On this day, 21 May 1979, the White Night riots occurred in San Francisco when LGBTQ people reacted angrily to the killer of Harvey Milk not being convicted of murder. Milk was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the US, who was shot and killed along with the mayor George Moscone, by former police officer Dan White, using his service revolver.
Numerous serving San Francisco police officers wore t-shirts declaring “Free Dan White”, and contributed to his defence fund, which reportedly raised up to $100,000. Despite later admitting that the murders were premeditated, in court White used his now-infamous “Twinkie defence”, which was that eating junk food showed he was in a poor mental state. So rather than being convicted of murder, he was only convicted voluntary manslaughter.
Upon hearing the verdict, a crowd of 500 mostly LGBTQ people began marching down Castro Street calling others to join them and heading to City Hall. By the time they arrived, the crowd had grown to include thousands of people, and they attacked the building, smashing windows. Police waded into the crowd, beating people with batons, and the crowd then began burning police cars. As one man set light to a vehicle, he told a reporter: “Make sure you put in the paper that I ate too many Twinkies.”
In retaliation for their humiliating defeat, police attacked a gay bar later that night, screaming homophobic abuse, shattering windows and beating drinkers and passers-by, injuring many. By the end of the night’s events, 61 police officers and over 100 members of the public had been hospitalised. Dan White ended up serving only five years in prison, but he killed himself shortly after his release.
For more LGBTQ history, check out our podcast series: https://workingclasshistory.com/tag/lgbtq/
Pictured: rioters in foreground with burning police cars in background https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1431292987055847/?type=3
Your vibe is oddly bitter and reeks of insecurity
Anonymoussounds like someone needs to go in the water
UNMUTE
I’d love to know how this is “green” and “environmentally friendly”.
“The figure for trees felled for windfarm development on Scotland’s forests and land, as managed by FLS, over the past 20 years is 13.9 million. However, it should be noted that these trees – being a commercial crop – will have eventually have been felled and passed into the timber supply chain in any case.”
They added: “That figure for felled trees should also be contrasted with that for the number of trees planted in Scotland over the years 2000 - 2019, a total of 272,000,000, and renewable energy developments fit well with this.
“To date, the amount of woodland removed across Scotland’s national forests and land, managed by FLS, for windfarm development is not even one per cent of the total woodland area.”
basic reading comprehension really comes in handy i think#please be aware that journalism companies rely on sensational headlines like this to get u to click on them#so u have to ACTUALLY READ THE ARTICLE or you won’t get the full picture since the headline certainly won’t give it to you
Not to contribute to tumblr’s lack of reading comprehension but it took me a long time to realize that 14m was 14 million not 14 metre.
Also! Most trees get cut down? They’re a slow crop, but they’re still a crop - only three percent of Ireland’s forestry is ancient/historic forestry, the rest is commercial, usually on a 15 year rotation, thinning every five years or so until harvest.
Not every tree getting cut down is deforestation.
On this day, 25 February 1913, silk mill workers in Paterson, New Jersey went on strike demanding an eight-hour day and improved working conditions.
The strike began as a walkout at the Doherty Mill over the introduction of the four-loom system. It soon became a general strike under the leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World union in which 25,000 workers participated, many of whom were women and children, from almost all of Paterson’s 300 mills and dye houses.
On the very first day Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was arrested after giving a talk on uniting strikers across racial boundaries. During the course of the strike, approximately 1,850 strikers were arrested.
This is our podcast episode about the IWW at this time: https://workingclasshistory.com/2018/05/23/wch-e6-the-industrial-workers-of-the-world-in-the-us-1905-1918/
Pictured: IWW organisers during the strike, including Flynn https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1359280124257134/?type=3
Underrated Horror - SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE II (1987)
This ridiculous sequel to THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (1982) features the best one off killer in slasher movie history: a singing, dancing, ‘50s greaser Freddy Krueger ripoff who haunts daydreams instead of regular dreams and wields a red electric guitar with a giant drill attached to the end. It’s definitely the best slasher film ever to feature a musical number.
