Today in Labor History November 27, 1978: Former cop and city supervisor Dan White assassinated San Francisco’s mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk. White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, rather than first-degree murder, and only served five years in prison, based on the defense that he suffered diminished capacity due to depression, manifested in his switch from healthy foods to Twinkies and other junk foods.
This travesty of justice led to the White Night Riot, after decades of police harassment and physical abuse of San Francisco’s LGBTQ community. During the protests, people attacked the windows of City Hall and set at least a dozen cop cars on fire. When the cops tried to defend City Hall, protesters hurled rocks and bottles at them, forcing them to run inside. Protesters also busted windows in the financial district and in other government buildings. The riot caused hundreds of thousands of dollar’s-worth of property damage. And when the riot was finally subdued, the cops made a retaliatory raid on the Elephant Bar, in the Castro District, where they beat patrons and arrested 24.
The double assassination of Moscone and Milk dramatically altered the political landscape of San Francisco. Under Moscone and Milk, the city had been moving in a progressive, pro-neighborhood direction. With the new mayor, Diane Feinstein, city politics returned to the traditional, conservative, pro-Chamber of Commerce, law and order framework that preceded Moscone and Milk. And Feinstein parlayed her success as SF mayor into a long and sordid career in Congress, where she was a strong proponent of Capital Punishment, vitriolic opponent of the Green New Deal, supporter of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, and generally supported U.S. imperialist policy abroad.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #HarveyMilk #lgbtq #georgemoscone #twinkiedefense #riot #protest #dianefeinstein #police #assassination #castrodistrict #sanfrancisco #policebrutality #palestine #zionism
Today in Labor History November 18, 1978: In Jonestown, Guyana, cult leader Jim Jones led his followers at the Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide. 918 people died, including more than 270 children. Members of the temple had murdered Congressman Leo Ryan hours earlier. The church’s ideology was a combination of Christian and socialist ideals, and Jim Jones had previously forged alliances with many left-wing figures, as well as many San Francisco liberals like Mayor George Moscone, Harvey Milk, Governor Jerry Brown and Willie Brown. The temple also had a reputation for aiding California’s poorest residents, especially minorities, drug addicts and homeless people, many of whom died at Jonestown.
Don’t “Drink the Koolaid.” It will kill you.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #jimjones #peoplestemple #massmurder #guyana #socialism #georgemoscone #harveymilk #jerryborwn #williebrown #homelessness
Today in Labor History May 21, 1979: The White Night Riot occurred in San Francisco, California, the day before Harvey Milk’s birthday. On November 10, 1978, ex-cop and former city supervisor, Dan White, murdered Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, and the popular progressive mayor, George Moscone. His murder trial concluded on May 21. The jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter. However, the prosecutor had asked for a finding of first-degree murder. It was, after all, premeditated. This verdict was likely influenced by the absurd Twinkie Defense, in which his lawyer argued that it could not have been premeditated due to his diminished capacity and depression, a symptom of which was his recent shift from a healthy diet to a junk food diet. A similar defense had failed repeatedly to get students excused from exams and school detentions.
Needless to say, the public was outraged. However, there had been decades of police harassment and physical abuse of San Francisco’s LGBTQ community lead up to this miscarriage of justice. Tensions were already high. And this ruling, which virtually absolved White of his homophobic crime, was the torch to the powder keg. Things began with a peaceful march through the Castro district. But when the crowd arrived at City Hall, violence began. People attacked the windows of City Hall. When the cops tried to protect the building, people hurled rocks and bottles at them, forcing them to run inside. Where ever the cops showed up, people threw rocks at them. At least a dozen cop cars were torched. They busted windows in the financial district and in government buildings.
Many people were injured. The riot caused hundreds of thousands of dollars-worth of property damage to City Hall. And when the riot was finally subdued, the cops made a retaliatory raid on the Elephant Bar, in the Castro District. Cops in riot gear beat patrons. They arrested 24 people.
Furthermore, the double assassination of Moscone and Milk dramatically altered the political landscape of San Francisco. Under Moscone and Milk, the city was moving in a progressive, pro-neighborhood direction. With the new mayor, Diane Feinstein, city politics returned to the traditional, conservative, pro-Chamber of Commerce, law and order framework that had preceded Moscone and Milk, and the followed after them to this day.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #harveymilk #homophobia #lgbtq #policebrutality #police #acab #homophobia #danwhite #sanfrancisco #castro #assassination #georgemoscone #dianefeinstein #twinkie
Today in Labor History November 27, 1978: Former cop and city supervisor Dan White assassinated San Francisco’s mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk. White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, rather than first-degree murder, and only served five years in prison, based on the defense that he suffered diminished capacity due to depression, manifested in his switch from healthy foods to Twinkies and other junk foods.
