people off the bus, but they wasn't over six feet from the bus. began to put them in the highway patrolman's car, and i stepped off again, because i was told -- holding the lady's arms that they were arresting and she said get back on the bus, and then i heard somebody scream from the parlor she was in and said get that one there. and then a white man stepped out of a car and told me i was under arrest. when he opened the door and i went to get in the car, he kicked me, and they carried me on down to the county jail where they had the other highway patrolman had carried the other five. and they, you know, when we walked in, when i walked in with two white men that carried me down, and they cursed me all the way down. they would ask me questions, and when i would try to answer, they would tell me to hush. i was put in a cell with simpson, and after i was put in the cell, i could just hear some horrible screams and horrible sounds, you know, of licks, and i would hear somebody when they say can't you say, yes, sir, nigger can't you say yes, sir? and they would call her names i wouldn't want to go on tape. and she would say, yes. and she said i don't know you well enough. and i would hear when she would hit the floor again. and finally she began to pray, and she asked god to have mercy on these people, because they didn't know what they was doing. and then three white men came to my cell and one of them was a state highway patrolman, because he was wearing a civil plate across his pocket that said john l., and he asked me where i was from. and i told him i was where i was from, and he said i'm going to check that. and he went out, and i guessed he called there, and they didn't like me there, because i worked with voter registration there. and when he came back, he said you're damn right, you are from there, and we are going to make you wish you was dead, and they led me out of that cell into another cell. and he gave a negro prisoner a blackjack, and he ordered me to lay down on the bed. and the negro said do you want me to be with her, and he said you are right, because if you don't, you know what i will do. and i laid down on the bunk like he ordered me to do, and the first negro peat me until he was exhausted. and after he beat, the state highway patrolman ordered the second negro to take. and during the time he was beating i began to, it was a horrible experience, and the state highway patrolman ordered the first negro while the second one beat me. and i just began to scream where i couldn't control it. and then the white man got up and began to beat me on my head. i have a blood clot now in the artery to the left eye. and a permanent kidney injury on the right side from that beating. these are the things we go through in the state of mississippi, just trying to be treated like a human being. [singing] the bus driver said you got to get up because a white person wants that seat. sister rose said, no, not no more. i'm going to sit here. thank you, sister rosa. thank you, ms. rosa. i want to thank you. [vocalizing] took sister row rosa off to jai. the people of montgomery started to talk and decided all god's children should walk. thank you, sister, rosa. thank you, sister rosa parks. thank you, sister rosa, you are the spark. [vocalizing] so we dedicate this song to her for being a symbol of our dignity. thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. [vocalizing] [applause] >> i felt that i was not being treated right, and that i had a right to retain the seat that i had taken as a passenger on the bus. the time had come, i had been pushed as far as i could stand to be pushed, i suppose. they placed me under arrest. and i don't know why i wasn't, but i didn't feel afraid. i had decided that i would have to know once and for all what rights i had as a human being and a citizen, even in montgomery, alabama. >> good afternoon. mic, please. good afternoon. my name is mer i say is a williams, and i'm this year's black history month committee chair. on behalf of the african-american historical and cultural society, i would like to welcome you all to our black history month kick off of 2020 african american the vote, the movement lives on. now, this theme emphasizes the ongoing struggle on the part of both black men and black women for the right to vote. it also includes the rise of our black elected and appointed officials at a local and national level, campaigns for equal rights legislation as well as the role of black in political parties. so our program today, as you first witnessed, will embody this theme, and the program that we have for you for the rest of february will emphasize this theme as well. now, before we get started, i would like to make some acknowledgements, especially to those in the crowd. i would ask that our elected officials, department heads, and administrators and members of boards and commissions please stand up at this time. [applause] thank you all for joining us here. moving forward, i would like to thank our sponsors, as you see in your individual packets, i would like to thank first and foremost, our presenting sponsor, the foundation, which proud itself on being radically inclusive and open to all interested parties, one and the same, to each their own. i would like to thank our gold sponsors, the lyft company, seven hills property and the foundation. to our silver sponsors, the golden state warriors and five point. thank you for supporting and making contributions to our program here today. please give them a round of applause. [applause] lastly, i would like to thank our community partners, and i ask that you hold your applause until i'm done listing them. the san francisco public library, the san francisco human rights commission, the