Bernard Castro (1904 - 1991) invented the convertible sofa.  The Castro District of San Francisco, however, was named after Jose Castro (1808-1860), a general in the Mexican army who opposed American control of California.

  
Interior, Castro Theater, November 27, 2008.

Normally I go north on Thanksgiving to see my spiritual teacher and spend the holiday meditating on the Eternal and Divine.  But this year my friend Brian offered to go with and share the driving and although we hit some fog and traffic we had a lovely trip and arrived in The Castro in time for the 4 PM showing of Gus Van Sant's film about the life and death of Harvey Milk, starring Sean Penn.  It wasn't until we were in our seats that we realized it was the 30th anniversary of Harvey's assassination, the 27th November 1978, when Dan White murdered Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Milk.  

The next afternoon we attended a memorial on the steps of City Hall, followed by a candlelight march up Market Street to Castro Camera, or rather the store front where it used to be and which also served as Harvey's campaign headquarters and as a gathering place for his supporters and friends.  On the march we met a young activist M. who had also been an extra in the film.  The march was, in that sense, not only a re-enactment of the march 30 years earlier on the night of the assassination, but also a reprisal, you could say, of scenes in the film.  A retracing of steps, so to speak, in time and history, which made for a slightly disorienting mix of the present with the past, reality and film.  M. told us about real-life people who had had cameos.  In the crowd, camera in hand, we saw Dan Nicoletta who had worked for Harvey in the camera store and on his political campaigns in the 70s.  M. told us about the production assistants who came around when they were shooting the crowd scenes, making sure everyone was dressed in historically accurate clothes and with period accessories.  M. did not look anywhere near old enough to have been alive in 1978. 

On the steps of City Hall, we learned from Harvey's nephew that the Milk family -- Harvey's mother and his brothers and their families -- had received hate mail after his murder.  As this is the time of year for gratitude and thanksgiving, I for one am grateful to be reminded of that.  I think it's important to remember that Love and Compassion, like civil rights, are not automatic givens in this world.  In the world of the Eternal and Divine, maybe, but not in America in 1978 and not thirty years later either.  Holly Near also spoke to the gathering on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall, and she reminded us of the words she had written to a song:

We are a gentle and angry people,
And we are singing, singing for our lives.

She said subsequent groups of people -- disenfranchised and oppressed, not just gays and lesbians but many sorts and varieties of men and women also fighting for their rights, for recognition, protection, for safety, dignity, acceptance -- that so many people in fact had borrowed the tune and modified the lyrics that it was now such a rich and full song you could not get all the words in.  But the meaning remained the same.  It was something else to be grateful for, knowing how big a few words, a little singing, can become.



Outside the former Castro Camera shop, November 28, 2008.

As a result I did not end up taking the BART out to the ashram to see my spiritual teacher.  Instead I walked with a group of strangers with candles on a San Francisco street in memory of a man who had fought and died for my civil rights, for equality and protection, not just for gay and lesbian people but for all people who suffer and are oppressed.  I don't think my teacher minded my choice.  There are many ways to engage in spiritual work.  There's more than one way to contemplate the Eternal and Divine.

Of course, for those who write hate mail to the mothers of murdered sons, it must sound like a silly way to spend the Thanksgiving weekend.  For those of us who remember 1978, however, at this time and in this place it seemed like the right thing to do.  Even for those who weren't old enough, remembering the courage it takes to keep Love and Compassion alive in this world, it must have seemed like as good a way as any to get grateful and give thanks.