 And all over I felt strange, even though for this transformation for years I'd been trained. And I'm not talking locomotives. But you could say my motives are local like I'm deranged, my life kind of complicated to explain. But like Tuskegee Airmen, I'll try and make it plain. Towards when my voice began to change, took on a whole new tone, timbre and range, I'd fall asleep sounding like Baldwin, James, and wake up voice resounding like in Tizaki Change, with poetry in my throat struggling to break free like miseducated Negroes and Chains, or colored girls who considered suicide when the rainbow is enough, but who've never given up hope, who take life twelve steps at a time like they've given up dope. So wary of being merrily lynched by the system they've given up rope. See, poetry has become my guiding light, so I've given up soap. And I sound so funky like I've given up scope, though I have remarkable breath of mind. And with whatever is left of time, I'll celebrate those who gave their lives to me for the rest of mine. I come just in time to tell you our ancestors stand the test of time. And I don't grade on a curve, a poem for children who stood in protest so long they grade on the curb. No monument erected in their name, none of them made of cement, but all of whom paved the way. A poem for spirits who visit us in our dreamless nights to help save the day. They come whenever I need, whenever I get down on my knees and pray change is something I bleed. Because change is something I believe, inhabits my body like the air I breathe and keeps me alive like these words I read and is as real as nappy hair blowing in the breeze. This is the story of the Negro retold. It cannot be manufactured, duplicated, bought or resold. So give me some thread, because I realize the fabric of America needs to be resold. The world is foul, and its problems can't be resolved with two free throws. And now I know you can't buy heroes, but put them around Leroy Gilead and you can make a hundred like a one and two zeros. Some say home is where the heart is, but I only ever wanted two gazebos. I mean, I have more than I ever asked for. So I often wonder why blue collar mothers who work 25 years for the same company get to ask for unsung. No one celebrates them or sings their praises. Given pink slips, not promotions and raises, raises more questions than answers. Appreciate now, heroes and heroines should be as addictive as heroine. This is poetry and motion, guess that makes me a dancer. Put all my cards on the table, guess that makes me a gambler. Talking too much, guess that makes me a rambler. I could talk your ears off. But I have so much to say, to say it, I'd have to take a couple years off. Life moving so fast, wish I could take a couple years off, so I could slow down. I feel strange. I feel like Barack Obama, how I'm always asking for change. But I want to share the wealth. So like a room full of heroes, you won't have to go too far for help. I don't know what else to say. Except today, I comprehend we must do the best we can. Because yes, we can. And I'm happy now. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory. So I joyfully bear witness to her and his story. Unsung no more, grief on my tongue no more. Now I know more than I ever have before. And I tell you, I'll never be the same. I feel like Saul after his conversion. I don't even know my name. But I am as I am. And I hope that's enough. And to all my heroes and heroines, I want to be just like y'all when I grow up. The African Interest Committee of the San Francisco Public. Can you hear me? Excuse me, I have a code that I've been fighting to. On behalf of the African American Interest Committee of the San Francisco Public Library, we'd like to welcome you to the 20th anniversary of the Unsung Hero Award. My name is Chanette Jackson. And I am a librarian here at the main in the Herb K. Magazine and newspaper center. And I'm Linda Brooks-Burton. And I'm the branch manager at the Bayview branch in the Bayview district. Besides celebrating the 20 years, this program has been an existence. We're also here for celebrating a very important man. Sorry. Hello? OK. I'm sorry. We're here to celebrate a very important man, not known only for black history, but American history. Carter G. Woodson, who founded the first Negro History Week, who forged the intellectual movement to educate Americans about cultural diversity and democracy. For the sake of African Americans and all Americans, Woodson heralded the contributions of African Americans and the black tradition. In 1915, he established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. And by the time of his death in 1950, he had laid the foundation for the rethinking of American identity. The multiculturalism of our times is built on his intellectual and institutional labors and the association that he established. He should not be known as the father of black history, but as pioneer of multiculturalism as well. So this year, we're also celebrating 20 years of honoring deserving individuals in our community who have committed themselves to helping others. And the program says that we have honored over 125 people. That's actually a typo. It's 225 people. We've honored at least 10 to 12 people every year since 1989. These awards first began at the Western Edition Branch and were hosted by the branch manager at the time, Joan Jackson. Now, she doesn't know this is going to be happening, but she's actually going to get an award right off the bat for having an initial part in bringing these awards to the San Francisco Public Library and then for the way it has lasted all these years. So Joan, if you would just stand up and stay where you are and get your award and your flowers. She's our first honorary award of the afternoon. So to begin the program officially, we will be having a song by an international singer and actress, Angela Dean Bayhem. Please give her a round of applause. Good afternoon. Please stand for the singing of the first and third verses of the Negro national anthem. Lift every voice and sing. Bayhem, one more round of applause there. Good afternoon. My name is Stuart Shaw. I'm the African American Center Librarian here at Domain. And we're all here to this great program today. And my job is to introduce our emcee for the day. Veronica Dangerfield. She has been doing this emceeing for about 10 years now and I don't think we can do it without her. And she is a phenomenal woman. She's funny, she's a comedian, she's a mother, she's a humanitarian. So without further ado, Veronica Dangerfield, our emcee. Thank you. I can believe that there are 255 million nerds out there. Some of you have four? I sure have. You can eat as much as you want and guess what, you will not miss that. I am so blessed to be here today. And if you've noticed since the last time you saw me, I dropped about 10 pounds. Not only did I drop it, cousin, I released it to the wilds of Africa. That 10 pounds bag. And I figured out the secrets. Do you know that Americans spend about $6 billion on diet, on diet medication? My secret was cooking my own food. Y'all can laugh because I cannot cook, but I want to also extend that to you. Whenever something is coming out of the kitchen, my husband complains, so I stay out of there now. I'd like to start out with a quote by Walt Whitman. I know nothing but miracles. To me, every hour of the light and dark is a miracle. Can I hear Nache, cousins? Every cubic inch of space is a miracle. Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with miracles. Every foot of the interior swarms with miracles. And the biggest miracle of all is a president. Can I hear Nache? We've got an African American president. Is that a miracle? Put your hands together. Miracles abound, love is profound, an ending lyrical sounds. Okay, I am going to read to you now the proclamation that all of our unsung heroes will receive. And it says, whereas on behalf of the city and county of San Francisco, I am pleased to recognize and honor our unsung heroes for their continuous commitment and dedication to our community and to our city. For your service, you've been nominated by your peers and chosen by the selection board of the African American Interest Committee to receive the Unsung Heroes Award on this landmark occasion of the 20th anniversary presentation. Yahoo! Now, don't y'all make me celebrate by myself because you know I will. Let your efforts inspire others to lend their time and energy towards enriching the lives of those in their own neighborhoods. Congratulations and best wishes on all your future endeavors. And it says, therefore I have there unto set my hand and cause the seal of the city and county of San Francisco to be affixed and in live and living color, Gavin Newsom's signature. Ashay. So are we ready to celebrate today? Y'all have to remember, this is not no funeral. This is a celebration. You're gonna put your hands together and while you do it, you can get a little exercise too. All right? So now I would like to introduce our keynote speaker today. We have the awesome Jewel Gomez is here. She's a teacher, she's an activist, she's a writer, she's a poet, and hopefully she's not like me, she can actually cook. She's been in numerous periodicals, the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, the Essence Magazine, the Advocate, the Kalu and the Black Scholar, and she was a former commissioner of the San Francisco Public Library. So this is an awesome treat. So put