November 30 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Robert Murtore, 15,  lynched

November 30, 1921: a mob of white men in Ballinger, Texas, seized Robert Murtore, a 15-year-old Black boy, from the custody of law enforcement and, in broad daylight, shot him to death.

After a 9-year-old white girl alleged that she had been assaulted by an unknown Black boy, suspicion immediately fell on Robert, who worked in the same hotel as the white girl’s mother. He was arrested and held in the Ballinger jail, but word soon spread. On the morning of November 30, a white mob formed outside of the jail in an attempt to lynch Robert. Local law enforcement removed Robert from his cell for transport away from Ballinger; it is unclear whether this was to facilitate or block the lynching. [EJI article] (next BH & Lynching, see Dec 20) or see AL3 for expanded chronology)

March to Montgomery

November 30, 1965: Collie Wilkins (already acquitted in State Court), Eugene Thomas, and William Eaton faced trial on Federal charges that grew out of the killing of a Viola Liuzzo. They were charged with conspiracy under the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, a Reconstruction civil rights statute. The charges did not specifically refer to Liuzzo’s murder. On December 3, 1965 an all-white jury found all three guilty. The three were sentenced to 10 years in prison. (see Liuzzo for expanded chronology)

Black Panthers

 

November 30, 1966: Huey Newton and Bobby Seale students created the Black Panther Party for Self Defense.(see In December)

Botham Shem Jean

November 30, 2018:  Officer Amber Guyger was indicted on a murder charge. The court records Friday showed both a manslaughter and murder charge entered in Guyger’s file, but a clerk of court clerk confirmed that the murder charge was the one prosecutors were moving forward on. [NYT article] (B & S, see Dec 4; BSJ, see March 5, 2019)

Hakeem Jeffries

November 30, 2022:  House Democrats chose caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries of New York to succeed Nancy Pelosi as leader of the Democrats in the chamber next year, an historic move that made him the first Black person to lead one of the two major parties in either chamber of Congress. [CNN article] (next BH, see )

Nuclear and Chemical Weapons

Korea/nuclear weapons

November 30, 1950:  President Harry Truman announced that he was prepared to authorize the use of atomic weapons in order to achieve peace in Korea. At the time of Truman’s announcement, communist China had joined North Korean forces in their attacks on United Nations troops, including U.S. soldiers, who were trying to prevent communist expansion into South Korea.  (see Dec 9)

Reducing nuclear weapons

November 30, 1981: the US and the Soviet Union opened negotiations in Geneva aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe.  (see May 2, 1982)

ICAN

November 30, 2017: the United States, Britain and France announced that they would not send their ambassadors but deputy chief of missions to the December 10 ceremony for the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons (ICAN) called the announcement a  “snub.” The organization also said that it considered the “ambassador boycott” an attempt to withhold “credibility” from an international nuclear weapons ban treaty that is had worked for.

The US mission said Washington would not sign a treaty advocating the abolishment of nuclear weapons, saying that would not make the world more peaceful” and “ignores the current security challenges.” (NN, see January 12, 2018

November 30 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

November 30, 1953: beginning November 28, 1953, six of New York’s seven daily newspapers went on strike. 400 photo engravers demanded better pay and working conditions and the other newspaper employees honored their picket lines. For eleven days New York City had only one newspaper available to them, The New York Herald Tribune. Because the Herald Tribune had an outside commercial firm doing their photo engraving, they were the beneficiaries of added readership.

The six newspapers that were on strike had a combined daily circulation of 5,169,000 and a combined Sunday circulation of 7,736,697.

When the strike ended eleven days later on December 8, New Yorkers rejoiced as they read the news in that evening’s Herald Tribune (as shown in the photograph above). The other newspapers resumed publishing the next day. Federal Mediators settled the strike. The photo engravers received a $3.75 per week pay increase. [Vanity Fair article]

Union membership/1954

In 1954: union membership reached 28.3%  of employed workers. The highest in history. (Labor, see Sept 2)

Union membership/1954

In 1975: Union membership declined to 19.5% of employed workers. The first time it fell below 20% since 1942. (percent see January 21, 2011; Labor, see Feb 19)

November 30 Peace Love Art Activism

November 30 Music et al

November 30, 1960: after being released from St Pauli police station after being held overnight, McCartney and Best went to their new lodgings above the Top Ten Club to get some rest. In the early afternoon, however, they were awoken by heavy banging on the door. Best opened the lock and was greeted by two plain-clothes policemen. They were told to get dressed and were taken by car to Hamburg’s Kriminal police headquarters. The officer in charge told them they were to be deported at midnight.They were taken back on last time to the Top Ten where they were given five minutes to pack up their possessions; Pete Best was forced to leave his drums behind. They were then held in prison before being escorted to the airport in the evening.

