The Long Island City Council has recommended naming a park after Harvey Milk, a man I admire. He was the first gay mayor of San Francisco, assassinated by a homophobe, a failed candidate who had run against him, lost, and in a fit of vindictiveness, murdered him, shooting him point blank with a handgun like the coward he was. The assassin was arrested and convicted, but only served a paltry four years in prison, when he should have received life in prison or else the death penalty. But that was a more primitive time, an era of widespread right-wing brutality and violence that spawned a successful and victorious Liberal movement. Although he did not pay the full price of his crime, his dark deed had unexpected consequences that, perhaps, he would not have liked. It is often thus, with the violent cowards who think they can get their way with the gun. They manufacture martyrs. Indeed, I'd be happy to die if it meant the furtherance of the greater good. After all, what is life, this bag of bones and blood, next to the millions who will profit from a sacrifice, today and tomorrow? I do not think Harvey Milk would have regretted his life, even if he had foreseen the early end. To die in such a manner--noble, upright, heroic, standing for what one believes in, and killed by a coward--what could be a more beautiful death?
"Schipske, the Council's only other openly gay member, is against the naming because she believes the park should bear the name of a local gay rights advocate."
Harvey Milk's martyrdom transcends local sensibilities; I would like to ask whether the local advocate sacrificed his life for the movement. It is improper to name a physical structure after the living, because there is a possibility their name may be tarnished by a discreditable deed. Preferable is the policy of naming things after the dead, whose legacy is better assured. I'm unacquainted with the local situation, however.
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