your hands together to Miss Jewel Gomez. Thank you. Thank you. Unless something happened since last week, I'm actually the president of the Library Commission. So unless you know something, I don't know. Thank you all very much. I am very honored to be here today. I usually don't do programs on Sunday, mainly because that's my writing day. I have the good fortune, like many of you perhaps, to have an actual job that I go to every day. And so Sunday I usually save for writing and when I was invited, I had to think about it for just a minute, because if you carve out eight hours a week to do something that you feel compelled to do, it's on you to show up and do it. But then I realized, no, no, these are the people that I write for. These are the people I write about. I need to be here. So I am very, very honored to be here at the 20th anniversary of Unsung Heroes and I'm especially honored to be able to celebrate the life of Cartagy Woodson with you all. It's a name that doesn't get bandied about quite as much as we might like, but Cartagy Woodson was always one of my heroes as a young person growing up in Boston. I'll try not to pop my peas in your ears. I grew up with my great-grandmother who'd been born on Indian land in Oskaloosa, Iowa in 1883. And she was the one who taught me that our roots are our history. They keep us grounded where we are right now and they steady us as we grow towards the sky. When she was passing on her history, her multi-ethnic history of her life, she was giving me the roots that I needed to guide me from each, before me each day. She was giving me the desire to write. I didn't understand it at the time, but by the time I wrote my first poem, I understood it was that history. It was those stories that she gave me that compelled me to write and to pass on the history that I was living in my time. Carter G. Woodson, through his research and his writing, nurtured all of those roots that keep us going. He reached back in time and said to us, it is important to know who we are, for if we don't know who we are, if we don't know who we've been, how can we ever create the future? How can we have an effect on what happens to our children and our children's children if we cannot remember what happened to our grandparents and our great grandparents? I think that's one of the reasons he wasn't one of the hot topics in school. People would rather be talking about, I don't know, the Black Panther Party or Malcolm X, but Carter G. Woodson always said, I quote, I am a radical. We didn't understand that at the time, but I see now and more and more as I grow older that when Carter G. Woodson said, I am a radical, he was saying exactly what we needed to hear, because right now what we need is to see ourselves as radical, as people of color in this country, we need to see ourselves as radical, not as middle of the road, but as radical, not as people who accept the status quo, but we need to see ourselves as radical. We need not see ourselves as people who settle for what has passed along to us. We need to be like Carter G. Woodson, we need to be radical. And I don't mean that we have to rush out and get like a black beret and a black leather jacket and carry a sidearm. What we need to do is think radical. Barack Obama thinks radical. That's why he's gonna be the president of the United States in how many days? Who's counting? He's a radical. He thought, I will not settle for what people expect of me as a good negro. I will not settle for what people expect of me as someone who looks good in a two-piece suit. I will not accept what people expect of me as a college educated, mixed race brother. He said, I'm gonna do that and I'm going to do more than that. I am going to go places that people do not expect me to go. I am going to move from the local and he has a very strong local base in Chicago. He said, I will move from the local to the global. I will look at where the struggles of African Americans touch the struggles of other people in this country and other people around the world and I will connect those dots and I will speak out about the lines that are being drawn. He decided, I will connect with all people. When you look at the people who did his campaign, it was everyone. It was everyone. You could not find a person missing from any race, creed, sexuality, gender. And you know we have more than two now. They were all there. They were all at his campaign, headquarters around the country. That's because he decided to be radical, to reach out to everyone, to ask for justice for everyone. That is a very radical thing. But one thing that I feel like it's important, Tina Turner has a song, We Don't Need Another Hero. And in fact, I think that's true. We have to be careful about looking to Barack Obama to rush in on a black horse and save us. That's not what he's gonna be doing. He's gonna be trying to save the country and us along with it. But we cannot wait for anyone to rush in on a black horse and save us. We are the ones who are saving ourselves and saving this country. History will tell us, history will tell us that waiting for someone to save us rarely works. You're usually still sitting there on the dock of the bay, waiting. What Carter Woodson said was, I am ready to act if I can find brave men, and he meant women, to help me. So he said, I am ready to act. If I can find the brave ones who will come along and help me, he didn't say, come here and save me. He didn't say, I'm poor, come save me. He didn't say, I don't know what to do, come save me. He said, I am ready to act. That is what Barack Obama said, I am ready to act. Who's gonna help me? And we rose up to help him get where he is today. Barack Obama can offer us two things. I mean, he can probably offer more, but these are the two I can think of right off the top of my head. He can offer us his conscious effort to do good. I think right away, when you look at him, when you listen to him, the difference between his presidency and his presentation is clear. He is offering a conscious effort to do good, to do good for us, to do good for everyone. That's a conscious effort. It doesn't come by accident. It comes because you think about it, you think about what people need, you think about what's missing, and you make a conscious decision, I am going to try to do good. Does not mean he won't make mistakes because who among us doesn't make mistakes. I understand, I mean, I don't know a lot about this, but I understand that God actually made a few mistakes too. They talk about that. So we can assume he will make some mistakes and our job is to say, you know, I think you could do this. Have you tried that? Not to piss and moan about it, but to say, how about this? How about that? The same way we would do with anyone that we care about. Our job is to pay attention to his conscious effort to do good. That's the first thing that he brings to us. The second thing I think he brings to us is the hope that will help us make that conscious effort to do good because all the good he's doing is not gonna be the solution unless we are doing good right along beside him. Not behind him, but right along beside him. This month we are commemorating the assassination of one of our activist supervisors here in San Francisco, Harvey Milk. When you go to see the film, Milk, which I've seen twice already, he said two important things to San Francisco. Don't blend in, which we've spent a lot of time doing. It's good, I can wear these clothes as opposed to, you know, a gay-lay and the beautiful regalia that I have at home. I can go in lots of different directions. I can wear Indian clothes. I can wear African clothes. I can wear these clothes, you know, they came from, what is this, Nordstrom Rack. But don't blend in. The blending in is giving up your spirit, saying I can be who you say I am. That's not who we are. We are radicals like Carter G. Woodson. So Harvey Milk said, don't blend in. Don't blend in. The second thing he says is, you gotta give him hope. That is the message of the day. That is the place that Barack Obama started. He said, I can give you hope for change. We can go forward together with hope. What we see in our neighborhoods when we see crime, when we see drugs, when we see violence, is the lack of hope. It's not just that the kids are being bad. It's the kids don't have any hope. And when we do not have hope, we are simply ghosts walking on this land. Without hope, we're standing around on a street corner waiting for something or someone to make us feel good. It's drugs or it's money or it's a television show. We're waiting for something outside of ourselves to make us feel good. Without hope, we are mean to each other. Without hope, we are violent with each other. Whether that is violent with your fists or violent with your words to your children, to your spouse. Without hope, we are afraid of people we don't know. Without hope, we are self-righteous about what we think we do know. We are not humble. We think we know everything that's gonna take us on the right path. We don't know everything that's gonna take us on the right path. We need to hope. We learn everything that's gonna take us on the right path. That's the hope that we need. The heroes that we get to honor today bring us the hope that we need. They show us their big open hearts and how they help to change the future by acting on their hopes in the present. I actually only know one of our unsung heroes. That's a Larry Ware who works with me in my building. He's