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

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

February 26, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History/US Labor History

Alien Contract Labor Law

February 26, 1885: Alien Contract Labor Law, also known as the Foran Act, was an act to prohibit the importation and migration of foreigners and aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor in the United States, its Territories, and the District of Columbia. (see Sept 2; Alien Contract Law, see February 7, 1887)

DACA

February 26, 2018: the Supreme Court declined to clear the way for the Trump administration to end the Obama-era program that protects about 700,000 young immigrants from deportation, meaning that the so-called “Dreamers” could remain in legal limbo for months unless Congress acted to make their status permanent.

President Trump ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program on September 5, 2017, calling it an unconstitutional use of executive power by his predecessor and reviving the threat of deportation for immigrants who had been brought to the United States illegally as young children.

Since then, two federal judges (January 9 & February 13, 2018) had ordered the administration to maintain major pieces of the program while legal challenges move forward, notably by requiring the administration to allow people enrolled in it to renew their protected status.

The Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the government’s appeal would keep the program alive for months. (IH, see Feb 27; DACA, see Mar 19)

Trump’s Wall

February 26, 2019: the House voted to overturn President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on the Mexican border, with just 13 Republicans joining Democrats to try to block his effort to divert funding to a border wall without congressional approval.

House Republican leaders kept defections low after feverishly working to assuage concerns among rank-and-file members about protecting congressional powers and about the precedent that Trump could be setting for Democratic presidents to use for their own purposes. (next IH & TW, see In March)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Technological Milestone

February 26, 1908: at midnight, service through the Hudson & Manhattan railway tunnels opened to the public, carrying passengers between Manhattan and Hoboken New Jersey. It was the first railroad tunnel under a major river in the U.S. (Hoboken article) (see Sept 26)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Mink Slide district

February 26 1946: highway patrolmen entered the Mink Slide district. The officers fired randomly into buildings, stole cash and goods, searched homes without warrants, and took any guns, rifles, and shotguns they could find. When the sweep was over, more than one hundred blacks had been arrested, and about three hundred weapons from the black community had been confiscated. None of the accused were granted bail or allowed legal counsel. (Tennessee article) (see Feb 28)

Muhammad Ali

February 26, 1964: the day after he defeated Sonny Liston, “Cassius X” announced membership in Nation of Islam. His announcement was a bold step, jeopardizing potential boxing and money-making opportunities. (2017 Time article) (see Mar 6)

Malcolm X

February 26, 1965: police arrested Norman Butler for the murder of Malcolm X. (MX, see October 15, 1966)

Jimmie Lee Jackson

February 26, 1965: Jimmie Lee Jackson died at Good Samaritan Hospital in Selma. After his death, Sister Michael Anne, an administrator at Good Samaritan, said there were powder burns on Mr. Jackson’s abdomen, indicating that he was shot at very close range. When civil rights organizer, James Bevel, heard of Jackson’s death he called for a march from Selma to Montgomery to talk to Governor George Wallace about the attack in which Jackson was shot. (BH, see Mar 1; March to Selma, see Mar 7; Jackson, see September)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical Weapons News

February 26, 1952: Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb. (see Apr 22)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

South Korean troops

February 26, 1965: the first contingent of South Korean troops arrived in Saigon. Although assigned to non-combat duties, they came under fire on April 3. The South Korean contingent was part of the Free World Military Forces, an effort by President Lyndon B. Johnson to enlist allies for the United States and South Vietnam. By securing support from other nations, Johnson hoped to build an international consensus behind his policies in Vietnam. The effort was also known as the “many flags” program. By the close of 1969, there were over 47,800 Korean soldiers actively involved in combat operations in South Vietnam. Seoul began to withdraw its troops in February 1972. (see Mar 1)

My Lai Massacre

February 26, 1971: despite the conclusion that General S W Koster was the motivating force behind the cover-up, charges against Koster were dropped. Koster‘s only reprimand comes in the form of a reduction in rank. (see My Lai for expanded story; Vietnam, see “In March”)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History & Feminism

February 26, 1965: the TWA employees union challenged the forced retirement of stewardesses on this day. These women were also forbidden to marry and were monitored for their weight. This event was one of a number of growing challenges to the discriminatory policies regarding female flight attendants. By the end of the 1970s, the discriminatory practices against them were gone, and the job had the unisex title of Flight Attendant. (Labor, see January 1, 1966; F, see January 20, 1966)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

February 26 Music et al

Bear

February 26, 1945: Canned Heat’s Bob Bear Hite born.

