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

September 14 Peace Love Art Activism

September 14, 2015 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

September 14 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Battle of Liberty Place

September 14, 1874: a battle took place in the streets of New Orleans. In it, the Democratic-Conservative White League attacked the Republican Metropolitan Police for control of the city and to put an end to Reconstruction in Louisiana.

Although the White League inflicted a stunning defeat on the Metropolitans and forcibly deposed Governor William Pitt Kellogg, its victory proved short-lived. President Ulysses S. Grant ordered the army to reinstate Kellogg three days later. Quickly dubbed “The Battle of Liberty Place” by the White League and its supporters, the clash not only marked a crucial turning point in the balance of power during Reconstruction in Louisiana, it served as a defining moment for a generation of elite, young white men in New Orleans. [Know Louisiana article] (see Dec 7)

James C Anderson

September 14, 201: the sister of a James C Anderson (see June 26, 2011), asked prosecutors not to pursue the death penalty against anyone accused of her brother’s murder. [CNN story] (JCA, see March 22, 2012; BH, see Sept 21)

September 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Anarchism in the US

President McKinley

September 14, 1901: President McKinley died of a gangrenous infection stemming from his (Sept 6) wounds. (NYT article) (see Sept 24, 1901)

Eugene V. Debs

September 14, 1918: in Cleveland Eugene V. Debs was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for violating the Espionage Act. [text of Debs’s statement] (see Oct 16; Debs, see March 10, 1919)

September 14 Peace Love Art Activism

September 14 Music et al

see Tutti Frutti for more

September 14, 1955: after some lyric adjustments (such as from “Tutti frutti, good booty” to “Tootie frutti, all rooty”), Little Richard recorded Tutti Frutti.

Bob Dylan

September 14, 1961: Dylan met John Hammond at a rehearsal session for Carolyn Hester at the apartment shared by Hester and her then-husband, Richard Fariña.

Hester had invited Dylan to the session as a harmonica player, and Hammond approved him as a session player after hearing him rehearse, with recommendations from his son, musician John P. Hammond, and from Liam Clancy. (see Sept 26)

see Toledo Pop Festival for more

September 14, 1969: the Toledo Pop Festival held at Toledo Raceway Park. Performers were:

Turtles
MC5
Amboy Dukes
Alice Cooper
Frost
SRC

Pleasure Seekers
Rationals
Savage Grace
Rush
Frut
Live

(see Oct 4)

September 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

Luna 2

September 14, 1959: the Soviets’ Luna 2 successfully crash-landed on the moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach another planetary body. (Techzibits article) (see Oct 4)

Zond 5

September 14, 1968: the Soviet Union sent Zond 5 around the moon and back to Earth in an unmanned test of their circumlunar spacecraft. The craft carried tortoises, “wine flies, meal worms, plants, seeds, bacteria, and other living matter.” (Atlantic article) (see Oct 11 – 12)

September 14 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Landrum-Griffin Act

September 14, 1959: President Eisenhower signed the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act. The law addressed the union corruption uncovered by Senator John L. McClellan. It held labor leaders to stricter standards in handling union funds and required them to file annual reports. [US DoL article] (see March 16, 1960)

César E. Chávez

September 14, 1970: Courts ruled that Chávez was leading an illegal strike because it involved a jurisdictional dispute between two unions. (see Oct 8, 1970)

Dolores Huerta

September 14, 1988: during a peaceful and lawful protest of the policies/platform of then-candidate for president George H.W. Bush, San Francisco Police officers severely beat Huerta resulting in several broken ribs and necessitating the removal of her spleen.

