Remembering May 4 1970 The Kent State massacre. 4 dead, 9 wounded.

[L0oniX]

An excellent collection of pictures and information --> http://picasaweb.google.com/hruffner/KentStateUniversityMay141970#

I have had a lot of my posts deleted for being anti military. My anti military attitude stems from my high school days. I had friends come back from Vietnam who had changed so much and now hated society. My own cousin told me he was going to become a cop so he could "get back at society". I thought most people in my school were stupid because they were acting like everything was normal. They were making their plans for college, marriage and their future all of which I thought was stupid. It was stupid because who knew if you would make it through Vietnam alive and if you did what would you be like after you killed people over a policy. I dropped out of HS and ran away to live in Haight Ashbury to avoid registering for the draft. I knew I was not going to be forced to go over there and kill for some US government policy over communism. I would rather be put in jail or escape to Canada. I attended war protests. I finally got caught for being in CA underage and was sent back and ended up registering for the draft. I sought a CO but was turned down. I was rejected at the induction center because I had a criminal record for selling pot ...thank God for that.

I will never agree to any war because of policy. Defense of ones country should be just that ...defense. If another "country" attacks the US then I am all for attacking back and I am glad that there are people who will defend this country for that reason and that reason alone. Being used by our government for some war over a policy is IMO an abuse of those who have and are serving this country. Right now I don't know what the hell we are doing or who we are chasing but IMO we shouldn't have our military people over there. IMO getting Osama was a police or spec ops matter and should have been from the beginning.

So here I am again protesting war and protesting the "IMO" improper and illegal use of our military. Now it is apparent that our government can use our military on us again because they removed the restrictions on doing that and so I am again reminded of the Kent State massacre. Will it happen again? Will our own military be used to control us with the threat of death? Right now nothing is happening in our society that calls for mass population control and I hope it stays that way but if we or a majority of us find ourselves out in the streets with no work, food or shelter, then what? I find it to be frightening and appalling that our own solders would shoot and kill our own people for any reason and especially those who desire peace. Because of Kent State and other reasons I will never trust the military or cops. So far no one who has been involved in an anti war protest has been killed by our own solders but we know it happened before and we should always remember that. We should remember and try to make sure it never happens again even if it means being anti military.

Remember the 9 young people who were shot and wounded and please remember and honor these 4 young people in the prime of their lives who were protesting war and killed by our military.

[coalition_unwilling]

1. K&R x 10 to the millionth power. They could have been my

students, back when I taught.

[Starboard Tack]

2. Thank you for reminding us of the true heroes.

They died by fighting peacefully for their country. It was the saddest day of my life.

[L0oniX]

9. It changed me forever.

[L0oniX]

19. Some were not protesting when they were murdered.

[mountainlion55]

3. Excellent post!

But get ready for all the dlc middle of the roaders to howl!Just look at the reaction to to our monster Osama Bin Laden being killed. Imo It was disgusting!

[BlueIris]

4. Thanks for this post.

I can remember trying to learn more about this in 2002, and being somewhat alarmed that there wasn't more easily obtained info about it.

[femrap]

5. I was in Columbus, OH

when this happened. Gov. Rhodes had called out the Guard....I couldn't believe he wanted to kill college students, but he did.

Wow...you get deleted for being anti-military? I get deleted for being a Feminist. Sometimes, I wonder about this place.

[L0oniX]

6. Gov. Rhodes ...hmmm ...reminds me of Rick Scott's attitude.

[Cetacea]

7. K&R (nt)

[G_j]

8. thanks!

great post

[bobbolink]

10. Some people and some things we never forget. The freedom riders, little girls in a church,

Emmett Till, and of course, the assassinations of the 60's.

Standing up for what is right exacts a toll.

The grief is with us still.

:cry:

[L0oniX]

15. We just watched "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till" ...and got mad as hell.

[bobbolink]

20. I commend you. I don't think I could handle it.

We boomers get so much flack. Just seeing the short vid on Kent State, writing that list I responded with, thinking of all the assassinations, from Kennedy to Malcolm X, to Kennedy to King (who am I leaving out?)..... it is a wonder that any of us retain any of our sanity.

:grouphug:

[Gemini Cat]

11. Thank-you for remembering.

We will never forget!

[suffragette]

12. K&R

[crickets]

13. Thank you. K&R

[ProfessorGAC]

14. A Guy I Worked With In The 70's Was There

He got his BS in chemistry at Kent. (Not revelaing his name on a public board like this.)

He was a few years older than me, so when i was 14 he was 19. IIRC, he was from somehwere around Dayton, so Kent State let him be away from home, but within driving distance on some weekends. He was going from one building to another looking down the hill toward the protestors when the gunfire started. He ducked around a corner and then heard the screaming and saw the fleeing. As i recall, he said he was just a couple hundred yards away.

It did impact him, as he was one of the most anti-military people i've ever met. He wanted the military to have higher standards and wanted the budget cut to the point where it wouldn't collapse the economy. He got his MS in chemistry in Kentucky and got an MBA at one of the Chicago schools.

I haven't seen him in about 30 years. But, it was an experience for me to know someone who actually was there and saw it.
GAC

[VOX]

16. The lunatic(s) who issued live rounds to the Ohio Nat'l Guard on that horrible day...

Should have been held fully accountable for the deaths. Once live ammo was issued in a situation like that, the probability of a major tragedy was almost guaranteed.

[coalition_unwilling]

17. Really, Nixon should have been put in prison for it. After all, the

protests were in response to Nixon's illegal invasion of Cambodia. No invasion of Cambodia, probably no Kent State.

But I understand where you are coming from. The commander of the Guard unit who gave the order to 'Fire' probably should have been court-martialed.

[bobbolink]

23. Looking back, Nixon was our first insight into the sociopathology of those in power.

[L0oniX]

24. +1

[L0oniX]

18. The shock of having your friends and neighbors (National Guard) shoot people...

makes me forever not trust the cops, the Guard or any military personnel.

[bobbolink]

26. That shock leading to distrust is not to be taken lightly.

That is pain that doesn't go away through the years.

It is a BETRAYAL of huge proportions.

[bobbolink]

22. I don't recall hearing -- have any of the military people involved every expressed any regret

publicly?

[L0oniX]

28. I don't recall anything being done about any involved.

[Elwood P Dowd]

21. Alabama football coach Nick Saban was there when it happened.

He was a football player at Kent State then, and I've heard a few interviews with him about it. BTW, I'm not a Bama fan.

As for me, I was driving somewhere and first heard about it on my car radio. What a terrible day that was. Had to drink some wine and smoke some weed that night in order to cope. A few weeks later my dreaded draft notice arrived, and I was fucked with 2 years in the US Army.

[L0oniX]

25. www.truthtribunal.org/

[FailureToCommunicate]

27. Thanks for reminding. Kids walked out of schools all over my county in protest.

The shock of that shooting, and Jackson State only days later caused lots of fence sitters to see things differently about 'law and order' and legal protests...

[L0oniX]

29. see video here

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI7-m919ynU