 to freedom. John Hope Franklin, born in Oklahoma in 1915, graduated in 1935 from Fisk University. Harvard University awarded him the master's degree in 1936 and the doctorate in 1941. Dr. Flinkrin's awards are the Jefferson Medal of the Council for Advancement and Supportive Education, the Clarence Holt Literary Prize, the Jefferson Medal of the American Philosophical Society, and the National Endowment for the Humanities Charles Franco Award presented by President Clinton in 1993. Co-writer Alfred A. Moss Jr. is an associate professor of history at the University of Maryland College Park. After completing his undergraduate work at Lake Forest College, Dr. Moss received his master's degree from the University of Chicago in 1972. He was then awarded his doctorate in 1977. A graduate of Episcopal Divinity School, he is also an Episcopal priest. And Dr. John Hope Franklin's own words, in the present work I have undertaken to bring together the essential facts in the history of the American Negro from his ancient African beginnings down to the present time. I have made a conscious effort to write the history of the Negro in America with due regard for the forces at work which have affected his development. This has involved a continuous recognition of the mainstream America history and the relationship of the Negro to it. It has been necessary therefore to a considerable extent to retell the story of the evolution of the people of the United States in order to place the Negro in his proper relationship and perspective. The history of the Negro in America is essentially the story of strivings of the nameless millions who have sought adjustment in a new and sometimes hostile world. This work is therefore a history of the Negro people with a proper consideration for anonymous as well as outstanding people. It is not possible to give an accurate figure of the number of slaves imported into the new world from Africa. In 1861 Edward E. Dunbar estimated that 887,500 were imported in the 16th century, 2,750,000 in the 17th century, 7,000,000 in the 18th and 3,250,000 in the 19th. In 1936 R.R. Kazinsky estimated that 14,650,000 Africans had been imported into the new world. In view of the great numbers that must have been killed while resisting capture, the additional numbers that died during the middle passage and the millions that were successfully brought to the Americas, the aggregate approaches staggering proportions, the figures are a testimonial to the fabulous profits realized in such a sordid business, to the ruthlessness with which the traders must have pursued it, and to the tremendous demands made by new world settlers for laborers. Perhaps poet Leopold Siddharth Senghor, the first president of the Republic of Senegal, best summed it up when he declared that the slave trade ravaged black Africa like a brush fire, wiping out images and values in one vast carnage. It is more difficult to measure the effect of such an activity on African life than it is to estimate the number of persons removed. The expectation of millions of Africans in less than four centuries constitutes one of the most far-reaching and drastic social revolutions in the annals of history. And that was Sherry Young and Everett Alexander from the African-American Shakespeare Company. Can we give them a hand? And we'll be hearing more from them later on the program. Well good afternoon. My name is Linda Brooks Burton and it is my pleasure to welcome you to the 19th annual Unsung Hero Awards. Before we begin I would like to acknowledge some people that have come to acknowledge our heroes and first of all I'd like to have you welcome our city librarian here at the San Francisco Public Library, Mr. Luis Herrera. Thank you very much Linda. I am absolutely delighted to be here this afternoon to extend my appreciation and my congratulations to the Unsung Hero recipients today. We are delighted that the San Francisco Public Library is the sponsor of this event and as you know it started as a very small neighborhood event at one of our neighborhood libraries, the Western Edition, 19 years ago but it's turned out to be perhaps one of the most significant programs that the library has to offer and it sponsors and I'm thrilled about that because libraries are about building community and going out there and responding to community needs and this is a classic example of how wonderful the partnership is with the library. Libraries represent beacons of learning, they represent opportunities for youth, for learning and for success in school and I'd like to see or believe that our youngsters can become the future heroes and leaders in our communities thanks to many libraries in our neighborhoods. I'd also like to extend an appreciation and thanks to all of San Franciscans for recently passing successfully our Proposition D which guarantees funding. I knew I'd get applause from our community. What does this mean? It means that we can continue to be responsive to the community. It means that we can have more books, more computers in our neighborhood branches. Right now we recently opened eight libraries with an additional day of service. This is important because we're talking about neighborhoods in the Bayview, Visitation Valley, Oceanview, areas where we really have not been as responsive as we should be but that we're turning around and being more responsive to the needs in those communities. I'm also thrilled by the fact that Proposition D will allow us to continue the vision to renovate all our neighborhood branches, 17 renovations, seven new libraries, including a brand new one in Visitation Valley which is awesome. It is cost for celebration and an expanded renovated library in the Bayview. We're thrilled about that and I also want to take a moment to extend my sincere appreciation to a very dedicated group of individuals in the library that makes it all happen. They are the planning committee, the African American Services Committee here in the library and I do want to extend my appreciation to Stuart Shaw. I know some of our back here but I want him to actually be acknowledged so would you come up here if you get a moment? Linda Brooks Burton, Loretta Dahl, Veneta Jackson, and Everett Alexander. So they do a fabulous job making sure that we are truly responsive to our community so let's give them a warm welcome for a great job. And last but certainly not least my personal appreciation on behalf of the library as well to all of the recipients of the 19th annual unsung hero celebration. Have a wonderful afternoon. This is my favorite program. I intend to stay here through the duration of it to celebrate with you. Thanks again and have a wonderful afternoon. Thank you. Okay just a few housekeeping tasks before we go any further. I must direct you if there is an emergency to look for the closest exit signs in the back here in the back of the auditorium as well and evacuate that way but we are planning now to have one of course and also the restrooms are out the door to your right if you need to do a restroom stop. And I also like to acknowledge two other important people who are here today. We're all important but these people come especially to acknowledge our awardees. We have first supervisor Tom Amiano from District 9. Please come up and say a word too. Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here and looking at how everyone so beautifully turned out especially in red. I need to apologize for my rags here but this is grandfather duty I just got off it so. And the thing that I always remember about the library when I grew up was that it was a sanctuary it was a place to go where you could feel safe and deal with the world when sometimes the world presented a lot of challenges and I've always had a soft spot for the library in my heart you know I'm basically a public school teacher for many years in San Francisco in fact I took at that old Bayview school that was torn down a long time ago and replaced with some very very nice schools. And as you know the Bayview itself has quite a few issues I'm so glad that the head librarian is here at the board of supervisors we take the libraries very very seriously and we also know from our experience in the classroom and in dealing with our constituents that the ordinary becomes the extraordinary and that's what an unsung hero is. It's someone who you usually wouldn't see in the newspaper or someone who would not make a radio interview but I always know that when there's something good happening there's a bunch of people behind the scenes that are working hard to make that happen nothing just happens and so it's with great respect and honor that I'm here today and I actually have two commendations one for the one for the African-American Center and one for you too sweetie and and one for the African-American Center of the San Francisco Public Library and what these commendations say Certificate of Honor Board of Supervisors the Board of Supervisors of City and County of San Francisco hereby issues and authorizes the execution of the Certificate of Honor in appreciative public recognition of distinction and merit for outstanding services to a significant portion of the people and city of San Francisco for its significant contributions to the community and its sponsorship of the 19th annual unsung heroes award