REMEMBER KENT STATE!

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 9:53am

Kent State, May 4, 1970: America Kills Its Children
Twenty-five years ago this month, students came out on the Kent State campus and scores of others to protest the bombing of Cambodia-- a decision of President Nixon's that appeared to expand the Vietnam War. Some rocks were thrown, some windows were broken, and an attempt was made to burn the ROTC building. Governor James Rhodes sent in the National Guard.

click link for full story

THE dead:

ALISON KRAUSE

JEFFREY MILLER

SANDRA SCHEUER

WILLIAM SCHROEDER


NEVER FORGET! May 4, 1970, they day I stopped feeling safe.



http://www.may4tharchive.org (a really complete site)
What happened

Updated On: 5/4/06 at 09:53 AM

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:16am

Hmmm, maybe I will take a trip down to the campus and visit the memorials.

[RobbO]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:20am

did her shirt always say "slave" ? i've never noticed that before.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:20am

I did that when I lived in Michigan. It was quite moving. As I was about to go off to college in a year when this happened, it had a profound view on how I saw the world.......

[NYadgal]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:21am

Be sure to read Iflit's thread... Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming...

Always remember.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:23am

thanks Addy, I did.....it's wonderful. I only started a 2nd one as I thought maybe younger people would pass hers up not knowing what it was for.....and I wanted some links listed so they could learn about it.

[wexy]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:24am

And don't forget the students murdered at Jackson State as well

http://www.may41970.com/Jackson%20State/jackson_state_may_1970.htm

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:25am

I live right next to Kent. I am actually working with their professional outdoor theatre this summer. Can't wait!

Very moving memorials. They have lights surrounding the places were the bodies layed. In the parking lot, on the sidewalk.

Updated On: 5/4/06 at 10:25 AM

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:27am

wexy, I was going to post that on the anniversary, which is May 14-15th

[Craig]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:28am

did her shirt always say "slave" ? i've never noticed that before.

No.. they photoshopped that in

It was a very tragic event.. and one that rang out throughout the country as a huge injustice.

[RobbO]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:29am

craig, these days you can never be sure. i've seen that photo hundreds of times and never noticed the writing on her shirt before.

[Craig]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:32am

Updated On: 5/4/06 at 10:32 AM

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:34am

craig I just see a red x......

[eyeonbroadway]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:42am

This happened when I was a junior in high school and it seemed to be the pivotal moment when the rest of America finally got "shaken" into understanding why young people distrusted the government so much. As if Viet Nam itself wasn't enough, we were now killing people for having dissenting opinions.

The memorial at Kent State is very moving and it's a daily part of the "culture" of that campus. We visited the campus when my son was shopping for colleges and the respect for and acknowledgement of the event was obvious throughout our visit.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:47am

eye, we're the same age then, as I graduated in 1971. I truly believe that on that day I lost my innocence........

[eyeonbroadway]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:56am

Yup, I graduated in 1971, too. I had an older brother and sister, so I was already pretty political, but I have to agree...Even I didn't believe that this could actually happen and when it did, it was a loss of my naive perspective that the government was "of the people". It has slanted my beliefs and politics ever since.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 11:03am

my brother was 7 years older, and was out on his own......
We were a wealthy upper-middle class family, and frankly I hadn't paid much attention to things before this.......after this, I did.....

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 11:08am

I love that Crosy Stills and Nash song which states, "Four Dead in Ohio!"

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 2:58pm

bump

[Broadway_Baby]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 3:16pm

We starve-look
At one another
Short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation
Of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
With supreme visions of lonely tunes

Let the sunshine in...

[Marlene]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 4:48pm

Thank you Elphaba. For remembering. And for the APUSH factoid...

[NYadgal]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 4:58pm

A day I'll never forget.

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 8:04pm

I've been thinking about this a lot since the other day when a young poster commented about how 9/11 changed her life by letting her know she was vulnerable. I suppose that Kent State did that for me.

I went to school there in 1970, starting the fall after the shootings. The wounds were still very fresh. A guy in my dorm was one of the students who had been shot, and he was back at school, a paraplegic in a wheelchair.

My (first) husband was out on Blanket Hill at the rally that day when the shootings occurred. He knew three of the kids who died, not to mention many of the injured. They closed the school and all the students had to go back home, from whence they came. When he got home to New Jersey and walked into his parent's house, his father looked up at him and said, "They should have shot all of you."

Of course, we already knew that it could be dangerous to protest. One only needs to think back to the Democratic National Convention of 1968 in Chicago to realize that. I think what had such a profound effect on the nation was that Kent State marked the first time students were killed by the government on a college campus. Even more jarring was that not all the kids who died were involved in the protest. One, William Schroeder, was in ROTC. (Reserve Officer Training Corps.)

Anyway, to bring my reminiscences full circle, there were no tales of the Heroes of Kent State being force fed by the media back in 1970. And for that, I'm a little bit grateful.

Updated On: 5/4/06 at 08:04 PM

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:04pm

wow Iflit, that was amazing.

[Broadway_Baby]

Posted: 5/4/06 at 10:15pm

Yes iflit, thank you for that.