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-The Death of Harvey Milk-

(November 27, 1978)

On this tragic day at 11am, both San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone, were shot to death in the offices in San Francisco City Hall. The vicious act was carried out by a man named Dan White. A fellow politician, he was a former city supervisor who had quit his job to protest against the city's gay rights laws. Although, Milk had recieved threatening messages about a plan to murder him, citizens of San Francisco and the United States as a whole, were still shocked by the details of his murder. White had planned his murder, and carried it out in a passionately public manner, showing no regard for human life, as he strolled into the City Hall armed, proceeded into one office and then into the other shooting both men repeatedly, as they sat at their desks.


 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

("NBC NEWS November 27, 1978 George Moscone & Harvey Milk Dead")

 

However, during White's trial, his lawyers came up with the ridiculous excuse for his actions what would come to be called the "Twinkie Defense" which claimed that the murders were a result of their defendant having eaten so much junk food "that his judgment had become impaired, or damaged" prohibitting him from controlling his actions ("Harvey Milk Biography"). Shockingly, the defense worked to an extent, the judge convicting White of voluntary manslaughter, which recieves the "lightest sentence possible for a person who had admitted to intentionally killing someone"("Harvey Milk Biography").

 

White served 5 years in prison and then was let out on parole.

On October 21, 1985, he was found dead, after having committed suicide.

 

 

The vicious act of murder this homophobic, dangerous criminal committed to an inspiring, loving, passionate man of only 48 years of age, outraged the gay community of America, primarily the Castro District, which had first had witnessed Milk's drive, determination for equality and prepresentation for homosexual citizens. That very same night, thousands took the street and riots erupted. As a result, countless police cars had been burned, hundreds were left injured, and about $250,000 in property damage was estimated. The following night, thousands gathered in "Castro Street to celebrate what would have been Milk's forty-ninth birthday" (Harvey Milk Biography").

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

"An Elegy To Dispel Gloom"

(After the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in San Francisco, November 1978)


Let us not sit upon the ground
and tell sad stories
of the death of sanity.
Two humans made of flesh
are meshed in death
and no more need be said.
It is pure vanity
to think that all humanity
be bathed in red
because one young mad man
one so bad man
lost his head.
The force that through the red fuze
drove the bullet
does not drive everyone
through the City of Saint Francis
where there's a breathless hush
in the air today
a hush at City Hall
and a hush at the Hall of Justice
a hush in Saint Francis Wood
where no bird tries to sing
a hush on the Great Highway
and in the great harbor
upon the great ships
and on the Embarcadero
from the Mission Rock
to the Eagle Cafe
a hush on the great red bridge
a hush in the Outer Mission
and at Hunter's Point
a hush at a hot potato stand on Pier 39
and a hush at the People's Temple
tries its wings
a hush and a weeping
at the Convent of the Sacred Heart
on Upper Broadway
a hush upon the fleshpots
of Lower Broadway
a pall upon the punk rock
at Mabuhay Gardens
and upon the cafes and bookstores
of old North Beach
a hush upon the landscape
of the still wild West
where two sweet dudes are dead
and no more need be said.
Do not sit upon the ground and speak
of other senseless murderings
or worse disasters waiting
in the wings.
Do not sit upon the ground and talk
of the death of things beyond
these sad sad happenings.
Such men as these do rise above
our worst imaginings.

 

Lawrence Ferlinghetti: These Are My Rivers.

(Lawrence Ferlinghetti, New Directions Publishing Corp.)

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.