Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

December 3, 2016 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

December 3, 1867: Democratic President Andrew Johnson gave his annual message to Congress

In his message, Johnson said that “Negroes have shown less capacity for government than any other race of people. No independent government of any form has ever been successful in their hands. On the contrary, wherever they have been left to their own devices they have shown a constant tendency to relapse into barbarism.” [CNN article] (next BH, see May 11)

Clinton Melton

December 3, 1955: in Glendora, Mississippi. Otis Kimball, a cotton gin operator, asked Clinton Melton to fill his car up with gas. Kimball became enraged because of something having to do with this transaction, and he threatened to come back to the gas station and kill Melton. Kimball was driving the automobile of J. W. Milam, one of the men who had been acquitted of killing Emmett Till in August of 1955. Kimball did in fact return to the station with a shotgun. With no provocation, he shot and killed Melton in full view of the gas station owner and other witnesses. (see Melton for more; next Black History, see January 3, 1956)

March to Montgomery

December 3, 1965: an all-white jury found Collie Wilkins, Eugene Thomas, and William Eato guilty of the murders of Viola Liuzzo and Leroy Moton on March 25, 1965. The three were sentenced to 10 years in prison. (see Liuzzo for expanded chronology; next BH, see Dec 9)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

December 3, 1946: in Oakland, California, 130,000 workers from 142 unions – including workers from factories, industries, services, retail stores, transportation systems, and more – declared a “work holiday” and walked off their jobs in support of striking department store clerks and in opposition to police intervention that was facilitating strike breaking activity. The Oakland General Strike lasted for two days. (see April 7, 1947)

The Red Scare

December 3, 1948: the House Un-American Activities Committee announced that former Communist spy Whittaker Chambers had produced microfilm of secret documents hidden inside a pumpkin on his Maryland farm. (see April 4, 1949)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

December 3 Music et al

The Beatles before their US appearance

December 3, 1961: the Beatles’ had their first formal meeting with Brian Epstein, where he proposed to them that he become their manager. The Beatles were interested, but they are not ready to make a commitment, so a second meeting is arranged for December 6.

The Who

December 3, 1965: The Who [Pete Townsend, 20; Keith Moon, 19; Roger Daltrey, 21; and John Entwistle, 21] released My Generation album.

Rubber Soul

December 3, 1965: Beatles released Rubber Soul. (see My Generation Rubber Soul for more) (see Dec 6)

“Winchester Cathedral”

December 3 – 9, 1966: “Winchester Cathedral” by The New Vaudeville Band #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Long war

December 3, 1962: Roger Hilsman, director of the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research, sent a memorandum to Secretary of State Dean Rusk pointing out that the communist Viet Cong fighters were obviously prepared for a long war. (see January 2, 1963)

My Lai Massacre

December 3, 2016: Lawrence Colburn, the Army helicopter gunner who along with two comrades intervened in the U.S. slaughter of unarmed villagers in My Lai, an act of heroism for which he received the Soldier’s Medal three decades after the fact, died. [NYT obit] (next Vietname & My Lai, see April 28, 2024)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

STUDENT ACTIVISM & FREE SPEECH

December 3, 1964: police arrested some 800 students at the University of California at Berkeley who had stormed the administration building the previous day and staged a massive sit-in. (see Student Free Speech Movement for expanded chronology). (FS & SA, see January 4, 1965)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestones

Heart transplant

December 3, 1967: surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky, who lived 18 days with the new heart. (see February 16, 1968)

Text message

December 3, 1992: the first telephone text message was sent by British engineer Neil Papworth, who transmitted the greeting “Merry Christmas” from his work computer in Newbury, Berkshire, to Vodafone executive Richard Jarvis’ mobile phone. (see January 3, 1996)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Weather Underground

December 3, 1980: Bernardine Dohrn, a former leader of the radical Weather Underground, surrendered to authorities in Chicago after more than a decade as a fugitive. (next WU, see October 20, 1981)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

The Cold War

December 3, 1989: meeting off the coast of Malta, President George Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev issued statements strongly suggesting that the long-standing animosities at the core of the Cold War might be coming to an end. (see May 6, 1992)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

December 3, 1992: the Michigan Legislature passes a ban on assisted suicide to take effect on March 30, 1993. (see JK for expanded chronology)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

