- On San Francisco's Southeastern Edge sits Bayview-Hunters Point, (residents chattering) a neighborhood defined by resilience, shaped by history, and sustained by community.

Three generations from this neighborhood reflect on where they've come from, where they are now, and where they believe we're headed as a community and as a nation.

(bouncy jazz music) - I think that the major question for, you know, celebrating 250 years of the establishment of our country is how much of, you know, the dream of the Founding Fathers are we going to have left by next July 4th?

- Yeah, I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is the reality of 250 years, which is not that- - [Dr.

Porter Sumchai] Right.

- It's not that long.

Giving our youth, I think, it's time to figure out what we want the country to look like.

- So in the Declaration of Independence, it says that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights.

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary, it's important to remember that there has always been people excluded from that celebration.

(bouncy music) And I think Bayview-Hunters Point is one of those communities that are still kept from really fully enjoying the freedoms that should be endowed upon them as stipulated in that document.

(enchanting music) (vocalist harmonizing) (enchanting music continued) (vocalist harmonizing) - [Narrator] This program is made possible in part by the Corporation (lighthearted music) for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

(bouncy jazz music) - I was born and raised here in Bayview-Hunters Point, and this opera house has sort of, you know, withstood the test of times, earthquakes, depressions, (residents chattering) arrests from civil rights.

This neighborhood is part of my identity, and I lead with that in a lot of rooms and spaces that I'm in.

(bouncy jazz music) And I think America's history is tied directly into this neighborhood.

- When you look at the historical impacts, the, you know, major events, Hunters Point Naval Shipyard has an incredible history and serious negative environmental impacts.

And, you know, I just think that it's important to point out how many people in this community are affected by diseases that are clearly linked.

(bouncy jazz music) - Looking back is everything.

African American identity is formed by people having to look back and use their imagination to re-piece together a past that was taken from them.

Black San Francisco is no exception to that.

Tourists come here every day.

They see the cable cars, they're looking at the bridge from maybe the Embarcadero, and they're seeing one side.

From the other side, you have a whole different population of people looking at that same view, but their conditions that they're living in are inequitable.

(projector clicking) I'm driven by the want, and the need, and the necessity to tell our story.

(bouncy music) - History of Bayview-Hunters Point is the history of San Francisco.

(water rushing) There were the Ohlone people, the Spanish missionaries (church bell ringing) in the area as early as the 1700s.

And Italian cattle herders, (cow mooing) (birds chirping) and during the Gold Rush, the Hunter family were attracted to the West Coast, (tools clanking) like many people, and they never hit gold, but they certainly struck gold with the Hunters Point dry docks.

(tools clanging) In 1906, this was the second stop on President Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet.

It was his way of using the Navy as a symbol of power.

And then, when the Navy took over the property in preparation for entry into the Pacific Theater, the Chinese fisheries (waves rushing) and trippers (seagulls calling) who occupied the shipyard perimeter were violently displaced from their businesses.

(fire crackling) At that time in the 1940s, (upbeat big band music) the Navy recruited African Americans from the Southern states.

(upbeat nautical music) - Prior to 1940, the Black population was in the low thousands, but World War II brings tens of thousands of African Americans to Bayview-Hunters Point, to Richmond, and other places to work in the shipyards.

And so, Black San Francisco population grows by 600%.

(bluesy jazz music) - [Narrator] But opportunity came with obstacles.

Redlining restricted Black families to specific parts of the city, including Bayview-Hunters Point.

(bouncy hip hop music) At the same time, environmental burdens mounted, pollution from the active shipyard, alongside nearby power plants, sewage facilities, and industrial warehouses contributed to chronic health issues that would affect residents for generations.

- There's a photo of my dad who was a career longshoreman, and he died prematurely of pulmonary asbestosis.

- I call it the toxic soup that we're in.

And it's no accident that this is where they sent Black folks.

There's no accident that this is where we were able to find jobs and find housing.

- Sometimes, I look out over the shipyard and see it from the perspective of my dad's viewpoints.

So it has actually brought me closer and closer to understanding, you know, his experience.

I have memories of him, you know, coming home and swinging his metal lunch pail, and wearing his you metal tip boots.

So I have, you know, (projector clicking) a lot of very, very positive memories.

And I think that that's what connects me.

- I too share those memories, because despite the fact that I was born in the early 1980s, so I did see a lot of violence, I saw a lot of disparagement, but that was always countered by memories of playing outside, (cheerful music) going to Aunt B Park, peeling potatoes at my aunt's restaurant, Mozell's Kitchen, that used to be down the street.

So I felt like I was a part of a community here.

At the same time (cheerful music) and at every turn, there are these cuts that are being made.