celebration from slavery to freedom honoring historian John Hope Franklin the Board of Supervisors extends its highest commendations to the African-American Center at the library and the African-American Center so congratulations everyone thank you and next I'd like to invite Rose Chung who is the legislative assistant for Supervisor Erin Peskin from District 3 to come up thank you very much Linda on behalf of the president of the Board of Supervisors I'm really happy to be here and express appreciation and congratulations to all the amazing and selfless individuals who's given their heart and soul to community to make it have a better quality of life and for all the wonderful work that you do so I have these certificates to give to Linda to present to each of the unsung heroes congratulations to all of you for the past five years the themes of our unsung hero programs have come from the founders of Black History Month that is the association for the study of African-American life which was the brainchild of Carter G Woodson this year's Black History theme is dedicated to the struggles of people of African descent to achieve freedom and equality in the Americas during the age of emancipation over a half a century ago the celebrated historian John Hope Franklin identified the struggle for slavery and freedom as the central theme of African-American history we take up this theme to honor him and our heroes whom you will be learning about today John Hope Franklin pioneered the study of the African-American experience Franklin's first book The Free Negro in North Carolina appeared in 1943 but it remains the standard work on its subject and a key reference point for those investigating the status of free African Americans before the civil war at the time he wrote this work historians were devoting little or no attention to what was then called Negro history almost no scholarly work existed on antebellum free blacks in 1947 Franklin published from slavery to freedom a history of African Americans widely considered to be the definitive work on the subject this great work is now in its eighth edition and has been translated into Indian, Japanese, German, French, Portuguese and Chinese this year marks the 60th anniversary of from slavery to freedom and serves as the official theme for Black History Month this year as well as our theme for the 19th annual unsung hero awards now I want you to sit back relax because I can assure you that you will be touched and inspired by what you will experience here today each of our heroes has a unique story of unselfish service to others in the African-American community and a willingness to give their time and energy to make life better for others now is our time to thank them with that I'd like to introduce the Vucani Moethu Choir who will begin our program with the national the Negro national anthem and I'd like the audience to stand as we do that please welcome them Vucani Moethu good afternoon everyone my name is Stuart Shaw I'm the African-American Central Librarian here at the main library and thanks for coming to the 19th annual unsung heroes I am here to introduce our emcee for the day Veronica Dangerfield Veronica Dangerfield let me read this here is an award-winning speaker trainer comedian and performance artist who has been performing throughout the Bay Area since 1994 she has appeared as emcee for this unsung heroes for the past I think eight or nine years now so without her we couldn't do this program Veronica has written directed produced and performed in her own autobiographical play entitled unidentified the story of her childhood growing up in Japan actually she performed here at the library as well a couple years back she is a founder of comedy for community a showcase that provides family comedy to raise funds for nonprofit organizations Veronica mission in life she says is to empower uplift and encourage people on their quest toward the greater vision of themselves to manifest their dreams Veronica Dangerfield hello cousins I'd like to say to you today ashe can I hear an ashe now don't y'all sit there and act like this ain't a celebration because we are going to have some fun today can I hear ashe I want you to turn to your neighbor and tell them how wonderful you look today take 30 seconds cousins my name is Veronica Dangerfield and yes I am Rotney's only black child gonna get some respect here today the respect part that ain't me you know what success is a little look like wrestling a gorilla you don't quit when you're tired you quit when the gorilla gets tired we are going to see some people today that have tirelessly and effortlessly produced wonderful things in our community and I'm telling you there's going to be a tide wave and a ripple of ashe's all across this audience and I'm warning you if you don't stay awake I'm going to have to tell some jokes and then everybody will be so like my grandmother used to say we have another distinguished visitor here today we have Sophie Maxwell from district trend put your hands together cousin and please welcome her to the stage thank you so much and it is a great pleasure that I am here today and I really appreciate people doing this because it's so often that we think about heroes as the people who do the not so often big huge things but it's really not that it's the people who do the small things every day the people who are consistent the people you can depend on and who are committed and who help us in so many ways so I want to thank you it's the people just who volunteer in my office it's those volunteers who who do things and go to hospitals and and who make the churches really really work so again thank you all for all that you do thank you for deciding to recognize the unsung heroes this is a great day and a great day of celebration and the thing is is we can all be unsung heroes all of us every day of our lives thank you I would like to even go a step further and recognize that every single one of you sitting in your chairs are unsung heroes so I say to you cousins a shea and keep on doing what you're doing and speaking of renaissance woman I'd like to talk to you about a person her name is Mary L Booker Miss Booker are you here oh Miss Booker you are so wonderful because let me tell you know when you talk about Miss Booker you have to have a really wide vocabulary okay because there's only a few words that the words that she has is wonderful we talk about passionate we talk about deeply committed not committed like I am in Napa but deeply committed to her community we're talking she's spiritual she's intelligent and she is a thespian she was nominated by verna L Howard and at San Francisco State University she majored in theatrical arts now her mother knew that about her before she actually got to the university that was a joke you guys come on you gotta help me out here you know because you're gonna hear some profound things today but most of them are not going to be coming from me okay I am the light-hearted frivolous part of the of the program well anyway she's not only a director she's a playwright she did upon this rock it was the first major production about prejudicism within the black community can I hear a nashay she believes that community based theater has a responsibility for the community you know what I think that without theater life is like a crayon box there's only five crayons in there but when you bring the arts in it theater and music you got a box of a hundred and twenty crayons can I hear a nashay she's groomed a generation of playwrights and artists at the bay view she's part of the opera house Ruth memorial theater she is an active member of Providence Baptist Church it's Providence Baptist Church in the house but what I like about this is what I was really excited about she's an organizers of single ministries so if any of y'all single out there look it up with miss Booker okay she is the co-founder of infinity productions she's tireless she's beautiful and as the kids say she's awesome come on up miss Booker and take your award as an unsung hero miss Booker but we wanted you on the microphone so we can get you on tv miss Booker one more time hello everyone you know what I really thought seriously about what should I say and I went back through some of my work and I found something I wrote in 1979 I know that's a long time ago but I think it kind of says what I really want to say to all of you this afternoon there was a concert in our community at Providence Baptist Church where we presented one of our chancellor choir members in in a concert her name was Andrea Green after the concert I was so moved I wrote there was a happening in Bayview Hunters Point today a gala crowd paused for a moment to hear the singing of Andrea and I believe that the Lord God Almighty looked down with pride as her clear Chris voice from him was energized spirit knowledge a sense of our historical past all of this was integrated for this I was glad her soprano range was a delight to the ear as it with ease floated out filling the air Paraglaci, Giordani, Scaletti, Ruthini, Puccini and Gershwin too an awestruck crowd she with authority led them through but I truly knew she'd hit a stride singing from roots Quince's Ishe Aloha many rains ago she reminded us with pride of our great musical heritage that has stood