Chair m chair mar good morning. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the thursday, march 5 meeting of the government audit and Oversight Committee. Im supervisor gordon mar, the chair of this committee, and im joined by supervisor matt haney, and supervisor aaron peskin will be joining us shortly, as well as supervi sandra lee fewer. Thank you to this committees clerk, john carroll, and id like to thank sfgovtv. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements . Clerk yes. Please silence your cell phones and electronic devices. Completed speaker cards and copies of any documents should be provided to the clerk. Items acted on today will appear on the march 10 board of supervisors agenda. [agenda item read]. Chair mar supervisor fewer, thank you for joining us this morning as the sponsor of this hearing. The floor is yours. Supervisor fewer thank you, committee. I call this hearing today after discussions with ifpte local 21 because i am concerned about the use of Civil Service exclusions and the impact it has on our Civil Service industry. I realize that discussions have been ongoing between the department of Public Health and local 21 regarding a process of conversion for these positions since the last hearing that we called on this issue in april 2019. Since that time, this agenda at the time that this agenda was posted for todays meeting and this morning, an agreement has been confirmed between d. H. R. And the local 21. Since that i time, weve agree to hear the agreement. With that, id like to bring up steve ponder from the department of Human Resources to present. Good morning, supervisors. City o steve ponder, department of Human Resources. Im pleased to say we have reached an agreement. If you can pull up this screen, you can see the 12 major departments that we will be looking at. I believe this is going to be over the next 12 to 18 months. So again, were going to set up a pretty robust schedule, monthly meetings with them in which we develop a list of c. A. D. 18 appointments for each department, and looking for some similarity among them and if any of them can be cobbled together. If you look at the economy of scale, like d. P. W. , they have lots of sidewalk projects, so instead of having a number of discreet positions, maybe we can convert some of those to p. C. S. , and so thats going to be our goal over the next 12 to 18 months. Supervisor fewer thank you. Any comments or questions from any of my colleagues . No . Thank you very much. I think right now, then, we should take Public Comment if chair mar agrees. Chair mar so yeah, thank you. If theres any members of the public that wishes to speak on this item, please step forward, and you have two minutes, and you can lineup on the righthand side of the chambers. First speaker. Can i can i can i okay. Ill put my identification here. [inaudible] the health and Human Services illegally evicted me out of my government housing. Now, im government, and the thing is that march 20 of this year, the two years is up for Human Service or the mayor to manage my administration. I brought this here because they illegally evicted me out of government housing. The court ruled that its politics, and i have to deal with the committee, so basically, all im saying is on march 20, the two years is up for the managing government money thats in my name. Now as far as what happened, i dont know because ive got to dale with you all, but im deal with you all. But im saying until march 20, theyre still managing my administration, which is the government money youre all speaking of. Chair mar thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi. Im joel kamisher, School Crossing guard, and tried to address some of our problems with the guards, so we can be parttime and not exempt. If they can be fired easily, theyre going to quit easily, and the city might have some savings by being exempt workers, but then, they have to spend more money by recruiting and replacing people. Theres really no savings from exempt employees. And San Francisco regards itself as a progressive uniontown, and they often refer to their employees as part of a union family. But sometimes, i think were run by the absent likes of jeff bezos, mark zuckerberg, and the like. Im just hoping that the city will do everything it can to try to discourage the use of exempt workers or contracting out. Thank you. Chair mar thank you. Next speaker . Good morning, supervisors. My name is kim thompson. Im the local 21 Information Technology chapter president , and i serve on our unions citywide bargaining team. Ive worked for the department of technology for over 30 years. The majority of my career at the city, i never paid much attention to exempt appointments. They werent used very much, so most people werent very aware of who was exempt until a few years ago, when three employees on my department on the same team were let go on the same day without explanation or warning. These were not limited duration project staff, these were tenured city employees. There was no way they had expected to be here one day and gone the next. This triggered a culture of fear which stands in the ways of employees doing their best work and stops them from speaking up when they want to and when they should. I see this happening on a daily basis in my department, so i want to thank you for your support on this issue. Local 21 and the city have recently made progress on addressing the except issue. Im looking forward to working together on the process to convert these employees to permanent Civil Service status. We expect the city to continue to meet with us and execute the agreement in good faith. As agreed, the priority will be the departments having the highest percentages of exempt staff which should address the most egregious situations first. Some of the employees are eager to become permanent Civil Service because they want to continue working for government and serving the community. This will build and strengthen the firstclass workforce that San Francisco has and should have. Thank you. Chair mar thank you. Next speaker . Good morning, supervisors. My name is zach goldman with local 21. 11 months ago, we filled this chamber with nearly 100 city workers who came and talked about their concerns about the abuse of exempt positions and the abuse of exempt employees. City workers highlighted how exempt positions were abused to do permanent ongoing work in violation of the city charter. They testified how exempt employees are at will, meaning they can be required at any time. And they connected the dots for us, showing how this leads to a culture of fear and intimidation that makes it hard to speak out about workplace problems, management abuses, and even serious wrongdoing and misconduct. I want to thank this committee, chairman mar, and especially supervisor fewer for really listening to city workers and using your oversight powers to push our city to do better. A year ago at the last hearing, we identified three solutions. One is we needed an audit of all current exempt employees. Two, we needed a fair process for transitioning folks from exempt employees to permanent Civil Service, and three, we need to strengthen workplace protections so that when people speak up, theyre not intimidated, harassed, or retaliated against. Im happy to say that local 21 has an agreement with the city that makes meaningful progress in all three areas but i would remiss not to point out the challenges that remain. Reurge d. H. R. To we urge d. H. R. To reach agreements with employees that have problems in their areas that they deal with. The city and the supervisors must continue to remain vigilant and work with us to ensure that workers rights are now protects and managers do not take advantage of this protection to supervisor fewer excuse me, chair. I have a question, actually, for the public speaker. What is the third . Thank you. The microphone got thank you. Third, we have to have a conversation about what is the root of this problem, and from our view, the root of this problem is that the administration continues to put forward budgets that do not provide enough services to invest in city services. When you make it impossible for departments to post Civil Service positions, departments are going to get the work done by posting exempt positions or by contracting out. We need to get to the heart of this problem by making sure that the budget that we pass accurately reflects the resources that are needed to do the work by a professional Civil Service staff. Supervisor fewer thank you. Chair mar thank you. Next speaker. Good morning to all supervisor on board. My name is antoinette johnson, and i am an exempt employee at sfpuc as a Water Quality tech, and i just decided to come over this home because i wanted to speak regarding me being a 49years native of San Francisco. I decided to go back to college after 24 years to get my waterwastewater Treatment Technology college degree. I came in on board with 20 hours per week. I do have to work several other jobs just to make my ends meet, and i would just love to have some participation in the ongoing process of Civil Service as a fulltime Civil Service. I have been waiting patiently, ive been applying continuously online to look forward to fulltime work, but overall, i work hand in hand with my fulltime employees with no benefits. I would love to do overtime, but unfortunately, as exempt, you can only get 20 hours per week. And i just look forward to well, i honestly can just say ive just been waiting patiently and holding onto serve my community here in San Francisco as a native, and excuse me and im just waiting patiently to be a fulltime exempt in my own city. I do not want to go honestly, i do not want to go to other cities such as davis, solano county. I want to work here continuously in my own city, where i was born and raised and make sure that the city and county of San Francisco has clean Potable Water and safe water for all of us, as unity, as people. And i just believe that that [inaudible] chair mar thank you. Thank you so much for your service. Next speaker. Good morning. My name is osha astrith. Thank you for taking up this very important issue. We just recently