Randy Shilts Members of the National Council for Japanese Redress, 1987
August 5, 1735. Truth as a Defense to Libel. Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia successfully represented John Peter Zenger as twelve NY jurors returned a verdict of “Not Guilty” on the charge of publishing “seditious libels.” Hamilton voluntarily went to New York and appeared on behalf of Zenger, a publisher who printed an article critical of the colonial judiciary. Hamilton advanced the doctrine, novel at the time, that the truth of the facts in an alleged libel could be asserted as a defense. The verdict was celebrated throughout the colonies because it advanced free discussion of the conduct of public men.
August 8, 1951. Randy Shilts, Journalist, Author, Activist born.
Randy Shilts was the first openly gay reporter at a mainstream metropolitan newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle. He also authored three landmark books: The Mayor of Castro Street, the biography of his assassinated friend Harvey Milk; And the Band Played On, the definitive account of the early years of the battle against AIDS; and Conduct Unbecoming, a study of the US military’s discrimination against gay soldiers. A witness to the outbreak of AIDS in San Francisco, Shilts devoted himself to covering the unfolding story of the disease and its medical, social, and political ramifications. He learned of the formal diagnosis that he had AIDS on the day he finished the manuscript for “Band Played On,” in 1987. Shilts died in February, 1994. For more on Shilts see: newsosaur.blogspot.com/2008/12/randy-shilts-conscience-of-castro.html
August 6, 1965. The Voting Rights Act was signed into law, by President Lyndon Johnson. The Voting Rights Act provided in part: “No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.” This “act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution” was signed into law 95 years after the amendment was ratified. In those years, African Americans in the South faced tremendous obstacles to voting, including poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions to deny them the right to vote. They also risked harassment, intimidation, economic reprisals, and physical violence when they tried to register or vote. As a result, very few African Americans were registered voters, and they had very little, if any, political power, either locally or nationally. Congress renewed temporary provisions of the Voting Rights Act in 2006. More information at: www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php
August 10, 1988. Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (Pub. L. 100-383) U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Act, providing $20,000 in reparations to Japanese Americans who were either interned in camps or relocated by the United States during World War II. The 1988 legislation stated that the government’s actions in targeting Japanese citizens and nationals were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership."