White Night riots - May 21, 1979

On this day in 1979, riots took place in San Francisco in the aftermath of the trial for Mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk's assassination. 

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Welcome to This Day in History Class, where
History waits for no One. Today is May one, nineteen

(00:23):
The day was May one, nineteen seventy nine. In the
aftermath of the sentencing of Dan White, who assassinated San
Francisco Mayor George Muscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk, riots
erupted in the city. Milk was a gay rights activist.
Musconi had lobbied against White's reappointment as a member of

(00:44):
the Board of Supervisors, and he had a lot of
support in the gay community. White was convicted of voluntary
manslaughter rather than first degree murder. After the verdict was released,
on protesters and police went head to hit in a
night of chaos. Dan White, a former police officer and firefighter,

(01:06):
was a member of the Board of Supervisors alongside Harvey Milk.
While Milk was a supervisor, he advocated for gay rights
and small business owners. Milk and White were on good
terms at first personally and politically, but their relationship went
downhill when Milk voted for a zoning bill that White opposed,

(01:27):
after Milk implied that he was on white side. After that,
White was the only person to vote against a city
ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation that Milk pushed through.
He began pushing back against Milk's efforts. White began rarely
showing up to his office at City Hall, and his

(01:48):
family was finding it hard to make ends meat and
had opened a new snack food business. At the same time,
Milk was enjoying a lot of success in legislation he
was sponsoring and getting positive press attention. In November night,
White resigned from the board, saying he was not making
enough money as a supervisor to support his family, but

(02:10):
when White decided to come back days later, Masconi did
not reappoint him, with Milk lobbying against White's reappointment. On
November eight, White went into City Hall with a thirty
eight revolver to avoid a weapon search. He entered the
building through a side door. Masconi's assistant let White into

(02:32):
Mausconi's office, where White shot the mayor four times. White
then walked down the hall and asked Milk if they
could talk, and White shot him five times. Diane Feinstein,
who was then president of the Board of Supervisors, announced
the deaths on the steps of City Hall. White was

(02:53):
apprehended not long after the murders. Months later, White went
to child During the child White's attorney mounted what became
known as a twinkie defense, arguing that White had diminished
capacity due to depression and the loss of his job,
as evidenced by the excessive amounts of junk food he
was eating in the weeks leading up to the crime.

(03:15):
The jury, made up mostly of conservatives, was sympathetic to White.
One nine nine. He was found guilty of the voluntary
manslaughter of Masconi and Milk. He was sentenced to seven
years and eight months in prison, with the chance to
be released earlier with good behavior. When the verdict was announced,

(03:36):
the gay community, which was large in San Francisco, marched
in protest, but a peaceful march to city Hall turned
violent as the crowd grew larger. Many people believed the
police were instrumental and White light sentencing. Officers beat protesters
with night sticks. Protesters set police cars on fire and

(03:56):
destroyed parts of city Hall. After about three hours of rioting,
officers quailed the commotion with tear gas. About fifty officers
and a hundred and twenty four protesters were injured. About
two dozen people were arrested. Police. Harassment of gay people
in San Francisco and in tolerance of gay people in
the police force were already a part of the city's culture,

(04:20):
but tensions between police and the gay community grew after
the trial and riots. The day after the riots, city
Supervisor Harry Britt, who had replaced Milk, said the following
Harvey Milks people do not have anything to apologize for now.
The society is going to have to deal with us,

(04:41):
not as nice little fairies who have hair dressing salons,
but as people capable of violence. We're not going to
put up with damn whites anymore. May would have been
milks forty nine birthday, a rally plan for that night
turned into a celebration of milks life. I'm Eave, Jeffcote,
and hopefully you know a little more about history today

(05:04):
than you did yesterday. Feel free to leave a very
kind comment on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. At t D
I h C podcast, thanks for joining me on this
trip through time. See you here in the exact same
spot tomorrow. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit

(05:29):
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.