Boots

February 26 – March 4, 1966: “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” by Nancy Sinatra #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural Milestone

February 26, 1970: National Public Radio was incorporated. (see February 17, 1972)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

February 26, 1972: a coal slag heap doubling as a dam in West Virginia’s Buffalo Creek Valley collapsed, flooding the 17-mile long valley. 118 died, 5,000 were left homeless. The Pittston Coal Co. said it was “an act of God” (see June 14)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Terrorism

Beirut, Lebanon

February 26, 1984: United States Marines pull out of Beirut, Lebanon. (see Sept 20)

World Trade Center

February 26, 1993: a van packed with a 1,210-pound bomb exploded in the parking garage underneath the World Trade Center. The explosion left a gigantic crater 200 feet wide and caused over 591 million dollars in damage. Six people were killed and more than a thousand injured. (see Mar 4)

Oklahoma City Explosion

February 26, 1998: a federal appeals court affirmed Terry Nichols’ conviction and sentence of life imprisonment without parole. [USDOS article] (see May 27)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran–Contra Affair

February 26, 1988: the Tower Commission rebuked U.S. President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his National Security Council staff. (see Mar 4)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Ben-Shalom v. Stone

February 26, 1990: refusing to consider the cases of Ben-Shalom v. Stone and Woodward v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court effectively upheld the right of the American military to discharge gays and lesbians of the armed forces. (see May 17)

Texas ban on same-sex marriage

February 26, 2014: in San Antonio, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia overturned the Texas ban on same-sex marriage ruling that the prohibition was unconstitutional and stigmatized the relationship of gay couples. The ruling did not allow same-sex couples to immediately marry because the judge stayed the injunction pending any appeal.

Garcia ruled that the state’s ban deprived same sex couples of due process and equal protection, stigmatizing their relationships and treating them differently from opposite-sex couples. “Today’s court decision is not made in defiance of the great people of Texas or the Texas Legislature, but in compliance with the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedent,” Garcia said. (see Feb 27)

Zarda v. Altitude Express

February 26, 2018: the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan ruled that federal civil rights law bars employers from discriminating based on sexual orientation.

The case, which stemmed from the 2010 dismissal of Donald Zarda, a Long Island sky-diving instructor, was a setback for the Trump Justice Department, whose lawyers found themselves in the unusual position of arguing against government lawyers from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The E.E.O.C. had argued that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bars workplace discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex or national origin,” protected gay employees from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

But the Trump Justice Department took the position that the law did not reach sexual orientation, and said the E.E.O.C. was “not speaking for the United States.”

Chief judge, Robert A. Katzmann wrote (and was joined, in part or whole, by nine other judges ): “We see no principled basis for recognizing a violation of Title VII for associational discrimination based on race but not on sex. Sexual orientation discrimination is a subset of sex discrimination because sexual orientation is defined by one’s sex in relation to the sex of those to whom one is attracted, making it impossible for an employer to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation without taking sex into account.”

Zarda died in a jumping accident on October 3, 2014 in Switzerland after the suit was filed. (see Mar 6)

United Methodist Church

February 26, 2019: the United Methodist Church voted to strengthen its ban on gay and lesbian clergy and same-sex marriages, a decision that could split the nation’s second-largest Protestant church.

After three days of intense debate at a conference in St. Louis, the vote by church officials and lay members from around the world doubled down on current church policy, which states that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” The vote served as a rejection of a push by progressive members and leaders to open the church to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Now, a divide of the United Methodist Church, which has 12 million members worldwide, appears imminent. Some pastors and bishops in the United States are already talking about leaving the denomination and possibly creating a new alliance for gay-friendly churches. (see Feb 27)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ War I

February 26, 1991: Saddam Hussein announced the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Iraqi soldiers set fire to Kuwaiti oil fields as they retreated. (see Feb 27)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

February 26, 1992: the Supreme Court of Ireland ruled that a 14-year-old rape victim may travel to England to have an abortion. (see Apr 5)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