Huerta won a large judgment against the SFPD and the City of San Francisco, the proceeds of which were used for the benefit of farm workers. [SF Gate article] (see November 12, 1990)

September 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

September 14, 1995: Kevorkian arrived at the Oakland County Courthouse in Pontiac, Michigan in homemade stocks with ball and chain. He is ordered to stand trial for assisting in the 1991 suicides of Sherry Miller and Marjorie Wantz. (see Kevorkian for expanded story)

September 14 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

September 14, 2010: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab dismissed his court-appointed defense team to defend himself. The court subsequently appointed Anthony Chambers to act as standby counsel. [NPR article] (Terrorism, see Nov 17; Abdulmutallab, see October 12, 2011)

LGBTQ

Kim Davis

September 14, 2015: (from the NYT) Undaunted in her religious faith but facing the specter of another courtroom reckoning, Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk, who was jailed for defying a federal judge’s order that she issue marriage licenses, said Monday that she would not stop her employees from processing licenses for same-sex couples.

But the condition that Ms. Davis attached to her admittedly makeshift solution — that the licenses would lack her authorization — was an indication that her protracted legal and political battles would not go away soon. Ms. Davis’s strategy could spur new litigation to challenge the licenses, and it was unclear how Judge David L. Bunning of Federal District Court, who jailed Ms. Davis on Sept. 3, would respond. (see Sept 15)

Atlantic Coast Conference

September 14, 2016: the Atlantic Coast Conference announced that it would move neutral-site championships for this academic year, including its football title game in December and its women’s basketball tournament in March, out of North Carolina in reaction to a state law that curbed anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. [Washington Post article] (LGBTQ, see Sept 30; NC, see Dec 22)

September 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

September 14, 2017: President Trump confirmed that he supported legislation that would protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation and would deliver a “massive” increase in border security — but not with a wall on the southern border.

Mr. Trump’s comments, both in Washington and in Florida, affirmed the broad parameters of an agreement that Democratic leaders unilaterally announced the previous night after dinner with the president at the White House.

In remarks to reporters as he left the White House, Mr. Trump said, “We’re working on a plan for DACA,” referring to protections for immigrants who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. He confirmed, “the wall will come later.” [NYT article] (see Sept 16)

September 14 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

September 14, 2020: NPR reported that with wildfires devastating the West and a hurricane bearing down on the Gulf Coast, President Trump, who had for years mocked and denied the reality of climate change, attended a briefing on the status of fires in California.

During his briefing, which included California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, officials repeatedly invoked climate change and its impact on the state’s ability to manage the raging infernos.

Still, even as more than two dozen wildfires roared across California alone, Trump declined to acknowledge the role climate change likely played in fueling the flames (next EI, see Sept 25)

September 14 Peace Love Art Activism

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Cultural milestone, Desegregation, Feminism, Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, Space race, Teenage culture, Today in history

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

September 12, 2015 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

STUDENT ACTIVISM

September 12, 1905: The Intercollegiate Socialist Society (ISS) began. It was a national non-party group dedicated to the organization of current and former collegians for the socialist cause and the spreading of socialist ideas on campus. [Marxist History dot org article] (see December 2, 1964)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

Woonsocket strike

September 12, 1934: National Guardsmen fired on “sullen and rebellious” strikers at the Woonsocket (Rhode Island) Rayon plant, killing one and injuring three others. A correspondent said the crowd of about 2,000 “went completely wild with rage.” Word spread, 6,000 more workers arrived at the scene and the city was put under military rule. The governor declared that “there is a Communist uprising and not a textile strike” in the state. [RI History article] (see April 8, 1935)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Cooper v. Aaron

September 12, 1958: the Supreme Court asserted the supremacy of the Constitution as the law of the land and the authority of the federal courts to enforce lawful court orders. The case arose from the 1957 conflict over the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the face of opposition from local officials and a pro-segregation mob.