about six months ago noticed a pattern at the department of technology where we had about 50 of our members occupying exempt appointments. Many of these exempt appointments have been continued over several years. One, i believe, has been over two decades of multiple exempt appointments that have transpired over the years, so this is a very important issue. Its something that we look forward to working with d. H. R. To try and address. Weve requested to meet, and were hopeful that d. H. R. Will cooperate with us like they will be doing with local 21 and mirror everything that local 21 just said. We have very, very similar issues but i wont bore you with redundancy. Thank you. Chair mar thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi. My name is tono watanabe, a clerk at the Members Services agency, and a member of local 21. There are all ways for individual managers to try to bypass Civil Service rules as well as budget restrictions similar to president ial appointments who are in acting positions without sorry. Without congressional approval. To keep their jobs, their loyalty is to the person who gave them the position and not to the law, their city workers, the government, or residents of the city. Public polls that can be found in any law or policy will be exploited by those who are being asked to do more with less, and so we need to make sure that there are also consequences for the managers who implement these plans without any repercussions on their jobs. Theyll continue to do those things because theyre still going to be employed by the city, and as long as theres pressure to show a budget decrease without actual oversight of the sorry. This is my first time up here, so im a little nervous. Supervisor fewer its okay. All right. Without the actual overtime pay, theres going to be a lot more of this coming. So i appreciate your time on this, and i hope that 1021 will be able to work with you guys to get this kind of thing passed. Thank you. Chair mar thank you. Next speaker, please. Good morning, board of supervisors. I am sandra ng, the acting officer of the Civil Service commission. We have heard from extremely many of our union representatives, our employees, regarding the concern of exempt appointments, and so we clearly understand, and our commissioners have given direction to the department of Human Resources and the Municipal Transportation Agency on the concerns on the high number of exempt appointments. And there are audits and annual reports being presented to the commission. I do want to emphasize that i we keep hearing the word transition and conversion, and i just want to make sure its clear that the positions ourselves are being looked at and how they can be put into permanent Civil Service positions from exempt, but it is not a guarantee that these exempt employees will transition into permanent Civil Service positions because according to the charter and the Civil Service commission rules, people must still meet the minimum qualifications, still compete in an examination process, must still be a reachable eligible before they can be appointed. So i just wanted to clarify for the board of supervisors, there is no guaranteed movement that the employee whos in the exempt position will be guaranteed a permanent Civil Service position because that would be a violation of the charter. Thank you. Chair mar thank you. Thank you so much, acting executive officer ng. Supervisor peskin had a question. Supervisor peskin thank you, chair mar. I apologize for being a few minutes late. Thank you for being the acting director. I knew all of your permanent predecessors. Could you please remind this body and i must confess, i lost track, who the members of the Civil Service commission are today . Yes. Our president is elizabeth selsein. Our Vice President is indicate sevetti, commissioner douglas chan, commissioner essex crowley, and commissioner jack miner. Supervisor peskin and could you remind us who that appointing authority is, and who confirms whether its the board of supervisors, who confirms their appointment railroor rejection . They are actually appointed by the mayor. Supervisor peskin and are they 300 appointments . Are they appointments that the board can affirmatively reject with a twothirds super majority within 30 days of the appointment . That, i cannot answer off the top of my head, but i know at the same time that when a mayor has made the appointment, it has been brought to the board of supervisors attention. Supervisor peskin okay. Well, that would mean its a 3. 100 appointment. And ill ask no more questions, but i do want to thank supervisor fewer. This has been an on and off again perennial issue relative to exempt and nonexempt employees, so i really want to thank the house of labor for holding our feet to the fire. I realize the issue with the crossing guards is a little bit different, and i say that and ill just let you know, i have been communicating both with chima and mr. Mcguire if the City Attorney were here, theyd yell at me because were not allowed to have an ongoing conversation with that. But thank you, supervisor fewer, for bringing up this perennial problem that comes and goes in City Government. Chair mar thank you. Are there any other members of the public that would like to speak on this item . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. [gavel]. Chair mar supervisor haney . Supervisor haney if we could ask the member from d. H. R. To come up . So i also want to thank supervisor fewer for her work on this, and her leadership. You had mentioned that you were going to be looking at some of these departments that had over 15 of specifically local 21 employees that were exempt . And i guess could you clarify a little bit which departments youre going to be looking at and what exactly that analysis is going to involve in a little more detail . Yes. Its departments with 15 or more of their overall employees. For local 21, theyre about 17. 6 . Thats just for local 21. Osha, who ive spoken with before on this matter, ill commit that im going to following up with her, as well. I have the same concerns with ddas, so ill follow up with her. Our concern was when we looked at this on a macro level, things looked fairly consistent. When we look at this, a lot of these look to be appropriate project hires, so our goal here in these committees is to sit these meetings will have the laborist to provide their list of exempt employees and go over with them a reassessment of how its being done. I think its mentioned earlier theres a lot of redundancy working on sites, working on the streets, and maybe we could cobble it together to be an ongoing position. So instead of having ten different positions where people are rotating through those because theres 1,000 people in local 21 and cat18, and a year later, its down to 500. So were looking at with ongoing work, can we convert that to p. C. S. . Supervisor haney i appreciate local 21 for their leadership, and i would imagine theyll be on us for this. I would say in analysis to these particular employees and how to transition them and how to deal with them, i would suggest we look at maybe some stronger protections and controls and oversight so that this doesnt sort of grow particularly in certain classifications or in areas, so thats something im sure we would like to see and in terms of how we can provide better oversight. The two things that i also just want to flag that this committee will be looking ad is a very high temporary position for nurses, and we are going to be having a hearing later today with department of Public Health. So when theres Something Like that, it stands out 1600 nurses just temporary exempt, just far and away any of the other seiu positions. So it seems like theres a specific particular solution thats needed there in addition to the one by one, oneoff kind of approach to it. So i hope that would be part of the analysis. I also want to flag that im not especially surprised to see that. D. P. W. Is at the top when it comes to the use of exempt employees in local 21. As we look at this broader question of whats happening at d. P. W. Or forms at d. P. W. , and even the work that the controller is doing to see what is happening at d. P. W. , i would hope that would be part of this analysis because folks have said not just what this means for the workers, which is whats most important, but broader questions in the way that a department operates and favoriti favortism. Thats a concern around whats been happening in d. P. W. For obvious reasons. So i just want to be sure that thats a part of the analysis that youre doing, and there are these other efforts including looking closely at d. P. W. , which this is clearly a part of that were having a hearing later today, and also an analysis that were having yesterday that was called for by supervisor peskin. Yeah, absolutely on both of those points. Youll hear from my colleague this afternoon. We are working directly with d. P. H. On an expedited hiring plan with nurses, so were hoping to solve that very quickly. Regarding d. P. W. And the plans, thats kind of my plan with this, to sit down with departments instead of looking at this in discreet matters instead of realizing that most of these are ongoing and most of this is ongoing work. So absolutely. Chair mar supervisor peskin . Supervisor peskin thank you, chair mar. Good to see you, mr. Ponder. Its been at least a decade. You said there was a 15 growth in exempt positions. Overall in the past four years, 15 growth in overall employment, and about a 15 growth in exempt employment. Supervisor peskin okay. So that tracks. Correct. Supervisor peskin and presumably, as a matter of charter law, all of that falls into the 18 exempt categories under the charter . Correct. Supervisor peskin and where were not creating new departments, so theyre not Department Heads actually, we did create a couple new departments, so 53 grew to 55, so there is a couple of new departments. Where is that growth . Attorneys are exempt, doctors are exempt. Where is that growth if its 15 , and ive got two new Department Heads, wheres that growth . Right. Its a good question, and i dont know if i have that offhand. Theres a cap on