the test of times part three was very important to me hearing her unfold our musical history singing the works of Johnson Price and Burley sing Andrea sing our hearts cried out as she spirit feel began to sing the works of Walter Hawkins and James Cleveland we began to shout sing Andrea sing I went away feeling that Bayview Hunters Point will never be the same again because God and all of his wisdom had shown us that to a community to a world each individual can make a difference by just letting Andrea sing you know it's always it's always funny to me when people come up and say I didn't know what to say and then they speak so eloquently it's like are you sure you was talking about yourself where's miss Booker hook up afterwards you need to give me some lessons legends are made of ordinary people who do extraordinary deeds legends are not limited to sports heroes and celebrities we all have the potential to be legends and speaking of legends let me tell you about An Li this is an amazing individual he works with seniors with disability and education and training our communities on organizing senior empowerment if you believe in senior empowerment say ah shei when I was younger I lived in a Tokyo Japan and when I got back to Texas nobody understood what language I was speaking but you know what I found the seniors they always had money and they had a great sense of humor so I'm into senior power now he he taught them how to conduct an effective meeting he talks about public speaking diversity along with many aspects of leadership he is the outreach special for the network of elders an organization based in vape you hunter's point which serves seniors and persons with disability now I have to hear some ah shei's coming from the audience I mean disabilities and seniors these are our people he's serving I'm gonna have to go to Starbucks for y'all wake up all right okay and he um he is an amazing resource for all of us he's responsible for the outreach for the network of elder resource center at the bay view hunter point visitation valley portola excelsior communities and ocean view which means that he's all over san francisco can I hear an ah shei because I'm gonna work until the cows come home y'all gonna stay with me today so please put a warm welcome for mr. An Lee he's amazing thank you so much for that generous introduction mr. ronica uh good afternoon ladies and gentlemen good afternoon uh young men and young women in the audience and good afternoon uh all you beautiful children girls and boys it is so wonderful to see each and every one of you here and this has been said already you each of you and every one of you are indeed the unsung heroes and it moves me quite deeply ladies and gentlemen to see all the young people in the audience with your parents your grandparents your family members your aunties your neighbors it moves me quite deeply in all of us uh I feel very deeply honored to be uh to be receiving this award ladies and gentlemen and um I want first of all to thank each and all of you who are here and I want also to uh pay my respect and thanks to miss Linda Brooks Burton and her wonderful staff at the bayview library just want to share with you a story uh I've gone to the bayview public library a number of times and in fact recently had an informational table at the public library where we provide information for uh folks in the community and seniors in persons with disabilities uh so to let people know of resources and you know what ladies and gentlemen I just want to share with you that miss Brooks Burton and her wonderful staff there are so dedicated and so professional and that library is filled with young people in addition to adults and that's beautiful that's beautiful I also want to acknowledge ladies and gentlemen uh a number of people in the audience here who were in the senior university class sessions that were held in the Bayview and Hunter's Point in July of 2006 as well as senior university class sessions that were held at Jones Memorial United Methodist Church in the western edition uh this past spring and I would like to acknowledge a number of people and ask you to please stand uh first of all uh in terms of seniority here uh miss Ruth Dark a leader in the bayview community her daughter miss Barry next to her another leader not only in the bayview but throughout San Francisco another leader in the bayview and throughout San Francisco miss Ann Horvath a dedicated volunteer and leader in uh different programs involving seniors in the bayview in Hunter's Point in the western edition and throughout San Francisco a Vietnamese-American elderly person miss Hui Thi Chung miss Barry Mary Booker a wonderful leader in the bayview articulate very verbal miss Viola Whitehead Ashay I also want to mention to you ladies and gentlemen that miss Whitehead goes to all these rallies and protest campaigns and hearings at the board of supervisors at city hall with her beautiful and loving sister miss Shirley Blaine who could not be with us today so we think of Shirley hello Shirley she's at home today Shirley and uh also in the back miss Ethel Eng and I know I know my time is up ladies and gentlemen but I want to share with you a real quick story real quick story it's about one of the things that the seniors in the bayview in Hunter's Point did which teaches all of us a lesson oh I'm sorry I forgot to introduce you to miss Ernestine Patterson a leader in the western edition miss Patterson miss Patterson a real quick story and ladies and gentlemen and all the young people listen to the story it's about what the seniors in the bayview in Hunter's Point did last year uh we the seniors and I identified some of the major issues and problems the community faces and one of the top problems the seniors identified was this one supermarket in the bayview on William Street called Futsco supermarket they were selling spoiled and rotten foods to the community spoiled and rotten stuff you could not feed to anybody and they were selling it the seniors and I decided to wage a big protest campaign against Futsco the seniors planned a demonstration at Futsco placard signs that they wrote stood there the manager of the supermarket came out Mr. Klontz he quickly dashed back in after the protest was over the seniors followed him back into the store politely professionally requested him to meet with the seniors the security guard came out and said no way he will not talk with you he will not talk with you the seniors say said to them we want to talk with them we're here we want to talk with them he had no choice but to come out to meet with the seniors the seniors waged a campaign they wrote news articles that were published in community newspapers including the san francisco bayview they wrote letters to the mayor to the board of supervisors to supervisor max Maxwell so on and so forth they formed a committee to monitor the issue and you know what they not only confronted the big corporation called Futsco supermarket in southern california they also stood up to the giants like Ralph's market Kailin market and one of the biggest corporations in the u.s. Kroger's corporation they were not afraid and you know what the store had to clean up their act they haven't done everything right yet but they surely have done a lot of cleaning up so ladies and gentlemen let's salute the seniors of the bayview and hunters point thank you I tell you the the rebels of the world are not the teenagers and anymore it's the seniors somebody got to control those people I just think it's wonderful let's have another assay for the seniors assay and now I'm going to introduce a wonderful woman Cheryl Davis because you know for Cheryl Davis faith is not a belief faith is believing in the truth and holding up the truth when the entire world is focused and continues to deny its existence faith is the soul of living a spiritual life assay cousins faith is absolute conviction faith is undaunted unrelentless and unmoved now if faith was a category in the olympics what would miss davis get would she get the bronze would she get the silver not only would she bring home the gold they'd have to make a new category for her they'd have to give her the platinum so Cheryl Davis she is she has a bachelor's in early childhood education she's working on her graduate degree she's the mother of a son she is a wife of reverend henry l davis it must be nice being married to a spiritual man because you can throw the bible at him she's tireless she's a tireless community activist and she's beautiful welcome miss davis i have to say i'm really grateful and honored by the opportunity to receive this award but as we were sitting here today because in order to do the work that i do in the community for folks who know that work it really requires all day all night and i have to just first off say off the top you know my husband and i were joking about it and he said to make sure i acknowledged him but in all honesty the time that my husband and my son have to do without me in order for me to work in the community is grand and great and i appreciate them allowing me to stay gone so long to work with other people's families and and by that same token as i was sitting here sometimes you get so engrossed in the work and you sometimes you feel like it's not really you don't know you