Important as it was in terms of constitutional law, Cooper v. Aaron did not end the school integration crisis in Little Rock. The decision applied only to orders from the lower courts. In the summer of 1958, segregationists who controlled the Little Rock school board voted to close the schools rather than integrate them. Thus, in what is known as “the lost year,” the city’s public schools were closed for the 1958–1959 academic year. They reopened in the fall of 1959 after citizens and business leaders, concerned about the impact of closed public schools on the city’s future, captured control of the school board and reopened the schools. (additional info via PBS) (BH, see Sept 20; SD, see Sept 27)

Albany Movement

September 12, 1962: Martin Luther King Jr. decried the pace of civil rights progress in the United States. He also said that “no President can be great, or even fit for office, if he attempts to accommodate injustice to maintain his political balance.” (BH, see Sept 13; see Albany for expanded story)

Birmingham West End High School

September 12, 1963: white students in Birmingham, Alabama, drag an African American effigy past West End High School. Two African American girls attended the desegregated school and a majority of the white students were staying away from classes. Police stopped this car in a segregationist caravan in front of the school to caution them about fast driving and blowing auto horns in front of a school. [Alabama dot com article] (BH, see Sept 15; SD, see Oct 22)

Grenada, Mississippi

Twelve years after the United States Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling holding school segregation unconstitutional, the city of Grenada, Mississippi, continued to operate a segregated school system. In August of 1966, a federal judge ordered that African American students be permitted to enroll in the formerly whites-only schools. Approximately 450 African American students enrolled prior to the scheduled start of the school year on September 2, 1966.

On September 2, the school district postponed the start of school by ten days. White leaders used that time to attempt to coerce African American parents into withdrawing their children from the white schools by threatening them with firing or eviction; as a result, 200 students withdrew.

On September 12, 1966, the Grenada schools opened, and 250 African American students attempted to integrate the schools. A large white mob surrounded the school and turned away most of the African American students. As the students retreated, members of the mob pursued them through the streets, beating them with chains, pipes, and clubs. At lunchtime, the mob returned to the school to attack the few African American students who had successfully entered. As the students left for lunch, members of the mob attacked them, leaving some hospitalized with broken bones. Reporters covering the story were also beaten.

The mob violence continued for several days, with no intervention from law enforcement. On September 16, a federal judge ordered protection for the students, and on September 17, thirteen members of the mob were arrested by the FBI. [Black Then article] (BH, see Oct 15; SD, see May 27, 1968)

Boston

September 12, 1974: in Boston, opposition to court-ordered school busing turned violent on the opening day of classes. School buses carrying African-American children were pelted with eggs, bricks and bottles, and police in combat gear fought to control angry white protesters besieging the schools. The protests continued, and many parents, black and white, kept their children at home. In October, the National Guard was mobilized to enforce the federal desegregation order. [WBUR article] (BH, see Oct 3; SD, see February 6, 1986)

Steven Biko

September 12, 1977: Steve Biko died while in police custody. Police had driven him naked in a truck 700 miles to Pretoria where he died in a prison cell. (see Peter Gabriel – “Biko” (1980) [Overcoming Apartheid article] (SA/A, see March 28, 1982; Biko, see January 28, 1997)

BLACK & SHOT/Freddie Gray

September 12, 2017: the Justice Department announced that six Baltimore police officers would face no federal charges in the death of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man who died of a severe spinal cord injury while in custody.

“After an extensive review of this tragic event, conducted by career prosecutors and investigators, the Justice Department concluded that the evidence is insufficient,” the department said in a statement, adding that it was unable to prove the officers “willfully violated Gray’s civil rights.”

The closure of the criminal civil rights investigation into Mr. Gray’s death, which prompted unrest in Baltimore, a predominantly black city, and a federal examination of its police department’s practices, means that no officers will be held criminally responsible in his death. [NYT article] (next B & S, see March 19, 2024)

BLACK & SHOT/Tyre Nichols

September 12, 2023: the Justice Department announced indictments of the former Memphis police officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith– accused of brutally beating Tyre Nichols on federal criminal charges in connection with Nichols’s death.

The four charges, handed up by a grand jury in the Federal District Court in Memphis, accuse each of the five men of various civil rights, conspiracy and obstruction offenses.

