 All right. Well, good afternoon, everybody. Thank you so much for braving the weather and the parking and coming on out to see our unsung heroes. It definitely will be worth your while, okay? I want to introduce myself. I am the Branch Manager of the Baby Watton Branch. Some of you might recognize me. My name is Linda Brooks-Burton, and we've put this program on for 14 years now, so this is the 14th Annual Unsung Hero Award. Yeah? Go ahead. Every year, the library likes to take the time to honor those individuals who make it a priority to help make life better for others in the African-American community. You're in for a special treat as we honor nine people who go that extra mile to do just that. For the first time, we will be honoring someone in our library community who also exemplifies the attributes of a hero. So sit back and get ready to be truly inspired. To begin our program, we would like you to lend your ear to a young man who will be singing the first two verses of the Negro National Anthem. After he has sung those verses, we would like you, the audience, to stand and sing the first verse again. Jonathan Smothers is a young man 17 years old who attends Skyline High School. He's an actor, singer, has worked with the African-American Shakespeare Company, Alaska Theater, and Skyline Performing Arts. Please, let's give him a hand. Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven. Let our rejoicing rise. Let it resound full of the faith that the dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought. Let us march on till victory and sing till... Jonathan Smothers, thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Stuart Shaw. I'm the African-American Central Librarian here at the main library. I'm the welcoming to the 14th Annual Unsung Heroes Program. Thanks for coming out, for braving the rain, the traffic. Today's plan to be a great program. I'm going to introduce now our Mistress of Ceremony for the date as new program. This will be her fourth time doing the honors for our program. She's a talented woman who has various experiences in her life, including living in Japan, doing stand-up comedy, and being a motivational speaker. She is also a patron and advocate of the San Francisco Public Library. When she first started with us, she had been a mother of one son for 11 years. She is now the mother of three, including a toddler daughter and a baby son. Please welcome Veronica Dangerfield. Hello there, cousins. How y'all doing today? You know how blessed I am just to get out of the house? You know, I was successfully a Miss Fertility in 2001 and 2000. But I'm giving it up, y'all. No more babies in this corner. But I would like to take the time today to thank a young man who washed some dishes this morning and who cleaned out after two small children so his mama could comb her hair. Thank you so much, my son Trent. Cousins, it is a wonderful day today. You know what? This is a family reunion. We're coming here to lift each other up. So if you haven't seen your cousin to the left or to the right, take your time and say hello. Say good afternoon. That's a wonderful thing happening. To lift up the community and you know black folks ain't shy and they ain't quiet. Because I don't want, now one of you, can I have a big, strong, resounding, ah, sheh! Honey likes that. Today we're honoring Langston Hughes. And I just wanted to give you just a few words from him before we start honoring our honorees. To fling my arms wide in someplace of the sun. To twirl and to dance till the white day is done. When rest at cool evening beneath the tall tree while a night comes on gently. Dark like me, this is my dream. To fling my arms wide in the face of the sun. To dance, swirl, swirl till the quick day is done. Reset at pale evening, a tall, slim tree. Night coming on gently. Black like me. Y'all say that. Black like me. All right, all right. And now we have our first honoree, Miss Dorothy Scott. A truly beautiful, go on that sheh! Put your hands together. Miss Scott uses her talents by volunteering in the church, the school and in her work environment. Edna Coleman, a past recipient of the Unsung Hero Awards, nominated Miss Scott and describes her as an organizer and a leader in the community. On all of that, she's resplendent too. Don't she look beautiful? Woohoo! As a 20-year member of the New Stranges Home Baptist Church, Miss Scott has served as an usher, a youth advisor and a program chair. She's now, currently she's a trustee and chair of the financial board. Miss Scott is a great cook. Matt, please have your telephone number and your address. I'll see you at Thanksgiving morning. She works with seniors and she's running errands and she's dropping off medications and she's helping bringing food and helping them dress. Put your hands together for supporting the seniors in the community. God bless you, Miss Scott. If it ain't obvious by now, Miss Scott owns her own hat business. And she's been a cosmetician at Walgreens for 30 years. Miss Scott, how do you do anything for 30 years? Oh, I heard that. As a recent widow, Miss Scott is the mother of three sons and a grandmother of four. She says her reward is in the giving that she's compelled to do day by day. Well, today, Miss Scott, we are honored and we are privileged to give the Unsung Hero Award to you today. Please come up and accept. The award reads San Francisco Public Library Appreciation, Unsung Hero, Dorothy Scott. I also wanted to mention that Sophie Maxwell sent nine proclamations for all of our awardees today. So she also has a proclamation from Sophie Maxwell's office. Congratulations. Good afternoon to Lender, the library, to Miss Coleman for the nomination, to the selection board, I mean, selection committee for your selection of me, and to God be the glory. We do my phone rings and I'm constantly traveling and everybody says you do so much, but you know, it's really nothing because you do what has to be done at the time that it has to be done. And that's what life is all about. If you can't give to others and share with your fellow man Lender helping hand, then your life is not worth living. Because as the Bible says that we must love each one another. And unless we love each one another, we cannot love God. And God is not going to come here and give us things to do that he's given us hands to do it with. So we have to take the talent that God has given us, the kindness, the goodness in our hearts to serve our fellow man. And again, thank you very, very much. I was so, I mean, this is just such a shock to me. I'm still in awe and I never lost for words, but I think right now I think I kind of am. But thank you so, so very much. My sons are out of state and they are just praying and with me as I accept this award. Thank you very, very much. She's receiving flowers over here. She looks just like Miss America now, huh? When you serve God through God's compassion, you empower yourself with greater strength. You elevate your mind with higher thoughts. You soar with the angels. This is called complete service. Now we're talking about Miss Verily Pickens. She was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana. And she moved to San Francisco 63 years ago. She's the mother of one, grandmother of two and great grandmother of one. And she's a devoted member of Jones Methodist Church and she enjoys theater. She has lived in Bayview for over 50 years and she devoted most of her time to the community. I shame, I shame Miss Pickens. Miss Pickens is a woman of sustenance who should be recognized for all of the good deeds that she does in assisting seniors in the community. And that's exactly what we plan to do. We're going to lift you up Miss Pickens because it's about time. Ain't that right, cousins? Put your hands together. All right, then that's fine. Oh, it's all right. I have tripped over these stairs beforehand. Just take your time. Good afternoon to each and everyone and to my fellow Americans. I was born in Louisiana and came out here in 49. And I came out volunteering to take care of my sister-in-law. That's how I came out. And I've been volunteering ever since. I volunteered even at my hometown when I was a girl. My neighbors wanted Verley to go to the stove for them because they trusted me. And I'm still being trusted, I think. Amen. But I do love everyone I meet. It's not a person I've never met that I didn't love and enjoying being a member and a friend. So please, I appreciate those who volunteered and signed me in. I don't know who put me in to be a hero, an unsung hero, but I love everyone. And anytime if you think you need me, no, not too much. But I would love to come and do whatever I can for you. Thank you so very much. Not only does she come and accept award, but she asks to give service again. Is that awesome? Cousins, put your hands together. Our next recipient is Joanne Tiger. And unfortunately, she can't be here today, but she is going to be represented by some of the youth that she has the opportunity to work with. She's the owner of a daycare and a praise dance instructor. And when our children are praising and dancing for the Lord, they're not