the 2 limitation. I believe most of it is in the 18 area where there is no cap, which makes sense that were at this peak employment at 37,000, so a lot of discreet projects are being pursued by departments. So its pretty much across the board in the city. Again, i can come back and give you some of those statistics. Supervisor peskin yeah. I would actually, if the chair and supervisor fewer and supervisor haney are willing, i think thats actually worth hearing about in a public hearing, and i would suggest that we continue this to the call of the chair. I think thats very important, and i really want to associate myself with the comments of supervisor haney, which is while theres certainly an absolutely legitimate and appropriate role for exempt employees in City Government we are amongst them, the ability to make those employees heed a wayward Department Heads admonitions, which is now the subject of newspaper reports and yesterdays hearing is precisely why the whole concept of tenure in education and Civil Service in government came to exist, so i would really love to drill down to that because, quite frankly, i think we if were running this government right, need more line workers and dont necessarily need to grow the ranks of exempt management. So i would love and there may be very good reasons for it, mr. Ponder, but i would love to actually drill down on that as a matter of public policy. Thank you. Chair mar thank you. Supervisor fewer . Supervisor fewer yes. So mr. Ponder so i just want to say that i am so glad that you are in agreement with local 21 looking forward, but again, there are many other unions, i think, that have been bringing up these issues. So are you in discussions with other unions about this issue . Yeah, and this came up across last year with a number of bargaining unions. Local 21, they do have the biggest member amount and issues. It came up with osha today, and we are having discussions with oth other unions, as well. Supervisor fewer and are you tracking violations of category 15. Yeah. We go through a fairly elaborate documentation before we approve those, and its actually helpful when we sit down and review the department their assessment of that and then also having the union in their positions so get their take on it. Supervisor fewer since these employees were exempt, and they were basically at the will of the manager of the city and county of San Francisco, or the pleasure, how can we make sure that retaliation is protected against this process of conversion and that retaliation doesnt go on during this conversion, and that job changing to prevent someone from applying to the new permanent Civil Service positions are not happening . Yeah. Well be working with departments and try to disassociate individuals and look at the wonrk itself. I think we spoke about that, so we will be working with departments to ensure that doesnt happen. Again, it could be through this process, as i mentioned, if we cobbled together a few positions, yes, the way you make a few positions is youd have to mold it. We cant make any guarantees that someone will get a job. Although thats ideally, the goal, we have the Civil Service rules that we have to abide by. Supervisor fewer i think that supervisor haney and myself recall when we had many asneeded employees exempt, temporary employees serving breakfasts and lunches to our students every day, and some of these employees worked 30 years as needed, even though by state law and federal law, we must supply breakfast and lunch every day to students, and every day, they came to work as an asneeded employee. And these types of abuses are wrong, i think we can all agree. When it came time to see how we could make them permanent Civil Service employees, again, the question of the test came up, and many of them were very concerned, that even though ive been doing this job for 30 years, and i have been called back every single day to do this job for 30 years, if i dont pass this test, this means that im not qualified to do this job, i think theres a disconnect here, so i just want to mention here, also, to miss ng, from the Civil Service commission, that i understand what our charter says, and it doesnt guarantee them a job, however, i think it is imperative upon to understand these people that have done these jobs many, many years, actually granting them some expertise that could be a qualifying factor to retaining these jobs. I would love to see a recent analysis, also, about those people in temporary and exempt positions by race and wage levels. Because when we took a good preliminary look at this, we saw that many people in management positions that were exempt were actually white individuals, while we see in the temporary positions, very lower positions that were paid much, much less, they were primarily people of color and African Americans and latino. So i think were in agreement, mr. Ponder, that that is absolutely not acceptable. And i would just want to say that i would suggest to you and also to miss ng from the Civil Service commission, that we are putting people into training positions, that we should be also allocating a pathway to permanent Civil Service. That anyone that comes into a training position, that they are quite aware that this is a training position, that there is a pathway to Permanent Employment with us at the city because we have heard many times in this chambers that they have been in this position 25 years, and i think that is unacceptable to all of us. I would like to also add my voice to request this hearing be continued to the call of the chair as we have brought up many issues today that need some data and also some follow up. But, again, mr. Ponder and local 21, i just want to commend you on coming together with an agreement that, in recognition, also, there are many other public union public unions that actually have some of the same complaints and some of the same problems within our system. Thank you very much. Chair mar thank you. So, yeah, i just wanted to also thank supervisor fewer for calling for this hearing on on such an important topic, the misuse and, really, overuse of temporary positions in our city and how in t, in the future, w ensure that our city and temporary workers are treated fairly, and ensure High Quality Services for the public. Thank you so much, mr. Ponder from d. H. R. , and, also, miss ng from the Civil Service commission for sharing your updates and engaging the discussion. I think as my colleagues have highlighted, this is something that we this committee and the board want to continue to oversee and engage and ensure that we move move the particularly the negotiations with the other unions forward. So so thank you, and we colleagues oh, supervisor peskin . Supervisor peskin i do have one question apropos the hearing that supervisor haney referred to at the government audit and Oversight Committee meeting yesterday. And this is not a personnel question per se, mr. Ponder. And you may or may not be able to answer this, but in this committee yesterday, we came to understand that in the higher echelons of public works exactly half of the senior manager actually, more than half, if you count the acting director in public works, which we all understand why we have an acting director of public works, sadly, but that 13 out of 25 positions were acting. Now, this is a form of temporary exempt behavior little bit different. Not covered by the charter, but the same notion of acting also puts those people, albeit, theyre all exempt, at the potential of being unduly influenced or exploited. So the question i wanted to ask, and i did not want to put miss ng on the spot, is when we will have a permanent director of the Civil Service position. Im not familiar with that position, so i dont have that information, but i will follow up. Supervisor peskin if in it a followup email or continuing meeting, we could answer that. I would like to have a permanent Civil Service director sooner rather than later. Thank you, mr. Ponder. Chair mar well, thanks, everyone, again, for this hearing. Colleagues, can we continue this hearing to the call of the chair without objection . Great. [gavel]. Chair mar thank you. So we have a special order item at 1 00 p. M. , so were actually going to be calling a recess right now and reconvening at that time to call that item. Supervisor peskin and, mr. Chairman, i will be at a meeting at the bay conservation commission, and supervisor fewer will be subbing for me at 1 00 p. M. Clerk thank you. Well be in recess until 1 00 p. M. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test captions. Thank you, Pittsburgh High School band, for opening our program. Welcome one and all to the San Francisco black History Month closing ceremony. Expressions through music, art, dance, and cuisine, hosted by mayor london breed, honorable chair malia cohen, and supervisor shamann walton. Please sit back and enjoy the evening thats been planned for you. It is our great pleasure to introduce our master of ceremonies. She hosts the sunday morning inspiration on 102. 9, kblx. Please welcome your emcee for the evening, miss miranda wilson. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Lets hear it once again for the pittsburgh high drum line and dancers. It is so good to be with you once again. Happy black History Month [cheers and applause] and whats so wonderful about us starting out with the sound of the drum . How many of you went to a historical African American college . Hbcu . You know during the halftime show nobody goes to the bathroom, no one goes to concessions. Theres all this joy and dancing and waves of people, and you can feel the energy that flows from florida a m, from grambling, from the mississippi to the mozambique. It reminds us of our heritage. It was the drum, when we could not communicate from plantation to plantation, when our languages were taken away from us, it was the drum that was our form of communication, that you could hear those sounds drumming, whether it was on a pot or some skins, we created a way to communicate with one another, and its so fitting that we start off with the sound of the drum. Lets hear it once again for our kids. [applause] thank you to russell for bringing us on stage. This will be a celebration of music, of dance, of food. It was a custom to showcase our small businesses, our entrepreneurs, our community involvement, which means thats you for being here. Its so important that we start off reminding us of the struggle that our foreparents went through because you cant have success without struggle, whether its professionally or whether its personally. Theres always some kind of struggle that takes you over to the other side. So along with that, we have a National Anthem that speaks to that. No bombs bursting in air, just the themes of liberty, justice, and freedom to fight on until victory is won. To bring on that negro National Anthem, called the black National Anthem, heres lift every voice. And if you can, would everyone please stand. [ ] [applause] kippy marks. [applause] im honored to introduce our incredible hosts this evening who are working hard in our city, in our community, in our counties, in our state to make a difference. None other than our 45th mayor of San Francisco, the honorable london breed. [cheers and applause] chair of our california state board of equalization, the honorable chair malia cohen. [applause] and representing San Franciscos 10th district, including bayviewhunters point, potrero hill, dogpatch, visitacion valley, its supervisor shamann walton. [applause] the hon. London breed good evening, everybody. I smell cocoa butter and baby oil, so i know black people are in city hall i know thats right. I know thats right. Let me tell you something, theres nothing like an event that brings together so many incredible people. And i want to thank all of you for coming back every single year to celebrate with us because we wanted to make sure, when supervisor at the time cohen and i started this event about six years ago, we wanted to make sure that people in this city knew that we are still here, and we still matter. [applause] the hon. London breed there are so many incredible people in this room tonight, but i want to take an opportunity to just recognize a few of our guests, including someone who made history as the first African American mayor of San Francisco, mayor willie brown. [applause] the hon. London breed and no, mr. Mayor, you cant have your job back. And i also want to thank, a member of the board of supervisors who ive had the pleasure of working closely with to deal with many of the challenges that we not only face in this city but with our African American community, and i want to thank them with their partnership and their leadership, starting with the president of the board of supervisors, norman yee, supervisor sandra lee fewer, and supervisor ahsha safai. Thank you all so much for your support. [applause] the hon. London breed now tonight is really about a reflection. Its also about celebrating our history, our culture, and what makes us all so special. I feel like it was just yesterday when i was up here when we kicked off black History Month, because it was just yesterday. We know february is one of the shortest months of the year, but we dont have to wait until black History Month to celebrate African American culture and history in this city. So today, like every day, we are going to lift up everyone through life, through culture, through cuisine, through wine, through art. We know that there are challenges, and that there will continue to be challenges. But because of our perseverance, because we are a great and mighty people, we will get through those challenges working together. [applause] the hon. London breed and so i want to thank altogether of you again. Its great to have you up here today. You know politicians, we love to talk. Tonight, were going to have fun, were going to party, were going to celebrate, were going to lift one another up, and we are going to make sure that not only everyone in this building knows that we are here, but everyone in this city know that we are here. We are going to make some serious changes to our budget, we are going to make some serious changes to our investments to make sure we dont have losses to the small African American community that we still have here, the people who helped build this city. [applause] the hon. London breed so tonight, lets party, and tomorrow, lets get to work. Thank you all so much. Are if. All right. I know, this is our sixth annual event, and when mayor london breed and i were planning this [inaudible] former president of the board of supervisors. Boy, what a difference a day makes. The point that i was trying to make was she was saying, i dont want a long program, i dont want a long speaking program, and now shes the mayor, and look what weve got. Weve got a long speaking program. And she said that was short. How you guys doing out there . [cheers and applause] i am so happy to see you coming out here to celebrate with us, and i welcome you to the peoples palace. It is an honor to celebrate one more day, one more month, one more year to come together as a di diaspora and lift up our voices. Give yourself a round of applause. [applause] and i would also like to call your attention to, our lieutenant government who has joined us this evening. Thank you for being here, madam lieutenant governor. [applause] so this is the closing ceremony, this is an opportunity for us to express ourselves through music, through art, dance, cuisine. So i hope you are excited to be here because weve got a fantastic program for you. I want to recognize a few folks that made this possible. I want to recognize associated capital, facebook, salesforce, at t, and wells fargo. And i particularly want to recognize miss brenda wright, 35 years with wells fargo, 35 years of leadership. Thank you. [applause] also want to remember and recognize Kaiser Permanente, recology, brookfield development, the Golden State Warriors, ucsf, our good friends in public safety, s. F. Safe have joined us tonight, the world class San Francisco giants, comcast, united airlines, and visa. Thank you. [applause] and theres also two people that i must uplift that we would be nowhere without, and that is the help of miss diana roberts, and robert hui, a representative of the southwest vision project. I just want to remind people to be proud and standup in the face of injustice, to be bound, to be unapologetic, and to bold, to be unapologetic, to call out racism, to call out hatred, to call out bigotry. To be unapologetic, and remember whose shoulders we stand on. We come from kings and queens, we come from warriors, we are survivors. So always remember, when they come for one, that means theyre coming for all of us. And i want this community to know, when you come for mayor breed, you coming for all of us. [cheers and applause] we are not afraid. We will continue to lift up our voice. We will continue to standup and be counted. We are not going to let them write us down in history with their lies. We are not going to let them erase us. We are still going to stand tall and proud and celebrate each other. Thank you. [cheers and applause] supervisor walton good evening. We can do better than that. Good evening [applause] supervisor walton first of all, i want to say a big thank you to mayor breed and chair of the board of equalization, malia cohen, for allowing me to participate in this event every year. [applause] supervisor walton as you know, they had their own diva celebration for a few years, and they allowed me to participate as a leader here in the city, and i just want to say thank you to them for that. But we are at a pivotal time here in San Francisco for black folks. A couple of weeks ago, we kicked off the black history celebration together. Earlier today, we signed the black family legislation so that black families could come back to San Francisco and have a preference. [applause] supervisor walton we now have a plan, a path forward for reparations for black people here in San Francisco, supported by our mayor, supported by every last member of the board of supervisors, and supported by our community. So i just want to say as we celebrate black History Month, which, of course, its something that we should be celebrating every day because its a part of our history in general, that we are working together to make sure that we continue to improve the lives of our community together. So thank you all for being here. I want to thank all of our allies because we know it takes everyone working together to get this work done for us to be successful as communities here in San Francisco as a whole. And as we close black History Month, please remember one thing. We as black people in San Francisco are here to stay, and we are going to continue to Work Together to improve the lives of our entire community. Thank you so much. [applause] all right. Ladies and gentlemen, we wanted to take a moment in our program to remember and reflect the wonderful contributions of a gentleman that many of you know knew by the name of bernard tyson. [applause] the hon. London breed i want to first of all say to people who are here from Kaiser Permanente, can you please raise your hand. I know there were a number of members from Kaiser Permanente who came to this event. [applause] the hon. London breed bernard was really an incredible force in our community and was very supportive of the work that we have done, especially the work to advance and to support the poli plight of African Americans. His incredible sense of humor was contagious. He really uplifted people with his smile and his spirit, and we are truly grateful that god has blessed us with his presence, with his joy, with his excitement, and we as the next generation will continue to carry on in his honor the work that he did for this community. So we want to express our gratitude to kaiser permanent thpermanent permanente and the people who are here, denise, his wife, who we adore, and his children. He left a legacy that will last for generations to come. On behalf of the city and county of San Francisco, we are here, and we want to ask the Kaiser Permanente family to come on up as we recognize our friend, our brother, bernard tyson. [applause] thank you. With all the enthusiasm up here earlier, i feel completely inspired. It took a little bit of