begin to question whether it's worth it and you don't know if it's making a difference but as i was sitting there and watching people come in my heart was so touched because it's not the work of one it's really not it requires not just your family but the extended family and in order to be able to impact and make a difference in the community it takes the community and i was so moved and so touched by seeing my extended family and i'm just going to really ask them to stand up right now because sometimes i don't know that they appreciate it so i wanted to really ask my church family to stand up and to thank them for coming out and showing me honesty this war this this award goes to them because in order to make it happen and to do it i require that everybody has to have all hands on deck and i don't have the money to pay these people so i really i appreciate it so much the work that we've done the ability to really say that church is bigger than just sunday morning that it's really about going out and doing ministry and not being alone and saying that we really need to in order to make a difference in the community we have to be in the community we can't wait for the community to come to the church we have to go into the community and do the work and through their efforts we've been able to take this work beyond religion and beyond faith but really into the hearts of the people to say that somebody cares for you beyond saying that we're counting numbers or we're trying to prove that we have some ability it's really about one for the sake of one for the sake of one child for the sake of one soul for the sake of one person and so for this again i say thank you but it's really not about me it's about making a difference thank you hey cousins love is an action verb if you base everything you do if you think love is a feeling you would think that love was just like bay area traffic it's always bad sometimes it's good on holidays and late at night but love is an action verb y'all finally laughing at my jokes you're sufficiently warmed up um i'd like to talk about someone who has touched my heart immediately just because of her name dr veronica honeycut let me tell you about the dr honeycut honeycut understood that it's easy to settle for average and to strive for achievement she understood that it's easier to be saturated with complacency than stirred with passion it's easier to question than to conquer it's easier to rationalize your disappointments than realize your dreams it's easier to belch the bologna then bring home the bacon dr veronica honeycut she was nominated by janetta richards kelly armstrong and linda richerson she is a faculty member at city college of san francisco since 1972 1972 she must have been a prodigy because she surely must have been a child she's held positions as a dean of the southeast campus the acting deans of students the chair of african-american study she's a member of the mayor citizen advisory commission the housing production advisory board the san francisco mental health association where i think i'll see her sometimes oh it's loony tombs i'm here folks um and she's also at the bayview ymca i don't understand when she has time to sleep this woman is vice president of the omi community association she's the current president of the visitation valley community center board of directors oh i gotta take a breath she's also who's who among teachers in 1997 and 1998 and you would also be who's who's for me eternally we don't have to give you a year you're always who's who's whatever that means she's been honored by kqed by kaiser by the union bank and now she has been honored by the san francisco public library unsung committee welcome dr veronica honey cut thank you good afternoon all right to whom much is given much is expected all right now i want you to know i started to uh tell you about a devotional that piece that i read this morning from a fission's 210 i'm going to do it anyway it is it is god himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives through christ jesus and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others all right all right and let me tell you something my background is this i was born in sacramental california raised in san francisco in the film war i remember little men's honorado you said you have to go way back into western addition history to understand mary rogers toshikova yori wada these are the people with whom i had an opportunity to be mentored and who was i was loved by okay and i want you to know something else i grew up in a family that did not have a lot of money uh but let me tell you my family had the right values they loved god they valued an education it was no playing in the streets for me young people who are in the audience it was when i got home from school it was about going and having my dinner it was about doing my homework it was about taking care of business because my folks let me know that i stood on the shoulders of elders who came before me and they had more than paid the price for me i want you to understand that that's the kind of rich history i came from they sacrificed deeply for me they made sure that i sat in the front seat to see people like joshua hyphens to see the uh flamenco jose greco flamenco theater because they wanted me to dream a world which was beyond my immediate reality and they knew that there were options available for me and they wanted me to be aware of that i would like to thank the african-american interest committee and the african-american center of the san francisco public library and that wonderful woman linda burton for honoring me today when you honor me you are also giving special recognition to the other organizations i represent now my namesake baronica listed some of the organizations that i've you know been fortunate to work with in the past but you honor the southeast campus of city college of san francisco you honor the neighborhoods that we service bayview hunters point visitation valley some sections of petro hill and to be honest with you the whole the whole city uh for some of our specialty programs you honor the san francisco parks trust of which i am a board uh member uh it is true that i am the president of the visitation valley community center we have plenty of work out there anytime you have a neighborhood where there were nine murders in three days 65 euro asian-american man who was carjacked and killed a community that is trying to get through that pain we have our work ahead of us now we at the college have some esl programs out there we've experienced a downturn because people are afraid to go out so there's plenty of work for us to do and those of you who live out there who want to join in please do work with this you also honor the bayview hunters point lions club and i saw fran our membership chair i don't know if she's still here there she is watch out for her because she'll get you to sign up for uh the bayview hunters point lion club a new club we have set as our goal to raise a hundred thousand dollars for scholarships for young people in the bayview hunters point area i want to thank the three powerhouse ladies who nominated me and they are titans in and of themselves dr janetta richards who is in a faculty member at both city college of san francisco and san francisco state please pray for her she uh became ill had to have surgery and is no not going to be working until january of next year wonderful woman please keep her in your prayers i would like you to honor and uh i want you to see kelly armstrong please stand up kelly this lady's dynamic articulate passionate she is presently collaborating with me and dr jones from san francisco state to start the hospitality management and culinary high school mentoring program we are determined that there will be more african-american people in the culinary industry hospitality is a big piece and some of the folks are saying they can't find african-americans but we've heard that before and we know better so we're going to work on that and last but not least this wonderful woman whom you all know commissioner linda richardson please stand up linda linda has served on more boards and for more mayors than i can even keep up with but let me tell you this sister is not about play she is about i hear you up in here saying she is why she's politically savvy and and she is a real advocate for the communities in in in general but in particular bayview hunter's point okay um i've lost track i i also like to thank i'm gonna close it i'd also like to thank my immediate family who cannot be with me today due to illness and college obligations but who are here here in spirit and i want to thank members of my church family i see garth in the back thank you garth i see teenum sis uh from uh and and lois culbert from glad tidings uh i they are part of what allows me to do what i do we are the beneficiaries of the legacy given to us by dr john hope franklin gwendolyn brooks carter g woodson bell hooks ralph ellison miriam mckiba dr asa hillier that giant of a man who passed away recently um claude mckay just to name a few and i want you to i'm i'm i'm going to tell you this we're starting a new program spring 2008 i am determined my staff my faculty and my staff and in fact there's another lady here from our uh high school program