doing anything else. Are they? Put your hands together for praise dancing, cousins. All right, child, go make me the only one excited up here. Okay, she teaches and supports the efforts of the youth and has opened her heart and she's opened her home to any of those who needs assistance. The girls she teaches at praise dance have learned to be poised and professional. And they carry this skill with them wherever they go for a lifetime. Miss Tiger couldn't be here today because of a prior engagement out of state. But here on her are three of the praise dancers she's instructed. Please welcome the new vision praise dancers who will also accept the award on her behalf. Put your hands together. The youth are coming to dance. What amazing young women. One more time. Next nominee. We are so honored. We are so honored to have Willa Sims here. She, yeah, y'all put your hands up. Miss Sims, you know what? There's no way you can give out too much love today. So if you got an allowance, just go ahead and give it out. We'll replenish it, don't worry. Miss Sims is nominated by her daughter. She's a dedicated mother of six, six children. Whoo. Well, three, I know how hard that is. She's a grandmother of seven and a great grandmother one. She was a juvenile probation officer for 28 years. Yeah. She also found the time to volunteer in her community in Bayview's hundreds point. She's originally from Shaitan. All right. She lived in Bayview for over 50 years and she's had a positive impact on not one generation, not two, but several generations of San Francisco youth. I said several generations, cousins. Even today she is stopped by and greeted by adults whose lives she's influenced as teens by her compassionate care. As a young woman, Miss Sims toured with the opera, Mikaido, under the direction of Richard Rogers. As a dedicated patron and participant of the performing arts, Miss Sims has enjoyed performing as part of the Sweet Allelines Women Chorus. She also is a tutor of her own Project Read. Not somebody else's, but her own Project Read. Miss Sims, when you get up here, you're going to have to sing I'm Every Woman, okay? She's cheerful. She's sweet. She doesn't want to be in the limelight, but today we get the blessed opportunity to let her light shine as strong as we can. So Miss Sims, don't be shy. Please come on up and let us honor you. Rendition has just got my heart pounding. I love that kind of entertainment, of course, but I want to thank the Lord for his many blessings from day to day. That's about the first thing I ever do whenever I'm going to do something important or even if it isn't important. I thank the Lord. I want to thank the Lord from day to day. And I want to thank each one of you for being here and helping us try to do what we can for each other and for ourselves. And I would like to start out by saying that the way I got started was in the nursery school in the Bayview District. But before all of that, the Bayview was really started out by Mrs. Doris Ward, who got a committee together to help other people learn how to do what they can for the community. Not for themselves, but for the community. And that means all of us. And so she got this committee together and they worked very diligently to try to get the different areas together to find out what we should do for ourselves and to string along. And many of them, one of the programs was 900 families learned how to take care of their business, their finances, learned how to buy a house, and a lot of them have gone to Antioch, blah, blah, blah, and all those other places after they took the course. Well, that means that do what you can. Just do what you can. Somebody will pick it up. Somebody will be helped. It doesn't mean that you had to have a big, large, a very large group of people. But whatever you do fits from your heart and you pray that all things would be possible with God as we all know. And that's one of the main things that I have been doing all my life is prayer. I believe so very strongly, so beautiful that you should just pray. You don't have to even be on your knees because I prayed many times at the bus stop going to work. Nothing ever happened. Nothing ever happened. I got to my destination on time every day. For all those years you heard the lady say, and I thank the Lord for that. It's not my doing. It's not anyone's doing but God. God is our refuge. God is our help at every need. God is my ever-hunger feed. God walks beside us, guides our way through every moment of the day. I now am wise, I now am true. Patient, kind, and loving too. All things I am can do and be since Christ the Lord that is in me. Lord, I cannot be sick on fiddling quick. God is my all, I know no fear since God and love and truth are here. Now here's a few things that have happened in our neighborhood that's been very helpful. I want you to bear with me as a fire chide sad to listen to some of the things that the paper tells us to do to use diversity and helping each other and no matter who they may be try to get along with them. And so this, I write speeches and you can give me an invitation I'll come. That's what happens. If you give me an invitation I come, see? And I went to the Lyam C.A. breakfast the other day and I sent all my children to the school that they're taking it over to all hollow school. A lot of people don't know that. They sign up there, YMCA and it's been very hurting to many of us and I didn't make a speech they asked me but I wanted to tell them that I used to sell ice cream on the second floor had nothing to do with what they were doing. But it was in my heart I had come to the building I had spent many years on all the floors doing this or that or even cleaning up where the other class did not clean up and such as that and a while I met there and it was kind of terrible but we had to do that I got a lovely letter from the YMCA saying your presence was also wonderful that we were glad that you came so that made me feel good and you can send me an invitation I'll come and so this is something that I wrote for the shipyard notes important facts and people in the community of Bayview Hunters Point and we've been practicing diversity for many years for many years we help each other we watch each other's children while someone go to the beauty shop or shopping no questions asked so that we can get things done we've been doing that but now today as you read the paper they say practice diversity because we have people from other countries that we have to learn their culture and try to get along and make things work we participate in sharing and giving and caring about one another in the surrounding church regardless of their ethnic background we give food rotating to churches the opera house practices teaching art to children and the teenagers interview senior citizens concerning their background all this has been going on nobody knows it except those that came just like no one will probably know it except all you beautiful soldiers of the cross that came today network for elders gave a volunteer club Gala award dinner at the Berlin Game Hotel of course I didn't mean to put that in there my granddaughter put this on the computer but it says Willa L. Sims one of the group of volunteer winners we have the ballet teacher century 21 school a teacher of gifted middle high school students a tutor for grade school we have UC graduates in our neighborhood and the grocery store for years by UC graduates she's still standing there and we have an attorney who was a former police officer lived next door to me we were so glad to see her she was a police officer and she was so cute in her uniform and we were peeking out the window at her when she came home for lunch and everything and we were so proud of her that was when they were first having women in the police department but now they gave her an assignment that didn't coincide with her family and now she's an attorney now isn't that good? oh yes, a re and so we want to think that the environment around is very important and if you can pat somebody on the back for what they do we used to hug her and tell her how cute she was and tell people don't hold back say that's nice and if you see teenagers try to help them try to teach people to tie their shoes for little children or to count to 100 or to learn their ABCs all these tall guys around they can do that and it means a lot to both sides to them and to the child and to the family of those children we have to get out there and do that on our own without any questions asked as I would say there are many people to speak after me but we have the NAACP president for years as you know our college over there and we have the business office affairs we have the 42 units at all hollows there run by sister Grace who was raised in the neighborhood that's good she was raised in the neighborhood as a child and now she's running all those those people that live at those residents there and we have two sisters that took care of their mother they bought every ticket that I sold oh excuse me it ain't that we don't love you because we love you so much I get it, I get it sweetie I get it, I get it alright