an activist, a poet. You know I love that. He keeps the spirit of literature alive. And for those of you old enough as I am to remember the black radical movement of the 60s was grounded in poetry. You did not go to a rally. You did not go to a demonstration. It did not start without a poet running it down, whipping you up to let you know the passion we needed to have change. And the poets always bring us hope. The unsung heroes here are offering us a challenge. We're gonna celebrate them today and keep in mind with each one of them and the acts that they have done to create community, to create change, to create our future is also a celebration of the challenge that they point out to us. They are bringing us a challenge to be radical as Woodson was radical and to be hopeful as they are hopeful. They set a very high standard for us. When you look at the program and you see the things that they have been involved in, when you look at each of them come up, actually look at them, see who they are physically. They are all as different from each other as each one of us is different from the other. But underneath the thing that they have is that sense of hope that they can create change. And that's the thing that we wanna grab onto for ourselves, it doesn't matter if you're six, it doesn't matter if you're 60 like me, it doesn't matter if you're 80, it's only with that hope that we can create change that it's worth getting up in the morning. And each one of the people who come up on this stage is gonna show us a glimmer of what that hope can do and what the change is that they've created. It's a very high standard that they set for us. It can be a little bit anxiety provoking because we do have to go to our jobs every day. We do have to feed the children, we do have to turn on the lights. But if you can look at the challenge, look at it right in the eye and embrace it, it's tomorrow, right here in your hands today. And so I would say in my final words would be the first three words from Toni Morrison's new novel, A Mercy. When you look at that challenge, when you see the work that needs to be done, as Toni Morrison said, don't be afraid. Ashe. Thank you. That was a profound and beautiful message from the poet, Madam President, excuse me. I would like to bring up some change and I would like to ask everybody who's sitting on this end to move in because we have so many people here at our event that people are sitting on the floor and we have available seats here and as Grace is host and hostess, we want everybody to have an opportunity to sit down. Thank you so very much. Ah, Shea. People don't like change, but I tell them, change your seat. The audacity of hope. You know, God gave us many, many ways to express our talent. Some of us, he's given voices to sing and some of us have been giving the awesome opportunity to express our God-given talent through our bodies. So if you could please welcome Kathleen Franklin and Susan Tobiason, they're gonna do a jazz, modern interpretation of something awesome and you can tell me what it is after it's over. Come on over girls, give them a warm hand. That song is so beautiful and they did such a great job. One more time, give them a nice round. I wanted to take a few minutes to thank the public library. I don't know if a lot of you haven't seen me before but I was raised in Tokyo, Japan. Yeah, I'm the sole member of my own race. I'm a black and ease. And when I lived in Japan, I was a child celebrity. People would follow me around and touch my hair and skin and ask me for my toys. They would follow me around and they would go block, block, block. So I got paparazzi training early. One of the great things was that when I left Tokyo, Japan, I went to Mount Pleasant, Texas. That is the appropriate response. Of course I had a language problem. Nobody in Texas spoke English. Mount Pleasant was so bad even the mosquitoes took off the Dallas. But one of the greatest things is that when I got to Texas, I found myself a bit ostracized. I went from being a little Japanese princess to an African American child in the South in the 70s with a big, big mouth. Consequently, I discovered the library and that is where I've stayed for the last four to five years. The library is phenomenal. All the knowledge that you ever wanted is available democratically and it's free. Not only that, you can download books in your pajamas at midnight onto your iPod and read while you're cleaning, if I cleaned. Because you know, I don't have a domestic skill. That's why I married my husband who is my wife. You guys understand? It was impersonal. It was just my talent. So the library is free, it's democratic. I probably have a PhD in reading books now. I can do it all the time. So support your library and when you see your favorite librarian, give them five dollars. So let me tell you about Ridlana Bentley. And she made me think of Isaiah 55, chapter 12 through 13. You will go out in joy and you will be led forth in peace. The mountain and the hills before you will burst into song and the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorns will grow the cypress and instead of briar will come up the myrtle. This will be for the glory of God for an everlasting sign which will never be destroyed. Ridlana Bentley is one of my favorite people although I haven't met her. You know why? Tell you why. She is the program director for the Happy Birthday Fund which arrange and host birthday parties for homeless children. Let me hear in our Shea cousins. Foster children and a children affected with HIV AIDS. These are the children that have been abandoned and everybody should have a birthday because being born is a celebration. The goal of this fund is to put a smile on a child's face on their birthdays. Oh man, that touches me. She's an active community member of the OMI district. She's a member of the National Congress of Negro women. Put your hands together for the National Congress Negro women. Because before we were black, you know we was Negro stand. Y'all remember. She works for the Department of Justice Immigration Division and she is a tribute to the world. Please put your hand together and please come up Ms. Ritlana Bentley and accept your Unsung Heroes Award. Is she here? If you're in the house, come on down. It's your turn. Well we might have to give her another opportunity. Can somebody accept it for her? Introduce yourself, Alex, and accept the award. Hi, my name is Everett Alexander. I'm a member of the African American Interest Committee and I would like to accept this award on her behalf. Thank you very much. I love this program when they're surprises. Okay, is Alex and Harriet Bagwell in the house? Oh, I'm so happy. Alex and Harriet Bagwell, they have their liberation to the sound of justice through their voice. For 26 years, they've been a part of the Freedom Song Network. Put your hands together for Freedom Songs. They use their music to liberate the rights of all people at home and abroad to establish a more free, just, and equal societies and to live in peace. They are proud of their participation in the Boycott of South Africa and the coming of the ports of San Francisco and Oakland. They sang on many picket lines and demonstrations in protest of racism and injustice. Mr. Bagwell was a longshoreman and he helped to convince international longshoremen and warehouse unions to carry out the South African Boycott. Mr. Bagwell is a radical. You go, Mr. Bagwell. They have been members for 13 years of the Vakani Mawetu Choir, which sings the Freedom Songs of South Africa. And can you give me a round of applause for saying that, Muthani? I think I didn't do too good. But what I love the most about those two is they've been married for 44 years. God bless you. I've been married for 20 and I'm still trying to figure out what that man said. This show ain't easy being cheesy. But Ms. Harriet, I think that you are a big blessing to our community. I am so happy that you have used your voice for freedom and liberation. And I am so honored to have the opportunity to give you the next Unsung Heroes Award. Please come up and accept. Mr. Bagwell, he's a good hugger too. Thank you very much. Alex and I have been in the struggle for a number of years and we're members of Vakani Mawetu. Vakani Mawetu is an organization we've been, the choir was formed by James Medlope Phillips and we sing us songs, freedom songs of South Africa. We sing gospel, we sing on picket lines and we sing for a number of organizations and the money that we get when the choir has gigs. We send our money to South Africa and we also support HIV and AIDS organizations in the Bay Area but a lot of our money goes to South Africa. And we get no money for our performances and we also sing with Freedom Song Network and we were formed was 26 years. 26 years? How many years? Reed knows 27, well okay anyway. So we were very instrumental in that organization and well, no you say something. I just wanna thank the library for doing this for us. I love the way Mrs. Bagwell said. I talk now, you say something. Maybe that's the secret of 44 years, getting a man to listen to you. Okay, gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. Wouldn't you say so cousins? Ashe, I'm gonna say that. Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. You think so cousins? Ashe! All right, don't y'all be falling asleep. It turns what we have into enough and more. It turns denial into acceptance. It turns chaos to order, confusing to clarity. It can turn a mill into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. That was said by Melanie Bady. So now we come to the awesome Jean Birks. Where's Ms. Birks at? Not only is Ms. Birks beautiful and resplendent in her fire engine red, don't mess with her today, okay? She is a library volunteer for the San Francisco African American Historical Cultural Center, and she assists with its temporary relocation from the Western Edition branch. She's a widow, but if you keep looking that pretty, I don't think that's gonna stay for long, Ms. Birks. She's the mother of two sons and she's also a grandmother. She attended computer class at the Ira Tech Center and she is keenly proficient. Her hobbies include stained glass making, jewelry making, quilting, and she can play some bridge too. She's an organization, she's with the San Francisco Lynx. She was the president. She did fundraising. She was with the new historical archives. She assisted with community-ventured projects and she sponsored golf tournaments. Do you golf, Ms. Birks? Well, she's smart enough to know how to organize the golfers and that takes some intelligence, okay? She's been also a member of the San Francisco Fine Art Museum, the United Negro College Fund. She has a quiet and reserved demeanor, but don't let that fool you folks. She's dependable, she's passionate. She really loves education and she's a strong advocate for her family. Please give a round of applause for Ms. Birks because she is our unsung hero. I just have a few words I want to say because the African American Historical Society is not well known. Our black experience is a heritage which we must not allow to disappear. Our history is rich and varied. If we don't preserve it, it could be rewitten and much of it lost and altered. The San Francisco African American Historic and Cultural Society is attempting to serve as a deposit and a research library of information about our history and culture and I am pleased to help maintain that library. Thank you. Ms. Birks makes me want to sing, isn't she lovely, but I won't do that to you cousins. I like you too much to start singing to you. Thank you, Ms. Birks. And now, we're gonna talk of Dr. James M. Calloway. Where are you, Dr. Calloway? Oh, hi, Dr. Calloway! What a resplendent man. Say, ah-sheh, cousins. Ah-sheh! You always say, ah-sheh to resplendent men. And there sure are some beautiful men here today. Ladies, let's give the men a round. Nothing makes me more excited than when men dress up. Mr. Calloway recognizes that both abundance and lack exists simultaneous in our lives as parallel realities. It is always through his conscious choice which secret garden we will tend. When we choose not to focus on what is missing in our lives, but are grateful for the abundance as presents, love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure, the wastelands of illusion fall away and we experience both heaven on earth. That was said by Sarah Brantwich. So, Mr. Calloway is the president of the Bayview's Hunters Point Lions Club. Let's give him a hand for that. And I was looking at his bio here and I'm thinking Mr. Calloway doesn't sleep very much. Because he's the board of directors of the Bayview Opera House, the Economic Opportunity Council. He has a membership in the San Francisco American Democratic Club, the Black Leadership Forum, the Black Women Organized for Political Action. He's such a man, he can even organize the Black Women. Let's put your hands together for that. Whoa, Mr. Calloway, Mr. Calloway. And Mr. Calloway is also a Renaissance man. Can I hear how she for a Renaissance man? Every woman needs at least one Renaissance man in the neighborhood if she can't have one in her house. Oh, he holds a doctorate degree in education, a master's degree in education administration, a bachelor's of arts degree in sociology. He's also credentialed in education administration and standard teaching and an associate's of arts degree. Mr. Calloway, you ain't very educated, is ya? He works tirelessly, enhancing and setting higher standards for the San Francisco City educational system and for the betterment of our students. So please, a resounding welcome for Mr. Calloway. He's educating our children. Keep your hands together, our children. First, I'd like to say, give an honor to God, because he is the one that allow me and you to be here today. First thing I'd like to say, I want to thank the Library Commission. I wanna thank the San Francisco Public Libraries for all the things that you do for the adults, especially for our kids. So let's give the library a hand. I also wanna thank Ms. Burton for being the librarian over at the Bayview Hunters Point. I also wanna thank everyone who had anything to do with this program. And I also wanna thank all of you for coming out this afternoon. I wanna give a special thanks to my sister, Ithia Memms and my niece Yolanda for being here. But more than anything, I wanna say congratulations to the other recipients. And let's give them a hand as well. And I humbly accept this award. Thank you very much. Is everybody having a good time? Great. I'd like to take a moment now to bring up our Director of Public Affairs for the San Francisco Public Library. She would like to say a few words of welcome to you as well. This is Marcia Schneider. Please give her a round of applause. Thank you so much, Linda. And I just wanted to say welcome to you all. Also, it's our pleasure to have this program here at the San Francisco Public Library, especially after 20 years. It's just a really wonderful event. I wanna bring greetings from our city librarian, Luis Herrera, who is out of town right now. But this is a program that is near and dear to his heart. I think of all the hundreds of programs we do every year that this is his favorite. And he especially wanted to be represented here. I'd also like to thank all of you for being here and to extend our warmest congratulations to not only this year's winners, but all of the past winners as well. Thank you very much. So did everybody enjoy the voice of Angela Dean Bam? Wasn't that beautiful? Well, here she is again to sing another selection. Please give her a round of applause. Wow, what a talent. I always wondered about opera singers. If you could recognize an opera singer when you had a child, like if they got in trouble, would they hit a high note or something? How would you know that they had that talent? Things that make you go, hmm, hmm. Arche, thank you brother, thank you for that Arche. You know, we have a real special treat today, cousins. The original MC for the Unsung Heroes is with us today. And I have the privilege of announcing him and I got the email and I was told to get his bio so that I would know something about him. And when I got his bio, it was like I got a shot of estrogen because I was thinking his mama must be so proud. His mama must be so proud of him. This is an individual who was gifted by God to sing. And he performed with Paul Robeson, Leontine Price, and Nat King Cole. You guys should be Arche and all over the auditorium. He was a child prodigy. He started at the age of seven in 1953 to 1958. And even if you were a prodigy in those times, you were kind of overlooked if you kind of looked like us, but he was there in the San Francisco Boys Choir under the direction of the late Marty Bacon. He had the privilege of performing Carmen, Boris Gaudenov, Ternodot, and Lobo Hymn. Yeah, y'all know what I'm talking about. I'm silly, sometimes I can't talk that well, though. The San Francisco Cosmopolitan Opera, and he attended, his bio is just like, like winning the lottery of achievement. Have y'all won the lottery lately of achievements? Personally, I think that if you're healthy, you won the lotto. Can I hear an Arche? Arche. Well, that was a loud Arche. I love that. He, while attending Harvard Law School, Harvard Law School. So not only did he have talents, the man was born with brains. He just, real briefly, he was around the Boston area at the point after the Ramada Inn on the Charles and various other venues. During that period, he was selected to solo with Duke Ellington in his Boston debut of his sacred concert. You guys, I said Duke Ellington. He was a talk show host. He's a television personality, a syndicated print columnist, and he also wrote the opening day song for the Giants at Pack Bell Park. So before I have a hot flash, it is my delight. It is my honor to introduce Noel Griffin, who will introduce our next four winners. Put your hands together, cousins. Well, it's nice to hear these things before you die. It's a pleasure to be here with Joan Jackson, who started these over 20 years ago, and I was fortunate enough to be here. What I'm thinking of is, Edgar Guest, these people that we're honoring today are really living sermons. He said, I'd rather hear a sermon than to see one any day. I'd rather one would walk with me than merely show the way. The eyes of better people and more willing than the ear find counsel as confusing, but examples always clear. And the best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds, for to see the good in action is what everybody needs. I can soon see how to do it. If you let me see it done, I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run. And the message you deliver may be very wise and true, but I'd rather get my sermon by observing what you do. For I might misunderstand you and the high advice you give, but there's no misunderstanding