They faced two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, as the grand jury found that on January 7, 2023 the officers had unlawfully assaulted Nichols, refused to intervene, and had failed to provide medical aid or tell medical responders about his injuries. The indictment said that the two offenses led to Nichols’s severe injuries and death. [NYT article] (next B & S, see ; next Nichols, see )

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

September 12, 1962: President Kennedy gave a speech at Rice University, future home of the Manned Spacecraft Center (which later will be renamed Johnson Space Center)

In it he famously stated: We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. [text of entire speech](see Dec 13)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

September 12 Music et al

The Beatles

September 12, 1965: an August 14 taped performance broadcast on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Taped before a live studio audience at Studio 50 in NY. The Beatles perform: 1) I Feel Fine 2) I’m Down 3) Act Naturally 4) Ticket to Ride 5) Yesterday 6) Help! (see Sept 13)

see The Monkees for more

September 12, 1966: the made-for-TV show band, The Monkees, premiered on NBC. (see Oct 10)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Maude

September 12, 1972: Maude, a spin-off of All in the Family, premiered, starring Beatrice Arthur as Maude Findlay, a leftist feminist who supports abortion and civil rights. (next Feminism see Oct 25)

Malala Yousafzai

September 12, 2014: the Pakistani army announced that 10 Taliban militants who tried to kill teenage activist Malala Yousufzai for her outspoken views on girls’ education in the country’s troubled northwest in 2012 had been arrested. [USA Today article] (see Oct 10)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Hurricane Katrina

September 12, 2005: in the wake of what was widely believed to be incompetent handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by state, local and federal officials, FEMA director, Michael Brown, resigned, saying that it was “in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the president.” His standing had also been damaged when the Boston Herald revealed his meager experience in disaster management before joining FEMA. (see Katrina for expanded story)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

September 12, 2011: Macoule nuclear site (France). One person is killed and four are injured – one with serious burns – after an explosion in a furnace used to melt down nuclear waste and recycle it for energy. No radiation leaks nor damage to the plant were detected. [Reuters article] (see January 30, 2012)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Terry Jones

September 12, 2013: after being arrested on September 11, Terry Jones was released from the Polk County Jail after posting a $1,250 bond. (see Oct 15)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH & Colin Kaepernick

September 12, 2016: Eric Reid knelt alongside Colin Kaepernick. 49ers teammates and Rams players raise their fists

Kaepernick maintained his protest, and was joined by several players set to take the field before Monday Night Football. As expected, safety Eric Reid knelt next to the quarterback during the national anthem, just as he did during the last week of the preseason. 49ers linebacker Eli Harold and safety Antoine Bethea stood, but with their fists raised in the air.

The 49ers players were joined by their opponents. Rams defensive end Robert Quinn (No. 94) and wide receiver Kenny Britt (No. 18) also stood with their fists in the air. [USA Today article] (FS & CK, see Sept 16)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

September 12, 2016: responding to a contentious North Carolina law that curbed anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, the N.C.A.A announced that it would relocate all championship tournament games scheduled to take place in the state over the coming academic year. Among the events affected was the Division I men’s basketball tournament, the N.C.A.A.’s most prominent annual event, which had six first- and second-round games scheduled to be played in Greensboro in March.

The announcement followed the N.B.A.’s decision in July to move its 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte but was seen as a particularly substantial blow to officials in North Carolina, where college basketball is central to the state’s culture and pride. North Carolina had hosted more men’s basketball tournament games than any other state, an N.C.A.A. spokesman said. [NYT article] (LGBTQ & NC, see Sept 14)

NYC/Conversion therapy

September 12, 2019: nearly two years ago, the New York City Council passed a far-reaching ban on conversion therapy, a discredited practice to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

On this date, Corey Johnson, the Council speaker, who is gay, said the Council would act swiftly to repeal the ban.