December 3, 1996: following the world’s first-ever trial on the freedom to marry, led by co-counsel Dan Foley and Evan Wolfson, Hawaii Judge Kevin Chang ruled that the state did not have a legitimate reason for depriving same-sex couples of the freedom to marry.(see February 21, 1997)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

December 3, 1998: after two staffers look at internal Justice Department memos, Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde tells Republicans that campaign fund-raising will not be part of the impeachment debate. (see Clinton for expanded chronology)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

Boston archdiocese

December 3, 2002: new revelations about eight priests in Boston archdiocese accused of abusing women and girls, taking drugs and supplying drugs in return for sexual favors. (NYT article) (see Dec 6)

Orange County, CA

December 3, 2004: after two years of talks, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County reached a record settlement with 87 victims of abuse by priests and lay employees, agreeing to the largest payment ever made by the church in cases involving sexual misconduct, parties involved in the talks said.

The payment was at least $100 million, exceeding the $85 million agreed to by the Archdiocese of Boston last year, said a participant in the discussions who could not be named because of a judicial order against speaking to the news media. (NYT article) (see February 7, 2005)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

Dallas discrimination

December 3, 2013: a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development investigation found that Dallas officials promoted discrimination against minorities and the disabled through affordable-housing practices that violate federal civil rights laws.

According to a 29-page letter outlining the initial findings, “the evidence shows that there was a pattern of negative reactions to projects that would provide affordable housing in the northern sector of Dallas and that those decisions were inconsistent with the goals required by HUD program obligations.”December 3, 2015, Feminism: Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said that the Pentagon will open all combat jobs to women. “There will be no exceptions,” Mr. Carter said at a news conference. The groundbreaking decision overturns a 1994 Pentagon rule that restricts women from artillery, armor, infantry and other such combat roles, even though in reality women often found themselves in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 14 years. [ProPublica article] (see June 25, 2015)

Mississippi flag

December 3, 2018: a federal appeals court did not revive a lawsuit that had tried to block Ocean Springs, Mississippi from flying the state flag that includes the Confederate battle emblem.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr ‘s decision that dismissed the lawsuit against Ocean Springs.

The lawsuit had called the flag “racially demeaning and hostile” and claimed the city violated the federal Fair Housing Act by flying the flag and sending the message that black people are unwelcome.

Guirola had ruled that the plaintiffs didn’t prove they suffered unequal treatment by the Ocean Springs government. The panel of three appeals court judges agreed.

“The only act they allege is the City’s resolution requiring the Mississippi state flag to be flown over public buildings,” the appeals court judges wrote. “That is not a ‘discriminatory housing practice’ as required by the FHA, and plaintiffs are therefore not ‘aggrieved persons’ under the statute.” [Star Trib article] (see January 15, 2019)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

December 3, 2015: Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said that the Pentagon will open all combat jobs to women. “There will be no exceptions,” Mr. Carter said at a news conference. The groundbreaking decision overturns a 1994 Pentagon rule that restricts women from artillery, armor, infantry and other such combat roles, even though in reality women often found themselves in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 14 years. (NYT article) (see June 7, 2016)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Colin Kaepernick

December 3, 2017: the ACLU of Southern California presented the Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate Award to Colin Kaepernick.

“Our next honoree took a stand. He took a stand knowing he would risk his job,” Southern California ACLU Executive Director Hector Villagra said. “And he has lost his job, one that he loved and was supremely talented and skilled at. He took a stand knowing that some would criticize him, and he has been viciously and unfairly criticized. He has been called a traitor, because too many people in this country confuse dissent for disloyalty. He took a stand knowing some would even threaten him, and he has had his life threatened, which is why, though we are profoundly honored to have him here, we didn’t publicize his presence tonight.”

Kaepernick raised a fist as he received a standing ovation. [Slate article] (for expanded CK story follow this link)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Trump Impeachment Inquiry

December 3, 2019: House Democrats released an impeachment report that found the president “placed his own personal and political interests above the national interests of the United States.”