how you act and live. How about a hand for all of our recipients today? Please, thank you. The first person I'm privileged to introduce is nicknamed Mr. G. His name is Leroy Gillian. He's got a hand. He was a founding board member of Infusion One, a non-profit organization that serves youth and families right here in San Francisco. He spent over 20 years volunteering and working with the San Francisco Unified School District, working with at-risk children. He's been and is a positive African-American male role model, not only for children, but for their guardians as well. Mr. Gillian is one of the original Tuskegee Airmen who are recently awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the United States legislature. He's now entering his 90th year of life. This unsung hero will be given his award by Galen Logan, who was a co-founder of Infusion One, and a past unsung hero and one who nominated Mr. G. Galen, would you please come up? Well, I shook this brother's hand. I got a couple of things I just wanna say and do before I give the mic over to Mr. G. Couple things in brief. Number one, I wanna thank the public library here for holding this event. There's 200 plus individuals whose lives have been touched because of your efforts. But Mr. G, you know, quite often in our lives, things will happen, circumstances will happen that will influence us in a profound way. And quite often, people will happen that will touch us in a profound way. This man here has touched my life in such a significant way. I can't even begin to describe it in words. You know, I'm here to say that, you know, actually a few years ago, there was a saying that was kind of a cliche. If you guys all remember, keep it real. You guys remember that saying, keep it real? Well, my interaction with this man right here showed me what keep it real was really all about because really, to keep it real, if you do keep it real, you're not the most popular person. Let's tell the truth. In keeping it real, you're not going to agree with everything everybody says. As a matter of fact, when you keep it real, you're gonna disagree 90% of the time about the things that you see in here and you experience in the society that we live in. And one of the first things that I realized about this gentleman when I met him was that a lot of people, he rubbed the wrong way and were upset with him quite often for him basically just speaking his truth. And that attracted me, quite frankly. Because when I see somebody who everybody agrees with, I'm gonna go the other way. Because something's not right. I have a piece, I also performed spoken word and I have a piece that I wrote and this is interactive. So I'm gonna ask you to participate with me if you don't mind. And I'm actually gonna move to this mic here if it's still on, because I would like to touch you. And this piece is for Mr. G, but it's also for all the award recipients. But it's for us. So what I'm gonna ask you to do is I'm gonna ask you to repeat after me when I raise my hands. And what I'm gonna ask you to repeat after me is I'm gonna ask you to repeat. We proclaim. Can you say it? We proclaim. On this day. On this day. On this ground. On this ground. That's what I'd like you to repeat after me. And when I raise my hands, I'd like you to repeat those words. We proclaim. We proclaim. On this day. On this day. On this ground. On this ground. All right, here we go. That we are of sound, body, and mind. No, I'm gonna do that part. All I want you to do is we proclaim on this day, on this ground. All right, now another piece is that if you agree with what I'm saying, you will raise your voice when we get to that point where you say we proclaim. Is that a deal? Now I'm taking a big risk because if you don't agree with what I'm saying, then I'm gonna be saying it by myself, right? So I'm gonna take that risk, all right? That we are of sound, body, and mind. That our spirits are perfect, whole, and complete. And that from this point forward, we will assume our position in the classroom of eternity to be and to become a manifestation of the universal song title life. That we refuse to be reduced to a color, class, a statistic that categorizes us as strong, weak, meek, or mild. That we know within the core of our true selves that this moment we hold is ours. And that we are forever convinced that greatness knows no boundaries. That we are convinced forever that greatness knows no boundaries. And that air we breathe holds no restrictions, limitations, or conditions on how it freely flows and feeds our bodies. See this air we breathe seeks no identification, discover card or passport to grant us this life we're given. That comparison is a thief of joy. I'm gonna say that again. That comparison is a thief of joy and that the second minute or moment that we choose to look up or down at our fellow man or woman is the second minute and moment that we reduce ourselves to a false representation of God and that we no longer have access to the dance floor where the universe plays its eternal song that we believe in us. We believe in us and the essence that resides in our physical shell. Our physical shells that reside in this physical world that is fueled by ubiquitous power unseen. Yes, we must believe in us. We gotta believe in us because what lives in me also lives in you. That love woke us up this morning and love will see us through the night and every single living creature on this planet has full rights to that thing called love and must act accordingly with the laws of the universe by not trying to bury it, hide it, or sell it. Be love, do love, and have love. But most importantly, don't be ashamed of love that we, in fact, can do all through love. Thank you. I'm gonna say this and I'm gonna shout out. This man is going to his 90th year and it is truly a blessing and an honor for me to be able to stand here today and say these words to this man in front of you publicly because in many cases, we don't say many things about people until they're in the ground and so this is an opportunity for me to say, man, I love you, you have impacted my life and not only my life but my children's lives and every single person on this planet who I've touched and influenced and they don't even know you, but you did that. Thank you. I'm not sure what you expect from me now. I have three sons all in their 60s and I came to San Francisco in 1987, started working with Galen at Fairmont Elementary School. You notice in your program next to my name has the statement that I work with at-risk students. That's extremely important. We're celebrating history today, particularly as Mr. Woodson has indicated and he at that time was trying to inform America that America was built by blacks and if it wasn't for the blacks, the country wouldn't be what it is today. Most people don't know that. I'm fortunate to know that because my exposure is different. I was born and raised in the city of New York where the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is. It was a small neighborhood, Irish and black, low income, in the middle income community, wealthy people, very wealthy people. I wouldn't say it was their Christian guilt but they provide us much of what we needed during the Depression so I never suffered during the Depression what other people suffered. I lived through it but I didn't. So I was exposed in that community, enjoying all the facilities like everybody else without very little discrimination. I just say that to give you a background. My father was no longer in a household by the time I was 10 but I saw him on a regular recurring basis. I'm telling you this background so that you can appreciate when I came out here and started working to the school district in 1989 with Galen and working with at-risk students I had a very good understanding of what that was. At that time, my sons, I guess they were in their 30s or whatever it was, my sons never had the opportunity to have their mother or father, absent from the household from birth until they left there to go on their own to go to school. That's rare. So when I started working at Fairmont and seeing the problems that children had and understanding it, they had risk. It became quite evident to me that the problem that we have today and will continue to have for some time to come, the absence of the father in a household. Enough is not said about this. My father was not there but his brother's children were and they were my surrogate fathers because they idolized him. So that's like having older brothers. So I brought that with me here working with the students at Fairmont. You'll also notice in the second page of your program in the second paragraph, it talks about making life better for others. That means in my case for the address students. You seldom ever know how much you contribute to another person, not immediately. It takes time. So you can be assured why I have not looked for anything, haven't received anything. When I drive my car around this area and go places and somebody shouts, Mr. G, you can understand. That's their way of telling me. Thank you, Mr. G, for listening to me. My emotion is not because I feel sorry for them. There's no sorry to feel. It was that I happened to be a person at the time that resonated with them. And when they see me, no matter what the relationship was the last time they began at the top. Mr. G, it's all in that statement. I didn't expect to be this emotional, but that's okay. And I'm talking about girls and