Larry Harvey, “Mayor” of Black Rock City, endorses Matt Gonzalez
Transcript of Larry Harvey’s Speech
Larry Harvey is the de facto Mayor of Black Rock City
- the world’s largest annual temporary city devoted to
art & other cool things
Several years ago, I shook the hand of Harvey Milk. I
met him in my laundromat. He was alone: no flacks, no
spin-doctors — no consultants. He was running for
supervisor of San Francisco. And I liked him immensely
and I voted for him. He really didn’t have much money.
He neglected his little camera shop for politics. He
was a noble man who became my hero, and he never would
have got into office without district elections.
Then he was shot and killed — we all remember — and
so was George Moscone. And after that, everything just
seemed to go downhill. Big money stepped in. It got
rid of district elections. It silenced all our voices,
but the neighborhoods fought back, and now we have
district supervisors, again.
About three weeks ago, I shook the hand of Matt
Gonzalez. I liked him, too. He wouldn’t be running for
Mayor if it wasn’t for district elections, and he
hasn’t got much money, either, judging from the
campaign contributions on the other side. And yet, I
have come to believe that this is our chance - this is
our chance - to make up for the last 25 years.
You know, everywhere I go in this country I hear
people call San Francisco a world-class city. But you
and I know that it’s not a big city. It’s really a
town that is made up of neighborhoods. And, if it has
any claim to being a great city, it is because of its
grassroots culture. Our city has been the incubator of
great social movements, and that is not because of
money or the high-rises downtown.
It is because we’re part of a community that’s very
like another city that I know of in the Black Rock
Desert. People come here as they come to it, to be
themselves and live with other people who are also
free to be themselves. We are here because we want to
live authentically. And if all of you, and all of the
people that you know, will just participate in this
election, we can re-achieve a kind of greatness that
will send that message out across the nation and
around the world.
You don’t have to feel co-opted. You don’t have to say
that things have got too big, that money talks. You
don’t have to hide in a subculture and not speak to
your neighbors. Big money doesn’t have the power to
co-opt us. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s not the man to tell
us what to do. We can collectively express ourselves.
Now, at the beginning of the 21st Century, we, united
as San Franciscans, can teach the United States of
America what it can become. And, hey, I’m not even a
Green, but I’m voting for Gonzalez on December 9th.
It’s time for people to do what we do every year at
Burning Man. Don’t be a spectator. Get out there.
Connect like crazy with people you don’t even know.
Tell them that they must participate, and, above all
else, please, welcome them home.
