oscars. We hope you will enjoy this evenings program. Thank you. Hi, everyone. My name is thomas lee and this year is very special because this is my 10th year volunteering for this organization. [applause] thank you. This celebration does not come together without the hard dedication of our volunteers. It is not just me and grace and al, but a whole team of them. We are very very proud of our dedicated volunteers, generous sponsors and Community Organizations that make this happen. Putting together the celebration is a volunteer effort that is thankless and sometimes yearround it feels like we get calls throughout the year, but we are very very proud of what we put together and planning process. We are also grateful to all the volunteers this evening between here and city hall. We have over a hundred volunteers working to make sure everyone has a great time and enjoyable experience. Lets give a round of applause for our amazing volunteers in the house. [applause] and so, weulse also want to take the time to recognize our official celebration partners, the Asian Art Museum [indiscernible] art and cultural programs they are offering throughout the month of may. Please do check out the celebration guide at apa sf. Org for a list of all 24 programs now it gives great pleasure to turn over tonights program, please give a warm welcome to deonserved as mistrss of ceremony a couple years and ago and want to welcome her back. Lets give a big applause. Thank you so much. Once again, a wonderful round of applause for our cochairs. [applause] this is such a special event for me. It always feels like a big family reunion. It is hard to keep me down because im waiving and saying hi, and catching up. I want here last year because many know i was very very pregnant and barely moving let alone being on a stage unfront of all you. Im a news anchor for abc in San Francisco and dedicated so much of my story telling to amplifying voices in our community. This year being in front of you all on this stage means a lot. Especially because i is a 9 month old now at home and i look at his face and think to myself, he is half chinese and look everyone in this theater. This is his community. He gets to grow up in this, surrounded by allies and friends and people who will amplify his story and celebrate his heritage. So, please without further ado, will everyone stand for the National Anthem . [single National Anthem] [applause] unbelievable. Who else has goose bumps right about now . The anthem was performed by, wait for it, 13 year old aliana yang. [applause] be prepared to feel very unplished when i tell you about here, because she is a multiaward winning vockal ist who sang at vatican city andonce again, a round of applause for aliana. [applause] before wree beginning history, because i feel not enough people truly understand. Back in 1979, president jimmy carter signed into law a joint resolution of congress declaring a week in may as Asian American Heritage Week and this celebration was then expanded to law to include the entire month of may. In San Francisco the celebration began in 2005 when then mayor gavin newsom supported a idea of annual official celebration that included all Asian Pacific islander communities. Here in San Francisco where more then a third of population is Asian American, we continue to show the nation how to properly celebrate Asian American pacific ilander heritage month. The planning of the celebration for our city is a collection of efforts from the members of the apa Heritage Celebration Committee in partnership with the apa heritage foundidation. A Non Profit Organization dedicated to securing sponsorship and resources to support this annual celebration. At this time, we like to welcome a woman who lives, eats and breathes this celebration. I know from personal experience not just working with her, but the fact i happen to be on muturnty leave and met up with her while in hawaii and i asked her, i said, what are you doing after this . She did want say im going to the beach. She said i got to get ready and off she wrent. This person is the president of the apa Heritage Foundation and coordination of the Community Celebration, please give a warm welcome to cladine chang. [applause] im supposed to be from hawaii. Aloha. Thank you for joining us this evening. Some might have read in todays San Francisco examiner about how this celebration got started, and the description is it was spontaneous serendipity. It is how we got started was a very casual conversation i had with mayor gavin newsom back in 2005, and i talk about, oh, we have 1 3 of the demographic being Asian American pacific americans how come we dont celebrate apa and at the time the mayor said, lets do it. It was true it was very spontaneous, but the celebration did place from year to year. That ongoing effort is totally intentional. Because all of us involved in this voluntary effort to put together the celebration feels very strongly that we want a celebration of the month to be part of San Francisco tradition. That it goes on generation to generation. That every year, we talk about how can we be bigger and how can we be better and what does that mean . It means every year we want to continue to reach out to diverse ethnicities within the apa family that have not been involved. That means to expand the circles of communities to include everyone and we mean everyone. I was supposed to be speaking on behalf of the committee, but i just want to share a personal anecdote. So, about two weeks ago, while working on this event, i receive an email and got a call and it was the representative for mrs. Black, california usa and after the conversation i feel like, right on, becauseshe wanted to come and speak to us, she wanted to participate in the program and i feel so happy. I feel so excited because i feel that is exactly the kind of outreach, exactly the kind of what we want between the diverse population in the city. So, many people have asked recently how does it feel in the 20th year. Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday. Sometimes 20years can be a long time. But i think about those two organizations we were honoring this evening. The two amazing educational institutions. One is 50 years and the over over a hundred, so aapparently we have a long way to go, but i do feel and i think i can speak for our committee to say, that we very very very positive and very optimistic this celebration is going to continue and why . The reasons are very simple. Why . Because we have people like you coming to this celebration and we thank you. Because we somewhere wonderful celebration partners such as the Asian Art Museum, the San Francisco Public Library celebrating all over the city and the most amazing biggest Asian American festival in the country. How can we go wrong, we have amazing partners and many many more and if you go to the celebration guide at our website this year, we have over 5060 programs throughout the month of may for different generations there is something for everybody. And we are very optimistic and positive because we have sponsors, because we have our Media Partners and we have all our volunteers. We can do it. F this is really a all volunteer effort all these years. It is true, we dont have a office, we dont have staff, but we have our volunteers and our passion, our passion we want to make this happen every year. It is very challenging to capture the 20 years journey in a couple of minutes, but so we decided in celebration of this 20 year, that we are going to produce a 20th anniversary video with the intent to capture some of the history, the driving forces behind the celebration and to talk about the spirit of community. The theme of the celebration this year is moving Forward Together. You are going to hear a lot about these three words in the next hour, moving Forward Together. We meant it 20years ago and meant it all the more now. I havent seen the video on the big screen so so happy we are going to watch it together. Lets celebrate together. Lets roll the video. Thank you. [applause] well come to the heart of diversity and community. San francisco celebrating two decades of Asian American Pacific Islander heritage month celebration. As we reflect on the past and look towards the future we proudly stand at quauss roads of culture, tradition and shared spirit of moving Forward Together. Welcome everybody to city hall. Peoples palace the first celebration began as Asian Pacific American Heritage week, may 4, 1979 when president carter signed a joint resolution of congress into law. Proclamation 4650 to commemorate the contributions and accomplishments of Asian Pacific americans. For the first 12 years the celebration was one week long which expanded to include the month of may in 1991. The San Francisco celebration launched in 2005 when gavin newsom embraced the idea of coordinated city wide celebration and establishment of a Community Celebration committee. The Aapi Community is very diverse. Opportunity to showcase uniqueness of each tradition and at the same time, strengthen the Aapi Community as a whole. Aapi heritage month has become a special time during which we pay tribute to those who pave the way. It great to be here, great to start off the month of may for many reasons and this is why our city is so special and have all you here. I want to have a great welcome to all of you to start the celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage month for everyone. Inspire change. It is celebration of unity and strength and all the contributions that help shape our City Cultural mosaic, a city that welcomes all. I dont think there is occasion i have not been a part of it and just delighted to continue that tradition. The theme moving Forward Together. Very descriptive of what has occurred in this city over the years. The great benefit this city has received, culturally, economically and every way from the participation of Asian Americans, asian californians, Pacific Islanders it is frankly incredible. The city would not be what it is and probably nor the state without that incredible contribution. The journey to building a Stronger Community is not without challenges as evidenced by challenges posted by the covid pandemic and rise in antiasian hate which the community continued to experience since the first arrival of immigrants from asia in the mid1800s. Because of the challenges it was a clear and collective desire to build a Strong Network of support, a more cohesive community. One of the main purpose of the celebration is bring our communities togethers. In 2018, this annual Community Celebration reached a special milestone. Asian art museum and San Francisco Public Library joined the apa Heritage Foundation as official celebration partners. It is our hope that the Success Stories inspire all of us to continue to make our Community Contributions and to inspire the next generation to dream, to create, and to continue to make a difference. With each year, Many Organizations offer celebration programs and this year we celebrate the 20 