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 August 13, 1923: Carlos Cortez was born. He was an IWW union artist, poet, songwriter, and activist. He spent two years in prison for refusing to fight in World War II. His father, Alfredo, was a Yaqui and a member of the IWW, as well. He spoke five languages and sang in seven. His mother, Augusta, was a socialist pacifist of German descent. She was also an IWW member. Carlos was an IWW member for nearly 60 years. He wrote a column, “The Left Side,” for their paper, the Industrial Worker.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #carloscortez #chicano #racism #art #poetry #union #antiwar #indigenous #socialism
Today in Labor History August 12, 2017: Heather Heyer was killed and dozens were injured in a white supremacist terrorist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia. Heyer was an antifascist organizer and one of thousands of people who came out to protest against a Unite the Right rally of neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan activists and other white nationalists. A 20-year-old Nazi deliberately plowed his car into the crowd, causing the injuries and death of Heyer. President Donald Trump described the neo-Nazis as "very fine people." There have been numerous similar attacks on antifascists since then, killing or injuring 100 more activists. At the same time, Republicans in 15 states have attempted to introduce laws that would either legalize vehicular terrorist attacks against activists, or at least protect the attackers from legal liability.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #fascism #antifascism #antifa #heatherheyer #kkk #nazis #trump
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