The move was a gambit designed to neutralize a federal lawsuit filed against the city by a conservative Christian legal organization; if the case were to be heard by the Supreme Court, advocates for the L.G.B.T. community fear that the panel could issue a ruling that could severely damage attempts to ban or curtail conversion therapy. [NYT article] (next LGBTQ, see January 21, 2020)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

September 12, 2017: the Supreme Court agreed with the Trump administration and put on hold the September 7 lower-court decision that would have allowed more refugees to enter the country.

The court issued a one-paragraph statement granting the administration’s request for a stay. There were no recorded dissents to the decision. [Washington Post article] (see Sept 14)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Marijuana

September 12, 2018: Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. asked a court to scrap 3,042 warrants for people who missed court dates and to toss out the cases themselves. He had recently decided to stop prosecuting many minor pot possession cases and argued it made sense to spare people potential arrests in old ones.

The cases included misdemeanor and violation-level pot possession cases that had sat open for as long as 40 years. [Eagle article] (see Sept 13)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

September 12, 2018: Pope Francis announced that he had summoned bishops from around the world to Rome for an unprecedented meeting focused on protecting minors.

It would be the first global gathering of church leaders to discuss the crisis. [Washington Post article] (next SAoC, see Oct 12; gathering, see February 21, 2019)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

September 12, 2019: the Trump administration completed the legal repeal of a major Obama-era clean water regulation, which had placed limits on polluting chemicals that could be used near streams, wetlands and water bodies.

The rollback of the 2015 measure, known as the Waters of the United States rule, had been widely expected since the early days of the Trump administration, when President Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to begin the work of repealing and replacing it. [NYT article] (see Sept 17)

September 12 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War I, LGBTQ, Music et al, Peace Love Art and Activism, South Africa/Apartheid, Today in history, Vietnam

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

September 11, 2015 Woodstock Whisperer Leave a comment

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Christiana Riot

September 11, 1851: in Christiana, Pa., a group of African Americans and white abolitionists skirmished with a Maryland posse intent on capturing four fugitive slaves hidden in the town. The violence came a year after Congress passed the second fugitive slave law, requiring the return of all escaped slaves to their owners in the South. One member of the posse, landowner Edward Gorsuch, was killed and two others wounded during the fight. In the aftermath of the so-called Christiana Riot, 37 African Americans and one white man were arrested and charged with treason under the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law. Most were acquitted. [Black Past article] (see Oct 1)

SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID

September 11, 1977: a guard found Steve Biko semiconscious and foaming at the mouth. A doctor ordered him transported to a prison hospital in Pretoria. [Overcoming Apartheid article] (see Sept 12)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History

September 11, 1897: 75,000 coal miners in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia ended a 10-week strike after winning an 8-hour day, semi-monthly pay and the abolition of overpriced company-owned stores where they had been forced to shop. (see February 28, 1898)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Emma Goldman

September 11, 1917: Goldman was prevented from speaking at the Kessler Theater by the New York City police. Goldman was out on bail at the time, having been arrested on June 15, 1917, for violating the Espionage Act by opposing U.S. involvement in World War I. To protest the ban, she appeared on stage at the Kessler Theater on this day with a gag over her mouth. She was later convicted and sent prison. Upon her release two years later, she was deported to the Soviet Union, on December 21, 1919 (see Goldman for expanded story)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

September 11, 1945

Lt Col A Peter Dewey

The first members of the US OSS team landed at Saigon led by Lieutenant Colonel A Peter Dewey. His mission was to care for American prisoners-of-war, protect American property, and gather information about enemy atrocities. [History dot com article]

Gen. Douglas Gracey

In accordance with the Potsdam Agreements at the end of World War II, 5,000 British troops of the 20th Indian Division, commanded by Gen. Douglas Gracey, arrived in southern Indochina to disarm the defeated Japanese forces Gracey detested the Viet Minh and rearmed some 1,400 French soldiers who had been imprisoned by the Japanese. This effectively was the first step in the re-establishment of French colonial rule and set the stage for the conflict between the French and the Viet Minh that led to a nine-year war. [MHN article] (see Sept 23)