This travesty of justice led to the White Night Riot, after decades of police harassment and physical abuse of San Francisco’s LGBTQ community. During the protests, people attacked the windows of City Hall and set at least a dozen cop cars on fire. When the cops tried to defend City Hall, protesters hurled rocks and bottles at them, forcing them to run inside. Protesters also busted windows in the financial district and in other government buildings. The riot caused hundreds of thousands of dollar’s-worth of property damage. And when the riot was finally subdued, the cops made a retaliatory raid on the Elephant Bar, in the Castro District, where they beat patrons and arrested 24.
The double assassination of Moscone and Milk dramatically altered the political landscape of San Francisco. Under Moscone and Milk, the city had been moving in a progressive, pro-neighborhood direction. With the new mayor, Diane Feinstein, city politics returned to the traditional, conservative, pro-Chamber of Commerce, law and order framework that preceded Moscone and Milk. And Feinstein parlayed her success as SF mayor into a long and sordid career in Congress, where she was a strong proponent of Capital Punishment, vitriolic opponent of the Green New Deal, supporter of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, and generally supported U.S. imperialist policy abroad.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #HarveyMilk #lgbtq #georgemoscone #twinkiedefense #riot #protest #dianefeinstein #police #assassination #castrodistrict #sanfrancisco #policebrutality #palestine #zionism
Today in Labor History November 18, 1978: In Jonestown, Guyana, cult leader Jim Jones led his followers at the Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide. 918 people died, including more than 270 children. Members of the temple had murdered Congressman Leo Ryan hours earlier. The church’s ideology was a combination of Christian and socialist ideals, and Jim Jones had previously forged alliances with many left-wing figures, as well as many San Francisco liberals like Mayor George Moscone, Harvey Milk, Governor Jerry Brown and Willie Brown. The temple also had a reputation for aiding California’s poorest residents, especially minorities, drug addicts and homeless people, many of whom died at Jonestown.
Don’t “Drink the Koolaid.” It will kill you.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #jimjones #peoplestemple #massmurder #guyana #socialism #georgemoscone #harveymilk #jerryborwn #williebrown #homelessness
Today in Labor History May 21, 1979: The White Night Riot occurred in San Francisco, California, the day before Harvey Milk’s birthday. On November 10, 1978, ex-cop and former city supervisor, Dan White, murdered Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, and the popular progressive mayor, George Moscone. His murder trial concluded on May 21. The jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter. However, the prosecutor had asked for a finding of first-degree murder. It was, after all, premeditated. This verdict was likely influenced by the absurd Twinkie Defense, in which his lawyer argued that it could not have been premeditated due to his diminished capacity and depression, a symptom of which was his recent shift from a healthy diet to one of junk food. A similar defense had failed repeatedly to get students excused from exams and school detentions.
Needless to say, the public was outraged. However, there had been decades of police harassment and physical abuse of San Francisco’s LGBTQ community lead up to this miscarriage of justice. Tensions were already high. And this ruling, which virtually absolved White of his homophobic crime, was the torch to the powder keg. Things began with a peaceful march through the Castro district. But when the crowd arrived at City Hall, violence began. People attacked the windows of City Hall. When the cops tried to protect the building, people hurled rocks and bottles at them, forcing them to run inside. Where ever the cops showed up, people threw rocks at them. At least a dozen cop cars were torched. They busted windows in the financial district and in government buildings.
Many people were injured. The riot caused hundreds of thousands of dollars-worth of property damage to City Hall. And when the riot was finally subdued, the cops made a retaliatory raid on the Elephant Bar, in the Castro District. Cops in riot gear beat patrons. They arrested 24 people.
Furthermore, the double assassination of Moscone and Milk dramatically altered the political landscape of San Francisco. Under Moscone and Milk, the city was moving in a progressive, pro-neighborhood direction. With the new mayor, Diane Feinstein, city politics returned to the traditional, conservative, pro-Chamber of Commerce, law and order framework that had preceded Moscone and Milk, and the followed after them to this day.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #harveymilk #homophobia #lgbtq #policebrutality #police #acab #homophobia #danwhite #sanfrancisco #castro #assassination #georgemoscone #dianefeinstein #twinkie
#Todayin #LGBTQ #History: November 27, #HarveyMilk and #SanFrancisco #Mayor #GeorgeMoscone are #fatally #shot by #former #CountySupervisor #DanWhite.
(White served five years for #manslaughter; he took his own #manslaughter in October 1985.)
#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #California #Hate #Bigotry #Violence #Homophobia #SayHisName #SayTheirNames
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