Though most of you probably weren't born, it's been 30 years

[ailsagirl]

...since the Jonestown murders, as well as the assassinations of Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk by Dan White.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/16/MNH713VISG.DTL


Congressman Leo Ryan and Jackie Speier

[FreeState]

1. The Gate is running a whole series of articles on this and Milk/Mascone

all the articles have been excellent so far... Im really enjoying them

[ailsagirl]

2. It was a terrible time-- I remember seeing a photo of Mayor Moscone

wiping away tears at the funeral for Leo Ryan... so tragic that he and Harvey Milk would shortly be gone as well.

[FreeState]

3. I was only 7 at the time so I dont recall any of it... however it has fascinated me

for a long time. Being gay helps a little I suppose - but I love SF - its one of my favorite places in the world. Its so rich in history and diverse - there is no place like it IMO.

[ailsagirl]

6. I agree-- but it was a very troubled city during that time. Two major

blows in 10 days...

But you're right-- there IS no other place than SF!!
:hi:

[EFerrari]

7. I was working in town at the time and commuting home to the South Bay.

San Francisco was like a tomb for weeks. Stunned, quiet, dark.

[ailsagirl]

8. Yes... and I remember SNL poking fun at the Jonestown murders

and I was so angry. Apparently so were quite a lot of people because NBC's switchboard was jammed. Honestly, some things you can't make a joke out of. It was a terrible time. A terrible time.
:cry: :grouphug:

[EFerrari]

9. I was a young mom and had to leave a months old baby to go back to work.

I was translating in all the courts here, hating being away from my son and accidently met Harvey one day wandering around stressed out and lost, late for my gig, at City Hall. He was so sweet to me and impatient and funny. That was a few months before.

That night when I took the train home, I saw as if for the first time, commuters taking flasks out of their coats and wished I had one. A truly terrible time. :hug: :grouphug:

[ailsagirl]

10. And his and Moscone's deaths were premeditated

but he got off easy because his lawyer claimed they weren't. Apparently there were two other "snakes" (White's word) that he was gunning for. Truly a sick man who robbed so many of so much. What a tragedy. What a waste.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

4. The Moscone part seems to be forgotten these days

a young woman I work with asked me about the Milk murder a couple of weeks ago and was astonished to learn it was just another kook from the board of stupidvisors who also killed the mayor of SF and not some right wing conspircy.

[FreeState]

5. Oh but Dan White was a right wing nut job

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/15/MNH713VISG.DTL&type=harveymilk

"White grew up in San Francisco. A conservative Irish Catholic, he was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1977 by campaigning as a defender of traditional values. An intense, rigid man, White revealed how he saw the city in a message to voters: "You must realize there are thousands upon thousands of frustrated, angry people such as yourselves waiting to unleash a fury that can and will eradicate the malignances which blight our city." The city was in danger from "splinter groups of radicals, social deviates and incorrigibles," he said."

Sounds like a right wing conspiracy to me... in fact its still going on.

[mackerel]

11. I remember it all and I also remember the night of the riots

after Dan White got off so easy.

[Oerdin]

12. I was born....

But I was only 2 when it happened. 1978 seems so long ago.