mayor's office of neighborhood services, project level, rba creative, citizen films, the arts and culture complex, usf, and the national coalition of black business and professional women's club. thank you for working with us this black history month and for the black history months to come. [applause] now as i mentioned, our program today will really embody the theme of african-americans and the vote. to start us off, i would like to invite minister white from the glide memorial church to deliver our invocation. following mr. white, we will have vernon bush, musical director of glide memorial church to lead us in our negro national anthem. minister white. >> good afternoon, everyone. happy black history month. gather together and call the name, son, father, grandfather, uncle and brother. gather together and call the name, daughter, mother, grandmother, aunt and sister. gather together and call the name, sister, son, brother, girl girl, niece, nephew. look for all the same differences in our bodies. let's know that we know small will shine, foreheads that soak sun and reflect moon, hair that naps tight with curl. we are sons and daughters from a long line of sons and daughters, and we who have been taught to forget are remembering our own today. and we will tell and retell our stories and our histories. and it looks like you. it's brown, and it's browner. it smells like you, it's earth, and it's musk. it's strong like you, it's back and shoulders. it's soft like you, it sounds like you, it's drums and it's jazz. do you hear it today? in the song that's swayed to, the song that makes you close your eyes and shake your head and your burdens lifted to. it's a song that holds a baby on a hip, it's a song that says tonight we run to freedom. and the night and the song has always been ours. no more options blocked for me. the precious lord take my hand, the come by here, lord. just come by here. do you hear it? it's rolling in like a spirit riding a storm. listen to the calm in your bones. listen to the trees, cry, and they do. listen to all things that warn you to hold on and to hold onto him and her like this, like nights blanketing stars, like storms pulling rivers through, like east and west wind fighting to hold onto one another as they turn in wild tornado. can you feel it? just like justice and the shakes before an earthquake. can you feel it just like coming home from jail and the itch in your palm when your payday is near. can you feel it? just like the steel confounding prophetic? can you feel it like the steel bird song before an eruption. can you feel it? rolling in like a spirit riding a storm. the fear, the anger, the veil, the funeral, the homeless, the houseless, the left, the housed, the police, the restored, the repaired, the killed, the eulogy, the food, the pantries, the church, the gospel, the scattering, the babies, the rebirth, the reentry, the mamas, the return, the beloved, the bashed, the fight, the guns, the vigil, the protest, the march, the scream, the community, the voices, the prayer, the hold, the strength, the night and you, some goods know love is nothing if not ritual. you know that survival is nothing new. and you who have gone inside one another know that it is deep enough to hide one another. so gather together and call the name, son and daughter from the fillmore to the bayview and the club and in the bar until it burns in the roof of our mouths. gather together and call the name father and mother from civic center to japantown and the rehab and in the recovery until it melts like butter candy under our tongues. gather together and call the name grandfather and grandmother from the tenderloin to knob hill in the kitchen and in the food pantry until it runs through thick like blood. gather together and call the name uncle and aunt from chinatown to the excelsior and the church and in the choir, until it raises our voices to gospel. gather together and call the name brother and sister, from the outer sunset to the western addition, in the encampment, and in the tents, gather together and call the name until. thank you. [applause] >> if you open your program, the lyrics to the negro national anthem is in your program. please feel free to sing along with us. [singing] [vocalizing] lift up your voice and sing. high as the lifting skies, let it resound loud as the rolling sea. sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us, facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on till the victory is won. stoney the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, felt in the days when hope unborn had died, yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet come to the place for which our fathers sighed? we have come over a way that with tears have been watered, we have come treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, out from our gloomy past till now we stand at last where the white gleam of our bright star is cast. god of our weary years, god of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far on the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray. lest our feet stray from the places our god, where we met thee, lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee, shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand. true to our god, true to our native land. true to our god, true to our native land. [cheering and applause] >> moving forward in our program, our next speaker really needs no introduction. you all recognize her, born and raised in san francisco, a product of san francisco unified school district, and here to speak to our theme, mayor london breed. [applause] >> all right. good afternoon, everybody. good afternoon. is this a celebration or what? well, first of