Okay.
Good morning everybody.
I'm going to ask you to come a little closer
so I don't have to yell, because I really want to
tell you how much you have inspired the mayor of Seattle.
My name is Bruce, and I'm the mayor of this beautiful city.
And fun fact, I went to law school.
That was the law school that I went to when I was a student here.
And I had I didn't know if the artists have done this.
If you've really got to know one another,
perhaps as well as you can.
So let me be a common link between what I just heard from each of these
very inspirational artists.
Somewhere in all of your lives,
there was a Mexican mother that inspired you.
There was Mexican love that inspired you.
I don't know where your talent comes from.
I always ask when I see my prayers, where this talent come from and some service.
I said, can you give me a little more of that talent?
But you are very, very blessed with a gift
here in Seattle,
when Trump.
Denigrate
treats people cruelly because of where they are born.
Weaponizing a place of origin here in Seattle, we celebrate it.
We welcome it.
We are proud of it.
The world needs to see what
immigrants are going through.
But how? Here in Seattle, we will love you.
We will invest in you.
This didn't cost the city of Seattle anything.
Investments don't cost anything.
We're investing in your talent to express to the world
the love that you've seen, the inspiration you see.
And every person identifies as a Mexican, American or Latino.
The Senate should be incredibly inspired by the stories that you've given us.
There was a
Mexican painter known as Frida Kahlo
who said, I paint flowers so they will not die.
Some of you shared experiences that you've had
with people transitioning from your life.
I won't say more than that.
So you are still healing.
When we all transition, this will still be here.
Your love, your stories, your celebration
of your Mexican roots.
That's what art does for us.
Our Arts and Culture department
is supported over 60 murals and invested over
$3 million in beautification and public art projects.
But as I said, this didn't cost us anything.
Investments don't cost.
This is our honor.
To allow you to shine as you have so well.
These stories tell us how to uplift one another.
And I see a few young folks here.
I'm not talking about you.
See, I'm over here.
In case you thought I was looking that direction.
But at the end of the day,
in this short life that we have on Earth, it's all about passing it on.
So as I introduce the consul general who and I've dealt with a lot of council
Genesis mayor, I've actually been, for those who don't know,
I've been elected in Seattle four different times.
And I was born here, just born a few miles from here.
So when I look at your stories,
we're a little kid who didn't go very far and went to school here.
I have to tell you, you inspired me.
I can only imagine
what immigrants have gone through.
I would remind you that my mother family came here from Japan,
and it was an executive
order 9066 to put my mother in a concentration camp.
I remind you that my black father
came here from Louisiana, from a racist Jim Crow South.
They got together
a different background and.
Gave birth to a kid, Alexander.
Hawaiian.
But they taught me
the intersectionality and weave cultures.
And so I grew up trying to study and love and learn about different cultures.
And I close by saying, that is the gift you've given us
as a little biracial boy that grew up here, you blessed us.
We will fight against Trump's racist policies.
Make no mistake about that. We will soon.
We have to. Soon we will walk the streets.
We have to walk the streets.
We love our immigrant brothers and sisters because of what you do
and with that,
and it goes a lot of parents in general, I have to say that
this is one of the sharpest, cleanest, smartest,
hardworking council janitors I've dealt with in our business.
You know, I'd
love to hear some of the remarks that.
Good morning.
It's an absolute honor to be here.
Today's theme of migration,
and it's one that's very near and dear to be part of our community
as Mexican council here in the state of Washington,
it is always very special
to see that gapping bridge between Mexico and the Pacific Northwest.
So for that reason,
I have to thank all of our artists, all the people who sacrificed their time
to work on these pieces to beautify the city of Seattle.
And at the same time, with a little bit of what we are to this year.
So thank you very much to the artist.
I also want to thank, Mayor Bruce Harrah
and the Seattle, Seattle water community for the work that they have done in
helping us get the spaces, ensuring that we have access to these incredible spaces.
