The incredible 3rd Baptist Church, which we plan to make official landmarking status today. Arent we excited . I just want to say one, praise god, right . Praise god, thank you for being here, thank you for supporting this ceremony. We are honored here to have the mayor here to perform the ceremony who will speak in just a little bit, but i want to thank my colleague, aaron pes k kin for sponsoring this legislation, and thank you for supervise cohen for joining us here today, as well as our city administrator, naomi kelley. This is a wonderful day today. Im so excited. Remember when we celebrated with reverend brown and lady jane brown at the celebration with bill clinton, and i told you we would make this happen, and we made it happen, and look how quickly we made it happen . Well, i didnt have a choiz because reverend brown was calling me every single day, every day fighting for this community, every day fighting for this community, and one thing i want to say about 3rd Baptist Church, which is my church, my home, thank you for welcoming me. Thank you for continuing to a beacon of light in this community, who need a place of sanctuarn, who need a place to call home, who need a place to feel welcome. 3rd baptist has been doing this longer than almost any other place in San Francisco. It is an unappreciated institution because of its advocacy for being on the front line for anything related to challenges with our community, the displacement of our community, the issues with our children in the public schools. Every single occasion when there has been an issue in the city and county of San Francisco related to our community, 3rd baptist is at the front lines, trying to make sure we speak truth to power and we change the city for the better, and so it is only fitting that we come here today in city hall, and we celebrate our community, our accomplishments, and all that we have done to make San Francisco a better place, but more importantly, we leave a Lasting Legacy with the changes in San Francisco making 3rd Baptist Church a landmark location, make sure that the next generation of young people, and the next generation know that we are still here, we have left a lasting impression. We have built this city, and we are not going anywhere. And so so with that, id like to turn it over to our mayor to speak a few words, and then, well get to a few other comments from some of the amazing members of 3rd Baptist Church. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome mayor ed lee. President london breed, you have already said and expressed a lot of my feelings about this legislation today, but let me welcome each and every one of you here to the peoples palace. This is your house, as well, and this whole city is all of yours because we want this city to continue the strong efforts of being inclusive, being the rainbow city, welcoming everybody, but also working for everybody, and i want to say thank you to each member of the board of supervisors that are here today, our city administrator, our commissioners, our Department Heads for all sharing this wonderful moment. But i also want to start out by saying thank you to reverend amos brown. Your leadership on so many issues, reverend, kind of defines what the 3rd Baptist Church is all about, especially on challenges that face people of color. Youve been consistent, youve been steady, and youve been guiding us with the greatest amount of integrity in whatever capacity that you have filled. And this is exactly why the supervisor and president breed said that when amos and his wife, mrs. Jane brown, celebrated their 40 years at 3rd Baptist Church a few months ago, they didnt celebrate by themselves, it wasnt just community, it was people from all over the country that came in here bill clinton, governor jerry brown, reverend jesse jackson, they all came out because they recognized the Historic Center that the 3rd Baptist Church represented, but they also know that the reverend not only speaks locally, he speaks nationally and internationally. So congratulations reverend on 40 years of your life here at 3rd Baptist Church and for the city and county of San Francisco. Thank you, reverend brown. 3rd Baptist Church has been around since 1855, ladies and gentlemen. 160 years 52 . 1852. Okay, my notes, my staff, go back to the history books, correct that history. Make sure we have the right history. Its important because, you know, when other parts of the country talk about their landmarks, and we get kind of embarrassed, what kind of history theyre embracing, i think were embracing the right history right here with a building that has housed people of African American descent and worship since 1852. And you know whats significant about the 3rd baptist . cause ive always felt welcomed, that it wasnt just African Americans, what the reverend, what everybody else did was make it a center for everybody to feel comfortable with. Thats the significance of 3rd Baptist Church. It was for everyone, and when you go there, and you do wrong things, youre going to be condemned. Ive been there when people are condemned. Sometimes i use the word, oh, looks like a crucifiction have been going on, but ive also been there with the greatest moment of blessings happen because people do the right thing. And you know, 3rd baptist does have that line, whats right and whats wrong. Thats what we have to do with our kids, help them figure out whats right and whats wrong, and when you go to 3rd baptist, you can help them gain the moral ground. Thats important to kids these days. They dont know the difference between right and wrong, were going to lose more