anniversary, over 160 community and Non Profit Organizations have joined in the celebration by promoting Public Awareness of the month. And what are we celebrating . Aapi heritage month. About embracing ethnic identities fostering togetherness of the community known as what is a joy to be here with our Asian Pacific islander communities from all over San Francisco. When we talk about moving Forward Together, thats moving forward in community. Thats moving forward by celebrating and sharing our diversity,b which is always been a part of San Francisco strength. [applause] join us join us Come Celebrate with us this year as we celebrate the 20anniversary we want to invite everyone to join in the celebration. Im just delighted to say happy 20 anniversary. Moving Forward Together. Appreciate the differences, focus on what we have in common. [indiscernible] continue to build and strengthsen community connection. Aapi heritage month means community, resilience and support within all our cultural communities. Sharing our cultures together as one. The differences and the similarities and celebrating together. Moving Forward Together together moving Forward Together. Lets celebrate together [music playing] [applause] what a uplifting production. I hope you were all inspired and so incredibly proud of your Community Watching those 7 minutes. The apa Heritage Celebration Committee would like to take a moment now to thank sfgovtv, their team, producer and his crew. All the mayors, the community, the participants. Also steven gong, Asian American media for advice along 24 way. Please give all them a round of applause for making this happen. [applause] alright. Now that we are all inspired we were backstage making a joke about the eagle landed, but maybe should make a introduction and say the panda landed because to a woman we see a awful lot these days who happens to be in the news for american reasons especially after securing those pandas, please welcome San Francisco mayor london breed. [applause] alright. We got to bring the energy up this room. How many of us are excited about cam fest . [applause] how many of us are excited about the great programs at our San Francisco Public Library . [applause] and lets not forget about the Asian Art Museum, our amazing partner in the work we are doing here as well. [applause] you know, it is so great to be here and so many people are celebrating some tremendous milestones. Just this year we are celebrating the apa heritage month creation, 20 years, that is like all most my age. We are also celebrating a hundred years forcelebrating 50 years ofmayor willie brown has turned 90. [applause] and rose chung, you look like you are 20 years old too. Congratulations to each and every one of the honorees and the people who do extraordinary work for the city and county of San Francisco. We are so grateful and honored to be here as well celebrating with our consul generals from all over the world [applause] the people joining us today are those from indoughnesia, japan, singapore, the philippines, brazil, spain and china. Could our consul generals please stand . [applause] thank you for your work and your partnership with our city and we have a whole bunch of elected officials here as well. I want to take this moment to especially recognize and thank cladine chang. 20 years ago she had a vision to bring all the communities together for a celebration that shares our values that celebrates community that uplift and creates a opportunity for us to learn from one another, but to also talk about the strength of what makes San Francisco stronger. This city was built by so many people in our api community. We are celebrating one of the best and most fierce japantown anywhere in the country. One of only three left in the u. S. [applause] San Francisco has the oldest chinatown in the United States as well [applause] and we know the challenges and struggles of our Filipino Community and they still have a presence in the south of market, and this city was built by so many of our people from our diverse api communities, so it is only appropriate that we celebrate the month of may as a way to recognize the extraordinary cultures, the extraordinary talents, and also uplift the communities and especially the things that unit us and bring us together. Im so happy and grateful to be here with all of you to officially declare the month of may in San Francisco apa heritage month [applause] before we sign the official proclamation with all of our elected leaders and folks from the state level, including [indiscernible] those down to the local level and those once mayor and still kind of is mayor to a certain extent, i want to thank our City Attorney david chui, he will be handing out some awards to the honorees on my behalf and i want to say to all of those again who are joining us here today for this celebration, thank you all for what each and every one of you does to make San Francisco an extraordinary place for each and every one of us. So, lets sign this proclamation and get going with the festivities [applause] [applause] [applause] the mayor would like to take a second pictures with members of the consul, please join us. [applause] thank you again to cladine, for your vision, leadership, for community for 19 years. Also, thanks to mayor breed, the mayor office staff, city officials, all of your presence here today and continued support is what keeps us all going. Now, tonights celebration could not be made possible without the support and commitment of our generous business and