The Beatles were not entirely sure why they were being deported, as their limited command of German made it difficult to understand the police procedures. Their request to telephone the British Consul was refused. (see Dec 1)

LSD

November 30, 1966: Ken Kesey trial on second marijuana possession results in hung jury. (see January 14, 1967)

Cheap Thrills

November 30 – December 20, 1968: Big Brother and the Holding Company’s Cheap Thrills returned to the Billboard #1 album spot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFflx37fLcQ&list=PLrpyDacBCh7COwdfupDtbB5GZtUHM3OxY

Love Child 

November 30 – December 13, 1968: “Love Child” by Diana Ross & the Supremes #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Cuban Missile Crisis

November 30, 1961: following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, President Kennedy authorized an aggressive covert operations (code name Operation Mongoose) against Fidel Castro in Cuba. The operation was led by Air Force General Edward Lansdale.

Operation Mongoose intended at removing the communists from power to “help Cuba overthrow the Communist regime”, including its leader Fidel Castro, and it aimed “for a revolt which can take place in Cuba by October 1962”. US policy makers also wanted to see “a new government with which the United States can live in peace”. (see CMC for expanded chronology)

November 30 Peace Love Art Activism

November 30 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAYS

• November 30, 1966: Barbados independent from United Kingdom.
• November 30, 1967,  Yemen independent from United Kingdom. (see IDs for list of 1960s countries)

November 30 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Senator Eugene J. McCarthy

November 30, 1967: liberal Democratic Senator Eugene J. McCarthy from Minnesota, an advocate of a negotiated end to the war in Vietnam, declared that he intended to enter several Democratic Presidential primaries in 1968. (NYT article) (see In December)

Troop reduction

November 30, 1972: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler told the press that there would be no more public announcements concerning United States troop withdrawals from Vietnam due to the fact that troop levels were down to 27,000. (see Dec 10)

Vietnam, BLACK HISTORY & Race Revolts

November 30, 1972: USS Kitty Hawk crewmen reported to investigators that the ship’s captain (Marland W Townsend, Jr, white) had an open disagreement with his  executive officer (Benjamin Cloud, black) after the riot broke out. (NYT article) (Kitty Hawk, see February 13, 1973)

November 30 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

November 30, 2010: Pentagon leaders called for scrapping the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban after releasing a survey about the prospect of openly gay troops. [NPR article] (see Dec 18)

November 30 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

Reclassification Request

November 30, 2011: the governors of Washington and Rhode Island petitioned the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to reclassify marijuana from the most restrictive Schedule I category to a Schedule II substance, which if approved, would have led to pharmacies dispensing marijuana. The 106-page petition  by Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire of Washington and independent Governor Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, declared that the Schedule I classification of cannabis is “fundamentally wrong and should be changed.”

The DEA did not change the classification. [NYT article] (see May 31, 2012 or see CCC for expanded cannabis chronology)

Adult Use Safe

November 30, 2021: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow said  that she was yet to see evidence that occasional marijuana use by adults is harmful.

Volkow made the remarks in an interview with FiveThirtyEight and was a notable admission given that the agency had historically gone to great lengths to highlight the potential risks of cannabis consumption.

“There’s no evidence to my knowledge that occasional [adult] marijuana use has harmful effects. I don’t know of any scientific evidence of that,” Volkow said. “I don’t think it has been evaluated. We need to test it.” [MM article]  (next Cannabis, see Dec 18 or see CAC for expanded chronology)

November 30 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans & Environmental Issues

November 30, 2022: The Biden-Harris administration announced the launch of a new Voluntary Community-Driven Relocation program, led by the Department of the Interior, to assist Tribal communities severely impacted by climate-related environmental threats. Through investments from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the Department committed $115 million for 11 severely impacted Tribes to advance relocation efforts and adaptation planning. Additional support for relocation will be provided by the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and the Denali Commission. [DOI article] (next NA, see April 18, 2023 ; next EI, see Mar 20)

November 30 Peace Love Art Activism

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

Sand Creek Massacre

November 29, 1864:  750 members of a Colorado militia unit, led by Colonel John M. Chivington, attacked an unsuspecting village of Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians camped on Sand Creek in present-day Kiowa County.  The militia killed some 300 Indians  in the attack, including women and children, many of whose bodies the soldiers had mutilated.

The Sand Creek Massacre, as this incident came to be called, provoked a savage struggle between Indians and the white settlers. Boasting of his victory and downplaying the 10 Army casualties, Colonel John Chivington paraded the body parts of dead Cheyenne and Arapaho through the streets of Denver, reveling in the acclaim he long-sought.