The report by the House Intelligence Committee was a sweeping indictment of the president’s behavior, concluding that he sought to undermine American democracy and endangered national security, then worked to conceal his actions from Congress. Democrats left it to another committee to decide whether to recommend Mr. Trump’s impeachment, but their report presented what are all but certain to be the grounds on which the House votes to formally charge him. [NYT article] (see TII for expanded chronology)

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Pledge of Allegiance & Student Rights

December 3, 2019: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened to defend a Houston-area school district in its lawsuit with the student, India Landry. Landry, 18, who filed a lawsuit after she was expelled last year from Windfern High School for refusing to stand for the flag during the US Pledge of Allegiance

“School children cannot unilaterally refuse to participate in the pledge,” Mr Paxton – the state‘s most senior law enforcement officer – said in a news release.

December 3 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

December 2, 2020: the United Nations’ Commission for Narcotic Drugs voted to remove cannabis for medicinal purposes from a category of the world’s most dangerous drugs, a highly anticipated and long-delayed decision that could clear the way for an expansion of marijuana research and medical use.

The Commission, includes 53 member states, considered a series of recommendations from the World Health Organization on reclassifying cannabis and its derivatives. But attention centered on a key recommendation to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs — where it was listed alongside dangerous and highly addictive opioids like heroin. [NYT article] (next Cannabis, see or see CCC for expanded cannabis chronology)

Lynching, Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

December 2, 2016 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

John Brown

December 2, 1859: the government hung militant abolitionist John Brown for murder and treason in the wake his unsuccessful attack on the US armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. The evening before the execution, a group of soldiers slept in the courtroom. One of them was John Wilkes Booth. [AH article] (Brown and Slave Revolts, see Dec 23)

Follow the Drinking Gourd

In 1860s: African Americans sang of their dream for freedom and equality before the Civil War, during it, and long after. Though its origin is sometimes disputed, Follow the Drinking Gourd is still thought of as a song used by “riders” on and “conductors” of the Underground Railroad system used to help slaves escape to safety and freedom by using coded directions. The “drinking gourd” likely refers to the North Star in the Little Dipper’s handle. (BH, see February 22, 1862)

Follow the drinking gourd

For the old man is a waitin’

For to carry you to freedom

Follow the drinking gourd

When the sun comes up

And the first Quail calls

Follow the drinking gourd

For the old man is a waitin’

For to carry you to freedom

The riverbank will make a mighty good road

The dead trees show you the way

Left foot, peg foot travelin’ on

The river ends between two hills

There’s another river on the other side

Dyer Anti-Lynching bill

December 2, 1922: the Republican caucus voted to drop the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill. Republican Senator Lodge stated, “The conference was in session nearly three hours and discussed the question very thoroughly. Of course the Republicans feel very strongly, as I do, that the bill ought to become a law. The situation before us was this: Under the rules of the Senate the Democrats, who are filibustering, could keep up that filibuster indefinitely, and there is no doubt they can do so.

An attempt to change the rules wold only shift the filibuster to another subject. We cannot pass the bill in this Congress and, therefore, we had to choose between giving up the whole session to a protracted filibuster or going ahead with regular business of the session….The conference decided very reluctantly that it was our duty to set aside the Dyer bill and go on with the business of the session.” (BH, see Dec 8; Dyer, see July 13, 1923)

Jo Ann Robinson/Montgomery Bus Boycott

In 1950: Jo Ann Robinson became president of the Women’s Political Council in Montgomery, AL. As president, she began to study the issue of bus segregation, which affected the many blacks who were the majority of riders on the city system. First, members appeared before the City Commission to report abuses on the buses, such as blacks who were first on the bus being required later to give up seats for whites as buses became crowded. The commission acted surprised but did nothing. (next BH & Feminism, see March 31, 1950)

In 1953 Robinson and other local black leaders met with the three commissioners of Montgomery. Robinson’s group complained that the city did not hire any black bus drivers, said that segregation of seating was unjust, and that bus stops in black neighborhoods were farther apart than in white ones, although blacks were the majority of the riders. The commissioners refused to change anything. Robinson and other WPC members met with bus company officials on their own. The segregation issue was deflected, as bus company officials said that segregation was city and state law. The WPC achieved a small victory, as the bus company officials agreed to have the buses stop at every corner in black neighborhoods, as was the practice in white neighborhoods. (next BH, see June 8; next Feminism, see May 18, 1954)