community sponsors. At this time i like to take a moment to recognize our major sponsors starting with our heritage champion sponsors. Amazon, us bank, wamo and wells fargo, thank you all so much. [applause] the San Francisco giants, go giants. Our heritage patron sponsors, sutter health. [applause] our heritage partner sponsors, Chinese Hospital and cchp health plan. [applause] [indiscernible] llp. Japan Center Garage cooperation. [applause] kaiser permanente. [applause] and golden state warriors, go warriors [applause] we are also so grateful and so thankful to heritage friends and Family Communities supporters. We have a significant inkind supporters. Look in tonights program book to see a entire list and can also find it at our website. Thank you all once again for supporting this Community Celebration. Give everyone who you recognize a round of applause. [applause] now to someone else who finds himself on air often. Phil tang presenting a resolution. We have supervisor connie chan has a last minute commitment but we have in her place the president of the board of supervisors, aaron peskin. Please come to the stage. [applause] thank you. So great to kick off apa heritage month today in San Francisco. The 20th anniversary of this amazing avent and we so many honorees and groups we are welcoming together and what started as a Small Community here in San Francisco has become all most 40 percent of our city in a much more diverse api community then we ever had before. I just wanted to take a time to just shout out to the amazing honorees. We have the wamay school a few blocks from my house in the sunset doing bilingual Early Education for our community and really leading the way for so many years. It was just few months ago we were atreally kicking off the renovation of this Japanese Language School and worked to make sure we are preserving japanese culture. Yes, you can shout out. [applause] japanese culture, japanese heritage at a community who really was just devastated during world war ii and survived and risen from the ashes and made sure we are honoring our japanese heritage here in San Francisco. Rose chung, i think the mayor said it right. We are celebrating her 20th birthday today . There is a birthday cake here for rose chung who is one of the most unsung, hardworking heroes. Shes one of my women of the year who ill be honoring in a few weeks and really just someone who is tireless and doesnt really appreciateshe is here tonight but not looking forward to being honored. Then of course, we have our mayor or in sacramento call him speaker willie brown who made such an enormous contribution to our city, our state, our country. I always joke to colleagues, mayor brown has forgotten more about politics then most of us will ever know. Thank you very much mayor brown for everything you contributed to the Apa Community so really appreciate that. Of course, cladine chang a incredible leader. Thought up the idea and brought together our community. All facets of the community. A very Diverse Community doing a variety of Different Things and this is the one place we can come to celebrate all that heritage. In that thought, our api legislative caucus just last month introduced resolution 171 to recognize the festival for the first time in the state legislative history. Why is that so important . Thailands viberant new year celebration and observed in louse, cambodia, as well as parts of vietnam, china so acknowledging the thai new year is a facet making sure we are recognizing all of our apa communities here in california. So, let me invite cladine to come up and grace thomas, al perez and grace. A resolution to plent on behalf of the state thanking the four of them for their amazing work. Can we just give it up for [applause] grace is working up front. Can we get grace to come out . She is working . We are not going to stop grace. [applause] again, happy apa heritage month. Lets have a great celebration today. [applause] Assembly Member ting, mayor breed, former mayor brown to my many colleagues for whom i speak that are gathered here today, supervisors stefani, chan, engardio, dorsey and i, the lights are bright. If im mising any of you i apologize, but on behalf of the entire board of supervisors, let me say this, Gold Mountain is rich, not only for investment it attracts, but for the incredible history of the api community and the institutions that it has fostered that go back to the earliest day s of the founding of the city and county of San Francisco. I had the honor and delight of representing the Northeast Corner of the city and San Franciscos chinatown where organizations like the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association have been around a century and a half. Organizations like the Chinese Hospital, originally the dispensary have been around since the 1890s and the list goes on. But, as Assembly Member ting said, San Francisco has welcomed individuals and corporations that we have done business with from all over the pacific rim. Earlier this year we ushered the opening of the korean center, embraced the Samoan Community center, the cam center. For me this st. The bookends of my time in office. I was here in 2005 when i was but a young supervisor as this was launched by cladine chancand chang and now in my last year as a member of the board of up supervisor have the honor. To the honorees Assembly Member ting spoke to. A hundred years. And then of course, willie lewis brown, ageless. [laughter] and to rose chung, who i had the pleasure of befriending