thank you for listening I think I'm gonna take her home with me she's so cute Miss Sim says that if you had something in your heart there was something good that you had in your heart she said to share it with somebody so I want all of you to make it your responsibility today to do something good to say something good to somebody to lift them up alrighty here and now we have a treat bear with me while I try to say the name the Adjigan, Syfo, Angola, Capioa Dance and Drum Troop now I deserve an applause just for getting that out you guys so this is gonna be a rare treat they're wonderful to watch right after that we're gonna have a ten minute ten minute just a little ten minute break and then we're gonna finish our fabulous program you guys are great give yourselves a hand you're going wonderful, wonderful, wonderful good afternoon first we're gonna show you some authentic Congolese dance from the Congo then we'll show you the Right to Passes dance which is Capoa de Angola now we're going to show you the Right to Passage dance the young men are gonna do we had other members of the troupe but they've gotten stuck I know in the parade I know it's very hard for them to get across because it was very hard for us to get across and find some place to park and haul all our equipment up that was quite tedious but we dedicate this performance to all of the young men that we're losing in our Bayview community and you know if our community doesn't address this issue and I mean I'm not saying you know get out on the street and necessarily march about it but if we don't start expressing more love and concern for our young men and make them visible in our community you know then they won't they won't feel that they have to group up with a group and carry a gun so that they'll so-called get what they call respect and it's up to all of us to do that you know we need to just focus more on them and when we see these young men it's not nothing wrong with say hello young man how are you we see some of them that play baseball you know like when I was young and we played baseball some somebody say hey young man what position you play at what's the team and what's your bad marriage we don't we don't give that to give them that kind of visibility so naturally they want to be seen they want to be heard so they're going to do something negative and so now we fear them and we shouldn't fear the children that are ours that we gave birth to them so when you see these young men out here trying to stand up trying to be responsible wearing their pants correctly which right now that's a bold statement to wear your pants correctly because you show another one that I can stand up and try to be civilized human being and you know a lot of them are persecuted for that but if we don't address it and we don't say that's right young man you're a fine looking young man well then they're going to fall to the same negativity like everybody else okay thank you that's called Ugu Ugu means strong it's called the dance of the strong it's taken from the ritual NASA's the Zebra's doing the mating season and they did even do a little fighting kind of mock dance so the Congolese Bantu people took this dance and made a form out of it for young men to do to pass their rights and passes and then they were allowed to take on a wife and they were allowed to have status in the village or the community they could produce decent men who then were very decent women who passed their rights and passes and then you would have a more fertile village in the more fertile community everything is not dead in the baby district there are some people trying to live decently so I hope this is a real light keep them doggies rolling keep keep the program rolling other treats in store for you and God bless you for getting out in the storms and coming here to the San Francisco Public Library because there ain't a better place to be in town and now you guys have a charade in store oh my goodness this man his name is Peter Temple he's a graduate of the drama drama studio of London London Mrs. Temple is an instructional assistant as well as a resident as a scenic artist at the Contra Costa College he's performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival the Napa and the African American Shakespeare Festival he has been all around the world but all the places that he could be guess where he is today with all my cousins at the San Francisco Public Library so give him a warm welcome please good afternoon Peter Temple I was asked to do three poems for you this afternoon by Langston Hughes the first will be a dream deferred what happens to a dream deferred does it dry up like a raisin in the sun or fester like a sore and then run does it stink like rotten meat or does it crust in sugar or like a syrupy sweet maybe it just sags like a heavy load or does it explode the next is let America be America again let America be America again let it be the dream it used to be let it be the pioneer on the plane seeking a home where he himself is free for America was never America to me let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed let it be the great strong land of love where kings never contrived nor tyrants schemed that any man be crushed by one above it never was America to me let my land be the land where liberty is crowned with no false patriotic wreath but opportunity is real and life is free equality is in the air we breathe there's never been a quality for me nor freedom in this land of the home of the free say who are you that mumbles in the dark and who are you that draw the veil across the stars I am the poor white fooled and pushed apart I am the negro bearing slavery's scars I am the red man driven from the land I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek and finding only the same old stupid plan of dog eat dog of mighty crushing the weak I am the young man full of hope and strength tangled in the ancient endless chain of profit power gain of grab the land grab the goal grab the way of satisfying need of the workmen of take the pay of owning everything for one's own greed I am the farmer bondsman to the soil I am the worker soul to the machine I am the negro servant to you all I am the people humble hungry mean hungry yet today despite the dream beaten yet today pioneers I am the man who never got ahead I am the poorest worker battered through the years yet I am the one who dreamed the basic dream in the old world where still serves served kings who dreamed a dream so strong so brave so true that even yet it's mighty daring sings in every brick and stone every furrowed turn that has made America the land it has become I am the man who sailed those early seas in search of what I meant to be my home I am the one who left dark Ireland's shores and Poland's plain and England's grassy leaf and torn from Africa's stand I came to build the home of the free free who said free not me surely not me the millions on relief today the millions shot down when we strike the millions who have nothing for our pay for all the dreams we've dreamed for all the songs we've sung for all the hopes we've held for all the flags we've hung and millions who have nothing for our pay except the dream that is almost dead let America be America again the land that has never been yet and yet must be the land where every man is free the land that's mine the poor man's the Indians the city who made America whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain whose hands at the foundry who's plowed in the rain we must bring back that mighty dream again sure, you call me any ugly name you choose the steel of freedom does not stain from whose hands like leeches on people's lives back our land again I say it plain America was never America to me and yet I swear this oath America will be out of the wrack and ruin of the gangsters death out of rape and rot and graft and stealth and lies we the people must redeem the land the mines the plains the rivers, the mountains the endless plains all that stretch over this great green land and make America again the Negro speaks of rivers known rivers I've known rivers ancient world and older than the flow of human blood in humans veins my soul has grown deep like the rivers I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in sunset I've known rivers ancient dusky rivers and my soul has grown deep like the river thank you wow, I wish I had that voice when I was screaming at my children pick up that you know what, I got a treat for you cousins because you guys have been so wonderful to sit here and participate in the program I cooked for you we have a nice big, fat, luscious buffet as soon as the program's over so if you stay, you can eat I love that can I hear a dasha in the house cause I tell you the national Negro women give it and they'll be some cakes that make you want to faint they're wonderful so stick around and now we have a very, very special guest here we have the poet Laureate that means she's the queen of poems in all of San Francisco but it might be the world cause she's just that good can I hear a dasha cousins I ain't falling asleep on me now are you