edge out of the heaviness of the comments and the remarks about bernard tyson. Good evening and good evening. Come on. Good evening. Thank you. All right. So im dr. Gina gregory burns, and im an internist at San Francisco Kaiser Permanente medical center. Also, my role for a very long time, decades, has been the lead physician lead for diversity, inclusion, as well as equity. And i want to welcome all of my family here from Kaiser Permanente and recognize dr. Maria ansari, whos our physici physicianinchief. Please stand. [applause] also, dr. Mark gaines, who runs our diverse effort. Many of you may know him by his activities. [applause] i want to call out jessica wright, and amber wheeler. Without them, i would not be here. So on behalf of kaiser permanent th permane permanente, i want to express my pleasure for this grateful event. But most of all, i want to thank you for this award on behalf of our beloved and departed c. E. O. , bernard j. Tyson. Bernard and i started Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco in the late 80s. And watching the trajectory of his career, i watched and admired him, just watched in awe. He embodied the missions of Kaiser Permanente, bringing our Mission Statement to life. It was his contribution to communities in local, regional, as well as national arenas. Most of all, i was really so impressed and in awe that he was not afraid to use his platform to address difficult issues that a Health Care Organization would not address, such as homelessness, health disparities, and socially taboo topics just as racial profiling. I had such respect for his remarkable candor. Kaiser permanente has a strong history of bringing people of diverse backgrounds together. We honor black History Month by recognizing African Americans and their contributions to our medical center, the history of our organization, and certainly to our country. Kaiser honors the strength of our struggles for equality in this country to date. Kaiser permanente is unique in that we are an integrated health care system. We provide coordinated care and coverage and provide a wide range of services all under one roof. In 1945, when our health plan was first opened to the public, integration held another important but very different meaning. Kaiser permanente was one of the First Health Care providers in the United States to have a racially integrated hospital, waiting room, and staff. Our workforce even then was diverse. The board of directors was diverse. Physicians, allied health professionals, administrators, were all diverse. Just for context, the last hospital in the United States to end segregation ended that in 1971, in many of our lifetimes, just to put that in perspective. Kaiser permanentes committed to our missions. It is still with that same commitment that we strengthen the diversity in our workforce. It encompasses our gender, our sexual orientation, and other aspects of who we are and how we live. This diversity feeds and strengthens our diverse perspectives which, in teurn, lead to better problem solving. Thank you, Southeast Vision project and the entire committee for ensuring that black History Month continues as it has, and to be celebrated in city hall. Thank you again for this award and recognition. Be well. [applause] the hon. London breed thank you so much. And i am going to deviate from the program just a little bit because i cant help but feel the spirit move me because i know whose shoulders we stand on, and we are fortunate enough, as i recognized him before, to have in our presence the former mayor of San Francisco, the first African American mayor of San Francisco, willie brown. And i just want to ask him to come up and hangout with his kids up here and maybe say a few words. [applause] when you said miss fulton was going to be the emcee, this was about the third week i ended up with this woman presiding and me watching. When mayor breed and her thencolleague, Supervisor Malia Cohen started the idea that as is and has been the case for years with chinese new years, and with many other major celebrations of ethnic origin here at city hall, it was a great day and a great statement that these two people made for all of us in the city and county of San Francisco. And im indeed honored to ask you to please stand and give them a round of applause that they so richly deserve. [applause] and shamann, youre absolutely right. This is the first time the sisters have allowed any of the brothers to be a part of this. And so you represent all of us and all of the things that will occur. I was so delighted when i heard lift every voice and skiing, w was seated next to the president of the board of supervisors. Hes saying, will they sing the other two verses . Im saying, hes the president of the board of supervisors. What is he doing knowing theres three verses . But in all the black schools and universities of america, before brown versus board of education in 1954, every black kid in this country could sing lift every voice and sing and the negro National Anthem, and im just delighted that youre carrying on that tradition. Thank you so much. [applause] well, well, well, the honorable willie brown, ladies and gentlemen. And he mentioned that third verse which actually is a prayer, for those of you that dont know. And when Rosamund Johnson and his brother wrote that song, he was over come and inspired to write that verse. Because if you learn the lyrics please, teach your children. You know, weum only sit on the shoulders of kings and queens, but we sit on folks that were on that pullman train that marched across that bridge. They were housekeepers, they were porters, they were people that worked in this city as my father did, as a longshoreman, came all the way from the south to make a new life for their families. With all the success that weve had in our lives, it would be nothing without honoring the struggle. Its already been paid for, so lets move on up a little higher. What do you say . All right. Id like to acknowledge this beautiful art around me, too. It was made by these wonderful hands of the guy with the red hat. There he is. Bobby arte. Hes giving away free art tonight. So now, we go to the expression of song, and this young lady is a fivetime bay area entertainer of the year as well as a steve harvey neighborhood award winner. Please welcome deedee simon. [applause] [ ] thats deedee simon, ladies and gentlemen, a higher ground. Theres an old proverb that goes, a mans woman will make room for him. In 1982, debra austin was the first ballerina to sign a contract as principal ballerina. That same year, a girl was born by the name of misty copeland, who eventually took herself as a primary dancer in the american ballet theater. Were blessed to have one of those present tonight in the name of coral rose martin. Please put your hands together as she comes in in her very own way. [applause] [ ] [applause] coral rose martin, ladies and gentlemen. We have to take a moment to acknowledge the fillmore. I just bought a wonderful book, and as i look through the pages, its called harlem of the west, the San Francisco fillmore jazz era, and as i turn through the pages and looked at the faces of those that lived in the fillmore and those that lived near the fillmore, the japanese americans and African Americans were in that little special area, and all the nightclubs and businesses and churches and the people that created that area because they were segregated to that one little spot, its a place thats not to be forgotten. And we because we have a wonderful person by the name of Darlene Roberts whos trying to restore the fillmore jazz district, they now have the bay area jazz district. If youre here, just stand here and wave. Thank you so much for bringing these young people here today. [applause] it gives me great pleasure, as they continue the legacy, proud proteges, committed to the development of the peoples workshop at mo greenes on fourth. [applause] thats corey and charisma. [applause] its been a long time comin, but a change is going to come. I think the next generation, the legacy of the fillmore jazz district is alive in these young people. Continue to encourage them because theres got to be more than yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Before i get on my soap box, wed like to bring the sound of the violin back to you. This young man is a power house entertainer and a rising star whose heart is always in the right place. Hes been diligently raising funds for the community through his gift as music philanthropy. Please welcome back to the stage violinist kippy marks. [applause] [ ] kippy marks, ladies and gentlemen. Violinist kippy marks. [applause] thank you. Thank you for sharing your joy with us. Can you feel it . [applause] yes. Moving on up a little higher, theres an exciting new production coming to a. C. T. Before i move forward, i have to acknowledge this baby right here. [applause] sometimes, you see gifts all over children, and shes just you just had to dance, didnt you . It felt good, didnt it . I encourage you to enjoy the music as she does. Remember when you were her age, dancing because you wannabe . My joints are aching, but i might just come down here and right you with the right beat. Theres a production coming on march 29 at geary theater. The true stories are the ones that move us, and its definitely part of history. Its called toni stone, and if youve never heard about her, she was the first membwoman th played in the negro league, the columbus crowns. She negotiated lifes challenges and opportunities on the field and off the field. We have members from that production here, and to bring on the introduction of what well experience is none other than actress ryan nicolle. [applause] good evening, everybody. Please give a hand to miss miranda, please. [applause] yes, yes. She said everything i need to say up here tonight, with the exception of introducing you to our actress who is leading in toni stone. I have the benefit and the honor to understudy this wonderful woman who will start production on march 5. Again, i just want to repeat, we the production begins march 5, it ends on march 29. This woman, toni stone, has bay area roots. She lived here in the