The incident generated two Congressional investigations into the actions of Chivington and his men. The House Committee on the Conduct of the War concluded that Chivington had “deliberately planned and executed a foul and dastardly massacre which would have disgraced the varied and savage among those who were the victims of his cruelty.” [Smithsonian article]

Col. Kit Carson

In 1864 – 1865: Army Col. Kit Carson, directed by Brig. Gen. James Carleton, forced the move of some 9,000 Dineh Navajo from Canyon de Chelly in Arizona to the Bosque Redondo reservation near Fort Sumner, New Mexico. About half the people died in what came to be known as the Long Walk. (see April 9, 1865)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Emma Goldman

November 29 – December 6, 1914:  Goldman was scheduled to speak on topics including “War and the Sacred Right of Property,” “The Sham of Culture,” “The Misconceptions of Free Love,” and “The Psychology of Anarchism” in St. Louis, Missouri. (next EG, see Aug 6, 1915 or see  EG for expanded chronology)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

November 29 Music et al

Paul McCartney Lights His Fire

November 29, 1960: having been told on 1 November that their contract to perform at his Kaiserkeller club was being terminated by owner Bruno Koschmider, The Beatles began moving their belonging to the attic room above the nearby Top Ten Club. At the time The Beatles were staying in the Bambi-Filmkunsttheater cinema, where the accommodation was basic and sanitary facilities minimal. John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe had already moved out, and Paul McCartney and Pete Best were to follow. George Harrison had already been deported on November 21.

It was dark as McCartney and Best gathered their belongings in the Bambi Kino. As there were no lights they set lit an object – different accounts mention rags, a wall tapestry, or a condom attached to a nail – in order to see. There was no damage apart from a burn mark on the wall, and the fire eventually extinguished itself on the damp wall. Bruno Koschmider, however, was furious, and told the police that The Beatles had attempted to set fire to the cinema. McCartney and Best were arrested. (see Nov 30)

I Want to Hold Your Hand

November 29, 1963: “I Want to Hold Your Hand” released in UK. There were 700,000 advance orders. (see Dec 1)

Beatles/Come Together

November 29 – December 5, 1969: “Come Together” #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. (see Dec 2)

George Harrison

November 29, 2001: George Harrison died from cancer at age 58.(see May 6, 2004)

LSD

November 29, 2016:  based on promising results, the Food and Drug Administration gave permission for large-scale, Phase 3 clinical trials of the drug Ecstacy — a final step before the possible approval as a prescription drug. [NYT article] (see Dec 1)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Black History

Freedom Riders

November 29, 1961: a white mob attacked the Freedom Riders at bus station in McComb, Mississippi. (see Dec 10)

Harlem Revolt

November 29, 1964: the prosecution opened its case against William Epton on charges of trying to overthrow by force the government of New York State.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph Phillips told the jury that Epton had sought to keep the Harlem riots “going and going” to undermine the government. (BH, see Dec 4; RR, see Dec 20)

Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams

November 29, 2012: thirteen officers shot and killed driver Timothy Russell and his passenger, Malissa Williams, after they led police on a 22 minute chase. It started when an officer said the couple fired a gunshot from their car as they drove passed police headquarters downtown. The thirteen officers fired 137 shots, striking Russell 23 times and Williams 24 times. No gun was found in the suspect’s vehicle. (see 137 shots for expanded chronology)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

November 29, 1961: from Cape Canaveral, NASA launched Enos the chimp aboard a Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft, which orbited Earth twice before returning. [Atlantic story] (see February 20, 1962)

Warren investigation

November 29, 1963, President Johnson established a special commission, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, to investigate the Kennedy assassination. (NYT abstract) (see September 27, 1964)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

November 29, 1967: Robert S. McNamara announced that he would resign as Secretary of Defense to become president of the World Bank.

Early in November, McNamara submitted a memorandum to Johnson recommending that the United States freeze its troop levels, cease the bombing of the north, and turn over responsibility for fighting the ground war to the South Vietnamese. Johnson rejected these recommendations outright. McNamara subsequently resigned; Johnson adviser Clark Clifford succeeded him. [2017 NYT article] (see Nov 30)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

November 29, 1968: New York City teachers strike ended after 36 school days. Pitting union power against the public interest, the strike added to the distrust of organized labor and exacerbated racial tensions.  (see April 25, 1969)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear News

USS Proteus

November 29, 1975: while disabled, the submarine tender USS Proteus (AS-19) discharged radioactive coolant water into Apra Harbor, Guam. A Geiger counter at two of the harbor’s public beaches shows 100 millirems/hour, 50 times the allowable dose. (see January 24, 1978)

North Korea

November 29, 2017: North Korea announced that it had successfully tested its Hwasong-15, a newly developed ICBM that it said could deliver heavy nuclear warheads anywhere in the continental United States. [Guardian article] (NN, see Nov 30)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

Korean Air 707

November 29, 1987: a bomb planted by North Korean agents destroyed Korean Air 707. It was en route from Abu Dhabi to Bangkok All 115 people aboard died.  (see July 3, 1988)

John Salvi III

November 29, 1996: on December 30, 1994, John Salvi III had walked into two separate abortion clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts and shot workers with a rifle, killing two receptionists and wounding five other employees.

