Colleagues, we have worked hard here in the last 6 years, and I am very proud of many of our legislative accomplishments on affordable housing, health care, and immigrant rights.  But even here in this great liberal City, all of these victories have been hard fought.

Perhaps it is fitting that the Battle for San Francisco raged in the back allies of District 6’s South of Market this Fall.  Multi-million dollar condos and the corporate world headquarters of giants like Bechtel and The Gap are located within a mile of some of San Francisco’s most abject poverty on 6^th Street.

SOMA’s disparities are quite representative of San Francisco version of apartheid we see across the neighborhoods of San Francisco, most glaringly in our schools and jails.  In a city that is 51% people of color, the jail population is 77% people of color and public school enrollment is 91% students of color.

When the intersections of race and class collide with San Francisco’s spiraling cost of living – when 70% of a community couldn’t afford to move into their own neighborhood today – the contradictions escalate to full-blown polarization.

The polarization of our City is usually understated.  We are a City of great wealth, a finance Capitol, with fanciful architecture, postcard views, manicured lawns and a world-class opera and symphony.  Meanwhile, “The Other San Francisco” typically gets less mention — except for our soaring homicide rate and intractable homelessness.  Seniors on fixed incomes and people living with AIDS/HIV are shut in their SRO hotel rooms. Immigrant families double up in apartments, while the slow exodus of other families continues.

San Francisco is a liberal City.  Nobody is going to tell you that they approve of this dichotomy.  Language of unity, bridge-building, embracing diversity dominates our political discourse.  Unfortunately, our praxis rarely measures up.  Corporate sponsored, one-day service projects are nice but can never address the root causes of poverty and homelessness.  Feel-good basketball tournaments are not opportunity enough to repel hopelessness and wonton violence.  Family free days at the museums do not pay the rent or stop evictions.  Press releases alone will never lead to social change.

If we truly want unity in San Francisco, we have to ask ourselves difficult questions about what we are willing to sacrifice to get there.  Are we willing to share the wealth of our City with those who need the most?  Can we learn from examples of successful social change and yield some of our power to support the grassroots efforts of those most impacted by injustice?  When we open the corridors of power to people like Senior Leader and Housing Activist Bao Yan Chan, who we lost during this latest battle for San Francisco, we reflect genuine progressive leadership.

Friday night I had the opportunity to swear-in Jane Kim to the San Francisco School Board in the jam-packed multi-purpose room at the Tenderloin Community School. These were my remarks…

Here in San Francisco we say that we value our diversity and want equality in opportunity, but there may be no better example of San Francisco’s version of apartheid than in how we educate our kids.

We know that most affluent families have abandoned our public school system. In a city that is 51% people of color, school enrollment is 91% students of color. In addition thousands of other families have been forced from the City, unable to afford the spiraling cost of living here. This exodus has left our School District in dire financial straits – in recent years far too much of this Board’s debate has covered which schools to close.

Now is the time for genuine progressive leadership in San Francisco – to support families struggling to make it here – to focus the resources of our wealthy City on the kids who need the most – to make sure that education is empowering and culturally relevant – to pass on the belief that, from the grassroots, we can right the wrongs in our world.

This is why I am so excited to inaugurate Jane Kim.

At the Chinatown Community Development Center, Jane has positively impacted the lives of hundreds of young people from one of the country’s densest urban neighborhoods through her Adopt an Alleyway Youth Project. Jane has provided young people the tools they need to make change on their own, while instilling the desire to do so by opening the door of their histories and culture.

One student put it this way…

“Jane really taught me to value myself and my culture through her support and understanding. She taught me to be more self-confident and was one of the first people to make me feel proud to be an Asian-American.”

As a co-founder of Locus Arts, Jane gracefully weaves emerging Asian arts with consciousness raising and community activism. As the President of the SF People’s Organization, Jane brought together labor and community organizations together to build a powerful coalition.

Jane Kim has trained and inspired a new generation of activists. That is why nobody should be surprised by the strength of Jane’s campaign and her decisive victory. Jane’s collective efforts are a large part of building the power that it will take to end our system of apartheid and unify this City. Thank you Jane Kim for making this all happen. The future of progressive politics in San Francisco is now, here at the San Francisco School Board.