February 26, 1998: White House senior communications aide Sidney Blumenthal testified before the grand jury, answering questions about any role he may have played in spreading negative information about investigators in Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s office. Fourteen Democrats in the House write Attorney General Janet Reno complaining about subpoenas issued by Starr. A non-profit group that studies women in the workplace says it will contribute $10,000 as seed money for a legal defense fund for Lewinsky. (see Clinton for expanded story)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

STAND YOUR GROUND LAW

Trayvon Martin Shooting

February 26, 2012: George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain, shot and killed Trayvon Martin, 17. Zimmerman told police he fired in self-defense. Zimmerman confronted the teen after calling 911 and reporting Martin as a “suspicious person.” Though a dispatcher told Zimmerman not to follow the teen, Zimmerman confronted him nevertheless, police said. Martin died from a gunshot wound to the chest. (Stand Your Ground, see Mar 14; Trayvon, see Mar 21)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

Washington, D.C

February 26, 2015: after months of debate, threats and uncertainty, recreational marijuana became legal in Washington, D.C., at least according to the city government. Adults 21 and over could legally use marijuana, possess up to two ounces and grow up to six marijuana plants in their homes for personal use. Marijuana sales remained illegal, but the District Council was considering a bill that would regulate and tax marijuana sales, similar to laws in Colorado and Washington state. Because of the city’s unique oversight by Congress, it was unclear if any measure legalizing marijuana sales and regulation could go into effect before 2016. (next Cannabis, see May 3 or see CCC for expanded chronology)

Washington v Sessions

February 26, 2018: in Washington v Sessions, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of Federal District Court in Manhattan tossed out a lawsuit that sought to make marijuana legal under federal law, ruling that the plaintiffs had failed to take the necessary first step of asking the Drug Enforcement Administration to remove cannabis from its list of dangerous substances.

The ruling was a defeat for the plaintiffs — among them a former professional football player who owns a company that sells pot-based pain relievers, a 12-year-old girl who treats her chronic epilepsy with medical marijuana and a nonprofit group that works on behalf of minorities in the marijuana industry. (next Cannabis, see Mar 27 or see CCC for expanded chronology)

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Internment artwork defaced

February 26, 2020: Seattle artist Erin Shigaki had created the art installation “Never Again Is Now,” which included an 11-foot-tall mural of two children photographed at a California incarceration camp.

On this date, the Seattle Times reported that Bellevue College had apologized after Gayle Colston Barge, vice president of institutional advancement altered a mural of two Japanese American children in a World War II incarceration camp by whiting out a reference to anti-Japanese agitation by Eastside businessman Miller Freeman and others in the artist’s accompanying description.

Bellevue President Jerry Weber’s letter of apology read, “It was a mistake to alter the artist’s work. Removing the reference gave the impression that the administrator was attempting to remove or rewrite history, a history that directly impacts many today … Editing artistic works changes the message and meaning of the work.”

February 26 Peace Love Art Activism

Music of the 60s, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Sweetwater Elpidio Pete Cobian

February 25, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer 1 Comment

Sweetwater Elpidio Pete Cobian

Sweetwater Elpidio Pete Cobian

Elpidio Pete Cobain

Continuing with my mini bios for those Woodstock Music and Art Fair performers for whom I have not found a birth date (the day I typically post the bio).

Elpidio “Pete” Cobian had been in the California version of Jay Walker and the Pedestrians, the band Robert ‘Bob’ Barboza had originally formed in Rhode Island and re-formed with different members when he re-located to Los Angeles. Cobian played congas.

Pete was with the band that April 1967 night when Nanci Nevins walked in to watch Jay and the Pedestrians play. The band, by choice, had no vocalist, but saw her standing and singing along. They invited her up to perform, not usual since the actual members in the band varied with the date. Sometimes there were 7 members, sometimes more than 2 dozen.

Pete and the others liked what they heard, but Nevins left without giving them her name or contact information. Life went on.

They eventually did find her and she briefly became a Pedestrian. Briefly because band member Alex Del Zoppo suggested to other members Albert Moore, Andy Friend, and Pete that with Nevins as vocalist they could expand their possibilities the four as a new band.

Sweetwater Elpidio Pete Cobian

Sweetwater

And so they sowed the seed of Sweetwater.

Their Woodstock Music and Art Fair appearance is one of the many typical side stories that that disheveled weekend tells. Stuck in Liberty because of an historic traffic jam, organizers drafted a hesitant Richie Havens to open the festival.