when we both ran for the same office 25 years ago and then joined me in my office where we worked together on behalf of the Asian American community of all communities in San Francisco. You have been my inspiration and are most deserved of the Community Inspiration award you are getting this evening. To cladine chang, your praises have been sung and appropriately so but must also add thomas lee who has been faithfully by your side and aided you for the last 20 years. Thank you thomas. Thank you to everybody who helped make this such a incredible event that we look forward to every year. I promise to join you in one capacity or another for many years to come. Cladine, on behalf of my colleagues give you and thomas and the rest of the api heritage month crewthere we go. Come on up. [applause] [applause] to aaron and phil, thank you for your continued support and for those presentations. Alright. I think it is time for the apa heritage awards presentation. Now, every year, what happens is the apa Heritage Foundation honors organizations that focus on promoting and preserving aapi history. Art, culture and also achieved significant milestones in their mission and in their longevity. To present the awards to our two milestone organizations this year and also the Community Inspiration award, please welcome City Attorney david chui. [applause] we also like to invite dennis yee, chair of the awards committee to join the presentation as well. [applause] good evening San Francisco. Happy apa heritage month and welcome back to the Asian American academy awards. It is so amazing to look out on to all of you and see the beautiful mosaic that represents the diversity of our Apa Community and as your first Asian American City Attorney i want to say how proud i am along with all the leaders here in this room to be part of the most historic cultural and social Asian American capital in the country. Without further ado, let us bring up our First Community milestone award. I are want to invite on the stage, gabby wu, the board president of wamay. Gabby, come on up. [applause] waymay is the first and long standing bilingual organization in San Francisco. Formed 50 years ago makeic sure children regardless of the first language can learn in a environment to excel. To date provided services to literally thousands of families with programs in Early Childhood Care Education before and after school and weekend classes and community engagement. Dead kateed to beingfective community voice, proud to be a anchor in the San Francisco sunset neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods for bilingual education, please join me in congratulating, wamay. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests and dear community, i am humbled and profoundly honored representing wamay school to receive this award from apa Heritage Foundation. Wamay is celebrating our 50 anniversary. Myself born here in San Francisco in the sunset district as a first generation immigrant, where english was my second language, this moment is profoundly meaning to me. I witnessed first hand a Transformative Impact of the school. My two children who also graduated from wamay school were able to learn about their heritage, their language and more importantly, they were able to bridge between two cultures. The first and long standing bilingual Early Education organization in the city for young children. For 50 years ago, california recognized wamay as a incoperated business dedicated insuring children regardless of their first language learn in a environment where they can excel. For half a century we championed the value of language learning, inclusivity and diversity. Showing how they enrich both our education and our experiences. From enrolling just 20 student to now providing services to over 500 families through programs in early Care Education, after and before school, weekend chinese classes and community engagement, wamay school has stood as a pillar of both bilingual education. We have tirelessly worked on behalf of families who do not have equal access to such programs and have strived to uplift the community we live in. Wamay school is proud to be the anchor in the sunset neighborhood and surrounding communities for bilingual education and community voices. This distinguished recognition belongs everybody especially everyone involved, staff, families, the board, founders supporters and last but not least our executive director ben wong. [applause] i hope you all can join me as we celebrate wamay school the 50 Anniversary Gala may 17 at hl peninsula. Thank you so much for your support, your trust and dedication to insure that the traditions heritage and languages that enrich our city will continue to thrive for generations to come. Thank you so much. [applause] [applause] congratulations to wamay. Our next organization is a organization with a 100 year history. Japanese Language School founded in 1911 which is when willie brown was first elected to office. [laughter] it was incorporated as the Golden Gate Institute in 1924 by japanese americans in japantown. Before world war ii served as a institution within San Francisco and the wider ja community in north america. It remains a Gathering Place for children to learn about their heritage and parents to engage in the community. The school sig cns extended well beyond the local communities and recognized internationally, but particularly by japan. This march announced they will be receiving all most 10 million, half from the state, thank you Assembly Member