And young people are left with few options.

(protestors chanting) We see people become more and more addicted to drugs.

You see a rise in violence.

(sirens blaring) - At 12 years old, my cousin was shot and killed.

And so, I knew at a very, (enchanting music) very early age that the conditions we were living in were not normal.

- It's all stemming from a lack of investment.

- I always remind folks that this was, we have 50, 60, 70, I mean, 80, 90, 400 years of undoing that we have to do as Black people.

- After World War II, African Americans are finding themselves in a dire economic and social situation.

As people are losing economic opportunities, no jobs, cost of living is getting higher, you have some of the worst public housing in the country and rampant instances of police brutality.

(residents exclaiming) So the kindling was sort of already there, and then, someone lights a match.

(match striking) (match sizzling) And Matthew "Peanut" Johnson, a 16-year-old shot, was shot in the back (guns firing) by police and ignited an uprising.

(residents exclaiming) (bomb exploding) - In 1945, the atom bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima was picked up (sentimental music) from the shipyard.

And then, in 1946, there was a joint military operation in the South Pacific, in which they brought a fleet of about 300 ships to be exposed to two (bomb exploding) atomic bomb detonations.

Those ships ultimately came back and were docked at the shipyard.

- So a lot of my work was trying to focus on acknowledging that deep past, but also painting a picture for a new future and a reality that we want to live.

(upbeat jazz music) The Ruth Williams Bayview Opera House, this is the oldest theater in San Francisco.

It was constructed in 1888 by then, the Freemasons, who used this as an entertainment space.

And this was ground zero (residents chattering) for the uprising.

(sirens blaring) We saw the National Guard come down Third Street, and this was a place of refuge.

So this is where people gather to strategize, to organize, to advocate.

(upbeat jazz music) Today, we stand as the premier art and culture hub in Bayview-Hunters Point, not only for arts, but for housing.

We do everything from live concerts to performances, family shows, community events.

(stars twinkling) (upbeat jazz music) We uplift the talent that comes from this neighborhood to show people what it's like on this side of town and give folks a full experience of just what Bayview-Hunters Point feels like and the culture, and the emotion, and the resilience.

(upbeat jazz music) And that's the era we're in.

We're in the era of possibilities, moving into this space where we can dictate what we want this neighborhood to look and feel like.

You know, part of what does keep me hopeful is that there is an opportunity to sort of deconstruct and reconstruct.

One of my biggest worries though is, who is it for?

And how do we make sure that- - Mhm.

- there's a preservation piece?

- [Dr.

Porter Sumchai] Mhm.

- And then, again, how do we define what we want to be?

Because if we don't define it, it will happen to us.

- [Dr.

Porter Sumchai] Mhm.

- And not necessarily for us or by us.

(upbeat jazz music) - We need to be the ones telling our stories.

The stories that people have, the memories that they hold only strengthens and helps to contextualize what I find in the archives here at the San Francisco Public Library.

(bluesy piano music) This library has a large amount of materials focused on the local community.

Hey!

- [Employee] Hello!

- How are you?

- How can I help you?

- I'm here to see the redevelopment files and... Each historian or each scholar is going to approach it and find something different based on what they're looking for, their perspective, their training.

So I can't help but make a comment about the importance of archives, because what we choose to digitize will dictate how the past is remembered by students 20 years from now.

(bluesy instrumental music) This box is full of small details and what is a story, but a collection of small details?

So this is one of my favorite pieces in there.

It's a brochure that the Joint Housing Committee put together with the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency in 1969.

I mean, so many people were involved in this.

It's even just inspiring to look on the page at their plans.

And here's one of my favorite images of the Big Five, Mrs.

Eloise Westbrook, probably most notable.

You can see that there's so many other women here, and we could see these are mothers, grandmothers, and aunties who were able to make, really, significant gains in securing federal funding to redevelop that housing that was scheduled to be demolished as early as 1948.

(upbeat bluesy music) They took it to the halls of governance, both on a local, state, and national level, and they were able to make inroads.

(energetic bluesy music) So my research, really, is a community project that is informed by many people's perspectives, and I'm just a conduit honoring and elevating the voices (enchanting music) of the peoples whose shoulders this work stands on.

Jamo is the great grandson of Mrs.

Eloise Westbrook, one of the main figures of the Big Five, who helped to pioneer this movement for housing and led the way in helping African Americans maintain a place in southeast San Francisco.

(enchanting music) I feel better now that we're here with all of these.

Because I really wanted to honor the legacy of the ancestors... And to me, it's important to have authentic community voice as part of that history, because otherwise, it's just, it's not it.

There is a disconnect between the history.

They're not teaching it in school.

