TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2021

 TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2021

Today in History - the Kent State Massacre - May 4th, 1970.

I was in my first year of teaching - and the previous year I had been a student at a college similar to Kent State.  Two years later, when I was back at Dakota State doing my master’s degree I was a (mild) protester.  There was one evening when a group of students gathered on campus to protest the Vietnam War.  For that protest, the community brought out firetrucks and started spraying the rioting students with high-pressure water.  I don’t think anybody got hurt, although it did get wet and slippery quickly.  

We just wanted to be heard and recognized.

The link for the Kent State demonstration says this:  (all quoted)

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/national-guard-kills-four-at-kent-state

“On May 4, 1970, in Kent, Ohio, 28 National Guardsmen fired their weapons at a group of anti-war demonstrators on the Kent State University campus, killing four students, wounding eight, and permanently paralyzing another. The tragedy was a watershed moment for a nation divided by the conflict in Vietnam and further galvanized the anti-war movement. 

Two days earlier, on May 2, National Guard troops were called to Kent to suppress students rioting in protest of the Vietnam War and the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. The next day, scattered protests were dispersed by tear gas, and on May 4 class resumed at Kent State University. By noon that day, despite a ban on rallies, some 2,000 people had assembled on the campus. National Guard troops arrived and ordered the crowd to disperse, fired tear gas, and advanced against the students with bayonets fixed on their rifles. Some of the protesters, refusing to yield, responded by throwing rocks and verbally taunting the troops.

Minutes later, without firing a warning shot, the Guardsmen discharged more than 60 rounds toward a group of demonstrators in a nearby parking lot, killing four and wounding nine. The closest casualty was 20 yards away, and the farthest was almost 250 yards away. After a period of disbelief, shock, and attempts at first aid, angry students gathered on a nearby slope and were again ordered to move by the Guardsmen. Faculty members were able to convince the group to disperse, and further bloodshed was prevented.

The shootings led to protests on college campuses across the country. Photographs of the massacre became enduring images of the anti-war movement. In 1974, at the end of a criminal investigation, a federal court dropped all charges levied against eight Ohio National Guardsmen for their role in the Kent State students’ deaths.  <end quoted material>

*****

It probably wasn’t a “Massacre” as only four were killed and nine wounded.  (Aside, it seems like we have more deaths than that most days in some kind of shooting situation)

*****

Gandhi in India had led very successful non-violent protests, Martin Luther King led non-violent protests.  Some of our recent protests have started as non-violent but when tear gas, rubber bullets, tasers, or other crowd control devices are used, crowds seem to get angry and throw over cars and break windows (and steal).  

I really don’t know how to protest anything anymore.  Some states are debating legislation relating to issues that I am interested in.  They might put limits on gender transitions.  I don’t want to debate that issue, I want to look at non-violent protests.  

Back to Kent State.  Students around the country were generally opposed to the Vietnam War.  There was a poster at that time “War is not healthy for Children and Other Living Things”.  

Who served in the war?  Generally men between the ages of 18 and 25.  That was college-aged students.  Who determined the policies?  Generally, Generals over 50 - who had been trained to fight wars and (maybe) saw war as a necessary evil to keep a balanced world.  The status quo was okay with war - many of the families had parents (or grandparents) who served in World War II or the Korean conflict.  They knew that “War is Hell”, but they had done their part.  So, when “junior,” says “HELL NO, I WON’T GO” - they just didn’t understand it.  Men always served their country.

The students (and young men of the appropriate age), saw the Vietnam War as a bad deal.  Why should we (the United States) fight in Vietnam to keep the two countries separated (North Vietnam - a communist country; and South Vietnam - a democracy)?  Who cared?  

Then the war escalated.  We poured agent orange on the forests to kill the vegetation so we could spot the Vietcong sneaking through to attack the south.  We even invaded Cambodia, a neighboring country.

And, we used a toxic herbicide (again quoted)

“Monsanto/Bayer manufactured Agent Orange, a highly toxic herbicide used by the US military during the Vietnam War to clear jungles and starve North Vietnamese soldiers. They also created the infamous weedkiller Roundup, which is currently under scrutiny for being linked to many chronic illnesses including cancer.”

“Agent Orange was a powerful herbicide used by U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover and crops for North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. The U.S. program, codenamed Operation Ranch Hand, sprayed more than 20 million gallons of various herbicides over Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos from 1961 to 1971. Agent Orange, which contained the deadly chemical dioxin, was the most commonly used herbicide. It was later proven to cause serious health issues—including cancer, birth defects, rashes, and severe psychological and neurological problems—among the Vietnamese people as well as among returning U.S. servicemen and their families.”  (end quote)

While Agent Orange wasn’t directly a “chemical warfare weapon” (like mustard gas in World War I), it did produce negative effects.  

Students didn’t want to go to war, to kill people in a jungle far away, and for drawing the line against communism.  

They got attention.  

But how do current groups protest?  It seems as if nobody notices until (a) riots, stealing, there is massive property is damaged, or (b) people are killed.  So, the more noise a riot makes the better???

Interesting.

BUT … LOVE WINS!!!

HUGS!!

Karen