bay area, lived in oakland, alameda, respectively. Her life ended in alameda. She played professional baseball with the big boys, and she was a black woman. And we just want to honor her today, and honor her from march 5 to the 29 in this wonderful production of toni stone. I want you all to please turn your attention, your hearts, your ears, your eyes, to don ursula and the cast of toni stone. [applause] [production segment] [applause] don ursula, the cast of toni stone. If you know anything about passion, fighting for something that you believe in, fighting for your gift, living your dreams and goals, you need to come see the production of toni stone at a. C. T. Thank you so much for your time. [applause] thank you, ryan, and thank you to a. C. T. , american skef conservetory theater. Its San Franciscos own. Yes. I live in oakland, and we dont have one of those. There isnt much that we dont have, but i digress. Oh, a basketball team. A football team. Oh, okay. We can share. Its only a bridge. Chase center is beautiful. Poor little oakland arena. Got lots of concerts at the oakland arena. Come and see one sometime. Let it go, miranda. Let it go, let it go. Our next expression will be in song. Bringing back to the stage, shes a prolific performer and entertainer, please put your hands together for nate soul singer. [applause] i love you. Thank you so much. Nate soul singer. [applause] havent all the selections been so inspiring . Boy, feeling good, thank you so much. By the way, this group wowed us this is our last expression. This group wowed us last year, and we were so impressed, were going to bring out kim baptiste to tell us about the Culture Shock. Lets hear it for kim. [applause] hello, everyone. I hope everyone is enjoying their evening. Before i have my dancers come out and perform, i want to tell you a little bit about kim. When kim was a little girl, her mom took her to a dance studio, and the teacher looked at her and said, your hips are too wide and your butt sits up too wide. Youll never be a dancer. Needless to say, kim has performed on many stages across the world. When kim went to high school, kim joined the cheerleading team, but she was always on the bottom. But when kim got to college, kim was the National Director for n. C. A. And u. S. A. Dance camp all through her college years. [applause] when kim graduated college, kim went to l. A. , to live the dance dream like every other dancer in the world. Kim went to l. A. , and she was told that she looks like a typical black woman, that she would never get picked because her skin is too dark and she wouldnt do what they needed to do to get picked. Needless to say, kim has travelled the world with nike as a representation of their fitness and dance department, and has continued Culture Shock dance troupe in oakland for the past 25 years. [applause] i say this today because i have my next generation of kings and queens out here to perform for you. Im hard on them. I cuss, i throw phones at them im just playing. Dont tell them, okay . But today, i wanted to push the emphasis of how black is beautiful, and i want my dancers to listen and understand that no matter what challenge gets in front of you, and no matter what you want to do, and no matter if somebody says you cant do it, that you continue to hold your head up like kim. So please put your hands together for shock crowd and the Culture Shock family. [applause] following suit, a georgia teacher is fired after repeatedly calling the first lady a privileged ape. Journalists from Harpers Bazaar and vanity fair are sitting in the hot seat about their comments about beyonce and jayzs daughter, blue ivy, saying she would need to have surgery to correct her looks. This total disrespect for black women has got to stop. So ladies, what should we do . [applause] now more than ever, we need to teach our upcoming generation to stand strong and proud in their skin. Our black is proud, our black is unique, our black is beautiful. [ ] [applause] Culture Shock dance troupe hello black history. What is going on . It has been a year since we were here for this gathering. It is that time. How are you guys doing . Thanks for coming out on this beautiful saturday as we celebrate making black history. The Second Annual gathering. The San Francisco Police Department put on this amazing powerful event. If you dont leave with goosebumps, i dont know what to tell you. I am from 2. 9kblx. I am from the dream team. I want to thank you for supporting me over the last 20 something years that i have been there. You can check me out Early Morning monday through friday 5 00 a. M. To 10 00 a. M. On long side tony. We have a good time. Thank you very much. I want to thank every one of you who have gone above and beyond to tell everybody about this fantastic event in San Francisco. Before we get started, we cant thank people who dont donate hard blood, sweat and tears to make this happen. Our event partners, crews, lift, San Francisco human rights commission, San Francisco rec and park, office of economic and work force development, old school cafe, yvonnes sweets, Golden State Warriors San Francisco giant and the 49ers. Before it is too late, be sure to let everybody no. Take pictures, share on instagram. That is how the word gets out is when you let people know where you were and how you are celebrating black history. Today we are celebrating a theme. A theme of voting rights. We are celebrating with africanamericans got the right to vote. This is perfect considering what is going on as a country nationwide. I encourage everybody to go out on supertuesday to make sure your vote counts. We want to acknowledge police chief William Scott. A round of applause, please. Everybody in the house. The elected officials, Department Heads, commissioners, community leaders, families, students, friends, relatives and loved ones of the give yourselves a hand for coming out today, please. As you make the way in, we heard great music. The jan men flower gasmen flowers band and the dj is in the house. [applause] lastly, the people behindthescenes to make sure events like this happen, our event committee, derek brown and tiffany, cheryl davis and sergeant ray. You guys ready to get started . Now that the Pleasant Trees are out the way. The first person on the stage. This is going to put a smile on your face. Give it up for our friend, brother clint stock well. Hi everyone. It is a wonderful thing to be here with you. I wanted to give a big love and praise to chief scott and his command staff, the sheriff and his command staff and all of the dignitaries and goodlooking people in the room. You know who you are. Right now in the african tradition, i would like to ask permission from the elders to continue. If you are 60 years or older, you can be part of this by saying ashay. You have to taste the young people to get the advice of to elders so they can go forward in a righteous way. Libations is the pouring out of liquid in honor of those people who have passed away. With one person pouring libations into a plant or the ground, we evoke the memory of those who have come before us. When i pour the water, you say ashay. We are all speaking in african tongan have the common denominator. There was a time when there were no races, only africans. We came from the same place. Over the time, over the millennia, over the sunrising and setting, all things have come as they are today. What some things were forgotten, black history is American History. You cant have black history without American History. You cant have American History without black history. It is like telling the story of the ghost. There was a man, there was a woman. The end. You leave something out and you cant to go back and put the pieces in. I love pouring libations. It is an opportunity to remember those who came before us and shoes shoulders we stand on. When i poured the water and that cascades and you say ashay you are speaking african tongue. It is amen, bless you, you go, i greet, it is so be it, it is umhum. If you found a dollar on the ground you could say what . Ashay. I pour out love for those great africans that were marched across the interior of africa, taken to the west coast, put in the dungeon, marched to the slave ships to the at lantic. Each ripple in the ocean is for an african who refused to be a slave. We want to remember. When you are dead you have died. When people stop saying your name, you are truly dead. The legacy we leave behind is what we want people to remember. We wont live forever, but our legacy could. In the 13th century there was a man who was the richest man to ever live, controlled half the salt and gold in the world. He made a march across the great sahara to mecca, took thousands of people with him. They each carried a staff of gold. He devalued gold across the great sahara to the mecca for 10 or 20 years because everybody had gold. I pour out love for mansomuta. There are people here that are part of the black legacy. The only place to find black people is in america. In cuba you see black people they are cuba. Nigeria they are nigerians. In america we are the descendents of kidnapped kings and queens from africa. Black people. We went into ourselves when we were told not to speak our language. You cannot practice those cultures. We went into the blackness and created black history. What black history is what . American history. Come on, be good students. I an am not just talking for my health. This is to take something home to your children. A little love for hai hair harrt tubman, denmark. The truth. There was a man, white from kansas. One of my favorite. John brown. John brown said there will be no slavery in kansas. He was deadly serious. If he rode on your farm and you had a slave he would free your slaves and they would ride with him to freedom. John brown. A little love for those innopevators, he innovators. The sad songs where you work sun up to sundown that is where the blues and the gospel came from. Nat king coal, count basie, louis armstrong. There was a woman who called herself billy holiday. She recorded for 11 years never got a dime of royalties. She has songs that still haunt us all. Strange fruit, things that were done when people