- And too, I think the thing is, when we get to the point to where we not sharing it... - Then, something's up.

- Absolutely.

- Which ties back to the- - Absolutely.

- people, like community, and trust, and building unity.

- Absolutely.

- And maybe the history could be, you're making me think of maybe the history is the bridge to the trust.

(enchanting music) If we, all of us understand our mutual connection- - Right.

- whether we're in the area or not through this history- - Right.

- then maybe we could find some way forward together.

(enchanting music) - You look at everything south of Embarcadero.

We've got all of these development projects that are happening where we didn't have access before.

- Mhm.

- But I don't know, what are y'all's thoughts?

- The Building Demolition Project, you guys know, it just has, you know, set my hair on fire with the level of proximity and adjacency (lighthearted music) that these proposed demolitions raised.

We are within a half a mile of the federal Superfund sites.

These are landfills, they are known to be disposal sites for radioactive objects.

And you'll see that there is a blend between the community and the base, where there aren't even discernible boundaries between federal property and municipal property.

This is a landfill, that in a intelligent society, would be encased in lead and six inches of concrete.

You know?

(Dr.

Porter Sumchai chuckling) (lighthearted music) This is an example of what's called, you know, dirty development, where you have a residential development occurring immediately adjacent to regions that are known to be radioactive and chemically, you know, contaminated.

And so, I offer a safe, and fast, and low cost urinary toxic exposure and nutrient screenings.

Our use of the biomonitoring can help, you know, advance environmental justice, as well as some of the public health models.

It's important to point out how many people in this community are affected by diseases that are clearly linked to environmental exposures.

(lighthearted music) - If you want to look at sort of the health of a neighborhood, you look at the health of the land.

For too long, we've sat in this neighborhood, living in deplorable conditions.

- When we started doing the biomonitoring work, and we were like really in the community, I would evaluate someone.

And they would say, "Oh, yeah, well, my aunt had cancer, and so and so had cancer, and so and so had cancer."

So you develop these, you know, family trees, and you really get a sense of how impacted the community is.

(lighthearted music) - A lot of people share pain, a lot of people share anger, and they have real valid reasons why.

- Each of these colored pinheads corresponds to radioactive biomarkers or radioisotopes.

So as I mentioned, much of the clustering, as you can see, is around the perimeter of the base.

So this is a simple evidence that the base is a source of exposure.

It's like crime scene evidence.

- We are no stranger to standing up for what we believe in, and being activists, (cheerful music) and stopping projects, and really demanding accountability.

- Some of you guys will remember when the Parcel E-2 landfill was on fire.

- [Theo] That was the- - [Residents] Yeah!

- sort of sentiment (Dr.

Porter Sumchai faintly speaking) around the case we brought against Lennar and Tetra Tech.

(Dr.

Porter Sumchai faintly speaking) - [Reporter] Tetra Tech is named in the lawsuit for providing falsified test results that said the soil tested at the former naval base is safe.

The Navy and EPA have both come out and said that's not true.

- The point of the case was to let Lennar, (bouncy music) and Tetra Tech, and any other developer that comes into this community, to let them know that residents are here, these are people's lives at stake, and we're not going to sit back and allow this to happen.

And we won.

But the fight still continues.

- Lifting as we climb is how the community wins.

And education and mentoring is always going to be a part of who I am.

So Evangela is one of those students that I've been able to maintain connections with.

(pensive music) Lovely, lovely.

- Nice to meet you.

- So proud of Evangela.

- Thank you.

- Graduate, Cal Poly Pomona.

- You know, you know, thank you, thank you.

- And yeah, and an organizer in the community.

- [Evangela] Hi, boo!

(participant chuckling) - Community voice is everything.

My work would be missing a huge amount if I didn't talk to people.

You've stayed here.

- Yeah.

- And haven't been pushed out.

So what are the changes that you see?

- I mean, there's been buildings that have been broken down.

- Mhm.

- And they're recreating them, and it's kind of like weird and interesting.

- I'd say we're a neighborhood in transition right now.

It's really (pensive music) a place for families still.

It's a place for working people.

- The way that we believe that it's changing is still staying the same.

- Right.

- Like- - Meaning- - We're not getting jobs.

- Okay.

- There's no money really coming into the Bayview.

- [Allyah] I think we're at a critical juncture here.

The industries that are really fueling the city are specialized fields that exclude many working class people.

- I'm hearing stories every day about someone else losing a house.

If you look at just everything that we're faced with now, it's a problem.

And so, part of it is like restructuring the actual systems that make this neighborhood what it is.

- Exactly.

- And we have a small, I would say we have a small window to change that.

- Yep.

- And, you know, I think we need the new revolution, really.

