San Francisco Mayor London Breed helped celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a celebration and award ceremony at the City Hall Rotunda.
“Somos San Francisco. We are San Francisco!” Breed said. “We are a truly amazing, remarkable city but we are not that without the people, our history, our diversity and our culture.”
Mary Travis-Allen, president of the American Indian Cultural District Board, began the Thursday ceremony with a land acknowledgment, speaking of the symbolic return of the endangered California condors to the Bay Area.
“Our ancestors did not create land ownership or borders to separate our people on the land,” Travis-Allen said.
“We are a truly amazing, remarkable city but we are not that without the people, our history, our diversity and our culture.” Mayor London Breed
Lariza Dugan-Cuadra, of Central American Resource Center SF, and Joaquin Torres, San Francisco’s assessor-recorder, hosted the event.
“As national political players seem intent on denying the contributions, dignity and rights our community deserves, it becomes ever more important to recognize and reinforce our diverse local Latino communities and the work we do right here at home,” Dugan-Cuadra said.
Award recipients included Cassondra Curiel (Cesar Chavez Labor Award), William Ortiz-Cartagena (Rosario Anaya Community Award) and Pilar Nino (Dolores Huerta Lifetime Achievement Award).
National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.