Finally on site, Sweetwater followed. Ironically, their opening song, one they had played dozens of times, was an echo of the now-famous rendition that Havens had closed with: Motherless Child (with Havens extemporaneous “Freedom” tagged on).

Sweetwater did not make the 1970 Woodstock album. Sweetwater did not make the 1970 Woodstock movie. And before all that, in December 1969, a drunk driver’s crashing into Nancy Nevins’s car nearly killed her and kept her out of music for nearly a quarter century.

In the meantime, the band released two more albums, but gradually broke up and members went their own way. Some continued in music.

Sweetwater Elpidio Pete Cobian

Reunion

According the the Sweetwater band site, “In 1994, Sweetwater conducted a reunion to commemorate Woodstock’s 25th anniversary. Attempts were made, but no one was able to find out what had happened to Elpidio, our former conga player. A few years later, we learned Elpidio still plays occasionally with groups, but has had a really successful career working for the film studios on their set crews. He worked on underwater sets, principally as a welder, for such hit movies as “Jaws” and “The Abyss”, among others. He has a wife, Evelyn, and two adult sons, Orlando and Mario.”

Band site

Sweetwater Elpidio Pete Cobian

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

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

February 25, 2017 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

Pavonia Massacre

February 25, 1642: New Netherlands Governor-Director Willem Kieft led a raiding party against a helpless groups of Lenape Algonquins seeking refuge from rival Iroquois invaders. The mass killing was called the “Pavonia massacre,” and it prompted a full-scale retaliation from surrounding Algonquin tribes that utterly decimated the fledgling new colony. A report read…

“Infants were torn from their mother’s breasts, and hacked to pieces in the presence of their parents, and pieces thrown into the fire and in the water, and other sucklings, being bound to small boards, were cut, stuck, and pierced, and miserably massacred in a manner to move a heart of stone. Some were thrown into the river, and when the fathers and mothers endeavored to save them, the soldiers would not let them come on land but made both parents and children drown…” (Indian Country Today article) (see June 24, 1675)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Hiram R. Revels

February 25, 1870: Southern Democrats failed in their attempt to exclude Revels from the Senate and he became the first black member of the United States Senate as he was sworn in to serve out the unexpired term of Jefferson Davis. [House dot Gov bio] (see Mar 31)

James Stephenson

February 25 1946: James Stephenson, a U.S. Navy veteran from the Pacific theater, accompanied his mother, Gladys Stephenson, to a local department store to pick up a radio that Mrs. Stephenson had left for repairs. She and a young white male clerk began to argue about the repair order; he became verbally aggressive, threatening her. James Stephenson stepped between the two and struggled with the clerk, who ended up crashing through a window in the department store. Local police arrested both Stephensons for disturbing the peace. They pleaded guilty and paid a fifty-dollar fine.

The incident was seemingly over until, on that same day, the police again arrested James Stephenson, this time due to a warrant brought by the white clerk’s father. The new warrant charged Stephenson with assault with the intent to commit murder, a felony. Julius Blair, a local black businessman, posted bond, however, and Stephenson was able to return home that evening.

A white mob gathered around the Maury County Courthouse. A block south, along the segregated black business section known as the Mink Slide, black citizens and military veterans gathered as well. The Columbia police chief sent four patrolmen to the Mink Slide. Someone shouted for the officers to stop; when they failed to do so, shots were fired, leaving all four wounded. Within hours, state highway patrolmen and the state safety commissioner, Lynn Bomar, arrived in town. Together with some of the town’s whites, they surrounded the Mink Slide district. (see Feb 26)

Alabama State College

February 25, 1960: six students at the Alabama State College for Negroes, a state operated institution of higher learning for prospective Negro school teachers. along with 20 other students entered a publicly owned lunch grill in the basement of the courthouse in Montgomery, and asked to be served. Service was refused and the lunchroom was closed. “The Negroes refused to leave,” and police were called. (see Greensboro for expanded story [see Greensboro 4 for expanded story]

Muhammad Ali

February 25, 1964: Clay, with a record of 19-0, fought the hard hitting and much-feared heavyweight champion, Sonny Liston. Clay said, “Sonny Liston is nothing. The man can’t talk. The man can’t fight. The man needs talking lessons. The man needs boxing lessons. And since he’s gonna fight me, he needs falling lessons.” Despite being a 7-1 underdog, Ali upsets Sonny Liston to win the world heavyweight championship at age 22. (NYT article) (see Feb 26)