- Yeah.

- [Theo] Across all of these industries.

- Just some of the interventions that I think are required, our next district supervisor is going to be tasked with addressing.

(upbeat music) - We're going to be running for office in 2026.

I'm running for District 10 Supervisor.

(audience cheering) And so, tonight... We provide on the job training and upscaling for folks who want to learn about event management and event production.

I'm hoping that I can help facilitate some incredible projects happening on this side of town, you know, aside from the basic things that people need, right?

Jobs, housing, food on the table, like, those are the basic needs.

I want to make sure that all that's fine, so we can think about the other things that make neighborhoods so great.

That's my hope, is that we can move the conversation from necessity to what we need to thrive.

So when we welcome development and we look at these projects, we need to be at the table.

The India Basin Waterfront Park is one of the newest pieces of open space in the neighborhood.

And it's an excellent example of how development can work when partners are aligned with the community, the city, and ultimately, the Rec and Park Department that oversees the development.

(upbeat music) This is one, in my opinion, one of the anchor projects that will help really determine what the heck this will be.

We've got the former public housing sites that are being converted into affordable housing.

- Mhm.

- You've got this condo building here that sort of represents - The future.

- sort of the future and what's coming.

And then, you have the building next to it, which is sort of an old style Victorian.

These type of homes are what's here now.

- Mhm.

- And then, if you, as you look over here, it provides a little bit of hope of like what's possible, what's coming.

(pensive music) I thought this was probably the best that I've seen in terms of community engagement and being intentional about equitable development.

Can you talk just a little bit about- - Yeah.

- that process?

- It was that process that turned this project from a, who are you doing this for?

Is this for the gentrifiers, right?

To a real solid understanding of this being a community park.

And you see it through everything in this park.

Everything from this front porch that seniors advise that they would like to have as a somewhere to kind of sit down, to workforce and business development opportunities with our food pavilion that provides a rotating chef program.

An equitable development plan is incredibly important just to make sure that this park is welcomed and owned by community.

(upbeat music) - This community is filled with so many great people.

(pensive music) - The best things come out when you let people speak to what is their truth.

- I think it should be something even greater.

- We're fighters.

We're innovators.

We're makers.

We're researchers.

And we can solve any problem that that comes forth.

We just need to be given the opportunity to do that.

- Mhm.

What I'm experiencing right now is a great deal of financial uncertainty, but the work continues, because people need to be protected.

- We also need to hold (upbeat music) these systems accountable to this community that has given and continues to give so much to San Francisco.

(residents chattering) - So in a lot of ways, it feels familiar, because we're fighting and struggling for our lives and our existence, but in other ways, there's so much opportunity.

Imagine we could take 50 kids downtown- - Mhm.

- to ice skate.

- Now, you're talking about my unfunded program, my Bayview Explorers program- - Yeah, see!

- that I wrote that I was trying to get funded.

- We live in a country where sort of the ideals leave you somewhat hopeful that like there's a better day.

But that's hard to do (upbeat music) when you're in the midst of survival.

(pensive music) - [Allyah] We're at a critical juncture here.

What the future holds will depend on what we do now.

- We're closing our borders.

We're saying no to immigrants.

We're repeating the same thing for Black folks who've suffered for- - Mhm.

- so long in this country.

- [Dr.

Porter Sumchai] Mhm.

- So we're going back in time a little bit, that I think the only way we come back from this is going back to what sort of defined us and what helped us form this nation.

- Right.

- The people who... (upbeat music) people, each of us.

- You have to listen and not delegitimize anything that people are telling you.

- I don't think there's a policy, or a person, or one thing that's going to come through and just check a bunch of boxes and solve these issues.

It's going to happen on the neighborhood level.

It's going to happen in the living room, it's going to happen at a dinner table, or something that brings people together naturally.

And if we can figure out ways to lean on each other and go back to things that made this neighborhood so great and this neighborhood so connected, that's how I think we get out of this.

- The community has always been able to maintain itself, because it's always had a sense of who it was and what it deserves.

We will always be in here.

It's baked into the DNA of the city.

(bouncy instrumental music) - This is the time that we are redefining and rediscovering who we are as a city, but also who we are as a people.

What I don't want to happen is to be sitting at this table in this very space 10 years from now, talking about the same issues that have plagued us for decades.

I want to be reflecting on what we did from here, how we took hold of our own destiny, and how we changed the trajectory of not only our own lives, but our collective lives as a community.

(energetic tones) - [Narrator] You can visit our website for more information and additional resources.

(pensive music) It's all at generations250.org.

- [Narrator] This program is made possible in part by the Corporation (lighthearted music) for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

(upbeat violin music) (energetic music)