Kent State Presents Events Marking 40th Commemoration of May 4, 1970, Shootings
"Kent State University is presenting a wide range of events to mark the 40th commemoration of May 4, 1970. On that date, a student protest against the Vietnam War and the presence of the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State campus ended in tragedy when guardsmen shot and killed four and wounded nine students."
The Vietnam war was grinding on in 1970. Nixon the scumbag lied about bringing the murderous rampage to a halt and even invaded Cambodia the year before. There were regular, large antiwar protests and the country was split in half. They started the draft lottery on December 1. My number turned out to be 244, safe enough to keep me from being drafted and sent to get my ass shot off in some rice paddy, but I already had a student deferrment at a college in upstate New York. I was 18 when the guard mowed down students at Kent State.
People who weren't around at that time wouldn't understand the explosion of anger and revulsion about that massacre. Like I mentioned the country was already bitterly divided about the unnecessary and savage carnage in southeast asia. Most of us knew guys who were sent over there and either never came back or came back twisted and sick. Now the Man was killing us students at a university and the hatred just boiled over. Millions of students went on strike and 500 colleges were shut down nation wide, including mine.
There were hundreds of students, maybe a thousand, that spontaneously took direct action at my school, early in the morning, I think two days later in the middle of the week. I was part of it too. Some guys with bullhorns tried to lead the advertised march from the middle of town to the campus and there were a few local shitbags who tagged along trying to cause trouble, but the vast majority had only one thing in mind and that was to close the school. When we got there the numbers multiplied fast as the dorms emptied and onlookers showed up. The administrators saw the handwriting on the wall and were nowhere to be seen, security had disappeared and the buildings were mostly empty.
From that point on we broke up into smaller groups and took individual action. The bunch I was in went to the administration building and decided to keep office workers out by a sit down strike at the entrances and in the hallways. We succeeded admirably. When functionaries showed up for work they promptly turned around and left. Only one worker tried to get through but we talked her out of it. From what I understand we forced the place to totally shut down for two days and there wasn't any major violence or damage although there were rumors of the guard being sent to remove us. Some slept in the buildings, some went back to the dorms for the night.
The black power contingent was smarter - they took over the student union which had a cafeteria. To their credit they fixed up a lot of sandwiches and sent them over while we occupied the office building.
One of my professors guaranteed an A for any students who took part.
Vietnam ground on for five more years.
"Kent State University is presenting a wide range of events to mark the 40th commemoration of May 4, 1970. On that date, a student protest against the Vietnam War and the presence of the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State campus ended in tragedy when guardsmen shot and killed four and wounded nine students."
The Vietnam war was grinding on in 1970. Nixon the scumbag lied about bringing the murderous rampage to a halt and even invaded Cambodia the year before. There were regular, large antiwar protests and the country was split in half. They started the draft lottery on December 1. My number turned out to be 244, safe enough to keep me from being drafted and sent to get my ass shot off in some rice paddy, but I already had a student deferrment at a college in upstate New York. I was 18 when the guard mowed down students at Kent State.
People who weren't around at that time wouldn't understand the explosion of anger and revulsion about that massacre. Like I mentioned the country was already bitterly divided about the unnecessary and savage carnage in southeast asia. Most of us knew guys who were sent over there and either never came back or came back twisted and sick. Now the Man was killing us students at a university and the hatred just boiled over. Millions of students went on strike and 500 colleges were shut down nation wide, including mine.
There were hundreds of students, maybe a thousand, that spontaneously took direct action at my school, early in the morning, I think two days later in the middle of the week. I was part of it too. Some guys with bullhorns tried to lead the advertised march from the middle of town to the campus and there were a few local shitbags who tagged along trying to cause trouble, but the vast majority had only one thing in mind and that was to close the school. When we got there the numbers multiplied fast as the dorms emptied and onlookers showed up. The administrators saw the handwriting on the wall and were nowhere to be seen, security had disappeared and the buildings were mostly empty.
From that point on we broke up into smaller groups and took individual action. The bunch I was in went to the administration building and decided to keep office workers out by a sit down strike at the entrances and in the hallways. We succeeded admirably. When functionaries showed up for work they promptly turned around and left. Only one worker tried to get through but we talked her out of it. From what I understand we forced the place to totally shut down for two days and there wasn't any major violence or damage although there were rumors of the guard being sent to remove us. Some slept in the buildings, some went back to the dorms for the night.
The black power contingent was smarter - they took over the student union which had a cafeteria. To their credit they fixed up a lot of sandwiches and sent them over while we occupied the office building.
One of my professors guaranteed an A for any students who took part.
Vietnam ground on for five more years.
posted by nolocontendere at 6:49 AM
2 Comments:
and after realizing the massive opposition they were faced with, the war-profiteering right-wing repugs devised a new campaign, which began with the demonization of all the most popular counter-cultural aspects of the left, including sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll, and Iranians who defied their corporate empire by staging a rebellion and over-throwing their puppet dictator.
With the campaign in full-swing in the late 70s, they dumbed-down the public with their new fear-mongering, blamed the antiwar movement for the loss of Vietnam, and pushed the Big Lie that marijuana was the "Gateway" to hard drugs (rather than the pushers and dealers who were in it for the money and didn't care who they sold the stuff to or how).
The Corporate ruling-class now goes to bed every night laughing at how well they have managed to divide and conquer the working-class masses so that they spend all their time fighting amongst themselves while letting the big pigs, vampires and vultures, reap all the rewards of the never-ending wars of their corporate police-state and empire.
Well put.
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