alright DeVora Major became the third poet Laureate in San Francisco in April of 2002 y'all can applaud for that thank you she won the Penn Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellent for Street Smarts and the Black Caucus of the American Libraries Association first novel award for an open Wee she has a second novel published you go girl when I grow up I'm gonna write a book her poems her short stories and her essays are available in a number of magazines and anthologies she's taught poetry and creative writing as a community artist and residents and our college adjunct professor for over 20 years she is currently working on a speculative fiction novel entitled Eyeshadows put your hands together for the ages it's so nice to see you all in the rain wee be wee be wee be wee be wee be wee be all that wee be and nothing less wee be wee be wee be wee be all that we have done and much much much much more wee be the cause and the effect the sharp and the blunt head wee be the dig deep climb high shift shallow and fall and fall and fall and fall wee be the stay down and the get back up wee be the ready to run and the willing to fight wee be the always forgetting and the ever remembering wee be the many even when wee are the few wee be the live even when wee are the dying wee be all that wee be and nothing less wee be all that wee be and nothing less when I was trying to find some poems today I had had them send me the couple of sentences that are in your programs of bios and actually I was like this is not all they've done that is not enough I know that what is buried so I found myself looking for poems that I thought would address that because the one thing that I think for these unsung heroes and the ones of previous years and the ones to come is that sometimes we forget how to be fully human and that to me that's what it is and it's the memory of that what it means to be a human which means that we're doing for others that's a part that's where our humanity rests so I'm really thankful that these people are honored for being both extraordinary and ordinary at the same time because that's what it takes for ordinary people to do that little bit extra that makes them extraordinary and within that I wanted to remind us all of what's inside of us incidentally within the poem there's some creation stories because I have a world view and so it's from many people's many people's understandings we hold the great great grandparents of our ancestors grandparents in our bloodstreams in our stomachs in our hearts thousands of years rest inside our souls in those records lies the beginning it is the sweetest marrow in our spine the cleanest shine in our eyes the open side of our laughter you can read it in the lines on the souls of our feet when we retell the stories of where we came back from we draw back tree branches to find hidden fruits which we savor pointed thorns which make us bleed the yesterdays that lead to hear the hears that lead to tomorrow when we go back to the beginning we find the stars thousands of years thousands and thousands of years in the beginning there was a time we all say when we were not after that time we became we were created we were molded we were spat out we were sunk into until we learned how to make what to form how to bear to spit why to sing but long ago once in the beginning there was only one and from that one others were born and out of those many came us that is the story we all tell but before that beginning before the in the beginning beginning when we were born there must have been another beginning before the spider crafting 16 eggs before the mountain birthing lovers birthing children before sky settling low to mate with earth before light before darkness before breath there must have been another beginning a beginning that lives in that place we call unknowable and yet is braided into the strands of our genealogies and it is said that it is in that beginning the beginning before our beginning it is there that you must go if you want to find the faces of God thousands of years thousands and thousands of years rest inside our souls and when I thought about the honorees today one of the things I thought about was these are people who live in yes there are so many of us that live in no and it makes a lot of difference to live in yes and I really think we have to I really appreciated what the gentleman with the capoeira was saying I know I live in the haze valley and you know I pass the young men on the streets and a lot of them are slinging drugs or whatever it is they're doing at the moment you know a lot of them are just really just standing on the corner because they don't have anywhere to go so every time you see some young man don't go oh yeah they're some dope dealers because that's just not always it I say that as the mother of a young man but I do say hello to them in the yes hey what's up how you doing and they quick if I cross the street they go you don't have to cross the street we're not going to bother you it's really true but it's of the yes and for the four honorees that have been presented that's four and the other ones that will be presented after I speak all of these individuals they stay on the yes side of the balance my life is a scale tipped to yes yes to family yes to community yes to the heavens yes to the earth yes to the pleasures of flesh and spirit yes to life and all its attendant chores and obligations yes to struggle yes to love my life is a scale tipped to yes a little short list these lists could go on forever so these were just what what was on my mind at the time a short list of miracles the sun rising every day the ocean and its tides pearls silkworms thousand year old redwood trees lightning human existence in a universe that is mostly ice rock and fire a short list of tragedies rape murder starvation oil spills ancient orange anthrax bullets that shatter people's heads hearts backs limbs walls doorways beds lives nuclear waste bombs a short list of remedies food housing respect compassion education generosity empathy love not to say all of my poems although I didn't bring any romantic love poems or love poems in one way or another but I just wouldn't be me if I didn't do something that spoke although the last one did a little bit to the politic of our time and I brought this poem specifically because one of the things I also think why the heroes are today are being sung is because they don't have a line between we and them and I think that that's what we all need to do and so this poem is called Seeking Unity in case you wonder who they are in case you see their shadows on the street deny the quarters offer the dollars turn from the smell from the glare from the knife edge of their reality in case you wonder who they are that stock these blocks, vengeance in hand snarling as they view the fruit that they have been denied in case you wonder what flag they wave what corner they protect who their mother is who can be named as father who is brother or sister why it is that child look in the mirror it is you these poor, these violent unforgiving, these numbed and soul-forsaken beings the relentless numbers demanding always that we get needing always only the things we need food and clothes a place to sleep someone to desire that we flourish someone to care enough someone to need us as we need them if we look for dregs, if we find stardust it is in their fist it is in their teardrops it is in our hearts it is in our footsteps they are as human as we let ourselves be they are as barbaric as we when we turn our backs some say only a paycheck away as if that is a definition of distance as if they are reflection only a broken shard of mirror but touch your own lips rub the soles of your feet remember that moment when there was no earth to stand on and you had no wings with which to fly who guided you who caught you in your fall who pulled you up showed you the sunrise we are only as glorious as they because it is our children who sleep in those doorways our brothers who cradle those guns sisters who barter their bodies our mothers who lie on those benches of despair it is our fathers who push those carts full of broken green glass dreams it is we who are less than human it is they who are more than alive together we are the forgiving apart we're the desperate together we are the attaining apart we're the bitter together we are the forgiving apart we're the corrupt together we are the sublime who are these people who do not have enough why do we have to give more and give again why do we have to stretch out to them as they reach out to us from our gutters from our jails from our hospitals from our war ravaged lands from our doorsteps because they are because we are one I would like to end with this one short piece for the stars of today I'm constantly looking for the place where science and faith intersect and so I listen to scientists a lot because they actually tell you if you listen and so this is in fact fact and this is dedicated particularly to the stars of this afternoon ceremonies stardust out of clay they caution dust to dust they in tone from earth you came and to