ting, and half from the city to help renovate the century old campus and with that, i like to inviteto the stage to accept the Community Milestone award. Come on up. [applause] [applause] when i was asked to speak here, the very first question, which language i need to speak . [laughter] i can speak of course japanese. Very important word is they also explain history ofit started, 1911, so that means over a hundred years history, so that means, i need to say over a hundred times. [laughter] that is enough i should say this place. One thing i like to emphasize the important thing is of course, hundred years or more then more hundred year history, but under the war time we have a very hard time, because old history. Old japanese and japanese american go into other place from cities. The place for gathering for the camp. It is a history, but even though at that time, seven years history betweenin this city American Community maintain our building, so that means [applause] a big hand and special thank you to the community. Not only japanese americans and japanese maintainbut, people like you support to maintain our building over a hundred years. Now, we have special campaign. We need more money. [laughter] so, i should say, more then hundred times in japanese. One more time. [laughter] [applause] [applause] congratulations to these two amazing institutions for helping insure that our next generation can learn more about our culture and heritage. Now give me great pleasure to present the next award, our Community Inspiration award to someone i have known for 20 years, since she was a young girl. Rose chung. Where is rose chung . [applause] there she is rose is a native daughter of San Francisco chinatown. She was a youngest among five daughters and in 1981 had a experience that sparked a change in her life path. She became mrs. Chinatown usa which propelled her in to community service. She dedicated time as a Community Serving as board chair of apa port services, port mouth plaza, Founding Member of apa Heritage Celebration Committee and distinguished authser of family operations. Rose worked in the city county of San Francisco as Radiology Technology at sf general and several elected officials at city hall. Rose was my first Asian American legislative aid when elected to the board of supervisors. Anything good i have done it was because of rose chung. Anything you didnt like, that was me. She has also inspired an entire generation of young Asian American women. As the founder of the Asian American foundation and visionary producer of mrs. Asian global pageant and imagine talks expanding to cover academic mentorship and professional coaches. Rose continued to champion the transformative power of collaboration and one last fact, if you dont know rose, if you look on her linked in page, she is listed among the top three percent of the happiest people in the world. [applause] with that, congratulations rose chung. Thank you. Woo hoo i feel i won a oscar. I said that a couple years ago, but this is better actually. Well, after cladine informed me i was receiving an award i said to my sister, margie should i give a dignified speech like the two earlier ones or just be myself . This chinatown golden girl is going to keep it real. Im getting this award for doing what i love with really cool and smart people, and many of you are among here. As a kid, i draemed about being a crazy rich asian, but i evolved. I have become a crazy dog person roof roof San Francisco has more dogs then children, so i know that there are more of my kind here im the youngest worthless daughter of sue ying chung, mom was a young widow with 5 girls, age 3 to 13. She often whaled she didnt have a son. She complained about three mos. That means, no use, no brains and no money. Observing her struggle, i was determined to be a happy person. I am successful because i have three ducks. Which means, i can eat. I can sleep. I can play better then yan can. Which indicates good health, and i am certified today because i am receiving the Community Spirit award along with the mayor woo well, heres the truth, i cant fake it anymore. I lack talent and skills, plus i am mcc. Mung chacha. However, im blessed to have kind Compassionate Friends who help me in countless ways to get thedone. Plus, i know people who know people who know people. Right . I look forward to your continued guidance, inspiration and support that have placed me here at this moment. Thanks to my family and god children who are encouraged me to remain outrageous and shameless. Thanks to mom for being my warrior and protector who guides me to happiness. So, in conclusion lets channel in our dogs by howling and barking together because we are celebrating apa heritage month. [howling and barking] thank you. [applause] rose, you crack me up. Let me tell you something, dignified is overrated. David , dont go anywhere because we have presenting to do. Now it is time for the final award and how do you celebrate and recognize 60 years of service and boil it down into a few minutes . I think it is pretty impossible but well try anyway. We actually have two Community Representatives to talk about our next recipient. Someone whom cladine and i refer to as a honorary asian. We are talking about mayor willie brown and his impact on our communities. Please welcome to the stage jeff and malcolm young. [applause] now, i understand why rose is a honoree and im introducing someone. [laughter] willie brown, i dont care what people say, you are the youngest 90 year old i