all, let me just say that it is truly an honor to be mayor of san francisco and making history as the first african-american woman to serve in this position. [applause] but i know i stand on the shoulders of those who have struggled and bled and died to get someone like me in a position like this. and i know it's no accident that i'm here at this time, when we are talking about the african-americans and the vote. and we all need so look right here at san francisco to see the challenges that we know still exist in this city as it relates to african-americans. many of the struggles of this country and the benefits that we enjoy now are because of so many leaders during the civil rights movement, people who paveed the way, people who put their lives on the line so that we can have the opportunity to make our voices heard. people like who was fired because she registered to vote. because who were hung because they teared to try to register other african-americans to vote. let us not forget that this is not distant history. this is in the 1960s and '50s and '70s when this occurred. and when we bring that fast forward to today in san francisco, yes, i'm so grateful, and i feel so blessed to have made history, but i also feel a huge responsibility because of that. when i look at the fact that we have, in san francisco, less than six percent population of african-americans, and when we look at the people who are homeless on our streets, 37 percent are african-american. when we look at people who are involved in the criminal justice system, our kids who are dropping out of high schools and the challenges that continue to plague our community more than any other community, even in liberal san francisco. and let me tell you, it breaks my heart that in a city with less than six percent of an african-american population, we have about 36 percent of those folks who are registered to vote, and we have a number of folks who still are not turning out to vote, less than about 7,000 african-americans turned out to vote in san francisco this past november. so we know we have work to do. and i noticed this past election, that there weren't a lot of people who were running for office going to the african-american community and showing love and support and respect to the african-american community during this past election. it is time that we recognize that the african-american vote matters in this city. [applause] because the fact is i wouldn't be standing here as mayor if it didn't. i wouldn't be standing here. the fact is all around this country, all of the folks who are running for president, they are looking to the african-american community for support. they are coming to our community. it's important that we know how strong our voices really are, how much our community really matters. and that's why i know what my responsibility is. i don't need people to tell me what i need to do. i know from experience of growing up in this city, in poverty, where a lot of folks were not paying attention to this community, i know the challenges, and i know how to work with the community in order to achieve the goals that we need. it's not about what i say we need to do, it's about what the community works with us to tell us what we need to do. [applause] because i don't know about you, but i'm tired of folks who have no experience with our community, trying to determine policies and decisions that impact our community, because you know what? the statistics in this city demonstrate that their way is not working for black people in san francisco. [applause] so i want you to know that it's not just because i'm african-american, it's because anyone who is mayor or an elected official in this city or a leader or doing any work in this city should want to do everything they can to change what we know is wrong as it relates to things that we've done that have not led to changes in the african-american community. and i'm just going to call the e city out on this too, because we know that san francisco has been messing up even with our city employees. [applause] we know that we still see disproportionally a number, a larger number of african-americans who are fired from their positions more than anyone else. we know that discrimination still exists. and we know we have work to do. i am not blind to the fact that this has been going on for generations. that there have been challenges and struggles. so it's time to do things differently. it's time for us to come together. it's time for us to roll up our sleeves to do the work. we can't just show up during black history month. we have to show up at the board of supervisors when they're trying to cut funding to our communities. we have to show up at meetings and guess what. you have to also tell me what's going on so that we can make changes. i am not going to be able to turn generations of discrimination and challenges that have existed in this city way before i was born, around in a day, and i'm not going to be able to do it alone. i need you. i need you to register and vote. i need you to be counted in the census for 2020. i need us to take care of our seniors and take care of the next generation of young people that need our help and our support. i need us to show up and to show out and show people that we are still here, and we still matter. it's not enough, it's not enough that i'm the first african-american woman to serve as mayor of san francisco. it's not enough. it's not enough. we deserve better. we deserve better. and i will continue every single day as your mayor to fight for better, whether you agree with me or not, every single day, i am fighting for this community. every single day, i am writing for this community, every single day i am thinking