Dan White was a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors during 1978. During the time period, the homosexual community in San Francisco was rising in popularity, but White saw himself as a type of defender of life against homosexuals, although he was not completely against gay rights; he voted against the Briggs Initiative, which would have forbidden homosexual people from teaching at schools.
During this time, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected politician in California, was also part of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. While at first Milk and White got along, disagreements broke out between the two later on in the year. White resigned in November because he was unhappy with the city politics.
Later on, in November, he sought reappointment from the mayor at the time, George Moscone, after his business he started was failing. While Moscone agreed to reappoint White, Milk and other supervisors told Moscone to not, leading Moscone to ultimately refuse the reappointment.
On November 27 of that year, White went to the San Francisco City Hall with a revolver and entered through a window to avoid metal detectors. He met Moscone and asked to be reinstated as a supervisor, and after being refused, he shot Moscone in the shoulder and chest, and twice in the head. He then successfully killed Milk. He also planned to kill the Assembly Speaker, Willie Brown, and another supervisor, Carol Silver.
After arguing that white was depressed at the time of the shooting, with proof that he used to be health-conscious but was consuming junk food prior to the shootings, and others saying it was common for people to enter the City Hall through a window to save time, White got away with voluntary manslaughter instead of first-degree murder. After serving five years in prison, White was paroled. He moved back to San Francisco, but Mayor Feinstein publicly stated that White would return and asked him not to. Regardless, White moved back but after his wife divorced him, in 1985, he committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Sources:
https://famous-trials.com/danwhite
https://www.sfchronicle.com/chronicle_vault/article/Chronicle-Covers-The-Dan-White-verdict-and-the-7580067.php
During this time, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected politician in California, was also part of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. While at first Milk and White got along, disagreements broke out between the two later on in the year. White resigned in November because he was unhappy with the city politics.
Later on, in November, he sought reappointment from the mayor at the time, George Moscone, after his business he started was failing. While Moscone agreed to reappoint White, Milk and other supervisors told Moscone to not, leading Moscone to ultimately refuse the reappointment.
On November 27 of that year, White went to the San Francisco City Hall with a revolver and entered through a window to avoid metal detectors. He met Moscone and asked to be reinstated as a supervisor, and after being refused, he shot Moscone in the shoulder and chest, and twice in the head. He then successfully killed Milk. He also planned to kill the Assembly Speaker, Willie Brown, and another supervisor, Carol Silver.
After arguing that white was depressed at the time of the shooting, with proof that he used to be health-conscious but was consuming junk food prior to the shootings, and others saying it was common for people to enter the City Hall through a window to save time, White got away with voluntary manslaughter instead of first-degree murder. After serving five years in prison, White was paroled. He moved back to San Francisco, but Mayor Feinstein publicly stated that White would return and asked him not to. Regardless, White moved back but after his wife divorced him, in 1985, he committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Sources:
https://famous-trials.com/danwhite
https://www.sfchronicle.com/chronicle_vault/article/Chronicle-Covers-The-Dan-White-verdict-and-the-7580067.php
I really like how you talk about the history of each of the individuals and why their paths crossed, and ended up clashing. A while ago, I read an article that said that overall, education is an important factor when it comes to making people more tolerant and open minded. This overall makes sense, as you learn more from multiple perspectives you would become more used to accepting those points of views, right? Although there may be some correlation and little causation, Dan White was never enrolled in university. He got kicked out of one high school for violence and ended up graduation high school at another school. Harvey Milk, however, graduated high school then went on to get a bachelor's degree in math, then enroll in the US Navy. I think it's interesting how we can see examples of how just a little bit more education can sometimes lead to better decision making in our futures.
ReplyDeleteSources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_White#Early_life
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Milk#Early_life
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ReplyDeleteI really like how you wrote this blog from the perspective of Dan White, and it fit in really well with the history of Harvey Milk that Mr. Stewart gave to us in class. One of the other two figures that you mentioned, Willie Brown, is actually still alive today. He is the first African American speaker of the California State Assembly. In both 1995 and 1999, he was elected as mayor of San Francisco. Similarly, the other figure, Carol Silver, is also alive today, at the age of 81. She was a gun rights activist and also once a Freedom Rider.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Willie-Brown-American-politician
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Ruth_Silver