melody martin are you still there melody's right there she works in our high school program doing a very difficult job of getting students through high school but i want you to know we're starting a new program spring 2008 we it's called the weekend college we are we want high school young people as well as the other folks in the community to take college credit courses if they start with us in the eleventh grade by the time they graduate from high school they will have accomplished 36 units of college credit they will have a foot in the door as long as god keeps breath in my body i am going to continue to do those things which will bring students the skill sets the uh academic uh dispositions whatever it takes for them to be successful in the at the academy thank you very much you know it ain't easy being cheesy and i tell you i get to be from wisconsin cousins you have a very very special treat first of all i would like to acknowledge anybody here that is a parent of any child i want you to raise your hand and give yourself a applaud because let me tell you being a parent is one of the most difficult things that you can ever do because the learning and the teaching never stops and not only that is sometimes you know you can have a full moon in your head and sometimes it's a total eclipse up there and you got kids expecting you to give leadership now we've got some beautiful kids here today we've got the sr martin praise dancers now cousins i want you to give them all your attentions i want you to give them asshays i want you to clap for them because this is the future of america coming up here so stay with them now come on kids come on up here one more time cousins give them a hand not only could you hear the music but you could feel it in your soul couldn't you give one more applause for the sr martin and if you were listening to the song cousins it said that you were put here to be blessed how many of you believe that ah shea well not only are you going to be blessed with a powerful program today we are going to feed you afterwards you are going to be a blessed with abundant satiating delicious food can i hear an asshade and if you check in your pockets and you don't have your phone i have it you don't retrieve it soon i'm making a call to tokyo got some friends there dr martin luther king said we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny he said i can never be what i ought to be until you are what you ought to be did y'all hear me i said asshade out there okay and you can never be what you ought to be until i am what i ought to be this is the day the world is made i didn't make it that way but this is the interrelated structure of reality do you believe each and every one of you that love is eternal did you know that love never dies it changes a little bit it transforms a little bit but the good that you do on this planet never leaves and the love that you put in your heart is there forever can i hear an asshade so i want to talk about mr jimmy wilson jr although he is not here like the butterfly effect his love still wraps us up and glorious rapture can i hear an asshade cousin he was nominated by ronald's colhurst he is he was an advocate and a volunteer for mental health education jobs and affordable housing it was a circle he did everything in 1990 he became the president of the sonny dale housing project tenant association and established a tenant resource center a co-founded the bay views hunter's point foundation to provide mental health services to the community and if you don't think we need mental health services you need to take a look around he partnered with hud to establish the jackie robison computer learning center because you know what well there's only two types of people in this world now the information rich and the information poor if you don't know how to get to the information it don't matter how much money you have he served as a president of the southeast housing development corporation until his death in april of 2007 god bless his soul he was a volunteer in the community by working with churches directing homeless to various social services he provided turnkey and toys to jackie robison's residents during the holidays and she supported such organization as a united negro college fund because a mind is a terrible thing to waste if you got kids you really know that's true he is his this award will be accepted by his beautiful daughter letrecia wilson alford please come accept the award on behalf of your wonderful dad first i'd like to give honor to god it's still really difficult because my dad passed away in march so it's really difficult i want to ask my family members to please stand my brother andre wilson and linda my girlfriend um gerald hatchett my daughter justice i see mary back there and here's my mom earnestine wilson um my brother um jimmy wilson is not here he's hurt his back and my brother devin wilson isn't here and my um two daughters nicole and alicia they're currently in college one is attending um hampton university in virginia and the other one is hush and the other one is at central state in um ohio in wilberford um i would also like to thank the committee and um the san francisco public library and also my friend ronald culters is here but not there's ronald in the back um phenomenating um my dad um as we honored james wilton johnson i also remembered um my dad telling me that he attended school with another great historian um laron bennett and um they were kids they used to play together uh one thing that that my dad really believed in was for um economic empowerment and also he uh it may not have been mentioned but he was not only did he find uh or start the computer learning center at jackie robison he actually he and george williams if any of you all remember that name and some of his friends found um went to washington dc and received a HUD grant and they actually built and developed the jackie robison garden apartments so whenever i'm at home when i drive by my parents home i i remember my dad when i see jackie robison because he believed in affordable housing for black people and at the time there was a struggle that african-americans were having in san francisco and everywhere um to find affordable housing he and my mom worked and other people in the community to work to provide not only uh rental nice rentals but also help people get into their first homes in san francisco and he believed in job development he worked for the urban league so it's just um just a wonderful thing for you all to recognize him he never was recognized for any of his work while he is living but he's been recognized twice this month um dr williams and baby hunters point um senior center um had a uh luncheon and recognized him um the other day so i know he's he's happy for everything you guys are giving and he was a member of providence missionary back church my family and i are so honored for this opportunity jimmy and i never thought this day would come we had 50 years together sometimes sometimes i didn't have food for him giving away stuff to somebody else and i think jimmy what are we gonna do so i'm grateful i'm thankful and god bless each and every one of you but thinking about the people and baby hunters point and all of you and let's continue to care about people care about these children and do our best thank you very much that's wonderful few can touch the magic streams and noisy fame is proud to win them alas for the ones that never sing but die with the music in them but we have another unsung hero and she's not dying with the music in her because the music is strong and loud huy triong huy is originally from vietnam where she worked in the field of education 32 years ago she emigrated to the united states she has a daughter two sons two granddaughters and a great granddaughter christie right where's christie had hi christie her community involvement includes a senior level volunteer worker citywide organizational working to improve the lives of san francisco seniors and other city residents she's very dedicated to working with the senior university classes and she's doing it bi-lingually can i have an ashay because it ain't easy speaking english okay you throw a couple of few more languages in there it gets really difficult she is a speaker she's at the senior leader campaign protester against the food called supermarket she's one of the protesters okay we need to get a restraining order on the seniors they're just getting too wild she believes that the value and riches of cultural diversity provokes a common ground for shared humanity ashay her philosophy on life is to live life with kindness love and to share it with everyone you meet thank you miss huy triong please come up and get your award honey thank you very much was it i was i feel deeply although i was i loved walking for with people to talk i love you but at all she was the fastest speaker yet whoa uh is miss gail smith here miss gail smith i want to talk about the light bulb has anybody seen a light bulb lately light bulbs give off light would you agree yes or no but does a 20 watt light bulb give off more than a 60 watt light bulb no not even close but well revolution came when they had the halogen light the two people i'm going to talk about maddie scott and george diran i think i need to when