Judicial Milestone

February 25, 1987: in the United States v Paradise, the US Supreme Court upheld a one-for-one promotion requirement (i.e., for every white candidate promoted, a qualified African American would also be promoted) in the Alabama Department of Public Safety, finding it to be narrowly tailored and necessary to eliminate the effects of Alabama’s long-term discrimination which the lower court had found “blatant and continuous.” (see June 30, 2014)

Rodney King

February 25, 1993: trial of Sgt. Stacey Koon and officers Laurence Michael Powell, Timothy Wind, and Theodore Briseno began. (King, see Mar 9)

James Byrd murder

February 25, 1999: John William King sentenced to death. [2018 loses appeal] (BH, see June 30; Byrd, see September 21, 2011; King, see April 24, 2019)

Amadou Diallo

February 25, 2000: after two days of deliberations, a jury in Albany acquitted the officers of all charges. [NY Daily News article] (see Apr 18)

Murders of Three Civil Rights Workers

February 25, 2010: Edgar Ray Killen, serving a 60-year sentence after his 2005 manslaughter convictions in the deaths of Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman, filed a federal lawsuit seeking millions of dollars in damages and a declaration that the FBI violated his rights were violated when it allegedly used a gangster during its investigation. Killen claimed the FBI conspired to suppress his rights to “defend his society and culture.” (BH, see Sept 6; see Murders expanded story)

Alabama State College sit-in

February 25, 2010: in a ceremony commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the 1960 sit-in, Alabama State University (formerly Alabama State College) President William Harris reinstated the nine students, criticized former Governor Patterson‘s “arbitrary, illegal and intrusive” role in forcing the expulsions, and praised the student protest as “an important moment in civil rights history.” (BH, see May 11)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

Chinese immigrants

February 25, 1886: during the second half of the nineteenth century, an increase in mining activity and railroad construction led to a massive influx of Chinese immigrants into Washington Territory, which later became the State of Idaho. By 1870, Idaho was home to more than four thousand Chinese residents, and they comprised nearly 30 percent of the population. “Chinatowns” existed in many Idaho cities, and the new immigrants formed thriving communities.

Chinese immigrants in Idaho faced severe hostility, which manifested in discriminatory statutes, disparate treatment in courts, and even violence. In 1866, the Idaho Territorial Legislature levied a tax of five dollars per month on all Chinese residents. Chinese residents were not permitted to testify against whites in court, and acts of violence committed against the Chinese were rarely investigated or punished. Idaho public sentiment against the Chinese culminated in an anti-Chinese convention held in Boise on February 25, 1886. At the convention, white residents of Idaho voted to expel Chinese citizens.

In the decades following, white Idaho residents undertook a campaign of violent removal of Idaho’s Chinese population. Mobs frequently destroyed Chinese homes and businesses, and in 1887, a white mob murdered thirty-one Chinese miners in the Hell’s Canyon Massacre.

During the 1890s and 1900s, a number of towns including Bonners Ferry, Clark Fork, Hoodoo, Moscow, and Twin Falls forcibly expelled their Chinese residents. By 1910, Idaho’s once-thriving Chinese population had nearly disappeared. (see February 7, 1887)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

Robert Mitchum

February 25, 1949: actor Robert Mitchum was released from a Los Angeles County prison farm after spending the final week of his two-month sentence for marijuana possession there. In the fall of 1948, Mitchum, the star of classics such as Cape Fear and Night of the Hunter, was smoking a joint at a small party in the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles when detectives burst in and arrested him. There is some reason to believe that Mitchum’s arrest was less than fair and designed to bring publicity to the Los Angeles Police Department’s anti-drug efforts. Although high-priced studio lawyers questioned irregularities in the case, it was later agreed that Mitchum would accept 60 days in jail and several years’ probation. (next Cannabis, see November 2, 1951 or see CC for expanded chronology)

Marijuana dispensaries

February 25, 2009: Attorney General Eric Holder’s issued a statement that the Drug Enforcement Administration would end its raids on state-approved marijuana dispensaries. The new policy represented a significant turnabout for the federal government. During the Bush administration, DEA agents shut down 30 to 40 marijuana dispensaries. (see Oct 19)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Hoa Binh

