Dennis Herrera, City Attorney of San Francisco, delivered a keynote address honoring the new and outgoing officers of La Raza Lawyers in Sacramento, emphasizing the importance of leadership within the Latino community. He highlighted the growing influence of Latinos in politics, exemplified by leaders across the political spectrum, and discussed the significance of coalition-building beyond identity politics. Herrera also shared personal experiences that illustrate the power of heritage in advocating for broader social justice issues.

1. Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Prepared Remarks for
DENNIS HERRERA
City Attorney of San Francisco
Keynote Address to the
La Raza Lawyers of Sacramento
2005 Swearing-In Ceremony & Lunch Banquet
Radisson Hotel
500 Leisure Lane
Sacramento, California

2. – 1 –
Thank you very much for that very kind
introduction.
I’m honored to be here this afternoon to join
you in celebrating the installation of officers
for La Raza Lawyers of Sacramento.
I want to congratulate all of you — the
incoming officers as well as those completing
their terms —for having embraced leadership
roles in an organization that ITSELF
demonstrates leadership in our statewide legal
community.
I know from my own involvement with San
Francisco La Raza, on the board of the Bar
Association of San Francisco and other
organizations, that practicing law is a busy
ENOUGH day job that taking part in
extracurricular activities doesn’t always hold
a lot of appeal.
It’s a sacrifice. Still, for what it
contributes to our broader community — as
Latinos, as Californians and as lawyers —it’s
a worthy and important sacrifice.

3. – 2 –
Yes, it will entail inconveniences: taking on
new responsibilities, attending meetings,
wasting perfectly good lunch hours listening to
politicians give speeches…
But at LEAST as great as all the
inconveniences, I think, is the honor of
leadership that your colleagues have bestowed
upon you. So my congratulations to all of you
—incoming and outgoing officers alike.
If there’s something special about THIS year’s
class of La Raza officers, I would say that
it’s certainly an auspicious time to be taking
leadership roles in our community less than a
month after a Newsweek cover story proclaimed,
“Latino Power.”
The subhead added: “Latinos are making their
mark on politics as never before. Get used to
it.”
That cover story was inspired by the election
of Antonio Villaraigosa as mayor of Los
Angeles.

4. – 3 –
Antonio’s victory in America’s second-largest
city is a victory for all of us. But it’s also
only the latest in a series of important steps
made by Latinos in the last few years — from
Democratic Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado to
Republican Senator Mel Martinez of Florida.
What I found most interesting about the
Newsweek story isn’t that “Latino Power”
predicts a certain outcome, or indicates an
advantage for one party over another.
It’s precisely that it DOESN’T.
The fact is, “Latino Power” is epitomized…
• As much by a LIBERAL former union-organizer
like Antonio Villaraigosa
• As it is by a CONSERVATIVE Cuban refugee like
Mel Martinez
• As it is by a MODERATE state Attorney General
like Ken Salazar.
I think the point is one that we in California
have long recognized: we Latinos exhibit a
diversity all our own.

5. – 4 –
In fact, if there’s one common element in all
their successes, it wasn’t their use of
identity politics. Rather, it was their
ability to reach beyond identity politics.
All succeeded in forging broader coalitions, of
which their own heritage was a part —an
IMPORTANT part —of what prepared them to lead
a great city or to represent a large state in
the U.S. Senate.
As you might imagine, my own experience as a
Latino City Attorney in a City as diverse as
San Francisco has given me plenty of first-hand
opportunities to see that heritage called upon
in unexpected ways.
Since you may have watched the NBA Finals last
night, I’ll give you one example that involves
basketball, interestingly enough.
In my first year in office, the San Francisco
Examiner regularly invited elected officials to
write op-eds. Of course, most of these were
used as opportunities for shameless self-
promotion —to brag about how great we were
doing at the jobs voters ELECTED us to.

6. – 5 –
But with the deadline for my column fast
approaching, I just felt that there was
something I had to get off my chest about
Shaquille O’Neal.
Now you may recall a few years ago, when then-
Laker Shaquille O’Neal made some controversial
remarks about Yao Ming, the then-rookie center
for the Houston Rockets.
Shaq’s comments were first made on Fox Sports,
then reiterated on ESPN, where he mocked Yao
when he affected Chinese-sounding gibberish and
kung-fu moves —just to make the ethnic mockery
complete.
So I wrote an editorial entitled, “Why Shaq
isn’t funny.” Right up-front, I acknowledged
that I wasn’t seeking to editorialize against
trash talking, per se —which is no less a part
of politics as it is basketball, quite frankly.
What I was editorializing about was that what
Shaq said and did was offensive to fans of the
game and antithetical to the spirit of sports.
I mentioned how one opinion write in AsianWeek
described Yao Ming as “our Jackie Robinson,"
and why he was right.

7. – 6 –
Jackie Robinson wasn't merely an inspiration to
African Americans because he was a black
pioneer in Major League Baseball. He was an
inspiration to all because he was a great
competitor.
He taught a segregated nation that the thrill
of athletic achievement can transcend the
mistrust that human differences sometimes
breed.
And he showed us that sports is —at its best
—humanity's truest meritocracy. I talked
about being a member of an ethnic minority
myself — and what it meant to be a ten-year boy
watching a Latino pioneer named Roberto
Clemente earn his 3,000th base hit in 1972.
And I concluded that there’s very clear line
between trash talk and an ethnic slur —and
that Shaquille O’Neal had crossed it.
The difference is…
• That ONE intimidates a competitor because of
who he PLAYS for.
• The OTHER intimidates a ten-year-old fan
because of who he IS.

8. – 7 –
One is acceptable in the spirit of competition.
The other is completely antithetical to it.
The editorial was an early lesson in my tenure
as City Attorney on the force of identifying
with MY OWN heritage to affect change beyond
it. A week later, the Chinese-American
Democratic Club invited me to keynote their
annual dinner — and they’ve been strong
supporters ever since.
If the key to political success is coalition-
building, I think the best explanation for
“Latino Power” is that we’ve come into our own
as coalition-builders. We’re rooted in our
heritage, yes. But we’re also fully capable of
reaching beyond it, of finding common-ground
with those whose traditions share similar
experiences.
I’m proud of many of the efforts my office has
made in San Francisco to do just that.

9. – 8 –
• When Mayor Newsom made his decision to issue
same-sex marriage licenses in 2004, I took
the initiative to not simply DEFEND him — but
to initiate a CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE TO the
discriminatory state law at the heart of the
injustice.
The irony wasn’t lost on the San Francisco
Chronicle, which described me as “an unlikely
leader” in the fight to legitimize gay
marriage in California: “a straight Catholic
family man from Long Island.”
• I refused to let San Francisco stand by while
Attorney General John Ashcroft’s Justice
Department infringed on the reproductive
rights of the poorest, most vulnerable women
served by our public hospital. So I joined
with Planned Parenthood in a federal lawsuit
that successfully struck down the so-called
“Partial-Birth Abortion Ban.”
• And I was proud of an investigation and
federal whistleblower action I filed against
corrupt vendors attempting to defraud the
federal e-rate program, which helps
disadvantaged and largely minority school
districts bridge the “Digital Divide.”

10. – 9 –
We worked with the U.S. Justice Department to
not only help protect San Francisco schools,
but to protect poor and minority school
districts nationwide.
So this is an auspicious time to be taking
leadership roles in our community —at a time
of emergent “Latino Power.”
Newsweek is right: we’re making our mark on
politics as never before. Get used to it.
Congratulations, La Raza officers. And thank
you for inviting me to speak.