i looked at them their light was so bright i almost had to go to my purse and take out my sunglasses when these two people walk around you got to have your sunscreen in your purse because the light is so bright and as the day go by the light gets even brighter and brighter now let me tell you about miss miss maddie scott because i don't think the woman sleeps she's a member of the n double a cp she worked with aim of c brown on in the friday night live she's an ordainment deacon of the third baptist church baptist third baptist third pass she worked with the agape outreach housing program with the late mary rogers she started a prison missionary ministry that reached vacaville san quitton and san bruno jails because we cannot be defined by our worst act we're all beautiful from the inside out perfect spiritually now we're going to make some mistakes but just because you're in prison does not mean that you do not need love and maddie scott recognized this god bless you maddie she's a organized the community block is that a party and you didn't bite me i gotta keep an eye on her she worked for both willie brown and mayor nuisance campaign she worked for proposition eight to stop homicide now ashay cousins she helped to organize the san francisco eight and her mission is to stop the violence and then she organized the cease for peace to get guns off the street ah shay you got a dual pack this is double dynamite package here because george is along with her these people were nominated by jane redmond judy hughes and kerlin alexander now he's also a member of the n double acp and he looks very good in a suit i must add he's a he's a member of the men's breakfast club the layman's department at paradise baptist church he's his brother's keeper's organization that's a good one i am my brother's keeper might as well make an organization out of it he is the operation manager of the san francisco sheriff's department program road to recovery a successful relapse prevention program to resolve the stop the violence project at a nationally recollect recognize violent prevention program ashay now this okay cousin this is my favorite part okay he is a certified restorative justice trainer substance abuse counselor relapse prevention specialist domestic violence counselor adult education teacher and conflict resolution trainer wow women if he was single you need to marry this man he knows how to do everything please welcome maddie scott and george jaren praise the lord praise the lord praise the lord george and i uh do this work um 24 hours a day and it's just not us um that does the work um as sure old davis has said we all work in the community together throughout the bay area and um we have some people behind us first of all i have my mother who's 85 years old who's still many values in me and who taught me um how to do this work as a young child um in new allens doing the civil rights movement um i have my daughter i have my grandchildren i have four generations in the audience and my friends and above all we have the healing circle for the soul support group would you stand up please these are all the mothers and fathers who have lost children to senseless gun violence and i don't know if you read the paper yesterday but one of our mother's judy hughes whose son is being accused of murdering um his best friends in clear lake who's doing time we got because of the efforts and her prayers and her faith and because of the healing circle and because of you and your prayers we have a change of venue from clear lake county as of yesterday that is what the healing circle does we're in the business for god we're in the business of healing souls we're in the business of helping those that are incarcerated when you do it to the least of these you have done it unto me thus says the lord and we are about the business of kingdom building and we can only do that with each other embracing each other you know loving one another putting our homes around all young people and the healing circle is very proud to receive this award from the san francisco public library here's george it's a hard act to follow but i just want to say thank you i'm not in it for awards i keep my baby daughter and my first born son in my mind because they're going with the lord and i want to thank my son and my daughter here and the only one i miss is my little grandbaby little bam bam because she'd be up here grandpa grandpa can we see shrek so i bought a shrek three there's a few of my colleagues here and i want to acknowledge them i want to thank the sheriff's department and michael hennessy for allowing me to do the work and i want to thank you because there's something for you to do as well so everybody's an unsung hero and you don't have to look far to see that there's a problem in america in this world today to just step out on faith and say what can i do and that's what it's really all about what can you do and we could all do something and i just want to leave you this precious lord take my hand and leave let me stand i am tired feeling circle for the soul support group thanks you for this honorary award god bless you all i told you he was a whole package then he started singing it's like oh that quenched it okay success charles lindberg said that success is not measured but why but by what a man accomplishes but by the opposition that he's encountered and the courage in which he maintains the struggle against overwhelming odds i am so happy cousins to announce the next unsung hero because he's always been a hero to me mr walter johnson and linda and mr johnson go way back because we were the first inhabitants at bayview community at bayview hunters point they built some new condos out there and uh we were the trendsetters because we were the first ones there and it was right across from the projects and everybody thought that it was going to be a disaster because here we are middle-class people in the projects but that's what the projects is middle-class people working hard right but walter has this big old fat shining soul when you look at him you can feel the energy coming from him he's one happy camper he hasn't told me which medication he's on but i'm going to ask him later he's the oldest of seven children he graduated from southern illinois university in 1973 with a bs degree in criminal justice administration okay i won't go there he was retired he's he's retired as a probation officer after 23 years and he's been drinking from the bottom of youth because look how good he looks he is the single father of a beautiful girl April johnson and she graduated from college any man who's a single parent who graduated a child is an unsung hero for me i'm telling you the man is busy he's been he's the board of directors for the bucannon ymca and the midnight basketball program because if they're going to play basketball let them play all night long okay because then you know they ain't doing nothing else he's the board of directors on infusion one he's a guest speaker at um providence baptist church in the rainbow seven-day avenus church he's a treasurer for the capital fundraiser for the bayview opera house save the bayview opera house save it we need to keep the arts in our community he's a tutor he's a volunteer he's currently the public relations facilitator at the bayview's hunter's point drama group in in collaboration with the bayview opera house he's worked tirelessly coming to the aid of anyone needing assistance and he expects nothing in return and i tell you i had to listen to him complain because he did not want to accept an award today he did not want to be an unsung hero but let's really embarrass him let's clap him and welcome him up here good afternoon i want to give thanks to uh the san francisco library um i want to thank linda burton brooks and and i want to give thanks to the readers of the applications of the two people in the back they they read we have dozens of applications that are received i want to give thanks to them i want to thank uh my mother and father i come from chicago where we were taught to serve people would come to our house they needed something to eat you got shot you came to our house needed a band-aid you came to our house so it was something my mother would open her doors to do i'm an 18-year resident of bayview hunters point so there's a lot to do i perceive myself as a role model their kids come to my house they need to borrow some tools or something because they don't have fathers in the house uh they mentioned i'm a retired probation officer and ended in the juvenile hall uh we've the theme today has been potential human potential we're heroes but can you think of all the potential that's wasted at the youth guidance center at the california youth authority at the county jail at the state prisons and the federal prisons all the potential that's wasted that's lost uh i want to thank uh the nominee doctor dr betty mcguide thank you for the nomination and i want to thank my west coast my west coast mother is here melody martin thank you thank you and dr martin luther king said we all can serve in some capacity we all can serve and seeing what i see every day in bayview hunters point there's a lot of work to be done and uh at that i want to say thank you thank you if you can become the star of the hour you can make