folks. This is whats important to 3rd baptist, and this is why its been so welcoming to me and to so many others, so by making the 3rd Baptist Church a historic landmark today, were not only preserving the building, were sending a larger message to the San Francisco bay community, we respect all the people who have been here for generations, we respect you, we respect the community. We honored the work that you have done. Its hard work to allow people to recognize whats right and wrong and do the hard work. Its the hardest work that we have to do today, whether youre holding a public office, being a minute center or bei minister or community activist, its hard job, but it serves our community and our children, and we must try to do better. This has been an important home to gobs of Community Meetings, employment workshops, to incubators for employment opportunities, and its also been a place where sadly, weve also had to send people away, who died in violence or met an early death. All of those aspects of life that are challenging the city, its happening in a microcosm there at 3rd baptist in a collusive and collaborative way. So im just sharing thisome things, but ill also share with you some strong feelings with people that ive got to hire in the community, doing entertainment work, doing community work, doing leadership work, trying to save more people, trying to get them out of condemnation and into salvation. Were all trying to do it, and in a large part, a lot of what i have to do is save more lives and make sure people live more robust lives in the city, the city sometimes where people say there are a lot of inequities. 3rd baptist is about equity. Its n its about finding love and support. Thats why it deserves to be recognized in our hall of landmarks, so i say to the rest of our country, you ought to be embracing the right principles when youre endorsing landmarks. You ought not to be endorsing symbols of racism and oppregnano oppression. This role that our community has played, this building will be known for when we place the final signature of landmark status. This is our history. This is your history. Youve shared it with us. Its our history, its the nations history, right here in the middle of San Francisco, we celebrate 3rd Baptist Church and everybody associated with it. Thank you for being here, thank you for being witnesses to this wonderful important occasion for all of our citizens. Thank you. Thank you mr. Mayor, and i just want to again thank the cosponsors of this amazing legislation. Supervisor malia cohen, supervisor aaron peskin, and supervisor mark farrell, and with that, id like to bring up our leader to give us a history, abbreviated, reverend brown, we aint in church. We trying to sign this today. Amen . Amen. Amen congregation. Reverend brown, our leader, come on up. Good afternoon. Madam president of our board of supervisors, supervisors peskin, cohen, to our city administrator, our friend, miss naomi kelley, i see other Department Heads here, but time would not permit me to name them all, and indeed to our fine mayor, my friend and servant of the people, mayor edwin lee, give him a big round of applause. And to all the members and our officers of 3rd Baptist Church, we have with us the chair person of our deacons ministry, deacon alfonso campbell, chair person of our trustee ministry, trustee preston turner. This is a tender and touching moment for me, for i am privileged to stand to celebrate a fateful day, a day in which our honored mayor will sign this legislation that w l defines a Faith Community as a landmark, a mark, a memorial of what all faith communities should mirror. 3rd baptist was not founded in 1852 to just equip people with knowledge of spiritual things. Thi3rd baptist was born out of struggle. She was founded on the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the british west indies, and that struggle has continued cross the weighted span of these now 165 years. I want to acknowledge here that william duboyce celebrated his 90th third day at 3rd baptist on april the third, 1958, when paul roberson, after he had been maliciously ma lined and wrongly accused of being a communist, first came back to the United States, it was 3rd Baptist Church that opened its doors to a man who needed befriending. Dr. Martin luther king, when he had inaugurated the Montgomery Movement had his first appearance in the hallowed walls of 3rd Baptist Church in 1957. I said again that this is tender and touching for me, for i was introduced into this struggle at the age of 15 years old, when i organized the first Youth Conference of the National Organization of the advancement of colored people in the wake of that malicious brutal murderering of em emma teal, and it was one year later that megawale evers asked my mother if i could come to San Francisco to attend the National Convention of the naacp, and on that sunday morning of the convention, where did i worship . At 3rd Baptist Church, and i was as a young lad from mississippi, so impressed overseeing Frederick Douglas haynes, sr. , standing before that sacred desk who had the presence and the elequence that was greater maybe than that of Prince Albert as a gentleman, as a scholar, as a pretty muche mucher preacher, and a social activist, so that impacted my life further, and to think were here today with mayor lee, members of Department Heads, and citizens with the city of San Francisco to honor this struggle with this designation, and because of this designation, there will forever be known that 3rd baptist was here, was reckoned with and made a difference in the lives of people for the