about all of the people that i grew up with who didn't make it, who were shot and killed in our community, the people who are still suffering in the jail cells, the people who did not make it to be here. we have to be here for them, because we have to make sure that the mistakes that have happened with the african-american community in the past don't happen to this next generation of young people growing up in this city. [applause] we have a responsibility, and i'm happy to be here to work with you to represent you, to do what's necessary to get to a better place. two things this year: register and vote, get counted in the census, make sure that people know when they see the results that we have made a difference. it's on us to change what we know is a problem into something that is absolutely incredible. i stand on the shoulders of my grandmother, i stand on the shoulders of mary helen rogers who fought redevelopment for the rights for us to even provide input in the public process. i stand on the shoulders of leroy king and willie b. kennedy and others who came before me. i stand on the shoulders. and now it's time for us to make sure that the next generation can say the same thing but move towards progress for our community. thank you all so much for being here today. thank you. [applause] i told you she really didn't need any introduction. so i'm going to cut my words and invite next supervisor walton of district 10. [applause] >> good afternoon. good afternoon. happy black history month. welcome to this kick-off. and i want to start off by saying, one, i do truly love legacy, and to see that marisa has now taken over as the chair of this event and that her father has provided that path and that opportunity, i just want to give her and the african-american cultural and historical society a hand. [applause] i also want to acknowledge the work of the black student union, voter registration project, the fact that we are working to preregister young people to preregister black people to make sure that they understand how important their voice is. there are so many things in this city and in this country that are done to us. so many things in this city and country that are done for us but not by us. so when we talk about having a real voice and shaping legislation, when we talk about having a real voice and understanding how to put policies forth for people that are going to benefit us, we need to make sure that it is us in the room leading the way. [applause] and as we look at the current face and status of black people here in this country, we must never forget the struggles of the people who have come before us. you heard mayor breed say that she is only here because the people who laid a path before her. the same goes for me, the same goes for our black department heads, the same goes for our black executive directors, the same goes for our black commissioners, the same goes for all black leadership here in san francisco. [applause] so even though the population is small, we are at a pivotal point where we are beginning to recognize the importance of making sure that black folks are made whole in this city. you heard reverend brown talk about reparations. you heard many black leaders and community talk about reparations. i am so excited now that my office will be introducing a resolution on reparations on tuesday. [applause] working with the leadership of davis and the human rights commission, working with the leadership of our mayor, working with several leaders in the black community to begin to talk about how we put together a real plan and a real package about reparations. [applause] we convened a meeting earlier with some black leaders, and of course everyone wasn't in the room. we will be convening conversations over the next month in lakeview, bayview hunters point, the western addition, the tenderloin and other communities to talk about what we want to see on a working group that will come together to put the components of this reparations plan and package together. and we are going to need voices from everybody. because this is not one person's initiative. this initiative belongs to the entire black community. [applause] so as we put policies forth like reparations as some of you may have had the opportunity to see, we have plaques dedicated on some of our buses now in memory, to commemorate rosa parks and to commemorate the montgomery busboy cot. you are going to see more things like that happening in our city as you see the creation of the african-american cultural district that we have now in bayview, you are going to see that start to spread in this city. [applause] the policies that we fight for are going to benefit our communities. and you had that commitment from me, you have that dedication from me, as well as my colleagues on the board of supervisors, and i want to thank them for being here in attendance, supervisor mandelman, preston, yee, thank you so much for being here today as well. [applause] and i'm going to end with this in honor of my fraternity brother karter g. woodson who is the history behind negro history week which turned into black history month. i want to recite this poem by william ernest henley called invictous. i think it will put some insight into our struggle into how we will overcome together. out of the night that covers me, black as a pit from pole to pole, i think whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. in circumstance, i have not cried aloud. in the bludgeoning of chance, my head is bloody, but i'm bound. beyond this place of wrath and tears looms shade, but the minutes of the years find, and she'll find me unafraid. it matters not how strait the gate or how the scroll, i am the master of my fate, i am the captain of my soul. happy black history month. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor walton. next our keynote address, you may know her as the cocreator of black lives matter. she is also the founder of black futures which focuses on getting black people involved in politics. ms. alicia garza. [applause] >> good afternoon. good afternoon. happy black futures month. [applause] it's an honor to be back in san francisco. to speak with you today and thank you to the san francisco african-american historical and cultural society for having me. i believe that black communities deserve to be powerful in every aspect of our lives. and i believe that politics should not be an exception. can you imagine what this country would be without the contributions and the audacity of black people? let me say that again. can you imagine what this country would be without the contributions and the audacity of black people? black communities, our communities, have reshaped a democracy that was not ever intended for us to participate in it. it was designed, in fact, to keep us from achieving, not only our wildest dreams, but our basic dignity and humanity. it took persistence and vision, clarity and strategy to achieve the changes that we have made. and it will take that and even more if we hope to positively impact our present and to even have a future. this year, this year, there is an election that is probably the most important of a generation. anybody watch the state of the union monday? all right. i'm still not ready to talk about it, but when we do, i want to just echo what mayor breed said. black people are incredibly powerful. we determine the outcomes of elections when we are determined to do so. and that is why -- [applause] that is why, on the national stage this week, you heard so many platitudes to black communities. you saw scholarships being given out, promises for more funding for hbcus, you saw tuskegee airmen being awarded and honored, you saw victories being touted around our criminal justice system. but yet when we look around, when we look at our families, what's going on in our homes and in our communities, we don't feel that change. there are opportunistic politicians who like to use our community in order to further and advance their own agendas, which do not center, prioritize or make important solving the problems that black communities face every day. you know i don't say his name. there's really no need to. but it's not just him. right now what is at stake in terms of what happens in november, what happens with the census, what is at stake is whether or not black communities will be able to shape and determine a future for us, for the people we love, and for the rest of this country. you see, i always say wherever black people go is where this country needs to go. am i wrong? wherever black people go is where this country needs to go. my organization, the black futures lab, our sister organization, the blacks of the future action fund, we do, we do the work to make sure that black people get to participate in our political system. but more than that, we do the work to ensure that black communities get to be powerful in politics. [applause] we know that when our communities are engaged often, early, consistently, not just when people want stuff from us, we know that when our communities are united and organized, that we can determine what happens in this country and what doesn't happen in this country. last year my organization conducted the largest survey of black communities in america in 155 years. we talked to more than 30,000 black people in every state in this country, from every political persuasion and perspective, folks who lived in rural areas and urban areas, folks who are incarcerated and formerly incarcerated. we went into jails and prisons. we talked to folks who identify as lesbian and gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming. we talked to black people who are migrants to this country and black people who were born in this country. and i can tell you we are not a monolith, but there's a lot we agree on. we talked with our folks about what we experience every day in the economy and our democracy and our society. we con -- can find that information on our website. i will say two important points. past of every single person that we talked to said that they believed that politicians do not care about black people. number two, the most common thing that people told us when they took the survey was that nobody had ever talked to them about what they experienced, what they long for, and their ideas for how to solve problems. that creates a challenge for us in relationship to building a new democracy. it creates a challenge for us when we do have black electioned election -- elected officials that have power, because our communities are not being engaged in supporting the process of making the decisions that impact our lives every day. and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. i'm so proud to see mayor london breed as the mayor of this city. [applause] i go all over the country, and every time i land at sfo and i see her smiling face, i'm like, you know what, this is my city. and at the same time my heart breaks for her, because i know that the job that she is entrusted to do by us does not have enough support from us. [applause] i don't believe in shaming us, because there are a lot of reasons that black people are not able to engage and be involved. i don't believe in shaming us and telling us that if we don't participate, we don't matter, because i don't believe that that's true. but i do believe in encouraging us to get organized and stay organized. i do believe in reminding us that what we leave on