When Mayor Yasmine Imani McMorrin took the stage on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024 in the garden at the Wende Museum, she crowned an evening celebrating her year in the office with warmth and optimism; “Everyone who touched this stage tonight, all the women, all the girls, we know the future is ours.”
The annual ‘State of the City’ address has been climbing a creative ladder for the last several years with changes of format and venue, breathing new life into what had become a dusty tradition. McMorrin’s evening was charmingly unique, focusing on the moment with a deep inhale of the past year, and a long exhale of hope for the future.
Beginning the event with members from three Culver City Girl Scout troops leading the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance, and closing out with a list of thanks from the mayor’s daughter Yvonne McMorrin, it was a fully female evening, earning loud applause.
A performance from the AVPA’s One Body Dance Company filled the stage (and the balcony) with some raucous energetic rap, and a trumpet and voice duo led the crowd in a gorgeously bright rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Lovingly introduced by her mother, Delores McMorrin, Esq, (like her daughter, also an alumni of Rutgers Law School in New Jersey,) the elder McMorrin reminded the crowd that the name Yasmine Imani translates to ‘flower of faith.’ “She took a big leap of faith eight years ago, when she decided to move to California – and now, look at where we are.”
From the stage, Mayor McMorrin hit the highlights of the General Plan Update, the birth of the Pride Ride, the launch of the Mobile Crisis Unit, and multiple national and regional mayoral conferences. Especially poignant was a picture of McMorrin with President Joe Biden during his visit to Culver City to talk about cutting student loan debt in February, and a picture from Washington, D.C. with Vice President Harris in July.
Gifting the participants, both former and current elected officials, as well as committee and commission members, with sunflowers was the closing gesture on a program that worked hard to lift women’s spirits, and hold the door open for girls to imagine a future they have the power to create.
Judith Martin-Straw
Photo credit Chris Valle