earth you will return they admonish they remind us we are mortal and subject to death yet insist on their eternals demons and angels paradise or purgatory merely human with a finite number of days but we have exploded as novas burned through galaxies explored far reaches of the way written on the tail of comments danced on the edge of asteroids until in a dizzying frenzy frenzy of passion we fell through the viscous ozone past cooling clouds to settle in the ooze feeding the oceans floor it was there that we decided to grow limbs and tongue all the while holding inside the truth of our origin magnesium calcium iron we are the stuff that stars are made of it's a scientific fact a cosmic truth in ignorance and in knowing we hold grains of the divine inside ourselves and we always have I thank you so much when I was young I I lived in Tokyo Japan my father was in the military and I was a little bit confused I went from Tokyo Japan to Mount Pleasant Texas can you imagine I was looking for the great America I everybody asked me if I when I got to Texas if I had when I lived in Japan did I have any language problems and I told him that I did I said I spoke English one of the greatest things about it is that once when I lived in Texas I it was an opportunity for me to be in America for the first time because when I left America I was four and one of the things that I did learn was some words in Japanese I'm going to tell this joke I might get in trouble for it I'm going to tell it anyway one of the things is you know your phrases my mom you know that sometimes they use kind of colorful language and I also wanted to have those skills myself so my mom I was always losing things I was a very absent minded child and I've stayed in those same footsteps as an adult I make my kids wear name tags I don't know who I'm talking to well anyway I was always losing things and so my mom would go Ronnie what did you do with the comb because my mama called me Ronnie because Veronica is much too long for your mama what did you do with the comb and I would say should I not eat your mama should I not eat your mama should I not eat your means I don't know in Japanese so I got away with it for those of you that are a little bit slow I'll wait a few more minutes five more minutes okay that's it for the comedy folks and now for the first time ever we're going to have we're going to present Hope is going to come up and present award for a member of the San Francisco public library for Hope Hayes and Loretta Dowell is going to come up and she's the manager of the Children's Center so please come on up good afternoon everybody Veronica thank you for that joke okay I had the pleasure this evening to present our first unsung hero award to someone in the library profession and our recipient is Elizabeth Hope Hayes she was born and raised in Cairo, Illinois during her sophomore year at Southern Illinois University in Carpenter, Illinois she met and married Edmund Hayes and they moved to San Francisco and raised her son Byron and two daughters Alan and Beverly Hope re-entered college in 1974 and received a B.A. in English from San Francisco State University in 1977 and an M.L.S. from University of California at Berkeley in 1979 she returned to Southern Illinois that same year began her career as a librarian she worked as an academic and public librarian for Southern Illinois University Carpenter Public Library Marion Public Library and the Shawnee Library System Hope returned to San Francisco and began her career with San Francisco Public Library in 1980 as a librarian one she worked her way of the career ladder as a supervising librarian, senior librarian, principal librarian, chief of branches and chief of the Maine she was the first African-American to hold administrative positions of chief of branches and chief of Maine during her reign as chief of branches in 1986 and 1981 she created neighborhood libraries advisory council which brought democratic cohesiveness to the neighborhood concerns and recommendations regarding branch library services prepared, submitted and implemented the restructuring of the library services in five neighborhoods which produced the plans for a new Ocean View branch library in 1989 she received the state librarian All-Star Award for tailoring branch library services to respond to the neighborhood needs and for working successfully in partnership and community groups and organizations to accomplish the branch library goals as chief of the Maine from 1991 to 1995 her tenure produced outstanding work with staff, community leaders outside organizations and special interest groups that produced many successful grants exhibits and fundraisers she was conducive in setting up for donations through the friends of the library for staff events that could not be funded by the city but were overwhelmingly successful in building staff and morale during tremendous times of low budgets and major service transitions she established advisory groups and ad hoc friends groups who have invested interest in the collections and were willing to assist with fundraising Hope left the Maine in 1995 to become the director of the newly established African American Museum and Library at Oakland she retired from that position in 1998 her remarkable community work continues and her first passion is continuing education for women specifically for single parents in the recent past she has served as chair of the city of college of San Francisco southeast campus community advisory board during her period as chair she established a board non-profit organization so that funds could be raised to assist students with book purchases and other scholarships on an as needed basis she mentored students and employees constantly and as chair of the CCSF CalWorks education and training advisory board she mentored welfare to work mothers grants to support the program as well as solicited and received donations to support the program she also served on community foundation board of directors and spearheaded their establishment of a women's shelter that provides shelter rehabilitation and reentry into the workforce currently Hope does volunteer work for the San Francisco Housing Development Corporation a non-profit organization that builds affordable housing in the Bayview Hunters Point and Western Edition neighborhoods and I also have two antidotes from colleagues of yours Hope one of them is from Matt Smith a couple of fond memories I have of working with Hope Hope parking that tired old bookmobile in the well of the Old Main far enough back so that she could squeeze her small compact in front she's qualified to valet park for U-Haul Ryder, Cadillac and Volkswagen a real can-do attitude her gracious farewell to Mr. Al Campos at his retirement she acknowledged that as long as she admitted to Mr. Campos that she was nothing but a dumb librarian she got everything she wanted from the engineers department she knew how to work the system and with passion and dedication to her craft she accomplished a lot for our organization God bless you Hope you have given much hope to those you have touched you are truly a hero to me and many others Matt Smith and I also sent email to Ed McBride he wrote how appropriate that Liz with Hope Hayes is receiving the Unsung Heroes Award what took you so long to recognize her contributions to the city of San Francisco and to her profession whenever I think of SFPL and the time I spent there the good times always include hope I will always remember sharing a door between our offices and having that door open on a regular basis to laugh and gossip and just relax she was always the life of the party and you could find a light moment and everything and he recalled two things that makes him laugh I had just arrived and was very new to California and the ways of San Francisco remember I was raised back home in Alabama and we did things differently back there a staff person had a death in her immediate family and I went next door to ask Elizabeth if she was going to go to the funeral home that there would be a wake she looked at me like I had lost my mind and said you are so country boy this is California the funeral homes are wakes and before you ask we don't eat chicken and double eggs either we will go out to dinner and have a nice gourmet meal however when Al Smith's past she showed me how it was really done when we remembered his life and had a great time in fellowship I made her promise me she would plan my party when the time comes even if she is 108 another memory is her is of her red garter belt I am a gentleman I do not tell the things ladies share with me but Elizabeth sure looks fine in red garter belts and not lying stockings she will know what I mean please tell her that I am VP of sales at Gale and if you look real close in your catalog you will find snake oil for just $49.99 delivered to your door with library processing there is no finer person that deserves this award Elizabeth loves her community and has given so much over the years without fanfare or noun her character does not allow for a lot of recognition or gratitude she doesn't need it the Elizabeth