know. [laughter] willie, relationship with japantown has been one that goes back at least 60 years i believe. Willie once said that, he announced to his candidacy for the 17th Assembly District somewhere on geary boulevard in japantown before redevelopment changed it into the peace plaza. When he ran for mayor, he did it not through his candidacy at the peace plaza and his reelection bid. As speaker willie had made a tremendous impact not only in the japanese community, but for a lot of member s of the api community. Many of you know that he apointed many people to positions as well as commissions, and as mayor he continued to do the same, but in unprecedented numbers. I thinki had first hand view to see the number of asian commissioner appointments and Staff Members to different city departments. During a tough budget period, willie in fact was able to sustain funding to many asian organizations or most that were currently funded at that time by the city, but more importantly, he funded at least a half dozen new communities that were unrepresented in government and Government Support for years. One of the most significant milestones that willie made was when he encouraged the muni, mta now to set aside a partial fund from the japan Center Garage receipts to support Community Organizing and for japantowns future. For over 20 years, the task force Japantown Task force, which was funded has been funded by the garage fund continue s to be the vehicle for planning, the physical economic and social future of our community, and continues to make an impact. It lead to the additional establishment of the six year old japantown Community Benefit district. More recently, the Community Cultural district that was supported by both mayor breed and San Francisco board of supervisors. I want to thank you mayor brown for your two generations of leadership, commitment and friendship of our community, and for actually the generations that will benefit from the work that you have done. I could proudly say that, i stand before you as a retiree as well, and i enjoyed the ride. Thank you willie brown. [applause] good evening everybody. My name is malcolm young, the executive director of the Chinatown Community Development Center and before i get to our honorees i did want to just say, rose chung, that was the most amazing acceptance speech i ever heard and rose was too shy to tell you she will be opening for ronnie chang when he comes to Masonic Center later. I also want to acknowledge wamay, this is from my heart. I sent two of my children to wamay and i can say with the most upmost reassurance, 10 years after graduating from wamay, they dont suck. Now to mayor brown. It is a incredible to be able to cointroduce him this evening. Of course mayor brown needs no introduction because we are on his home turf and when i say home turf, i dont just mean the city and county of San Francisco, i mean the api community, because we are his home too. A few weeks ago i are was talking to a reporter and think i saw her here, so sorry. This was on the record but on the record now. She asked me who are chinatowns most respected leaders and with all due respect to the panda mayor not here, our dear and long long long long longterm District Supervisor and board president aaron peskin, i answered without hesitation and these rp the first words out of my mouths, the answer to that question is, the honorable Willie L Brown. [applause] the reporter was a bit stunned and she immediately asked me why. I will tell you what i told her. Over the time duration of decades not just years, mayor brown has been there for chinatown when we need him and when we dont know we need him. He was there when we needed help to save Chinese Hospital, right, dr. Jang . He was there when we needed city hall to reinvest in city hall after the demolition of embarcadero freeway. He was there for us when we needed the central subway to stop in chinatown. Right, rose . Sure, these are big projects but mayor brown has been there on the day to day too. Thats why we really love him in the chinese American Community. I dont know of any elected official that has been to more chinatown functions then mayor brown and that isnt unnoticed. Just being there doesnt seem much, it is everything. When the reporter asked how to verify chinatown feels about mayor brown i laughed because the answer was simple. Come to chinatown and asking literally anyone. So, it is my distinct honor today to announce not only is he awarded, but chinatownwe all met because we meet every day and we agreed that today we will launch the Willie L Brown consolidated Benevolent Association. [laughter] the wcba, i will be its second inaugural member and like to invite the third inaugural member back up to the stage to present the award to mayor brown, cladine chang. [applause] also, presenting and introducing mayor brown too. Sorry. [laughter] [applause] this was indeed a great surprise. I have been in attendance at each of these celebrations from the time that started in 2005 to present day, and i came frankly to enjoy myself. I did not know that the entertainment was going to be rose chung. [laughter] but even that was a great surprise. I must also say that, david chui, who clearly in capacity as a City Attorney just makes things up. [laughter] and im delighted with that as well. [laughter] and so, i thank you very much all for your wonderful words and the Benevolent Association that i now have the honor [laughter] please feel free to call upon me as things unfold. It is going to be really interesting