May 4, 1970 - Kent State Shootings - 55th Anniversary

[Number9Dream]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by GP6971 (a host of the The DU Lounge forum).

May 4th marks the 55th anniversary of the tragic events at Kent State University in Ohio. At the time, it was an event of national significance. The shootings at Kent State inspired several songs, and even James Michener would write a detailed book about the tragedy. Though probably forgotten about by many adults, and unheard of by most of today's younger people, it deserves remembering.

Remembering - Allison Krause, Sandra Scheuer, Jeffrey Miller, William Schroeder.

In the spring of 1970, young Americans were being killed and wounded in a horrible war which divided our country. During an unruly anti-war protest on the Kent State campus, Ohio national guardsmen fired on unarmed college students. Three of the four students killed were simply walking across campus, and not even involved in the demonstration.
The killings affected college and high school students more than most adults. After all, this was a demonstration on a college campus in middle America, not China. They felt it could be them next.
I remember how the killings at Kent State pushed a large number of my high school classmates, who were politically middle-of-the-road, much further toward the anti-war, anti-establishment end of the spectrum.

My older brother, in the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, in Duc Pho, S. Vietnam, didn't hear about it until a day or two after. He said most of the soldiers felt that battle-dressed guardsmen should not have responded, even to rock throwing, with lethal force.
Parents of college students were upset and angry to think that their children could be shot dead walking across campus.
In the days following May 4th, there were many demonstrations at colleges and even high schools condemning the shootings at Kent State.

As with any history, by remembering this senseless tragedy, hopefully, we can prevent it from happening again.


http://www.thrasherswheat.org/fot/ohio.htm

[FadedMullet]

1. I was a student there on that day. My appreciation of the events of that week were of just one senseless....

....escalation after another the whole week.

[red dog 1]

5. Thanks for the post, and

Welcome to DU!

[walkingman]

2. Thank you for posting - and thanks to Neil Young for making it common

knowledge for so many people. Sadly, today we are seeing a climate not fae removed from this and it seems acceptable to the majority of people. The difference being most of the victims are immigrants - which seems to have taken on the same context as "liberal" these days by so many people.

[SheltieLover]

3. ...

[Deuxcents]

4. Unforgivable and unforgettable order to shoot our nation's children for protesting their government's policies

On an undeclared and unjust war in Vietnam …and Laos, even tho we were told we went there.
Thanks for the post..we can’t forget 💐

[mysuzuki2]

6. Please also remember

The Jackson State shootings. They should not be forgotten either

[red dog 1]

7. K&R, thanks for posting

(From the OP)

Remembering:
- Allison Krause
- Sandra Scheuer
- Jeffery Miller
- William Schroeder

[Blue Full Moon]

8. Love this version by Kent State Students

https://music.

&si=J2KAtyP5FuEdsVgH

[GP6971]

9. Locking per Host Consensu. No Politics in the Lounge. Please

feel free to repost in GD.