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0:00 Thank you for helping us deal with homelessness 0:02 in our community. 0:04 Thank you for helping me end human trafficking 0:06 in our community. 0:07 Thank you, thank you, thank you. 0:13 I'm a public servant. 0:15 Not to be confused with a politician. 0:21 I am Mike Gipson. 0:22 I serve you as your state assembly member. 0:24 Born and raised not too far from here in Watts. 0:27 When our son was killed at three years old he saw my wife 0:31 and ran to her. 0:33 And he was saying mommy, mommy. 0:35 And a woman came down a street and hit him. 0:38 And so that changed our entire life. 0:47 It's the reason why I get up every morning, 0:50 because I understand my why, I understand my purpose is to try 0:53 to make people's lives better. 0:55 I believe that each bill that I author and sign 0:58 are bills that's going to affect this community 1:00 and the community I was born and raised 1:02 and all of California in a very positive way. 1:08 Mike is an incredible leader. 1:10 He started off as a youth pastor, 1:12 then as a city commissioner, city councilman, 1:16 and now he's in the state legislature as assemblyman. 1:20 People want to see their elected officials. 1:21 They want to reach out and know that you 1:23 go through the same exact thing that they go through. 1:26 My mother cleaned rich people's homes. 1:29 My father was a truck driver. 1:31 My parents taught me the meaning of hard work 1:34 and if you work hard it's going to pay off in the long run. 1:37 For someone who grew up who had a learning disability, who 1:42 spoke with a stutter, and thought that 1:44 I wasn't intelligent enough to actually go to school. 1:47 Feeling very insignificant around friends 1:50 who'd gone on to go to college that I 1:52 didn't have that ability. 1:54 Going on, graduating from the ���۴�ý, 1:57 that gave me tremendous confidence 2:00 and believing that I can. 2:02 If someone can grow up in Watts and defy 2:05 all the odds and the statistics that 2:08 show that I should be dead, in gangs, in drugs, and in prison. 2:13 If you believe in yourself, you can change the trajectory 2:17 and create a paradigm shift that will catapult you 2:20 to your level of greatness. 2:23 Each of us can create the history we want. 2:26 Black History Month is not just about the past, 2:31 it's about creating a new future. 2:33 And it's the future that cause people to dream again. 2:38 I want that when the history books 2:40 are written, that they will reflect 2:42 that this little boy who grew up in South Los Angeles 2:45 made a difference.