1st Cavalry Division

September 11, 1965: the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) began to arrive in South Vietnam at Qui Nhon, bringing U.S. troop strength in South Vietnam to more than 125,000. The unit, which had a long and storied history, was the first full U.S. Army division deployed to Vietnam. The division consisted of nine battalions of airmobile infantry, an air reconnaissance squadron, and six battalions of artillery. The division also included the 11th Aviation Group, made up of three aviation battalions consisting of 11 companies of assault helicopters, assault support helicopters, and gunships. [First Team article] (see Sept 15)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

September 11, 1961: KQED in San Francisco broadcast The Rejected, a made-for-television documentary film about homosexuality. The Rejected was the first documentary program on homosexuality on American television. Experts interviewed for the program included Margaret Mead who spoke from an anthropological standpoint. Mead referred to the positive roles that homosexuality had played in the cultures of Ancient Greece, the South Sea Islands, and in Inuit and Native American societies. Mead noted that it was society and not the individual that determined how homosexuality and homosexual behavior were viewed. (see October 17, 1963)

Please note: copyright to The Rejected is held by WNET. All rights reserved. WNET is the premier public media provider of the New York metropolitan area and parent of public television stations THIRTEEN and WLIW21. The Rejected was originally produced by KQED for National Educational Television (NET) - the predecessor of WNET - and first aired on September 11th 1961, on KQED Ch.9 in the Bay Area

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

September 11 Music et al

Beatles

September 11, 1962: finally recorded their first single, “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You,” at EMI studios in London. (see Oct 5)

Beatles demand audience integration

September 11, 1964: the management of the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., where had stated firmly that the stadium would be segregated. The Beatles said they would refuse to play if the stadium were segregated. The day before the concert they were assured that the show would be fully integrated. (BH, see Oct 14; Beatles, see Nov 13)

Help! album

September 11 – November 12, 1965, The Beatles: the soundtrack Help! the Billboard #1 album. On each album cover, the Beatles hold their arms in semaphore-like letters, as if spelling out H E L P, but on the UK release (below left) the letters are R U J V and on the US release (bottom right) the letters are N V U J (see Sept 12)

The accurate arm placements would be:


H	E	L	P

Magical Mystery Tour

September 11, 1967: Beatles began filming ‘Magical Mystery Tour’. There was no script, nor a very clear idea of exactly what was to be accomplished, not even a clear direction about where the bus was supposed to go. The bus set off for the West Country in England stopping for the night in Teignmouth, Devon where hundreds of fans greeted The Beatles at their hotel. (see Sept 29)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Victor Jara

September 11, 1973: a CIA-backed military coup in Santiago led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet overthrows democratically elected Pres. Salvadore Allende of Chile, who commits suicide with a rifle given to him by Fidel Castro. [History dot com article] (see Victor Jara for expanded chronology)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Dissolution of the USSR

September 11, 1988: 300,000 demonstrate for independence in Estonia. (see USSR for expanded chronology)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

IRAQ War I

September 11, 1990: President George H W Bush delivered a nationally televised speech in which he threatened the use of force to remove Iraqi soldiers from Kuwait. (see Nov 29)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

September 11, 1998: the House of Representative votes to receive the Starr report. The House Judiciary Committee takes possession of the 18 boxes of materials and promptly releases the first 445 pages to the public. (see Clinton for expanded story)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

World Trade Center

September 11, 2001: terrorists associated with al Qaeda hijacked four US commercial airliners, two of which were crashed into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City, with a third hitting the Pentagon in Washington DC. The fourth plane went down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The attacks spawned an immediate tightening of aviation security regulations and in October 2001 led to Congressional passage of the controversial USA PATRIOT Act, giving the executive broad new national security powers. (Terrorism, see Sept 18, WTC, see December 19, 2003)

Terry Jones acquiesces

September 11, 2010: Jones told NBC’s “Today” show that he would not burn Korans on the September 11 anniversary or at any point in the future.