December 2, 1955: Jo Ann Robinson drove to the various Montgomery schools to drop off the handbills to the students who distributed them in the schools and ask students to take them home for their parents. The handbills asked blacks to boycott the buses the following Monday, December 5, in support of Parks. By Friday night, word of a boycott had spread all over the city. That same night, local ministers and civil rights leaders held a meeting and announced the boycott for Monday. With some ministers hesitant to engage their congregations in a boycott, about half left the meeting in frustration. They decided to hold a mass meeting Monday night to decide if the boycott should continue. (BH, see Dec 3; see MBB for expanded chronology)

Bernard Whitehurst Jr. killed

December 2, 1975: a white police officer named Donald Foster shot and killed Bernard Whitehurst Jr., a 32-year-old Black man, after mistaking him for a crime suspect. Rather than acknowledge the mistake, Foster and other officers planted a gun near Mr. Whitehurst’s body as part of an elaborate cover-up of tragic police violence. There was no autopsy report and Mr. Whitehurst’s family was not even notified that he had been killed; they found out about his death shortly after when one family member heard about it on the radio. [EJI article] (next BH, see January 22, 1976)

BLACK & SHOT/Rumain Brisbon

December 2, 2014: Phoenix Police Officer Mark Rine was investigating a tip that 34-year-old Rumain Brisbon was selling drugs inside an SUV on. Police said Brisbon didn’t obey the officer’s commands and instead fled inside an apartment complex where a struggle ensued. During the struggle, Rine mistook a pill bottle in Brisbon’s pants for a gun and fatally shot him, according to police. Brisbon was unarmed, though police found a gun in his SUV. (see January 30, 2015)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestones

December 2, 1901: Gillette patented the KC Gillette Razor. It was first razor to feature a permanent handle and disposable double-edge razor blades. (see Dec 12)

Artificial heart

December 2, 1982: Barney B. Clark became the first recipient of an artificial heart. The 61-year-old retired dentist from Seattle underwent a 7½-hour operation at the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City. The operation was performed by a surgical team headed by Dr. William C. DeVries. Clark survived with the artificial heart for over 3 months. He died on March 23, 1983. [Smithsonian article] (see January 24, 1984)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

FEMINISM

Voting Rights

December 2, 1918: President Wilson urged passage of federal woman suffrage amendment in annual address to Congress. (see January 1, 1919)

Suppression of the Traffic in Persons

December 2, 1949: the United Nation adopted the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. (next Feminism, see Jo Ann Robinson above under Black History)

Eisenhower/Birth control

December 2, 1959: President Dwight Eisenhower stated in a press conference that birth control: “I cannot imagine anything more emphatically a subject that is not a proper political or government activity or function or responsibility. . . . The government will not, so long as I am here, have a positive political doctrine in its program that has to do with the problem of birth control. That’s not our business.” (Nuclear, see May 11, 1960; CW, see May 12, 1960)

Nuclear/ Chemical News

Enrico Fermi

December 2, 1942: Enrico Fermi, the Italian-born Nobel Prize-winning physicist, directed and controlled the first nuclear chain reaction in his laboratory beneath the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, ushering in the nuclear age. Upon successful completion of the experiment, a coded message was transmitted to President Roosevelt: “The Italian navigator has landed in the new world.” (NN, see April 17, 1945; TI, see February 14, 1946)

Train derailment

December 2, 1962: a Louisville and Nashville train derails in Marietta, Georgia while carrying nuclear weapons components. (see Dec 24)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Cold War

McCarthyism

December 2, 1954: the US Senate censured Senator Joseph McCarthy 67 – 22 for “conduct contrary to Senatorial tradition.” It was only the third time in the Senate’s history that such a censure was issued. (see February 23, 1955)

Fidel Castro

December 2, 1961: Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist who would lead Cuba to Communism.

“Morning Dew”

In 1962: Bonnie Dobson will release post apocalyptic song, “Morning Dew” It was later covered most famously by the Grateful Dead.

Train derailment

December 2, 1962: a Louisville and Nashville train derails in Marietta, Georgia while carrying nuclear weapons components. (see Dec 24)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

December 2, 1962: following a trip to Vietnam at President John F. Kennedy’s request, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-Montana) became the first U.S. official to refuse to make an optimistic public comment on the progress of the war. Originally a supporter of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, Mansfield changed his opinion of the situation after his visit.

He claimed that the $2 billion the United States had poured into Vietnam during the previous seven years had accomplished nothing. He placed blame squarely on the Diem regime for its failure to share power and win support from the South Vietnamese people. He suggested that Americans, despite being motivated by a sincere desire to stop the spread of communism, had simply taken the place formerly occupied by the French colonial power in the minds of many Vietnamese.