Hope Hayes I know is a hero to many whose lives she has touched and inspired and I am honored to consider myself of those people love your girlfriend and miss you like a front tooth your southern gentleman friend Ed McBride and he is a VP of Gales so it is with esteemed pleasure that I present this unsung hero to my mentor because I wouldn't be where I am today if Hope had not been here to open doors here at San Francisco Public Library so I want to present her with this unsung hero award Hope Hayes thank you very much thank all of you for coming out thank those who find my back took my biography from my resume got Loretta Dahl involved and all of that I greatly appreciate all that you have done I also greatly appreciate and this is a ditto from the awardees who went before me you are coming out in this weather to see us do and be honored to do I would like to say I came to the library service late in life I did not start out I had many years of summer of love and Marvin Gay and heard it through the grapevine and do the jerk bid with where you slap that table a little domino plan hit the numbers get it straight I did much of that before I became serious and I want to say in becoming serious and returning to school I had the support of my family especially my sister who was a pinch hit babysitter I had the support of my son who is who could not be here today he lives in the Midwest he's a doctor there and I had the support of there's a young woman who is my god-granddaughter her grandmother helped me an awful lot with my children there were times when I thought I would not be standing before you which I am so every day I pray thank you God you've given me another day to get it right because I'm still stumbling I want to say that to all of you that one of the things that I found out over the years is that if you give you receive double to support give a hand up you receive double if you smile and make somebody's day you receive double and I won't keep you any longer because there are a lot of things that have to go after me but I want you to know that it's been an interesting trip this life of mine I enjoyed every moment at the public library for my going away gift the snake oil joke is I always accused Ed McBride of trying to sell me snake oil because he was constantly trying to get me to use my budget to support his program he succeeded a lot he succeeded a lot but at any rate upon leaving the library and I left before he did one of the things he did was gave me a bottle that had snake oil on it it was actually 90 proof Jack Daniel but but he had made this wonderful label that said snake oil so I'm still drinking my snake oil and still doing the best I can to help others because I know that I get it all back in return and I don't want to embarrass my friends and family but I certainly would like those who have supported me to please stand up that includes friends and family the little boy that helped the gentleman that was reading Langston Hughes I know you all heard him because I heard him and I said oh that's my grandson Bernice Brown who helped me through a major illness please stand Freda Leaper who was right there beside her my friends from Oakland Public Library who helped me get the African American Museum and Library off the ground Glenda and Marion and I want to tell you something while I was doing all of the things I did at the library and going to neighborhood meetings one of the things I was also doing was spending time with my older granddaughters and I'm proud to say I have one college graduate in a granddaughter and one college freshman who comes home every weekend if you've ever heard the story of laundry you know hey hey thank you very much you've all been very kind God bless all the public servants of the San Francisco Public Library and any library because I tell you it is the best deal in the country you can get a free card and go around the world you can master your money issues you can turn into somebody else and be something else and take a really good vacation cheap I take them frequently believe you me and now we have another wonderful recipient we have four more recipients to go I want you guys to give yourself another round of applause because you're still here and you're looking beautiful Mrs. Doris Vincent moved in San Francisco in 1960 and has lived in Bayview's hundreds point almost 99% of the time Miss Jessie Williams nominated her for the unsung heroes award although she's a long time resident of Bayview Miss Vincent was diagnosed with stomach cancer in the spring of this year but while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation she has not stopped any of the things that she likes to do she left her illness in God's hand and decided to focus her energy being an advocate for a better quality of life for the residents of Bayview Hunters Point did y'all just hear me she has stomach cancer and she's still working for the behalf of the community God bless her she is a major major contributor to Providence Baptist Church she was appointed by Mayor Willie Brown to the Hunters Point Shipyard Community Advisory Committee and by Sophie Maxwell to the Municipal Transportation Authority she has opened her home to individuals and families with no other places to go consistently since she became a homeowner she has an open house sign right in front of her house I know because I went there a couple of times she didn't call a police but I left right before she did her philosophy is that she remembers growing up in the south where travelers were refused the opportunities to stay in hotel and motels because of segregation and she woke up in houses with new faces that her mother taken her in she's a mother, a four she's a grandmother of eight she's the great grandmother of a brand new baby son awww as anyone can see Miss Vincent is truly, truly a hero so wake up cousins and put your hands together new cousins I would just like to make one correction I was diagnosed with a gastric lymphoma which is a stomach cancer on October 21st 2001 God has been good I finished my chemo in July 2002 add my radiation now whether I still have stomach cancer I don't know it hasn't bothered me my doctors either think it's so far advanced until there's no point in bothering me or I'm perfectly fine because I've not been able to get a follow-up appointment I just want to say this to my young people because I know the rest of us who are Christians know that God orders eye steps and I believe that from the bottom of my heart I was raised that way so the first thing you do in the morning is to check in with him to find out what it is he have for you to do that day and when you do that you'll find yourself doing some foolish things but they work out and I'll give you an example my children may have forgotten this but about 25 years ago there was a ship out in the bay because of a great fire there was a young man from Ghana that was standing on Market Street and he looked a little bit distressed so I asked him if everything was okay they had been in that situation for a number of days and was stranded he didn't have any more money and didn't know what he was going to do well guess what I did I brought him home my kids thought I was crazy it worked out to be perfectly fine his name was Leland Ballet and I hear from him often I said that to say this if the Lord have something for you to do he will give you that peace of mind to allow you to do it although it's crazy and then he will see you through it the reason I'm in so many meetings is because many times and I see Reverend McCray and he can attest to this many times there's not another African American in the situation to speak for our needs and what we need in our communities and yet we sit back and say they did this and they did that but if there's nobody there to speak for that community most of those people don't come into our community so they have no clue as to what we need and I just want to thank God for allowing me this privilege to stand before you and what I've done is just what he ordered me to do I don't know that it's anything special he's given to each one of us a charge and if we ask him what it is he will lead you and guide you to do it and I just want to back off of I want Jesse Williams maybe you guys don't know her to stand I retired in 1996 and Jesse she says girl what are you going to do and I go well I'm going to be involved with a lot of things and she says well I need a brown bag coordinator for my center so I've been her coordinator since 1996 I'd like for my children to stand just my children my oldest son is somewhere I don't see him right now then I want my grandchildren to stand Tonya you're one of my children dear that's my that's my son's wife I want my grandchildren to stand I have one granddaughter at north eastern in Massachusetts working on her master's degree she finished this university double major magna cum laude department honors and after having finished she worked for the Gammion government the first summer out of school now I would like for my church family to stand these are the members of the Providence Baptist church and I have a very