While awaiting trial, on this date, John Salvi was found dead in his prison cell with a garbage bag over his head tied around his neck. The official report states that Salvi’s death was a suicide. (Women’s Health, see January 16, 1997; Terrorism, see November 12, 1997)

Steven Joshua Dinkle

November 29, 2013: officials charged Steven Joshua Dinkle, a onetime Ku Klux Klan leader, with burning a cross in a mostly black neighborhood in southeast Alabama, federal prosecutors said. Dinkle was indicted on charges of conspiring to violate housing rights; criminally interfering with housing rights; using a fire to commit a felony; and obstruction of justice. Dinkle was the former exalted cyclops of a KKK chapter in Ozark. (see Dec 9)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Dissolution of the USSR

November 29, 1989: in response to a growing pro-democracy movement in Czechoslovakia, the Communist-run parliament ended the party’s 40-year monopoly on power. [NYT article] (see USSR for expanded chronology)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ War I

November 29, 1990: the United Nations Security Council passed UN Security Council Resolution 678, authorizing military intervention in Iraq if that nation did not withdraw its forces from Kuwait and free all foreign hostages by Tuesday, January 15, 1991. (see January 9, 1991)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

November 29, 1990: President George W Bush signed into law the Immigration Act of 1990. Senator Ted Kennedy had introduced the act in 1989. It was a national reform of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. It increased total, overall immigration to allow 700,000 immigrants to come to the U.S. per year for the fiscal years ’92–’94, and 675,000 per year after that.

It provided family based immigration visa, created five distinct employment based visas, categorized by occupation, as well as the diversity visa program which created a lottery to admit immigrants from “low admittance” countries or countries where their citizenry was underrepresented in the U.S.

Besides these immigrant visas there were also changes in nonimmigrant visas like the H-1B visa for highly skilled workers. There were also cutbacks in the allotment of visas available for extended relatives.The Temporary protected status visa was also created where Congress established a procedure by which the Attorney General may provide TPS to immigrants in the United States who were temporarily unable to safely return to their home country because of ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary condition. (Immigration, see July 25, 2008; Temporary Protected Status, see November 21, 2017)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

November 29, 1993: Kevorkian began fast in Oakland County jail for refusing to post $50,000 bond after being charged in the October death of Merian Frederick, 72. (see JK for expanded chronology)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

November 29, 1999: Protestant and Catholic adversaries formed a Northern Ireland government. (see IT for expanded chronology)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

November 29, 2012: South Lyon, Michigan Board of Education suspended middle-school teacher Susan Lyon for playing Macklemore’s “Same Love” to her class. A student made the request and after asking if the song was violent or had any profanity, the performing arts teacher played it.

Macklemore responded: I believe that Ms. Johnson getting suspended is completely out of line and unjust. However, I think it’s important for moments like these to be exposed and for us to pay attention and respond. This level of intolerance and fear is still very active in America, but at times is not completely visible. This incident is just one of tens of thousands that have happened across the country where schools have exposed a latent homophobia, preventing safe space for all young people to feel confident in being themselves. It’s clear that Ms. Johnson felt bullying and “gay bashing” were issues that needed to be addressed, and by doing so, was punished.

I wrote the song “Same Love,” not with the expectation that it would cure homophobia and lead to marriage equality across the US (although that’d be awesome). It was written with the hope that it would facilitate dialogue and through those conversations understanding and empathy would emerge. This incident demonstrates how too often we are quick to silence conversations that must be had. Even if people disagree, there is far more potential for progress when people are vocal and honestly expressing their thoughts about gay rights. When we are silent and avoid the issue, fear and hatred have a far greater life span.

It’s discouraging that a song about love and civil rights has led to a teacher getting suspended from her job. But that’s where we are at. For those of us who get a pit in our stomach when reading a story like this, it just makes it abundantly clear there is far more work to be done.

School superintendent William Pearson reversed her suspension and reinstated her pay (she had been docked two days’ salary) on December 5. [MD article] (see Dec 5)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism

Stop and Frisk Policy

November 29, 2013: an analysis by the NY state attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, of nearly 150,000 stop-and-frisk arrests suggested that they netted few serious criminals. According to the report, only 1 in 50 arrests, or 0.1 percent of all stops, led to a conviction for a violent crime; similarly, just 1 in 50 arrests led to conviction for possession of a weapon. Nearly half of arrests resulted in no convictions because authorities never prosecuted, dismissed the case, or gave the case an “adjournment in contemplation of dismissal,” which meant that they dismissed the charge if the person stayed out of trouble for six months or a year. [NYT article] (see Dec 16)

November 29 Peace Love Art Activism