the table somebody else will eat. [applause] i do believe in reminding us that if we hope to advance the struggles of the people whose shoulders we stand on, then we ourselves have to stand. on monday my organization is kicking off a nationwide initiative to expand the number of black people who vote to ask people in our communities who have joined organizations who have attended a protest but who have never been asked to register to vote to do so. on monday, we will be releasing a tool that talks about what it is that we care about. it's called the black agenda 2020. it's derived from the survey that we did with 30,000 black people across the country, because somebody has to say that the issues that are important to black communities matter. it's not enough for elected officials to be black, it's not enough for officials to say black lives matter. what we need are electeds and communities to be in the process of governance together. [applause] i love black history month, even though it is the shortest one. i renamed it black futures month, because i want us to imagine what our futures can look like, and i want us to see ourselves as an active participant in shaping what those futures are. i'm so honored to have been raised by people who marched across the bridge in selma. i'm so honored to have sat at the feet and gotten smacked upside the head by people like jackson. and i'm going to tell you what they tell me, which is don't try to be me, i want you to make your own mark. we made mistakes that you don't have to make today and also be clear about what your sight is actually for. we have to vote. but the fight is not about voting. our ancestors did not die for our right to vote. our ancestors died for our right to have power. whoa. let me say that again. [applause] rosa parks wasn't hired. she wan organizer. the busboy cot was developed over the course of a year, and her being hired was a public narrative to help white folks understand what was happening in terms of these boycotts. she was not hired. she was tireless. rosa parks was an organizer. similarly, our an our ancestors did not die for the right to cast a ballot. our ancestors died for the right for us to be powerful in every aspect of our lives, to be involved in every decision made about us. our ancestors died for the right for us to determine our own futures on our own terms and to not have our futures be determined by people who were not us. our ancestors died because white supremacy is inhumane. our ancestors died for our right to live in our full dignity. all of us to live in our full dignity. so when i say we should vote, we should, i got my ballot today, and it's filled out on the table, i got to go back through the booklet, because there's some stuff i don't understand. i got to ask people. and i do this on a daily basis. yes, vote, but don't vote just to vote. vote to be able to determine your own life on your own terms, vote to make sure that your community has everything that it needs, vote to make sure that there are no decisions being made about you without you. [applause] you see, power is not just about representation. and if we didn't learn that under the first and maybe only black president that this country will ever see, then we're in trouble. power is not just about representation. power is about making decisions. power is about making decisions about where money goes and where it doesn't go. power is about who keeps the story of who you are and what you want and what you care about. if i was an alien who dropped into this country from outer space during election season, i would think that the only thing that black people care about is criminal justice reform and afraid -- fried chicken. but we are so much more. you can't have criminal justice reform without reforming the economy. you can't reform the economy without reforming our schools. you can't reform our schools without reforming our healthcare system. none of these things are separate. power is who gets to shape the story about what you care about, what you dream about, what you long for, what you'll stand for and what you won't stand for. power is about there being consequences when people disappoint you. black people in this city have been disappointed for a long time. [applause] for a long time. we vote so that there are consequences for that. so we don't just walk around disappointed, but somebody knows their job is on the line if we are not happy. that's power. and if you don't believe me, ask supervisor maxwell, ask mayor breed, ask ms. davis. to sit in these rooms where decisions are being made and money is being changed hands and to be the only black person in that room should tell you something about power. power is about there being consequences when you are disappointed. power is about ensuring that what you want, what you need, what you deserve, is at the top of everybody's agenda. i am very clear about who has power in this city, in this state, in this country, and if i hope to change that, i've got to get organized, and i've got to organize my neighbors and my friends and my family and all of that. voting is one tool that we use to get organized, to make our voices heard, to set our agenda. and our task if we want more people to vote, more black people to vote, is to be honest about why people don't. when we're honest about why people are engaged, we learn that some of us have lost hope which a change is possible for us. when we are honest about why people don't vote, we learn that it's because we feel like decisions are being made about us without us anyway. we learn that some of us are being turned away from polls. some of us are being told we can't vote, and all of us that are locked up lose our ability to make