dear and dear dear friend that's sitting back in the back we worked very hard to make her to be the assessor for the other four years but you know we got to do better we got to do better we want to have people in position but it takes money now according to me she's a winner stand up doors or if you knew what she did on the budget that she had it's a miracle so had we put the money there even with all the negative stuff but like I said to Doris God has something better for her to do I know that because he does order our steps and whatever happens he's in charge thank you very much what a beautiful woman put your hands together that's a beautiful woman our next recipient very very special woman and when she looks at you it's like the sun coming out and staying out and just radiating on you and she told me about love she said we spoke about love and I found something that reminded me of her grace grace is love happening love in action and I've seen so much grace in the midst of so much brokenness in myself and others that I know we are all in love we are in love we are within love as fishes are in the sea and the clouds in the sky it surrounds us it penetrates us and profuses us in a very real sense we are made of love can I hear Ashe Ashe swimming in a little love Ms. Marcy Bird who is rooted and grounded in love through many many generations she's the chairperson of a nurture committee and she's also the chairperson of her missionary circle and the wonderful Jones Baptist church Methodist church I'm sorry church church I knew it was one of them she's assistant to the principal at Jump Academy Carter School and you know I know I can't talk now huh Charter school cousins and if you want to see her face light up that's all you have to mention one word Hillary that is her daughter ask her about it when she gets up here children are very important to her and she loves every child that she comes across she's here to make a difference and she continues to make a difference and she believes that love can cure everything just like I do so come on up here Ms. Bird and let us honor you as an unsung hero don't fall asleep cousins put your hands together this day has been too much I came to California in 1968 with a husband I'm now single but along the way I've gathered a family and my family consists of the members of Jones Memorial United Methodist Church who nurtured me and love me enough to allow me to be who I really wanted to be and that was a loving person we are all charged by God to love one another that's the greatest commandment we have been given and as I read the papers and I watched the news now I've stopped doing both the hope that I have for our future has been diminished by what we are allowing ourselves to do to one another and so now I find myself I thought I wanted to have a career where I could earn a certain amount of money to have a certain status in the community to own a home or whatever but I find that my passion is children and to love each and every child that comes across my path and I know that if I make a difference in one child's life that's one last chance for someone to take that child's life and every day at Jump Charter School which is housed at Jones and at Providence I'm given an opportunity to share love with a child and I like nothing better than to hear them come up the stairs in the morning yelling hi Ms. Bird, hi Ms. Bird, hi Ms. Bird all day long and giving me hugs because you know some of these children don't have anyone to tell them they love them they don't get hugs and they don't get told how beautiful they are and so I make a point of letting them know that I think they're just beautiful and that all that they have to gain in this life can be gotten through love and so I thank my Jones family and my daughter Hillary yes is the light of my life my daughter Hillary if you'll stand my mentor, my friend my brother Reverend James McCray and all the rest of my family would you please stand I thank each and every one of you for loving me as you do with all my faults Reverend McCray years ago I used to sing and he had me sing a song he's preparing me for something I can't handle right now well I'm handling it right now Reverend because our future in this city as our numbers decline our future depends on everyone raising up a child to be strong and healthy and loving thank you now I'd like to introduce Mr. Curtis Jones with a quote yeah go ahead and shout Mr. Jones with a quote by Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela said that we were born to make manifest the glory of God that was in us it's not in some of us it's in every one of us and as we let our own life shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same as we are liberated from our fears our presence automatically liberates us Mr. Jones is a leader and leading by example he believes that I am not a celebrity but the path I've taken produces the opportunity where when one needs help you can also help yourself as a result of a near fatal automobile accident Mr. Jones had a spiritual awakening through sobriety through AA y'all can clap for that sobriety is wonderful and he was inspired to co-found Liberation House does that keep you from working at a job because I need to go to a Liberation House but that's the truth okay you guys no more jokes Liberation House says Mr. Jones was founded and designed to be a place where gentlemen can sit and think about their lives about reversing the patterns of jails and institutions and irresponsibility what I said was about reversing the patterns of jail and institution and irresponsibility God bless you Mr. Jones come on up and accept your award thank you I must say this is a lovely day first I would like to say I would like to give my churches a name and my pastor's name River of Life River of Life Church of Garden Christ my pastor is Reverend Robert Cowan and my long journey of sobriety and you know this is something that I guess we don't get a chance to talk about too much and this is where maybe it starts and this is where we have to start and get back to where we should be and this is what I've been working so hard for and I would like to say that God saved me way back there when I'm so glad that He did save me and I can remember when I was down and out when I found myself out overnight in $7,000 in debt in the year of 1973 I can remember that I had told so many lies to God if you just let me get through this time I promise you I'll never do it again and that's one time that I didn't let Him down say if you do it this time I'm just not gonna do it anymore so that is where we go back to and I have to give you a little background what's happening here and we go back to 1973 and that's been 29 years ago and I met a man Dr. Hannibal Williams in case any of you know him he was my pastor for 19 years he passed away the first in January of this year and he and I he had a dream man he and I got together with some other people and this is where we came over at Liberation House it's a program for people who was recovering I myself have seen 11,000 people go through that program and I think that's a lot of people that go through this program I see the need and I see where all our men have gone I see them every day the ones that I see they need help I do as much as I can to help them I think we can go further and I would like to go further because that was my promise that I would always some people ask me why do you work so hard why do you keep doing this well I don't want to do it but I have to do it because that's my commitment it's first to God and to everyone else my family and I have a wonderful family now because I can say I did not have that back there then and you know some people are kind of hesitant about well do you think this guy stayed sober has he been sober that long or whatever and I say and I have to keep it in my mind well I don't care maybe what you think about me or what I look like but thank God I ain't what I used to be and so I try to keep an open mind to that I think God that he has given me whenever I feel that there's a need for something or I should do something I don't have to have a whole lot of education through school he blessed me enough that I can do something here with what I'm doing and what I did do is I wrote a book and it was sort of like an autobiography it gives a background on the whole thing and for anybody who has a problem whether it be drugs or whether it be overeating whether it be anything would probably help them I would just kind of like to show you this I don't know if I have permission to show this but I'm going to show it so you can see it and when you see this little book here you might want to read it from the library or maybe they might get one or something like that for you when I did do this I wasn't looking to make any money from it and I have not made any the people who sponsored the financial people who sponsored me when I told them about the idea I had shopped it around and I told them about the idea and they said they would think about it they were from New York and they called me one day and said you know I looked at you the draft of