February 25, 1952: after more than three months of the French Union forces attempting to lure the Việt Minh out into the open and to force it to fight on French terms the French colonial forces evacuated Hoa Binh in Indochina. (see May 20, 1953)

Pete Seeger

February 25, 1968: Pete Seeger re-appeared on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Show and CBS permitted him to sing Waist Deep in the Big Muddy. (Smothers Brothers, see April 4, 1969)

My Lai Massacre

February, 25, 1968: the 1st and 2nd Platoons of Charlie Company stumbled across a minefield, killing three men and wounding a dozen more. The month of February had been devastating for Charlie Company. Frustration and anger from the loss of their companions led to aggression from traumatized soldiers. Lieutenant Calley was a member of Charlie Company. (Vietnam, see Feb 27; see My Lai for expanded story)

Muhammad Ali

February 25, 1970: the US Supreme Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (New Orleans) turned down Ali’s request that his appeal from a conviction for refusing to be inducted into the Army be heard by all 15 judges of the court meaning that a regular three judge panel would hear the case. (NYT article) (Ali, see Oct 26; Vietnam, see Mar 6)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

February 25 Music at al

Roots of Rock

February 25, 1957: Buddy Holly and the Crickets recorded “That’ll Be The Day.” The song would be their first hit. A previously recorded version, on July 22, 1956, had poor production and different vocals. (next RoR, see July 6)

Bob Dylan

February 25, 1964: Dylan appeared on the Steve Allen Show. Dylan’s discomfort with interviews was easily seen and when asked about his song, “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” Dylan’s response was to sing the song. (see June 9)

Los Angeles Acid Test

February 25, 1966: Acid Test in Los Angeles.Hollywood. Cinema Theatre. (see Los Angeles Acid Test for more) (next LSD, see March 19)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

INDEPENDENCE DAY

February 25, 1961: Kuwait independent from United Kingdom. (see Apr 27)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical Weapons News

February 25, 1962: five thousand people stood shivering in Trafalgar Square in London at a rally organized by the British anti-war group Committee of 100. (CW, see April; NN, see Apr 25)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

February 25, 1970: a grand jury indicted Silous Huddleson, president of Local 3228 of the United Mine Workers in the murder of Joseph Yablonski. (Labor, see Mar 18; Yablonski, see April 11, 1972)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

February 25, 1987: the US Supreme Court, in CALIFORNIA ET AL. v. CABAZON BAND OF MISSION INDIANS ET AL, on the development of Native American gaming. The Supreme Court’s decision effectively overturned the existing laws restricting gaming/gambling on U.S. Indian reservations.. (NA, see June 24; Gaming, see October 17, 1988)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Terri Schiavo

1990

February 25, 1990: Terri Schiavo collapsed in her St. Petersburg, Florida home in full cardiac arrest. She suffered massive brain damage due to lack of oxygen and after two and a half months in a coma, her diagnosis was a vegetative state. (see April 21, 2001)

2005

February 25, 2005, a Pinellas County (FL) judge ordered the removal of Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube. Several appeals and federal government intervention followed, which included President Bush signing legislation designed to keep her alive. (CBS News picture essay) (see Mar 18)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ War I

February 25, 1991: an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 28 Americans. [NYT article] (see Feb 26)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

February 25, 1993: Michigan Governor John Engler signed legislation banning assisted suicide. It made aiding in a suicide a four-year felony but allowed the law to expire after a blue-ribbon commission studied permanent legislation. (see Kevorkian for expanded story)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

February 25, 1998: White House lawyers prepared legal briefs to defend the administration’s position that executive privilege should shield several of President Bill Clinton’s top aides from certain questions in the Lewinsky investigation. (see Clinton for expanded story)

February 25 Peace Love Art Activism

Aaron Bushnell, Self-immolation

February 25, 2024: Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, died after setting himself ablaze outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., declaring that he “will no longer be complicit in genocide.”

In a posted video, security and police were seen responding to Bushnell as he was engulfed in flames and screamed “Free Palestine.”

While some responding officers attempted to put the fire out with extinguishers, others could be seen in the video standing nearby with guns drawn and calling for Bushnell to get on the ground. [Business Insider article] (next S-I protest, see )