boys. And those of you who are here now, it has been announced that I'm in, out next year, I'll be in my 90th year. Don't ask me how. I don't can't believe it myself. One of the things I do say to people, and some of you would like this, then I'm gonna say something after that. It's because of the good black women in my life. Now, let me see if you give the same rousing applause. It's not that there are only black women in my life, but you know how you dominate. I think with those words, I wanna thank you all for coming. And I hope when you leave here, one of the things that I used to tell parents, particularly the women, because no man was there and you risked it largely to boys. I listened to the behavior science. One of the things they say, the biggest thing we have is touching another person. And we don't know how to touch. It's not your fault. The society doesn't give you the opportunity. You're not in an environment where that's encouraged. However, perhaps beginning tomorrow, and I'm talking about children, all of you who evolve with a child, grandchildren or whatever it is. Before they leave the house, just hug them. That's all. Just hug them and say have a nice day. Don't say I love you. If you love them, they feel it. You don't have to say it. My generation didn't have that. Nobody ever told us they loved us, okay? But obviously you felt it because I have a very high self-esteem. So I leave that for you. Just hug that child that is leaving the house. Don't wish him anything. Don't just say have a nice day and hug him. Girl or boy. And then let that be and watch time in time. You'll see some rewards. Again, thank you all for coming. We will now honor Betty Gibson. This Gibson worked for the San Francisco Public Library for 42 years. And just retired this June. She's a tireless worker for the system and especially for the Western Edition branch where she spent the last 14 years. She first worked the catalog department in 1966. She went on to work in various branches throughout the library system. Instrumental and closing, then reopening the renovated Western Edition branch. She has raised her 18-year-old grandson, Devon McDonald, since the age of two. And he is presently attending college. And the Unsung Hero Award will be given by Joan Jackson, who was Betty's supervisor at the Western Edition for many years. Ms. Jackson was also the branch librarian, again, who began the Unsung Heroes program in 1989. Please. No, thank you so much. And thank you to the Unsung Hero Award Committee. Unsung Hero Award Committee. Linda, Janetta, Stewart, Alex, and everyone else who had anything to do with it. Mrs. Pavis, back there in the back, never comes in the front. I can't even begin to tell you how my heart is warmed by this afternoon to look around this audience and see so many familiar faces, people who have deservedly won awards, people who have helped with the programs in the past. I just feel really blessed this afternoon. But that's, I'm actually up here to discuss Betty Gibson. And I wanted to tell you that I was looking at the monthly report that every branch manager has to write every month about what has happened in the branch. And in the report of October 1994, there was an item. On October 11th, Betty Gibson arrived to be the library technician for Western Edition Branch. We feel very lucky to have this position filled by someone who is so experienced, helpful and pleasant. We were extremely lucky and the entire Western Edition community was very lucky to have her choose to come to our branch that day. And she stayed from then on. There was a mention about her helping to close the branch and open the branch, and she did. But mostly I think what she did was just keep the branch afloat, on track, giving excellent service to everyone who came through the door. After I retired, which I did in 1998, everyone I would see would say, Betty is so terrific. Betty is just doing it all. Betty is keeping everything together. Everyone is very, very lucky that Betty is a part of the San Francisco Public Library community. Betty, where are you? Come, there you are. A lot of time have passed by. Linda Burton had to remind me how many years I actually had worked at San Francisco Public Library. But they were wonderful years. I would like to thank the support staff at Western Edition Public Library for all their efforts in closing and opening that branch. They made great sacrifices. And I would also like to thank the Library Technical Assistance that I have worked with so many years here. Alex, Debbie, Mari, Irvin, you hung in there with me. And last but not least, I would really like to thank Rosa, who put up with me for many years and just bit her tongue. Thank you very much. Nor Noah's thou would argument thy life to thy neighbor's creed is lent. Thomas Piggy, retired muni worker, a member of Our Lady of Lord's Men's Choir. Saturday's rain or shine can be found standing on the corners of Third Street and Pallew with a sigh asking for peace in the community. He's involved with many church and community organizations. He's involved in Cairo's prison ministry and works with prisoners at San Quentin. It's a Hall of Fame player from San Francisco High Schools, San Francisco City College, and San Francisco State University. Mr. Thomas Piggy. Like to thank Reggie and Reed and Father Dan for setting me up. I usually like to stay away from the limelight because it's not important. And all the things that I've done has only been done through my family, my friends, extended family. And they've made me what I am today. God said, do some things. And I did them. When he says, do some things, and I didn't do them, he slapped me upside the head and put me back on track again. So I want to thank the committee for giving me this honor. And I really don't think I deserve it, but I will accept it. Thank you. Mention a couple of unsung heroes that are in the audience. I'd like them to raise their hands. Dave and Reed Fromer are here who's done so much for the community. Thank you so much. Kimberly Kelly and Angela Stewart, they operate Healthy Children's Pantry at Dr. Charles Drew's Preparatory Academy. Healthy Pantry grew from feeding 76 families to feeding 200 to 225 families per week. Licensed foster care parents with combined 28 years of service have cared for over 80 children. They've cared for numerous nieces and nephews and have extended their homes to everyone in need. Kim has worked one-on-one with disturbed kindergarten children which benefited the student, teachers, and classmates. Rich in kindness, strength, and community. Nurtured their foster children to include education, therapy, peaceful fun weekends, and maintaining relationships with biological parents. Their strong advocates of foster care children, nominated by Elizabeth Oakes, a registered nurse who works at the Charles Drew Elementary with his sisters. Kimberly Kelly and Angela Stewart, please come forward. Thank you, I'm honored to be here this evening. Kimberly, no, I wanted her to beat me to this microphone, so. Then it's been a pleasure working with the children and my beautiful family back there, my nieces, nephews, and my beautiful children, and Miss Lisa Oakes that put in such beautiful words. Wow, Lisa, I want to thank you so very much. And I have a few heroes out there, myself, Miss Holcomb. One of my main heroes that educated some of our beautiful children out there in the audience, and I want to thank you. Mr. G, oh, he left. He also had a part in some of my beautiful young men's lives, and I want to thank you also. Thank you, and I'm truly honored. I'm not much of a public speaker, so I just wanted to say thank you. Manifa Turner is our next awardee. She is active in the Bayview Hunters Point Organization, Parents Who Care, an outreach program that builds self-esteem in the entire family. Whatever family needs may be, be it clothes, food, or shelter, Parents Who Care, help. She served as parent liaison at Burnett School for four years, cooking meals for families in need. She's currently the 2008-2010 Parent's Association Group President at Dr. George Washington and Carver's Academic Elementary School. The school site, Council Chairperson, fundraiser box top coordinator, a track mom and a cheer mom, and a team parent for the Brown Bombers Pop Warner Football Association. The person who nominates her calls her a true leader and a natural organizer, following in her father, Walter Turner's footsteps, who is a past unsung hero, and whose leadership skills have influenced Manifa to be the young woman she is. She's an involved and proud mother of some daemon, and daughter Daemonye, and I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. Daemonie, getting corrected here. Please come up, Manifa Turner, and receive your award. First and foremost, I want to give honor to God, because without Him, I would never make it. I want to first give honor to my kids, Daemon and Daemonye Good. I want to thank them for being my children, and I hope that in everything I do, I represent them to the fullest of my ability. To my parents, I want to thank y'all for your ear, your shoulder to cry on, and your bank accounts when I need it. I know I don't never tell y'all thank you, but I do appreciate y'all helping me out at times, which I may be doing later on tonight. To my brothers, to Jari and Zubiri, who are not in attendance, I want to thank them for just being my rock when things were so hard for me. 2008 was a year of trial and tribulation