better. Thank you, mayor lee, thank you all of you who gathered today for we have set the bar high. Im a woman, but im wise. Im an immigrant, but im industrious, im gay, but im godly, im saint, but i am sensible. That is the feeling of 3rd baptist, and thank you mayor lee for signing this document, so that in all common generations, it will be known that we knew more than how to walk the walk skb talk the talk as members of the human family. God bless you all and thank you all for honoring us this day. Thank you, reverend brown. We had church a little bit up in here. He going to give it to you good on sunday. You all aint ready for the chapter one, chapter two, and Chapter Three on sunday. He got some making up to do after today. Thank you, reverend brown for always being there for our community and just really protecting our history and reminding us how important it is to remember what happened in the past so that we can celebrate that and continue to push and advocate towards the future, and so with that, i want to welcome up deacon campbell to just say a few words, and then, were going to get to the ceremony. Deacon campbell, come on up. Good afternoon. To mayor lee, supervisor breed and president of the board, to my Fisk University alum, supervisor malia cohen, supervisor peskin, and all others who are here, it is a pleasure and to reverend brown. Dont let me forget to say that. It is a pleasure and an honor for me to have an opportunity to say a word or two on this historic celebration. This morning, i woke up thinking about what would i say because of the origin of 3rd Baptist Church out of racism and say it, and the development in the home of two members has led to this. I just know that god is good. I just know that this was meant to be, and with all of the preparation and the organization and all the things that have been done, this is the payoff. I can remember Martin Luther king, in one of his many speeches, made the statement that the arch of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice. This is justice; and we try to do that at 3rd baptist. We do it. We show as mayor lee said, respect to everybody, and we make every effort to show justice to love mercy, and to walk humbly with god. With that, i will just end by saying thank you and the fact that as long as there is a San Francisco, there will be a 3rd Baptist Church. Thank you. Okay. I just wanted to acknowledge supervisor jane kim and thank you for joining us today, and with that, lets get down to business. Reverend brown, its time. Its time. Come on over here. [ inaudible ] to mayor lee, and all the other folks around here, i just want to say thank you for all you have done for 3rd Baptist Church. You know, when i came here, i joined 3rd baptist right off, cause ive always been impressed with the church, but the biggest thing this church has done for me, it has so much carin caring, careing, or caring, i dont know which one. But any way, theyre so caring. We have back on track to help young folks, because if young folks cant make it, its no excuse, cause 3rd baptist has got it. We have a beautiful senior extension group, and oh, boy, i cant wait to get to that because we play bingo and all kinds of exercise and things for the seniors. But we also have a Music Department thats out of this world. You have to come to some of the concerts because you cant beat it. But the thing that has helped me is that caring way. Let me give you an example. This morning, one of the members called me and said, mama smith, make sure you dress warmly cause its raining outside. Wasnt that beautiful . Give her a hand. And not only that, this is what has happened to me in 4. 5 months, ill be 100, and i have to give 3rd baptist part of that because god works through a good church, so im just thankful to be here, and im so thankful for you all who have done so much for this church. Keep on, because we are for what is right. We are going to be there forever, and we thank god for it. Amen. [ singing amen ] [ applause ] coffee. How many agencies does that take in order to convert a parking lot into Affordable Housing in the middle of the tenderloin . Well no longer 7, of course, tndc of course, the Mayors Office of housing, of course, the incredible financing organizations that came through the department of hud enterprise came in indicating to construction their compressed be contracted so all the agencies came together with tndc working with the community making sure at least one and 13 unit get built all accountable jobs are another stake and certificate of preference and having the schools and community theyre all at stack if we cant get in housing built im here to thank everybody for putting this together and making sure wear on our way to do more housing that by the need and build the kind of Housing Housing for everyone but in particular the hardest thing to build 100 percent even if a parking lot so many fencing mechanisms to meet the champion clapping. sew mr. Mayor i think what is really special about this project the fact over 60 percent will think two bedrooms and three bedrooms apartment we know there a sdaerth of Family Housing no inform has an incredible impact on the economy and, of course, on the communities if you cant have families that work here afford to live in the city they living live and work we have much, much more to do across the country to make sure were housing the middleincome and workingclass this supplement will help to solve the problem thank you for making that neighborhood healthy and congratulations to tndc for the groundbreaking thistoday. clapping. ive been working in restaurants forever as a