decisions that are important. it's our job to reinspire people to participate. my mom used to say it's not about being at the table, sis, because if you are at the table, that means somebody else made a seat for you, they put a placard there for you, but you didn't get to decide who was at that table. it's good to be at the table, but don't you want to be the person who decides the guest list? i want to be the people that decide the guest list. there are people who i don't believe should be making decisions. there are people who i do not want to decide where money goes and where it doesn't go. there are people, and some of them are black, i'm going to keep it 100. [applause] there are people who do not have our best interest in mind. and so our vote matters, because with our vote, with our participation in the census, we make clear who we want to represent us, we make clear that no decisions will be made about us without us, and we make clear, very clear, that we deserve to be powerful in every aspect of our lives. [applause] what's possible if we get organized, if we have the hard conversations about how to solve problems, what's possible is a revival of the freedom struggle that has led this country for generations. what's possible is real change in our homes, in our families, in our communities, in our government, and in our country. i don't just wish for change, i work for it. and i can tell you as somebody who helped to create a movement, an organization, an ecosystem that dares to have the audacity to say you will not leave black people out, as someone who has spent years in this city organizing in places that we still don't see on tourist maps, as somebody who deeply loves and cares for us, let me just say, i believe in us. i believe in our ability to be powerful. i believe in our ability to make new mistakes, and i believe in our ability to win. happy black history month. and happy black future month. [applause] >> let's give her another round of applause. she has a hard stop and has to leave. alicia garza. thank you so much. a little bit beyond 1:00, but i need your indulgence for just a few more minutes. we got a couple things we do need to get through. i'm al williams, president of society, still for a few minutes longer. as you know, it takes a lot of people to do the work that mayor breed and ms. garza have spoke up of doing. we are blessed in this city to have people who do that work. the committee that brings this event together identified one of those people. that western is cheryl davis, the -- that person is cheryl davis, the director of the human rights commission. and we want to say thank you to cheryl for all the great work she does for this community and for the city and county of san francisco. let's stand up and give her around of applause. [applause] >> i am really surprised. david said you need to be in the room this time. the only thing i'm going to say, folks know i love poetry and to share that, and i just think about your opening was so amazing. thank you for that. and i just want to say may a angelou who somebody mentioned earlier is my poetic hero so i think about those moments in san francisco when i feel invisible and like i don't matter, i think about her poem that that says pretty women wonder where my secret lies, i'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model size. when i try to tell them they think i'm telling lies, and then there's a line that says now you understand just why my head is not bowed. i don't walk around and shout and have to talk real loud. when you see me passing by, it ought to make you proud, i'm a woman, phenomenal woman, and that i learned from her, and the last thing i will say to all of us is bringing the gift that my ancestors gave, i am the hope and the dream of the slaves. so we are all living in the dream that they dreamt, and now we need to continue that and continue the work so that the young people that lived and live and thrive today can say that the dreams we dreamed for them have come to be. so thank you so much foreing here. [applause] >> again, this kind of work doesn't get done by itself. and one other person we would like to pay tribute to for her great work and leadership in leading the african-american historical and cultural societies, black history month programming, the chair of the committee, my daughter marisa williams. the fruit don't fall too far from the tree. i just thought i would get that in. marisa williams, the chair of our black history month. [applause] she is still instructing. we have one final piece of cultural activity we would like to share with you, and that is project level is going to do a performance for us. so if we can give them a few minutes. project level. [applause] >> greetings. ancestors be with you. if all lives matter then why black lives target? if location don't matter then explain to me why and where tobacco is heavily marketed. or that my zip code determines what i know and can't, grant me the ability to accomplish. because although i'm birthed with ability to astonish, i'm bounded by sacred knowledge that calls this conflict. and the fact that you can probably answer concerns me about your conscience. they hanged my ancestors by nooses. trained nowadays to like the whips and chains, bdsm bondage, corpses of children found unconscious, vividly laid in plantation camps with concentration, contemplating their release, making them stitch together the temple of heaven in sorrow which gave you rhythm and blues, not understanding our trap is the sound of us trapped as so we sit and lean our weight to commune. a generation grown potent from too many fumes, mutilated, labeled as fools, prejudice out of survival. use my blood to record your bible over