Terry Jones arrested

September 11, 2013: sheriff deputies arrested pastor Terry Jones and his associate pastor, Marvin Sap, they drove to a park to set fire to nearly 3,000 Qur’ans to mark the September 11 terrorist attacks.

They were charged with unlawful conveyance of fuel as they traveled in a pickup truck towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with Qur’ans soaked in kerosene. Sheriff’s officials said that Jones was also charged with the unlawful open-carry of a firearm and that Sapp faced a charge of having no valid registration for the trailer. (see Oct 15)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH & Colin Kaepernick

September 11, 2016: NFL Seahawks, Dolphins, Chiefs and Patriots players demonstrated during nation anthem

The first Sunday of the NFL season took place on the 15th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. This made the national anthem ceremonies on that day particularly emotional. Four Dolphins players — running back Arian Foster, safety Michael Thomas, wide receiver Kenny Stills and linebacker Jelani Jenkins — took a knee during the anthem after standing up for a 9/11 acknowledgment.

After the game, Foster explained that he loves the country and the rights it affords him. He later tweeted “don’t let the love for a symbol overrule the love for your fellow human.”

No Seahawks players took a knee during the anthem, but the entire team did link arms as a way of honoring the flag and continuing the conversation that Kaepernick started.

The Kansas Chiefs locked arms before kickoff of their game with the San Diego Chargers. Cornerback Marcus Peters held up a fist, saying he supported Kaepernick’s efforts to raise awareness to the justice system.

Prior to Sunday Night Football, Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett and safety Devin McCourty also raised their fists after the national anthem. [Huff Post article] (FS & CK, see Sept 12)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

September 11, 2019: the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to bar most Central American migrants from seeking asylum in the United States, while the legal fight plays out in the courts.

The Court, in a brief, unsigned order, said the administration may enforce new rules that generally forbid asylum applications from migrants who have traveled through another country on their way to the United States without being denied asylum in that country.

The court’s order effectively barred most migration across the nation’s southwestern border by Hondurans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans and others. Mexican migrants, who need not travel through another country to reach the United States, were not affected by the new policy. (see Sept 27)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Consumer Protection

September 11, 2019: the Trump administration said that it would ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes, at a time when hundreds of people had been sickened by mysterious lung illnesses and teenage vaping continued to rise.

Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, said that the Food and Drug Administration would outline a plan within the coming weeks for removing flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine pods from the market, excluding tobacco flavors. The ban would include mint and menthol, popular varieties that manufacturers have argued should not be considered flavors. (e-cigarette ban, see Nov 18; next CP, see Nov 18)

September 11 Peace Love Art Activism

Crime and Punishment

Inmate firefighters

September 11, 2020: California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill allowing inmate firefighters to have their records expunged, clearing the path for them to be eligible for firefighting jobs upon release.

The bill, sponsored by Democratic Assemblywoman Eloise Reyes, let prisoners who received “valuable training and [placed] themselves in danger assisting firefighters to defend the life and property of Californians” to petition the courts to dismiss their convictions after completing their sentences.

That will make them eligible to receive EMT certification, a hiring requirement of municipal firefighting departments. [NPR story] (next C & P, see Oct 14)

Voting rights

September 11, 2020: in a significant reversal, the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta ruled that a Florida law requiring people with serious criminal convictions to pay court fines and fees before they can register to vote was constitutional.

The decision overturned a ruling by a lower court in May that found the law discriminated against the majority of felons, many of whom were indigent, by imposing an unlawful “pay-to-vote system.”

The ruling, if upheld, would put new hurdles in place for people convicted of crimes who are seeking to vote, after Florida’s voters had amended the state’s Constitution in 2018 to end the disenfranchisement of those convicted of felonies, except for murder and sexual offenses. [NYT article] (next VR, see Oct 28; next C &P, see Oct 14)