werent given the opportunity to reap the benefits of. Black people never stop loving where you came from. Never stop believing the shoulders you stand on and are obligated. I want you to think of five names of people i dont know, your family, your names. In a minute i want us to fill up with auditorium with names of our loved ones that we dont want to die. A little love for page and payton and colby bryant and his little girl. And also all of the people that died with him on that day. Never forget those who came before you. Never forget your ancestors because your shoulders will be the next set of shoulders the children will stand on. Your life is like a comet flying across the sky and the tail of light that follows, even after the comet is outofsight, that tail is still there to remember and be inspired by. I pour out love for nolad maxwell. Mohammed alley, joe fraser. I would like you to say the names of your loved ones as i pour. Say their names. Honor them. If you dont say their names it is like you dont love them. Say their names. If they are not here with us any more, dont forget them. Say their names. Trayvon martin, sandra bland, michael brown. Same their names. When you have milk or beer or some juice, pour a little liquid and say the name of someone that you dont ever want to forget. Like whitney houston, like aretha franklin, like jack johnson, jack johnson was black. He was the heavyweight champion of the world in the early 1900s. His job was beating up white men. You know that didnt go over very well. Jack johnson was a beautiful person. I want to pour out a little love for all of those people who came before us whose names we dont even know. Maybe they were strange fruit hanging from a tree, some old man that died by himself because he had no family. We want to remember them. You cant have one without the other. I am proud to be black. I am black to the black, black, black, black this month. Saying it is cool. I am so proud of you every time i see you, you make me proud. Adrian, i love you girl. Ashshay. One more time. While we talk about black history, did you know black history including the invention of clothes drier, it includes the blood bank. Had black people not existed that would not have happened. The automatic transmission, a black man invented it. A mailbox, a black man invented. You know who invented caller id and call waiting . A black woman. I. B. M. Needs to thank a black man. A heart spent because of a black man. This is why we celebrate black history of millions of people who arent black wouldnt be alive without black history. Lets give a round of applause for those inventors that may not be on the level of Harriett Tubman and rosa parks but are with us every day. We have voices. We also have an and them. The black negro spiritual and them. Coming to the stage right now. Give it up for three the hard way. Hello everyone. I am ashley. I am part of a group called three the hard way. We performed here last year, and this year it is just me today. I hope that is cool with everybody. Ashay. Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring snottering with the harmony of liberty that are rejoicing right high as the listening skies let it resound loud as the rolling sea sing a song full of the faith that the dark path has taught us sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us facing the rising sunday sune rising sunday, let it march on until victory is won god of our weary years god of our silent tears thousan thou who have brougp for all the way this hou by thigh might led us into the light keep us forever in the path we pray lift our feet straight from the places our god where we met thee lift our hearts drunk with the wine of the world we for gave thee ha shadows beneath thigh head may it ever stand truth to our god, truth applause . Thank you. You are not getting away that fast. Come on. You have got to let the people know who you are. I am makayla. Are you on social media . I am. I just got married. My name is still mikaela c love onencon instagram. Mickala and the actor cheadle. What a voice. [applause] incredible. Three the hard way. I know there are a couple oflateoflatecomers. We are in the perfect location at the beautiful fillmore heritage center. Thank you for opening their doors, having events like this and preserving black history. A very important person is to come to the stage right now. Talk about black history. No matter what is going on in this wonderful city, our mayor london breed always makes it a point to come home and check in with us. Ladies and gentlemen of San Francisco lets celebrate with our mayor, San Francisco mayor london breed. Than thank you so much. Thank you everybody. First of all, i cant see a thing up here. It is always good to come home to the fillmore. I love this community, and i am so honored to be your mayor and a product of the fillmore neighborhood. The western addition, the fillmore, whatever you call it. It has a lot of names and a very rich history. What i am so excited about tody is really the relationship that continues to become what i think one of the shining examples of developing a great relationship between our community and the San Francisco Police Department. It is long over due, but more importantly, we didnt get here overnight. Events like this make it possible for us to come together to celebrate the africanAmerican History, but also to just take a moment to remind people about how far we have come. Now, i grew up from this community. It is no secret that there was at the time that i was growing up a lot of tension that existed between Law Enforcement and a lot of the africanamericans who lived in this community. Over the years when i started working in the community at the africanamerican art and culture complex, the violence and so many of you i say vallie brown and bicycle bob and others who helped us through one of the most challenging times in the history of this city. The violence that occurred, loss of so many africanamericans, and specifically a lot of our young men. What we had to do is come together. Come together as a community, come together and work with Law Enforcement to try to really keep our community safe. I got tired of going to the funerals of not only the people i grew up with but also later on when i was running the africanamerican art and culture complex, the funerals of their children. Working with the captains in the Northern Police station, bringing officers into the neighborhood groups and events that we had was not easy when we first tried to do it. They kept coming back. We kept having the hard conversations. They kept answering the hard questions from young africanamerican men. We over the years develop relationships. We went from our young kids who wouldnt even speak to Police Officers to years later little head nods. Years later little fist bumps. Years later there are hugs and love. There is genuine love that exists because we made a commitment to work on that relationship. That is what it takes to keep communities safe. There is no us versus them. We are all in this together. Every person in this room wants to go home safe every single day and every person in this room wants their Family Member to come home safe. The way that we protect and take care of communities in San Francisco be is to continue to focus on s solutions and buildig bridges. The reason this event is so important is because it is doing just that. It is building a bridge with organizations like project level and sf safe and the village project and so many incredible organizations that make this community so great. Organizations that continue to work with our children, that continue to support our seniors, that continue to uplift people. I want to thank chief scott. This is the Second Annual black History Month event. We have so many people that are part of our Law Enforcement family and our newlyelected sheriff is here with us as well. Let me tell you i want to replicate this and what we have done in the fillmore in other parts of the city. I want us to be really the ambassadors to continue to develop those relationships and support one another and lift one another up. You know, who would have thought that the girl from oc projects would have ever become mayor of San Francisco in now lets be clear my responsibility as mayor includes not only everyone who lives in San Francisco and everyone who works in San Francisco including the men and women of the San Francisco Police Department. What that means is i have to make sure i do everything i can to support everyone in this city, to bring everyone together. There is no us versus them. Black history is not just black history, it is American History. We celebrated today by really being grateful for how far we have come but understanding that we have so much more work to do because we know the challenges that exist in other parts of San Francisco but exist all over our cut be tree, and we can serve as an example how it is done right. We can serve as an example how we come together, how we Work Together, how we build brin bri. Today is about celebrating this Incredible Community, and it is always great to come home to celebrate, to come home and feel the love and also to come home and figure out new ways that we can continue to move this community forward. [applause] i didnt want to preach today, but i will say that i am hopeful about the future because we recognize and we talk about this and actually i came from the ribboncutting of a new africanamerican business in San Francisco that opened in the mission, and i think about the change in San Francisco and in the fillmore and what happened in the redevelopment and how there were a lot of promises made and changes that occurred and things still didnt turnout the way i think a lot of people thought they would. But the reason why i am hopeful is because everybody in this city recognized the disparity that exists with the Africanamerican Community and that we need to do more in order to change it. We cant justin to talk about the data. We have to make real investments. We have to make real policy changes. We have to continue to come together and to lift each other up. I think that there is a renewal of energy to do just