I guess I'm in the mood for political documentaries and dramatizations. After discussing the lessons of Lee Atwater and Roy Cohn, I remembered another example of film (both upcoming and previously made) that speaks to the lessons of vigilance and awareness. Apologies for the repetitiveness (in light of my last diary), but as the title suggests, I do go on...
The Times Of Harvey Milk was released in 1984. Narrated by another Harvey (Fierstein, who won an Emmy for his work - I wish he were more visible nowadays), the documentary was critically acclaimed, and went on to win awards in festivals like Sundance and the 1985 Academy Award for best documentary film. It also won a Peabody in 1986. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, check it out before seeing Milk. Time will tell if Milk does as admirable a job as The Times Of Harvey Milk, but it is, at least, another reminder of what happens when bad people are allowed to roam free. Of course, by 'bad people', I'm obviously not talking about Milk. I'm talking about Dan White.
Dan White was an ex-policeman and firefighter in San Fransisco before he was elected to the SF Board of Supervisors in 1977 alongside Harvey Milk, with whom he initially had a civil relationship.
One year earlier, George Moscone, a progressive reformer was elected mayor of San Francisco, defeating conservative John Barbagelata and then City-Supervisor "moderate" Dianne Feinstein. Moscone was quite ahead of his times, having already helped strike California's sodomy law off the books, and as mayor, he appointed an unprecedented number of women, minorities, gays, and lesbians. The Board of Supervisors during his tragically short tenure was split roughly 6-5 in favor of the more conservative Supervisors, with Milk among Moscone's allies. Dan White was joined by Dianne Feinstein and Ron Pelosi (if the name sounds familiar, it is. He is House Speaker Nancy's brother-in-law) in opposition. Together, the 6 opposed Moscone's attempts to reform the San Francisco Police Department, which at that time had a reputation for corruption and discriminatory practices. This also did not sit well with the (then) SFPD's largely conservative Police Officer Association.
In battles over the "liberalization" of San Francisco's services and direction, White became increasingly frustrated and angry with Moscone and Milk. Eventually, he resigned his Supervisor seat, claiming some kind of vague corruption in the Moscone administration, although he did not explicitly mention Moscone by name. Moscone could now appoint a Supervisor to fill White's seat, tipping the scale to the "liberal" side. This prompted right-wing groups and backers to corner White and convince him to change his mind, lest they lose their majority on the Board.
White asked for his job back; Moscone refused, at the urging of Milk and others. So, White went back to the SF City Hall with his service revolver and extra rounds. He stole his way in through a conveniently unlocked basement window, avoiding metal detectors, and demanded his job back again. After Moscone refused him again, White shot four him times: twice in the chest, and then twice in the head. He then reloaded and exited to the hall, spoke quickly with an unsuspecting Dianne Feinstein, and sought out Milk. After Milk "smirked" at him, White unloaded all six rounds into Milk: three in the chest, one in the back, and two in the head.
After assassinating two highly placed and respected city officials, Dan White was not convicted of murder. Despite circumventing security, twice firing the executioner-style two rounds to the head, appearing at least composed enough to brush off Feinstein, and then reloading and seeking out Harvey Milk, Dan White and his defense team claimed the assassinations were not premeditated. Claiming "diminished capacity" instead, they argued White was "depressed." (I've been "depressed" before. I just gained some weight and watched a lot of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.) The verdict set off the White Night Riots, as many (understandably) seemed to think that a 7-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter wasn't a just sentence. The trial was also the origin of the Twinkie Defense urban legend. Neither White nor his attorneys claimed that twinkies drove him to kill.
There were, however, other reports during that time that weren't urban legends. As White languished in jail, awaiting his trial, his supporters in the SFPD whistled the Notre Dame (White's alma mater) Fight Song on their radios and reportedly brought him gourmet meals in jail. Someone even printed up "Free Dan White" t-shirts. And while these reports were never a part of the trial, nor were they made a part of the public record (to my knowledge), they certainly sound familiar to anyone who watched a recent Sarah Palin rally.