your book here and we kind of think that we might have it published give you the financial to have it published so they did do that and they published so the book is here it's out and I thank God for that because I told them then I don't have a quarter to pay you back and I don't know how you'll ever get your money and they said well for the work that you're doing you deserve it so that's the way I went and getting back to the program a lot of fellas come into the program and they don't really know what to call me and they said what do you want me to call you I said well you can call me what you want to call me so some call me Dr. Jones some call me well that man and some call me that fella and I said that's okay that's fine with me it's okay I have no problem with that but I think that as a whole and the public could get more information on what we're trying to do and what we're doing accomplishing that we're making over there I think that would be a great big help to us and it would be a build up for us to keep us going and I do have some people in the house here some very good folks that I would like to introduce a little bit later here I guess we could do it now especially my good friend Freddie who's worked so close with me if I could just have some of the people from the program stand up who's been covered in past last but not least a leg for my wife and my daughter stand up and this has really been a long road for me and we just look like we're just getting started and we're just denting things but I see the young men that come into the program and the old men that come into the program and I always have to tell them look I did travel that road so you don't have to be ashamed of anything just get yourself together in the skies of the limit you could do anything that you want to do and this is a spirit that we have to do with these young men we just need some little bit more things going for them so many of them get involved with the jails and I think we try to do something about that a little bit later try to figure something else to help them with that these are just some ideas that's coming in my head and I just hope that God give me permission what he want me to do with that and we can probably get some help there and we can do we can do a wonderful job I think it's we're losing too many people it hurts my heart to see so many people being lost just over nothing it's just simply over nothing there's no reason for it and so somebody has to reeducate them and you know I just say why not me so why not everybody else why can't everybody else do something so anybody that can do a little bit of help anybody can do some help and whatever you do as the lady said earlier you can smile at somebody you can say something you can say hello and whatever is going on and I always tell the people well when you come into the program you were when you were on the streets and then you come in here and you get on the bus you get a smile and people don't mind you sitting down beside you know these are the improvements these are the small things that you have to live with from day to day so I think God for the time that he has given me in my sobriety and I have really enjoyed and so many good things that's happened to me and we I just like to share this with you that we're not lost and it's hope there hope there I reached my bottom at 42 years old I got married at 48 my first son came at 50 my daughter came at 55 so I think God has really been blessing me in the area so this is the work that we are trying to do in the community and we're going to study and keep on trying to do that so I need your prayers I need all of you to pray for us because it's a hard job and it's really worthwhile so I would just like to say as my favorite person said free at last free at last thank God Almighty I'm free at last thank you thank you so much for all you do thank you so much amazing you know I was reading something from Dr. Gerald May and he says we seldom realize our preciousness we're so busy and we're so occupied with so many little things that we're blind to the one great thing only in the pause between things in a brief contemplative space of just being can we can we catch a glimpse of love itself and speaking of love itself let's talk about Ms. Barbara Thompson speaking of love itself I'm talking about you Ms. Thompson Ms. Thompson is a health educator and community relations expert as well as a fierce advocate who has worked tirelessly to enhance the quality of life for residents throughout the entire city of San Francisco and is a retired Kaiser Permanente employee where she was the director of the health education library that my favorite word library comes up again she was a principal organizer of the program where she set policies purchased materials and established operational procedures Ms. Thompson has been an activist in the OMI community for many years and we are privileged and excited to make you a sun hero today so come on down Ms. Thompson it's your turn I want to first thank Agnes Morton who nominated me and hi um I just want to thank everybody that I've been able to help but I think I've been able to help them because there's a little man sitting on my shoulder it's called God and every time I I go to do something it pops up I don't know why because every time is when I couldn't do anything and he still pops up but there's something that someone told me a long time ago and that was he never asked you to carry cross unless you can if you can't carry it alone ask for help his own child ask for help thank all of you for coming today I know all of you didn't come to see me but thank you anyway God bless all of you I'm not going to talk a lot and one of the prime examples of a wonderful talented, smart young man who is a leader Jonathan come back on up please and sing us one more song thank you cousin let's see which mic works better this song is the contrary to what could happen if people didn't care in the community if people didn't give their love and share with their families and just extend a hand to the community and love one another and help themselves and build themselves this is by Michelle Pharrell it's called peace on earth and how can we have understanding in the land when there's none in a woman when there's none in a man's of the world if we cannot heal our own and where is this peace begin it's not at home now where do we go now we let the devil in or do we get up and fight to conquer our fears give an end to the violence bring an end to the teams of the world if we cannot heal our very own and where is this peace begin it's not in the home well it's too much talk about it and too many walk without it now tell me where is the love and where is the God to my left somebody's abusing their children to my right somebody's beating their wife tell me where is the love and where is the God how can we heal if we cannot heal our very own and where is this peace if not at home hey Jonathan wow step aside well we've come to the end of our program and I'm so happy to see all of you still here that's wonderful it's been a wonderful day a wonderful program and you're going to eat very well very soon but before we go I would like to thank some people who've been instrumental in putting this program together and first I would like to thank our community Veronica Dangerfield for doing a wonderful job that's for you I'd also like to thank our keynote speaker Devorah Major thank you so much for coming out good luck to her that's for you I would like you to acknowledge Marcia Snyder who is our director of public affairs here at the library came out thank you Marcia we're part of our planning committee I'm just going to name off your names if we just wave to us that would be fine Stewart Shaw from the African American Center Miss Pavis back there Miss Pavis she just went that way Miss Pavis who was giving out the programs and making you sign in as part of our planning committee also Hazel King which I think she did have to go she was part of the committee as well Chanetta Jackson another librarian in the back who's a librarian in the newspaper and in the periodical room thank you Chanetta and Joan Jackson who's sitting way in the back there who actually started this program 14 years ago at the western edition branch she's retired now but she has been supportive for the program through her retirement so thank you Joan I would also like to take a moment usually this program is videotaped by a gentleman named Davis Schwabby he's the manager of media services unfortunately he lost his wife this past week so I would like us to all say a prayer for him and his family who's going through quite a bit right now but I would also like to thank Joan Lefkowitz for taking over and doing a wonderful job back there on the video and the audio and her staff here and last but not least I'd like to thank the women of the National Council of Negro Women who are going to be serving you a wonderful meal as we close so thank you all for being a wonderful audience and see you in the reception room the Latino Hispanic room right after the foyer into the library there okay thank you