every minute count thank you walter for making every minute count so now we have another treat we have the african-american shake spear company here to do a very special reading please welcome them on stage this is another excerpt from uh from slavery to freedom and it's about the churches perhaps the most powerful institution in the black world was the church barred as they were from many areas of social and political life african-americans turned more and more to the church for self-expression recognition and leadership nothing in their world was so completely their own as the church early in the century membership grew as it had in the post reconstruction period as african-americans migrated to the city's old denominations increased in membership and new denominations sprang up it was an exhilarating experience for blacks to participate in the ownership and control of their own institutions it stimulated their pride and preserved the self-respect of many who had been humiliated in their efforts to adjust to american life the lack of opportunities for african-americans to participate fully in the affairs of other institutions caused many to concentrate their energies and attention on the church on the whole however it may be said that despite trends to desegregate some institutions the black church remained what one observer called the place of refuge for black community thank you hello cousins did you miss me you know the one one of the ladies said that her husband misses her and her son misses her when she's out of the house my husband actually pays me to get out you know you got to go somewhere because you are too noisy now i'd like to talk about the wonderful mr brian thomas to laugh often and much to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children to to arm the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends to appreciate beauty to find the best in others to leave the world a little bit better whether by a healthy child or garden bath or a redeemed social condition to know even one life has breathed easier because you live that is to have succeeded that was written by Ralph Waldo emerson and that's what i think of when i think of the wonderful brian thomas he is a native of columbus ohio and he's a graduate from howard university where he was a quarterback in the football team quarterback being masochist because that's all i said i went to a football game that's all they do is jump on each other you have to explain that to me one day a labor relation specialist with parson's water in the in the infrastructure he has placed over 150 young men and women in jobs do y'all understand that awesome i wonder if you can hire a five-year-old because i have one who needs a job many from bayview's hunters point and many who have serious impediments to employment but brian makes employment employees understand that to stay on top of this placement and to make sure that they are successful we have a young black man that is making sure that our community is successful ashay cousins oh that just makes me excited he develops personal mentoring relationships with an emphasis on job retention because if you don't know how to retain a job you might as well not have one you know because what good is a job if you're going to get fired 30 seconds after you get there you have to know how to behave at work i'm still trying now but i got a job but it's shaky sometimes as a result of his work lives have turned around and money has funneled into the community each new job has a riffle effect among the families involved do you understand that cousins when money comes in it has a ripple effect for everybody involved because kids can't learn when they're hungry they can he is married and bringing up his wife sister three teenage kids now that blows me away because you know what if you have a teenager you understand the extent of suffering you know because you if you understand parenting you know you can't do a kid a favor they've got a sense of entitlement that transcends the universe and he's got three teenagers that aren't his own ashay brian's father donald utomas who recently made his transition was a major influence in his life and he is still alive your dad is still alive his love his affection his genius for bringing up a wonderful son exists forever ashay cousins his words of wisdom for brian were if you can't be a national leader be a leader in your own community please welcome brian thompson first of all i like to um thank god and jesus christ my lord and savior i i didn't want to be like kurt franklin get awarded and didn't thank god i feel that you know anytime you do something for god you you need to thank them keep them you know at hand because jesus christ is our lord and savior next i'd like to thank um someone that's very special to me the one that nominated me miss diana raffbone she uh and i see uh pansy her friend um we started together i worked for the city uh i worked for a water department puc uh the puc um i was assigned to uh parson's uh beckham worked for parson's beckham jim jefferson uh the mbe company and i was assigned uh the human rights commission to as a diversity manager but that title was changed and i worked with diana who was the senior compliance officer for the puc and i could never thank her enough for uh mentoring me on this program we started with uh business outreach and then she had a vision she had a vision that maybe you know with the additional fundings from the san francisco water department in the city of san francisco that we would uh see through the contract compliance uh the program which is called first source see if we can place local residents from san francisco on city contracts um with that a lot of protests on the hrc uh the former director gave her to go ahead and she created a system and she showed a lot of passion and i was able to benefit from that because when you um is dr martin luther king went through his struggles in alana it wasn't just him he had lawyer he had a judge there working with him and so uh i was able i was fortunate to work with her what we did was any contractor exceeded a million dollars we may ensure that they had a san francisco residents you know under the uh under the puc or other departments and diana was sitting in the room and there was a young lady named verma who would do the certified payroll it was the three of us and we created something and we put guys out there they get fired and then we would screen them better but what we did was we reached back and you know through her influence i was able to go out there because she's from england right and most of your contracts contractors are irish so the england ireland relationship you know that was something else i mean you know so i went in you know she let them know she's having a bad day you know and they're back off it's it's for it's strange because that's the relationship in europe okay well with that um diana retired you know she i worked with her for three years and then during that process um uh sophie maxwell came up with the idea to create city build with gavin newson and through that she did the preliminary but one of the things that she ensured and also i want to thank uh my general manager uh susan liao tony irons who kept me funded over at the puc and most of all uh harlan kelly the assistant general manager you know harlan is a beautiful person and the commission and permission of brooks um he gave me a ticket to go home my father just passed on october the 31st and he got over 400 people scholarships to college matter of fact the athletic director hale stake was one of his uh protege's and so um i gotta thank my wife the boys that killed me and yeah you know and so what i want to say to you is this uh stand up uh charles keith and james stand up hey charles probably didn't start school till he was nine years old and i got involved he's in the ninth grade he's playing ball and kief is in the eighth and james is in the sixth they got to read read the bible every day and i learned some of that from diana with her daughter and her relationship who went to uh columbia university we had that relationship but most of all i want to um say that we had right now we may have 30 guys working from hunter's point all over the city 40 that's been working over two years a lot of times the contractor want to play games but a lot of times i got the one guy get fired and i'll take them you know i go out on fridays to all the job sites we go to pre-con meetings and the contractor is this kind of easy because i did the outreach we helped them make money so i took that niche and said hey you know me i'll get you some good guys one of the problems is uh you know from a black perspective you know they all they come up with false assumptions that you don't want to work that you you know you're not capable of work and so what we did was we had to create a system and the system was to motivate them and to reach back and teach them how to effectively work 40 hours a week so you know we have our city build academy and and and i've been acknowledged by the mayor i've been acknowledged by everybody you know ronda simons i'm in a unique situation because i don't care about that i just want to make it happen all i care about because they're making i think we did a breakdown i think i got 30 guys