that. Today as we celebrate black History Month, we think about our ancestors and the shoulders we stand on. We also are here to dedicate ourselves to a new future for our city. I am not going to do this job alone. I am depending on all of you to help whether we are talking about reparations, what we need to do there, or investments in infant mortality rates for africanamericans and the 37 of the Homeless People in this city are africanamericans. You all are part of the soluti solution. I need your voices because there are other people who are trying to decide what is best for africanamerican in this city. As long as i am your mayor i will not let that happen. I need your voices. [applause] so thank you all so much for being here today. I know there is a lot of great performances. I know there is a lot of great history lessons, incredible people honored and recognized for their accomplishments, and i am looking forward to again seeing a renewed energy in our community so that we can make sure that when people talk about San Francisco and that our diversity is our strength and that San Francisco is one of the greatest cities in the world that it really does include a thriving Africanamerican Community. Thank you all so much for having me here today. [applause] at this time i would like to welcome the chief of police, the Police Command staff, the sheriff and police commissioner. It is photo time. Picture time. Thank you very much, mayor london breed. Make some more noise. There you go. Applaus. applause . So many important people in one room. Can we give it a round of applause for our volunteer that are here making things happen. We talk about the big and important people, all of the volunteers and friends and family getting up early to put up decorations and checking sound to make sure things are done right. Are you ready to dance . One of the most incredible organizations of true backbone of our community is summed up in two words. Project level. Big rich and daniel put together a Incredible Program that has gone above and beyond. They make noise when they need to. People listen to them. Highly respected. As they say often duplicatessed but never right. There is only one. Give it up to project level. [applause] i am alexis johnson. This is kalia. Yeah, we are to perform today. To start off i will sing just the last couple lines of a change is going to come by. There are times that i thought i couldnt last so long now, i think i am able to carry on its been a long time coming, but i know a change is going to come oh, yes, it will applause . Dont give up keep pushing that is the way we are going it is way too far to go back now stand with me put your hands up you are talking real love, you are talking to me stand up to be free we are together dont give up keep pushing that is the way we are going dont give up keep pushing, that is the way we are going way too far to go back now stand with me sometimes you have to pick yourself up on your own shoulder well, im here to let you know that it is all that it is time to right these wrongs dont give up keep pushing, put that work in, that is the way we are going dont give up keep pushing, that is the way we are going way too far to go back now its our time to proceed stand with me thank you. Project level. Here we go. We are going to make more history. He arrived here in 2017. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for our police chief of San Francisco William Scott. [applause] give it up for the cadets. Thank you. Good afternoon. How is everybody feeling out there . Come on. How is everybody feeling out there . applause . So first, let me say i am going to next year ask derek to let me introduce the mayor. It is very hard to go after the mayor. I will do my best. Let me thank all of you for being here. This is our Second Annual, as has been stated. I want to go back to a little bit of history as i talk about why we are here today. In 1926 doctor Carter Woodson started black negro week. He made it his lifes work to understand and promote the history of the contributions of black americans. He didnt feel at that time that our contributions matter. He made his lifes work making sure that, number one, research was done, and two, people knew the contributions of black americans in this country. In 1970 a group of studentss at cento kent state decided it was not enough. Listen to what i am saying, students. Youth can make a difference. You are the future. In 1970 those students had the vision that a week is not enough. Quite honestly, a month is not enough. This is American History. 1976, president carter decided that the president of the United States would officially recognize february as black History Month. Here we are. [applause] i want to quote a little bit what the mayor said about building relationships why we felt at the San Francisco Police Department it was so important to recognize black history and have our own black history celebration because relationships matter. So often we meet people under the worst of circumstances and crisis situations. That is not the time to build relationships. That is not the time to embrace each others culture. You have to do that daily before there becomes a problem. This department has an illustrious history that includes great contributions from black americans, africanamerican Police Officers, command staff. Earl sanders, the first africanamerican chief of police. First africanamerican mayor in the city. We know that black history and black contributions in this country matter. This department saw agapai year ago that we need to embrace af a year ago that we need to embrace africanamerican culture. When we understand where we came from we have a better path where to go. The Police Department is part of American History. We know as an organization we have to recognize the contributions that africanamericans made not only to the city and country but to this world. We have to embrace that. It is about moving forward. It is about vision and having the vision to understand if we dont lay down the roots right now, we have no chance of the tree growing. We will lay down those roots from this point for ward, and we will celebrate the black history of this country and make that part of our dna. [applause] Community Engagement division. Would you all stand up. [applause] and where is Tiffany Sutton . Director of crime strategies. Stand up. And i want to give a special thanks to derek brown. applause . Derek grew up right on the corner. He came to the Police Department last year. Whendewhen derrick and i started talking about making this happen, he too it from there. This is something special. You started something special, man. Thank you. applause . Finally, we have two of our commissioners, molly taylor, Vice President of our police commission, and commissioner dj. It is hard to see up here. I got to thank the mayor for appointing these commissioners. They are a breath of fresh air, they are fair and firm. It is just what we need. Thank you for being here. Last thing i have to say because when i go back to doctor Carter Woodson. He was a member of the fraternity. We have a few of us in the house. We want to recognize that if you ever see me doing this, it is not a game sign. But if you are the member of the society, you know what this means. Thank you. Thank you, William Scott, our chief of police. Words are powerful. You should watch your words. They impact people. We are about to get a spoken word performance. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back for the second year in a row officer rodney free man. [applause] my brother died in france. I came back. We were just too colorful, brown and black. We were joined for the u. S. A. When the nation called us. We were sent to training camp, cents overseas. Me and my brother were happy as you please. Thinking we were fighting for democracy. That we would wipe away the stain. Before the color lines to give up the rights that are yours and mine. They told us america would know no black or white. So we marched to the front, happy to fight. Last night in a dream, my brother came to me. Back from the acres of crosses in france. He said, brother, you got your chance. I hope you are making good and doing fine because when i was living, i didnt have mine. Black boys couldnt work then anywhere like they can today. Could hardly find a job that offered decent pay. The unions bartered. Now, i know we have plenty to do. We couldnt eat in restaurants, didnt have any schools. To a color boy rising in a welfare station, now, i know. That is not our situation. The world remains safe for democracy and no longer do we know the dark misery of being held back, having no chance because a soldier came home from france. Didnt our government tell us things would be fine when we were fighting over there and dying . Now, i know we blacks are just like any other because that is what i die for, isnt it, brother . I saw him standing there straight and tall. In a soldiers uniform and all, and his dark face smiled at me in the night. The dream cool and bitter is somehow not right. It was awful facing that boy who went out to die. It is a lie, it is a lie. It is a thousand times you are in france dead. In the south there are no rights. I am still just a nigger in america tonight. I woke up. The dreaming was ended. Broken was the soldiers dream. It is a good thing the black boys are dead over there. Dont know. Wont ever care. Thank you. [applause] incredible. Officer rodney free man. Thank you very much. At this time i would like to invite back up to the stage chief William Scott and the sfpd command staff to give out awards. We would like to honor some Incredible Community leaders. The awards have changed the lives for many. The black History Month difference maker award acknowledges special africanamerican leaders and contributions that continue to positively impact the lives on a daily basis. That is what we are about to do is give away difference maker awards. Majoring in legal studies. He work wa as a cadet in the process of becoming a police San Francisco police officer. He gives back by helping others and making a difference. Your name is dexter cato. Please come to the stage. [applause]