work and call me entitled, generations birthing your rival and stacking the bodies until they tidal like the waves on a foundation for an all-out hell revival, sacrificing enough bodies. flat out trifle, minds like cyclones while having a dream and being fetishized into one. i had a dream until they realized they used to trap us in slaves ships with their fancy garments. leave them plotting while plotting and some arose and developed pixels like cotton, showing color like each other wondering how can these be forgotten. only to put them close in range of the demons that boast and put them in shot if they tried to hide. not understanding the birth of the phrase fashion killer, we'll use it as a filler to be beat by the thriller of poverty in which we identify. only to be fabricated into dog whistle jingles like cotton, the fabric of our lives. only to be seen rich by the sacred eye, only to be displaced by another lie, tell me why i watch through my third eye as god took me on a journey to the mountains and to the fountains of my ancestry, allowed me to drink my history which gave through to my history and helped me unveil the shield, gave me a tongue of shield and spear, gave me truth about visions smeared, mind free at last. showed me, they blew the nose off my far row, clipped the wings from his sparrow, looted his sacred room full of rubies and metals, rebuilt his face for the white race to feel equal while you and i hide through the popularity of genocide, but they should know that this hear never dies. and understand me when i say i want more, i do not address the greed inside. taken from the bland of black, buried deep inside that seep inside covered in truths to the point that it seeps inside, i draw from my mind that helps me lead the way. use the cosmo sis of what was to help me see the way. i can see today and at least to say we have work to do until we meet our day. i hope i said something that heavily moves you like captured by voa do and it forces you to use all your noodle. i want you to know you embody a dream deferred. a raven in the sun, a freedom fighter can kill a mockingbird. eat every word, child of the land who has been turned into sheep and herd, who seems least concerned about the realities that we live that seem absurd. forging the flame of innocent names and making to repeat the words, travon martin, sandra, so you tell me if all lives matter then why are black lives targeted.? if location don't matter, explain to me why and where is tobacco heavily marketed or that my zip code determines what i know and can accomplish. because i'm bonded by sacred knowledge. it often causes conflict. and the fact that you can probably answer concerns me about your conscience. i'm arvon wooden. thank you. [applause] >> come on. i got it. [music] >> hi, everybody. we are project level. today we will be performing don't give up. i don't give up, got to keep it pushing, got to put that work in, that's the way we go in. don't give up. got to keep it pushing, got to keep it pushing, got to put that work in, that's the way we going to win. it's our time to succeed, so come on, stand with me. put your hands up. you're a king, you're a queen, we aspire to be. [rapping] when we work together, that's when everyone can eat. don't give up. got to keep it pushing, got to put that work in, that's the way we go in. don't give up. got to keep it pushing, got to keep it pushing, got to put that work in, that's the way we going to win. it's our time to succeed, so come on, stand with me. don't give up, you can come to the light, keep it real, living life, trying to make it to the deals to the paradise. my time is money so please don't play. i'm going to stop right here, because i could go all day. sometimes you have to pick yourself up, on your own shoulder, give yourself love. let you know that you're enough, and it's all right, be strong, it's time to right these wrongs. don't give up, it's not enough, got to keep it pushing, got to keep it pushing, got to put that work in, that's the way we going to win. don't give up, it's not enough, got to keep it pushing, got to keep it pushing, got to put that work in, that's the way we going to win. it's our time to succeed, so come on, stand with me. [rapping] don't you do it for yourself, you got to do it for the children. let's make a difference, what we are here for. i promised i was going to make it right for my people. fighting these demons. i can't even see the light, but i see my people broke, they're lost in the game. it's our time to succeed, so come on, stand with me. don't give up, got to keep it pushing, got to keep it pushing, got to put that work in, that's the way we going to win. don't give up. got to keep it pushing, got to keep it pushing, got to put that work in, that's the way we going to win. it's our time to succeed, so come on, stand with me. [applause] >> thank you. >> thank you. >> project level, project level. let's give a round of applause, project level, african-american art and culture complex. thank you all for being with us this afternoon. the signing membership table is over to the right if anyone wants to join the society. we would love to have you. thanks to our sponsors, the number of activities listed in the program booklet. we look forward to having you there. thanks again. enjoy black history month. >> welcome. thank you all for being here. it's just a wonderful, joyous occasion to celebrate such an important accomplishment. and without any further adieu, i would ask you to join me in welcoming to the dais our mayor london breed. [applause] >> thank you, thank you don. well, first of all i'm really excited to be here today. i remember when i was

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