it's been with us at 25 hours an hour that worked over two years and you know they got you know we started with with contractors and i and i'm on third street on friday i'm at ycd i'm with jessie mason but what i want to say you this is education is the key and you know we must reach back and i've never seen a leader come from another race but a leader come from within his own race and that we have a responsibility to help these kids step up for the future and i'm blessed that i had a father that made me get an education and education once you get that degree as the old people say they can never take it for you that's what we have to do that's a man on the move and you know they used to have that song by zz top every girl crazy about a well-dressed man there's a well-dressed man here i want you to give yourselves an applause they ain't nothing more beautiful than a black man ashay cousins talking about the next awardee is dr alberta rose eberhard unfortunately she is in new york with her son right now and can't be able to attend however you're in for a treat because we're gonna have her up on the screen so please take a few minutes and watch the screen and then i will introduce her thank you that was fast dr alberta rose eberhardt she has a doctorate in education she has a masters in dance from mills college yeah amen she has a master in divinity from the graduate theological union she is a reverend at st paul's tabernacle bapsist church she is the master teacher at the catherine dunham technique she's a dance professor another tireless woman who does not sleep at san francisco state she is the founder and the director of the village dancers which sends dancers out into the community to teach free classes to children in san francisco ashay did you hear me i said free classes she is the wife and mother of a talented son and she was nominated by kathleen franklin and we're going to have minister natalia johnson come and accept the award on her behalf please welcome her to the stage good afternoon to the san francisco public library staff and administrators to the elders here in our midst to the legends being recognized and the future legends sitting in the back and red and the three young men over here to my left this joy that i have the world didn't give it and the world can never take it away is what echoes in the spirit of my mentor reverend doctor alberta rose alberta gene rose landry ebbahart have to get it right a virtuous woman indeed at san francisco state university where she has taught for over 35 years she is trained your dance teachers how to teach and she teaches the gospel choir at san francisco state they know her as dr rose at st paul tabernacle baptist church she's known as reverend alberta ebbahart where she's led christian education and even inspired us to praise dance uh she was praise dancing in the late 60s early 70s when praise dance wasn't even recognized as a way of ministry in the dance world they know her as bird for her dance moves as you you've seen she's the director of certification under and she was appointed by her mentor kathryn dunham who recently passed this year she's a mother of two william and joshua she's actually away now with joshua in new york touring colleges creative art schools and she's a wife and caretaker of our pastor emeritus reverend author a j ebbahart senior she if she was here she would be in tears right now she calls it a seed that's just inside of her and it's her way of caring um but she is thankful she wishes she could have been here but family calls and um and she she would like to thank you thank you let us remember cousins love let us remember love and to each his own love makes the serpent equal to the god it makes us larger than our flesh and bone and it lifts us from the gel of time inside look at each other turn around and say let us remember love let us remember love hey man ashay and now i'd like to welcome again the african-american shakespeare company to read the good word come on down again this is a reminder that we do have this book at the san francisco public library so um we cannot do it justice just by reading these selections but we do hope that you will look into it for yourselves looking back on almost four centuries of residents in the western world african-americans could correctly visualize themselves from the beginning as an integral part of the struggle for freedom frequently they were active participants in the valiant warfare to destroy bigotry repression and subjugation they had also been important factors in the ageless struggle between freedom and slavery they had been the nation's constant reminders of the imperfection of its social order and the immorality of its human relationships they had witnessed a nation dedicated to liberty moved toward the brink of destruction in the struggle to settle the question of freedom the rejections that they had suffered gave them gave them a perspective and an objectivity that others had greater difficulty in achieving they could therefore point out more clearly than some others the weaknesses that seem to be inherent in western civilization they could tell the united states as the national urban league did at the close of world war two back of all that is planned or achieved is the fact that henceforth it is one world or none if america's role was to lead the world toward peace and international understanding african-americans had a special function to perform in carrying forward the struggle for freedom at home for the sake of america's role and abroad for the sake of the survival of the world was that beautiful that was beautiful and so eloquently read let me give it one more hand you know i my father was in the military when i was a little girl and i wasn't raised in united states i was raised in tokyo japan when i moved to texas in 1970 i had a real language problem because nobody in texas spoke english but in the meantime i did i wasn't i wasn't cultivated i did not know anything about being american i didn't know about anything about being black and i was kind of lost but you know what i found salvation acceptance intelligent love and approval in the library because that was the only place that i could go to where i didn't get in trouble because you see i have my mouth was like like a runaway train i was so enthusiastic about stuff that i had never seen before that it always came out wrong always and my grandmother was born in 1896 and my grandfather was born in 1900 and nothing in their past prepared them for me in their future but i i did want to step and acknowledge the the library because when i go to amazon.com and borders.com i find a book that i want to read and then i go to the library and get it but let me tell you the library's got it set up so if you want a book you can order it and they send you an email when it's there you don't have to go to the library anymore they've got this thing that's called ebooks and you can order and it comes in your computer you don't have to take off your robe brush your teeth comb your hair and you can go to the library the whole world all the intelligent all the information for you to not become happy to but be happy itself is in a library yeah and i would like to thank each and every one of you cousins because i love you from the bottom of my heart and in fact if my husband wasn't a police officer i'd probably be stalking you all right now but since i won't go but i did want to appreciate that you can't you came and you stayed and i want to appreciate that every single one of your hearts is the heart of a hero and i say to each and every one of you ashay thank you so much i just have a few closing remarks i just want to say special thank you to veronica she makes this process such a joy every year i don't know where you will be veronica without your wonderful words every year i'd like to take this time also uh to thank the national council of negro women who are providing us with some refreshments today along with the red door catering so i'm going to invite all of you to come over to the latino hispanic room for some refreshments i'd like to thank the nominating committee Dave Schwab and his staff eric matauro troy alexander the african-american interest committee stewart-shaw linda brooks-burton janetta jackson i'd like to thank mrs. paved maryon pavis and pennie pavis who is sitting who welcomed everyone at the back of the auditorium reggie steverson a special thank you to our city librarian louis herrera and to the friends and foundation for their financial support which makes this program possible every year a special thank you to the supervisors who are here with us today uh supervisor max well and amiano and to marsha snider and her staff would program an exhibit sherry from the public relations office and anybody else is if i hope i didn't forget anyone if i did it's a matter of the heart okay so i just want to say thank you to all of our winners all those who nominated them all those who came and accepted our community would not be the community that it is today without you so i want to say thank you to everyone and we will see you back here next year for our 20th anniversary of our unsung heroes thank you for coming and also i forgot the young ladies who did the praise dance for sr martin thank you ladies thank you thank you thank you