Neither Moscone nor Milk were angels. For instance, they were politicians. (There are other, more substantial examples, such as Moscone's ties to Jim Jones or Milk's ruffling of feathers in the SF gay community, particularly with Jim Foster and the Alice B. Toklas Memorial Democratic Club, or "Alice".) Their greatness - in particular, Milk's - did not stem some kind of innate purity, or even the many good things they did. It was the context (as always) that made them great. Early 70's San Francisco was not exactly a friendly place for minorities and people in the LGBT community. (This is somewhat relative, as there was a thriving LGBT community. However, police often targeted gay clubs, at times at the behest of then Mayor Joseph L. Alioto, and SF had a disproportionate amount of arrests for charges usually used to harass gays.) Moscone was enthusiastic and very progressive in his championing of gay rights; Milk (also a fierce proponent of gay rights) broke a barrier none had before - he was the first openly gay person ever to be elected in California. To any office. Anywhere. And once in office, he was a voice for liberty and common-sense values (and not the other kind of values; you know, the ones with the shame and the fear and the censorship...). Both were flawed men with some very good principles, and it should go without saying that neither deserved the fate they met, nor the right-wing celebration of the assassinations.
I don't know how much of this will be covered in Milk, or if the movie will put the story in a modern context. So, I will.
We've seen this before. Not the killing of such high-profile figures, but the rest? Oh, yes. We've seen it before, and we will see it again:
- Yells of "Terrorist!" and, "Kill him!"
- The outing of an undercover CIA operative for petty revenge.
- Rush Limbaugh's soulless and unfunny imitation of Michael J. Fox's disease during a reasoned plea for sanity in the stem-cell research debate.
- "They're reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do."
- The horrifying slayings of too many targets of racism, homophobia, and plain old xenophobia.
No, we can't be everywhere. But we must ever be vigilant. We saw what the lunatic fringe (now called "neocons") did when they thought no one was looking. We saw as they grew bolder and bolder, and then watched with a sickening sadness as they stole an election and then crushed a middle eastern nation with a minimally effective military, causing a civil war and skyrocketing recruitment of a new generation of terrorists - all for control of something we have the technology to replace with relative ease.
There may have been only one Dan White, but there are thousands who would do the same if not for fear of repercussion. And millions who would cheer them on. The Bush Administration has been a crystal clear example of what happens when these people don't fear repercussions. (This is one of the reasons I was so adamant about impeachment. Grrr. Must. Not. Think. About. It.) Need more evidence? Look around you. It's all over the internet. How many seemingly decent people turn into vile, reprehensible scum when that fourth wall goes up? I've said it before: The internet has supplanted the truck stop bathroom wall as the forum for ignorant, hateful trash. (Present company excluded, nudge nudge, wink wink) It's fairly elementary; when you remove the threat of repercussion, people's basic nature asserts itself. For some, that nature is caring, decent and dignified. For others, it is selfish, greedy, exclusionary, and intolerant.
It is because of the latter group that we must fight for the former. For Harvey Milk, for George Moscone, for thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, Afghans, and others who were caught in the crossfire, for our gay brothers and sisters in California, Arkansas, Arizona, Wisconsin, and many other states that have passed unworthy bills to blunt all of our freedoms, for every person who has ever felt the sting of racial, homophobic, religious, or sexist epithets, for decency, for you, for me, for everyone, we must ever be vigilant.
We must see. We must record. We must remember.
We must fight.
Historically Ironic Note: After Dan White got off with 7 years (of which he served 5), California - in order to prevent such a ridiculous case from winning again - passed a ballot initiative, followed by legislation, to abolish the use of "diminished capacity". It was replaced with "diminished actuality", a more difficult case to prove. This happened in 1982, on California Proposition 8.