Mansfield’s change of opinion surprised and irritated President Kennedy.(Vietnam, see Dec 3; SVL, see May 6, 1963)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

see December 2 Music et al for more

Beatles on TV

December 2, 1963: The Beatles appeared on Morecambe and Wise, one of the more popular TV shows in the UK. (see Dec 4)

Monkees

December 2 – December 29, 1967 – “Daydream Believer” by the Monkees #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100.

December 2, 1967 – January 5, 1968 – The Monkees Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones Ltd. the Billboard #1 album.

Wonderwall Music

December 2, 1968: George Harrison’s Wonderwall Music album released. (next Beatles, see Dec 20; see Wonderwall for expanded story)

George Harrison/Delaney & Bonnie

December 2, 1969: on December 1, George Harrison had watched husband and wife act Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett perform at the Albert Hall in London. On December 2 he joined them on stage in Bristol, for his first stage appearance since The Beatles’ final concert on 29 August 1966. Freed from the attentions of Beatlemania, he was able to be a largely anonymous band member, although he did sing songs including Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby on at least one occasion. Harrison stayed on the tour for six dates until it ended. They played two shows each night, in Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, Liverpool and Croydon. (see Dec 15)

“Thriller”

December 2, 1983: MTV broadcasts Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video with a running time of 13 minutes and 42 seconds.

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

STUDENT ACTIVISIM & FREE SPEECH

December 2, 1964: activist Mario Savio led Berkeley Free Speech Movement in occupation of the University of Berkeley’s Sproul Hall to protest ban on campus activism. The ban was lifted in January. (see Free Speech for expanded chronology)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

December 2, 1970: the Environmental Protection Agency began operating under director William Ruckelshaus. (see February 26, 1972)

INDEPENDENCE DAY

December 2, 1971, United Arab Emirates independent of United Kingdom. (see July 10, 1973)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran Uprising

December 2, 1978: anti-Shah protesters poured through Tehran chanting “Allah is great.” (see Dec 11)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

December 2, 1982: in 1977, an Oklahoma medical examiner named Jay Chapman proposed that death-row inmates be executed using three drugs administered in a specific sequence: a barbiturate (to anesthetize inmates), pancuronium bromide (to paralyze inmates and stop their breathing) and lastly potassium chloride (which stops the heart). Chapman’s proposal was approved by the Oklahoma state legislature the same year and quickly adopted by other states. On this date, Texas became the first to use the procedure, executing 40-year-old Charles Brooks for murdering Fort Worth mechanic David Gregory. (see Dec 7)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

December 2, 1999: a power-sharing cabinet of Protestants and Catholics sat down together for the first time in Northern Ireland. (see Troubles for expanded chronology)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

December 2, 2006: “Not working well.” Donald Rumsfeld, description of the Iraq strategy in a classified memo written two days before he resigned. [NYT article] (see Dec 6)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Fourth Amendment

December 2, 2014: a federal appeals court struck down a 2011 Florida law requiring drug tests for people seeking welfare benefits even if they are not suspected of drug use, a measure pushed by Gov. Rick Scott in his first term in office.

The three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, ruled that the law, one of the strictest in the country, was an unreasonable search because Florida officials had failed to show a “substantial need” to test all people who applied for welfare benefits. Applicants were required to submit to urine tests, a measure that Mr. Scott said would protect children of welfare applicants by ensuring that their parents were not buying and using drugs.

“The state has not demonstrated a more prevalent, unique or different drug problem among TANF applicants than in the general population,” the panel said in its unanimous decision, using an acronym for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. [MH article] (see Dec 11)

December 2 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

December 2, 2020: the United Nations’ Commission for Narcotic Drugs voted to remove cannabis for medicinal purposes from a category of the world’s most dangerous drugs, a highly anticipated and long-delayed decision that could clear the way for an expansion of marijuana research and medical use.

The Commission, includes 53 member states, considered a series of recommendations from the World Health Organization on reclassifying cannabis and its derivatives. But attention centered on a key recommendation to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs — where it was listed alongside dangerous and highly addictive opioids like heroin. [UN article] (next Cannabis, see Dec 4 or see Cannabis for expanded chronology)