for me, but my brothers stayed strong to keep me strong and to help me get through it. To my sister, Zakiya, we talk every day on the phone in the morning, and she always says, eat me encouraged, and I don't never tell her thank you, but I thank you for the things you say because it helps me, even though I don't tell you, to my brother-in-law Solomon, I call him Sally, I want to thank him for the cards he give me to keep me grounded and to keep me going. To my sister, Najia, I want to thank you for picking my kids up when I'm late and can't get them, so CPS, don't have another case, and come to my door. To all of my nieces and nephews, I thank y'all for getting on my nerves, it keeps me young and just continue. To the person who nominated me, Jill Hudson, wow. That's my God, sister. She's the Treasurer for the Parenthood Advisory Group that we do at Dr. George Washington Culver Academic Elementary School, and I want to thank her because I didn't know this happened and when Linda called me, I want to thank you for calling me, but when Linda called me and said she was from the library, the first thing I thought was on a Saturday, I know she not about to ask me for no books that's late on a Saturday. She need to call me Monday through Friday, not today, but when she told me what she was calling for, I was like, then I start crying, like, oh my gosh, for real, and so I thank you, Ms. Linda. To the elder of my village at Dr. George Washington Culver Academic Elementary School, it's a mouthful. I want to thank you for keeping it grounded and I love you more. Without her, I wouldn't be able to do what I do because I trust her with my children, so as long as I know my children are safe and secure, I do what I can for anyone who needs, so I think that's all, and I thank everyone for listening. Before I bring Veronica up, I think it was Thomas Grace that, full many a gem of purest race and ream, the dark, unfat on caves of ocean bare, full many a flower was born to blush unseen and wasted sweetness on the desert air. Congratulations to all the awardees. And now cousins, seriously, give a hand to Noah. Give a big, rounding applause. He's a poet, he's a musician, and I got a great surprise for you. You know, somebody said that jazz is the sound of God laughing. After this program, we're gonna have Terrence Brewer and his trio playing jazz at the reception right here in the library. Put your hands together, some resounding us, Shay, because not only do we lift you up, then we wrap you up in sound and music, and then we feed you. Not like hometown buffet, but even better. I knew you'd be excited. One of God's biggest gift in the world is teenagers. Put your hands together for teenagers. When I had my teenager, I had to buy stock in Miss Clairall because my hair went completely white every day. But you know, God kept me through it. So I'm gonna ask, we're gonna have a bunch of awesome, amazing, beautiful, talented, smart teenagers from SR Martin College Preparatory School. They're the praise and sign dancers, and they are led by the wonderful, patient, saint of a woman, Mrs. Holcomb. Put your hands together. You are in for a treat. Incredible, incredible. Young ladies, you did an awesome job, awesome. I tell you, there is the audacity of hope, those teenagers. It exists within them. The prophet Mohammed said, what actions are most excellent cousins? He said to gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to help the afflicted, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful. Can I hear an ashay? To remove the wrong of the injured. That person is the most beloved of God who does the most good for God's creatures. Larry Ware is most beloved of God's creatures because he is awesome. Not only is he a poet, a dedicated father. Ashay out there. Ashay. He is the father that is in the house. He's a previous business owner. He's the honorary poet Laureate of Bayview. Woo! Yeah, ashay. He's the host of the annual Bayview poetry recital for 31 years. That's a whole lifetime, cousins, 31 years. I don't even think I was born then. He's a member of the San Francisco's Public Library's Neighborhood Council advocating for the Bayview branch. He's a volunteer with many organizations, including the Officers for Justice, the San Francisco Black Firefighters and Crossroads Charities Foundation. He works at the polls for many precincts because he understands that voting is power. Ashay cousins, don't y'all lose me now. And we almost at the end. He is the father of two children, Precious Unique and Larry Junior. And also, heroes are genetic because his father, Billy Ware, also received the Unsung Heroes Award. So put your hand together. Give him a warm ashay for Larry Ware. See, Mr. Gallery there, talk about the Tuskegee airman like it kind of struck a chord with me. Bear with me. I'd like to thank the Lord for the abundance of blessings. Like to congratulate all the previous award winners. This is personal. I was talking with a good friend of mine. He said, Larry, I sure hope that you become famous and get recognition for all the work that you do. It's not about that. When I was a young kid, I've been chronicle and document African-American history for 40 years. I was just fortunate and blessed to know scholars and educators. And they taught me a lot in like for 46 years plus. One of my mentors was Elmer Rush. He was like the number four rated heavyweight when they stripped Muhammad Ali of his title and I left three doors from him. And he taught me a lot about black history. He had all these books. And I opened up one of the books and I saw Carter Woodson, Harriet Tubman's, The Joy of the Truth, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and all these great, I say, Rush, who are these people? He said, these are your ancestors and your pioneers and trailblazers. So I would like to say I love you. Thank all of my, all of the pioneers, the trailblazers, the warriors, fighters in the trenches. I'd like to thank my mother and father. My mother wasn't able to make it. My children, who are my greatest source of inspiration. And you know, I could say a whole bunch. I'd like to thank the entire library staff for all the wonderful work you do. I love you and keep on doing the wonderful work you're doing. I'd like to thank all the people in the community. Long time ago when I was a teenager, Sam Jordan and Mr. Kenny Clubong Island, some of the other pioneers in the community say, Larry, you're gonna be the one to tell our history and tell the history of the people. And if I may, the best way I know how, being a poet. Also, I'm directed a Bayview Historical Preservation Project and it's so important to chronicle and document the history of all people, but particularly ours. And I tell people, I tell my children, you treat everybody with courtesy, dignity and respect and it'll come back to you and never make fun of people, but if I may close with a poem that inspired us, also I was one of the first people to redeem a book of James Brown, Black and Brown trading stamps. And you know, like Elma Rush worked for James Brown. And we firsthand would hear indirectly what James Brown was coming down with. Like that time he came out with stay in school, don't be a dropout, say a lot, I'm black and I'm proud. I don't want nobody to give me nothing. Open up this door and I'll get it myself. And another one, this is a man's world but it wouldn't be nothing without a woman or a girl. But I'd like to share with you the poem that inspired all of that and all of the pioneers and trailblazers before me. And I love the youth because as we see, a man with black and brown stamps, James Brown just was sitting in front of that radio stage and he ended up owning that station. Dr. King, he had a dream, now a national holiday. African-American honor and pay homage to Dr. King and now we have an African-American family and president in the White House. And he won, not only because he's African-American, he won because he's a gentleman and he's a good man and he's gonna do great things but the people have to mobilize. I hadn't seen that much motivation and excitement working elections since John Kennedy was appointed president but I would like to close with this poem and it's entitled, listen to the words, young America, we need the light. People of the world, please listen to me. I am the youth of America and as the beauty of wisdom unfolds and uses the tools of knowledge and time to begin shaping and rounding our character and personalities, let the hands of wisdom hand off the batons of knowledge as generation after generations run the eternal marathons of life. Let them run into the beautiful horizons spreading the righteousness of life, the master plan, the way the great creator meant for it to be. Today's youth are tomorrow's leaders. Let them be groomed and endowed with eternal fires of wisdom and life as they become knowledgeable and equipped with the tools to build, taking leadership roles today, preparing us for tomorrow's world as they positively and constructively affect the qualities of life, exerting the necessary direction, leadership and guidance so that there may be a better world today and tomorrow for all of us to live in as their thoughts for progression pyramid to the sky, touching the sun, life's source of energy, as hearts of desire become inspirational sensations, may the wings of life take them in the pitch of perfect flights as they quest for the dreams of their heart as they endeavor span the