And then our community has this ability
to communicate with the people of Seattle to the part.
Of course, our people are a major part of the city of Seattle, as they are
all of Washington state.
So I'm extremely proud to have collaborated with the city of Seattle.
I want to also thank, our team at the Consulate of Mexico.
Thank you very much to our, cultural, team.
Thank you very much, Carla.
And thank you very much.
And I want us to recognize, Victoria,
thank you very much for everything you've done.
And I think also our community, consul.
Thank you very much, Scott.
So it's absolutely, very, very special
that we have this space here and we can actually share these stories
at a time where much of our community is marginalized communities.
Here, being able to express ourselves through art is more so.
Once again, thank you to all of you, the artists who have made this possible.
Thank you very much to the city of Seattle.
And thank you very much to everybody helped make this possible.
Thank you.
And introduce Sara.
The Seattle would be your name.
Check my.
Morning, everyone.
Thank you.
The general. Thank you, Mayor Bruce. Herald.
My name is Sara.
One graffiti writer coordinator for the one Seattle graffiti plan.
Interdepartmental team.
In supporting Mayor Bruce's many hands art initiative,
I connect the artists with our city, our assets,
so they can be used for their creative expression.
I take a great deal of pride in having coordinated this project,
and I know that the impact of this
art and the voices of the artists will endure.
I'd like to thank
every artist who contributed their time talent to the beautification
of this public space and the success of this incredible project.
You've not only shared your immense creativity and artistic passion
with this neighborhood and the city of Seattle,
but you also showed dedication to your craft,
determination, knowledge, and teamwork
while bringing this vision to life.
I can honestly say
that I will take away valuable lessons that I learned from
every one of.
This is a total team effort
and I could not be more pleased with the results.
I would also like to thank the Mexican Consulate, Seattle, Seattle Parks
and Recreation, and all of the other sponsors for their generous contributions.
We are grateful.
I look forward to working with all of you artists again
in the future, as we have many projects to come.
Thank you.
Oh God.
Now I would now like to introduce Christina martinez.
Christina.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
I know I made you prepared.
I will keep this shortly.
I just want to emphasize
what, blessing it has been to work in this space
and to be a part of this with so many incredible artists.
I remember coming out here when I first found out about the project,
and just wanting
to check out the wall space and know what I was getting myself into,
and just the energy that all of you have brought to this space since then.
It's like, I can't even really put into words to see
this is like walls and then come in and see what it has
become is really, really, really powerful.
I'm super grateful that my kids have been able to witness
this has progressed and become something so powerful.
Very, very thankful to the city of Seattle and the Mexican
consulate and every single person that was a part of this campaign.
This happened, as I mentioned, it truly, truly was a team effort.
And every single day, and just really grateful to have the space
to be able to share the story of my family and every single one of you that
I had spent the week, working with and getting to know on a better level, like
I all of you know how great these stories are, and what an honor
it was to be able to share space with you for a week and to close out.
This is a big day for Melendez, who?
Saved the best for last.
So I just want to say thank you to all the artists who participated
in this great, great project.
I think it's very important for us to share our stories,
to inspire the next generation of artists who see our work,
because that's the way I was inspired when I was a kid.
When I grew up in Mexico City and public art was everywhere.
So seeing murals in big buildings and public spaces, that's what inspired me.
And I knew that I wanted to do something similar when I grew up.
So I hope that we somehow continue to
to repeat that story with the, with the young people here.
And with that, I want to say thank you to the City of Seattle,
Parks and Rec, the Council of Mexico and Seattle
and their team, who we're here to help us throughout, like,
with their logistics and helping out with pain, buffing out stuff.
Carlisle Arena, thank you so much for all your help
and hopefully more projects like these.
Come on.
And we get to do more of the stuff that we love and
make the city beautiful.
That's it.
That's all I have.
For us, the picture first.
That's going to get us down.
One, two three. And.