though to become the 7th organization in the 6th company of operation. [laughter] can you just imagine, how in the hell are we able to get me as a president . I guess well change the operation from what it was to what it is going to be. [laughter] thank all of you, im just delighted. [applause] thank you mayor brown. [applause] rose and mayor brown just got is this amazing piece that has a logo and hand folded cranes and everything is handmade and want to thank for the artwork. It is amazing. [applause] as we clear the stage everyone, we have a few important announcements to make. Cladine wanted too make sure you know we have a full page in the examiner with all honorees so please support all there. After the event ends you can join us at city hall for a festive reception. If you have a wrist band you can enter through grove guest. For other guests through the Security Check point from polk street. If you decided you like to join the pat party we have volunteers at city hall to get tickets. Once at city hall, enjoy the cuisine. We have cocktails cultural performances and viz td the Community Exhibit table and get your raffle tickets as well. That is where you can also get your special 20 Anniversary Limited addition tshirt and logo pin and also all kinds of extragifts and last but not least, we want to thank all the raffle prize donors for generosity and support for this years celebration. [applause] now, for the grand finale of the program, the aapi cultural persession, this is a Signature Program of the heritage awards that started back in 2008 and was actually an idea of mrs. Rose chung to begin with. Please welcome, vocalest christine and let the show begin. [applause] good evening. [music] [singing] [singing we are the world] representing indonesian. Representing thailand. Representing berma. Representing india. Representing the philippines. [singing we are the world] representing vietnam. Representing the philippines. Representing nepal. [singing continued] representing thailand. Representing the philippines. Representing korea. Representing samoa. Representing [indiscernible] [singing we are the world] representing mongolia. Representing chinese america. [indiscernible] now we welcome to the stage, our elected officials and distinguished guests to Come Celebrate with us. And rose chung. Thank you. Lets invite up the guests and elected officials. I want to acknowledge linda, wendy lee the coordinator and voice of god, kaitlyn and beautiful vocalists christine [applause] now we are ready todance. Lets get funky [music and singing] lets see if the elected officials can get down [up beat music and singing] thank you everyone for coming and well see you at city hall and we are going to do our annual portrait here on the stage. [songuptown funkbruno mars] we need people in the back stage. We got to do the group photo. Everyone face the front. Wave to the photographer on the second floor. Stop the music. Okay. Hi, frank. Can you wave . Now, everyone please line up for the annual group photo. Can i havecome back im eric tanaka. Fourth generation japanese american born and raised in San Francisco i work for the San Francisco Fire Department station 10, truck 10 as a firefighter. I think about my journey i think about my family. My grandfather came to San Francisco in 1917 we have been here for over 100 years. Married my grand mother they were in the japanese camps. Prior he was a successful Business Owner in the city. When he started to start over he was murdered. And i never met my grandfather. My grand mother and my mother were left to raise me, brother and sister my father was around but work. It was very challenging for me growing up as a young kid in the city. Trying to find my identity. And so i got myself in a lot of trouble. Trying to defend myself and my heritage. That i was raised to be proud of. And there was a time i was ashamed. You know, thinking about and understanding my familys strug and he will had my grand mother and grandfather went through i was ignited a fire to keep moving forward. I decided to dedicate my life to service. Servicing my family and community and the city. One of my goal in life is to reach out to our Community Youth and support them so they mack myself the potential to finds careers they never thought they were capable of. When i want my family tong of me i want to be proud. Whenever career i chos is not about the money it is providing a life that is honorable and thoughtful. So that the generations behind us see how hard my family worked make sure we have been able to sustain and thrive in San Francisco. Community is huge to me. It helped me become the person i am today. And our department. We got one of the busiest stations in the in addition, station 3. We have a surf rescue Program Program cliff rescue program. We have so many things to be proud of as a department. I cant say this enough, there is honestly no words to say how proud i am to work for the department and serve the community that i grew up in. [music]testing. Could. To that the 43 San Francisco Good Government awards excited to be here when i all tonight im aliza the cfo for spur they host those awards every year we believe so strongly in the power of local government to have a profound impact on peoples lives and it is important to occasionally shine a light on the people that make those contributions with you do everyday serving the people of San Francisco the contributions are experienced by a really Broad Community the labor that going into that it is invisible to hav a