universe, taking them near and far. Have no fear my friends, for the wings of life will take your hearts and minds on adventurous journey beyond beyond. Let us not complicate life's constructive process and become a society of high-bred thinkers trying to rule a universal airwaves of communication. True, we need the super minds with the eternal fires of our love, desire and inspiration in our hearts that help this world we live in grow. Truth is the light of justice, all the beauty of balance, may there always be light to guide our souls, young America, you are the light. Young America, please be the light. Young America, let the light shine because young America, we need the light. Thank you very much and God bless you. I just thank you. Why did that speech make me wanna sing? This little light of mine. Now my cousins, I would like to talk to you about love in order to introduce Mr. Nathaniel William Sr. To see, yeah, go ahead, give him some love. We don't have to wait. See, Mr. Williams knows that we cannot love ourselves unless we love others. And we cannot love others unless we love ourselves. Can I hear an assay out there? But a selfish love of ourselves make us incapable of loving others. The difficulty of this commandment lies in the paradox that it would have us love ourselves unselfishly because even our love of ourselves is something we owe others, assay? I mean, first of all, desiring of life, accepting life as a very great gift and a great good, not because of what it gives us but because of the love that it enables us to give others, assay? Okay, Mr. Williams moved to San Francisco in 1944 from Oklahoma where the sun goes sweeping down the plains. I always wanted to do that on stage. Thank you, Mr. Williams. I won't get into how corny I can get. He's been married to his wife, Terry, for 32 years. And let's give her a hand. He's the grandfather of three and he still fathers his grandchildren personally, academically, and I'm sure financially. And he's also come to make, for you to understand that something that I always knew, that Mr. Williams is the Santa Claus of Bayview Hunters Point community and I knew Santa Claus was a black man. I don't know who that other one is, but. He donates fun to economically challenge kids at Charles Drew Elementary and Whitney Young Child Care Center in the Bayview and enables them to go on field trips. He gives his time, he gives his money, he gives his commitment, he gives his honor, he gives his passion, because he knows that the more he gives, the more he gets back. So please give me a warm welcome for Mr. and Nathaniel William Singer. God bless you. Well, I don't know how I can follow that. I just enjoy helping people. That's the way I was raised. My mother raised six of us, you know? Times didn't change. When I was coming up, you couldn't. If you didn't go to church on Sunday, you didn't go nowhere, you know? And then if mom cooked liver, you didn't like liver, you just took your bullpup to bed. Yeah, you know? Now parents would get up and fix that kid something special. Oh, he don't eat that. You know, you know, yeah. So, yeah, yeah, you know? I know Brother Challoway right there. We all grew up together. Yeah, you know, that's the way it was, you know? You had to do your homework first. Like I said, mom's raised six of us, you know? And I think she did pretty good. You know, I'm lucky to still have my mom. She lives in Lake Throat with my sister. She's got, I guess, the first stages of old timers. I was up there about three weeks ago. I took her a walker with the kind that you could sit down in. And thank God, she still remembers me. Yeah, but me and my mom had been always close. Now, you see, I got a daughter and a son. I just love my daughter. She's back there. I mean, well, you had to stand up a minute, I mean. Uh, yeah, that's, TJ, you there? Yeah, that's my grandson, TJ, stand up. Now that young man was the one I was laying in bed and about to go to sleep. Well, some people can go to sleep just like that. If you wake me up, I can't go back to sleep for about an hour. You know, so he called me, said, Papa, what's your birthday? I said, it's 7, 13, 41. Okay, start back to sleep. Papa, what school did you, what high school did you go? I said, well, TJ, I went to Mission High for one day. Oh, he just thought that was the funniest thing in the world. He just laughing and everything. And he said, well, what happened? I said, well, your aunt, my oldest sister, you know, she was a bad actor at school. So he decided one Williams was enough. Yeah, you know. So I ended up at Continuation, if any of you know, 16th and Mission. Yeah, so then Tatiana's not here. Okay, and then Terry, yeah, stand up. This is my wife. Yeah, yeah. And then I know I'm doing something right when people take time out on a Sunday, could be doing something else. Friends, Jerlyn, will you stand up? Yeah, all right. But I want to thank the committee. But the one that really jailed, this is the little devil. She started all this. Yeah, I'm going to get you back. Yeah, but I want to thank the committee and everybody. And I'm going to still try to live my life the way I do it. And thank you. Cousins, we have just honored our fresh unsung heroes, but we have some old unsung heroes, too. We'll still call them fresh, OK? What I'd like to do is I'm going to read out all the unsung heroes and the old sung heroes, and if they can stand up at the end of everybody standing weekend together, applaud all of their wonderful accomplishments. A'Shay? OK, we have Regina Stevenson. Regina? Oh, I'm sorry. Reginald, so you canceled the surgery. I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. I'm sorry, Reginald. You know this is San Francisco. Is it Reola, Louis, Louise, Damond, Jeanette Wright, Lawrence C. Gray, Jr., Vansedrick Williams. Stand up, please. Alma Robinson, Doris Love, Frankie Maxwell, Maxwell Gillette. OK, sorry about that. And Katie Hawkins, Kotzi. Apologize, A'Shay, sister. And we got Reverend Weir's here. OK, now, this is where we do the A'Shay revolution. Oh, we have some more. Oh, Walter Turner. Oh, maybe when Donald Oliver, Walter Johnson. I would have been run out of town if I didn't get Walter's. He knows where I live. Oh, Edna James, absolutely, absolutely. Do we have any unsung more heroes? Liz Bell, Liz, Liz Bell, and Galen Logan. And please stand up and announce your name. Edna Coleman, and Maddie Esther, Hazel King. Wow. Ace Washington, Dolores McGee, everybody here. Wow. Ms. Curtis Davis, A'Shay, A'Shay. Glad is, Ms. Glad is Jefferson. Your hat is resplendent. Anyone else? 1992. And she's still working hard. God bless you. So let's put our hands together for all the unsung heroes. Make some noise, cousin. Woo-hoo. Yeah. You know, change is inevitable. And right now, we're going through a major economic change. We've got a brand new president. But I want you, cousins, to know that you should not allow yourself to be manipulated emotionally by the environment. A'Shay, don't turn on the news and feel bad if you're healthy. Remember that you live in America. And that although things are changed, there is a divine and perfect order going on every single day of your life. A'Shay. And as I leave today, I would like to leave you with a verse from the Bible. It's Matthew chapter 5, 14 through 16. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And they give a light until all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good, excellent work and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. A'Shay. My name is Veronica Dangerfield and I promise you I will continue talking crazy. It is a privilege and it is an honor to be your humble servant forever. God bless you and do well. Thank you so much. And to be able to be pulled up by our bootstraps, push our sleeves up, and let's get ready to work for the change that's going to be coming in this country for everyone. And I would like to thank those who were involved with this program. But first of all, I want to say let's celebrate again all the winners today. I'd like to introduce our committee. Tanetta Jackson, Stuart Shaw, Alex Everett Alexander, and Linda Brooks Burton. I want to thank those in the A.V. department, Dave Schwabbe, and for his staff, Troy and Brad, for the ladies at the door who take the time to sign, help signing all of us today, Ms. Marion Pavis and Penny Pavis. We want to thank our caterer, Margaret's Cooking with Love and the members of the National Council and Negro Women who will be helping serving the dessert today. And a special thank you to our emcee. This would not be possible without Cousin Veronica Dangerfield. And we'd also like to thank Mr. Noah Griffin. Mr. Noah Griffin. And our wonderful performers, Jesse Wiley, Kathleen Franklin, and Susan Toprasian, the praise and sign dancers, and the beautiful voice of Angela Dean Bayham. We also would like to thank the president of the Library Commission, Ms. Jewel Gomez. And thank you again to all our past awardees and those who nominated our heroes that we saluted today. And we also like to thank the friends and the foundation of San Francisco Public Library, who always sponsored this annual award program. So let's give a big round of applause to everyone who participated today. And I would like to invite all the awardees up to the stage so that we can take a group photo. And then I'm going to ask you to savor your palates and come across the hall to L58 where you have beautiful food and beautiful music. Thank you for coming.