40 years ago: Kent State
Today marks the 40th Anniversary of the Kent State shootings. The Gather web site reports:
On May 4, 1970 a campus protest against the Vietnam War took an ugly turn when National Guard on the scene opened fire, killing four students and wounding nine others. New audio from the day of the shootings has been released on a website dubbed KentState1970.The website was launched by WKSU-FM, Kent State University’s NPR affiliated radio station. If you don’t know much about the massacre, this website is a great place to start. The site’s audio and pictures paint a vivid picture of the massacre, which remains a landmark event in American history. The new audio recordings were captured by the radio station’s student reporters on the day of the shooting and capture the horror of the moment all too well.
For many, the shootings at Kent State University epitomize the turbulent nature of the 1960’s. They remain relevant today, when a new generation of Americans is mobilizing to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Akedah is the theme of the memorial statue for Kent State, see it here.
NPR reports:
Out in the world, when people talk about the shootings at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, they call it "Kent State." But in the small town of Kent, 35 miles south of Cleveland, and on the university campus, they call it "May 4th."It was 40 years ago Tuesday that the shootings — which killed four people and wounded nine others — stunned the nation. Even at the height of the Vietnam War protests, no one imagined that government soldiers would fire real bullets at unarmed college students.
As a teenager in 1970, I was so shaken by the murders at Kent State that my political beliefs were unalterably pushed to the far left.We must never forget, or we'll end up with secret wire taps,a prison for accused enemies on a distant island, and high government officials supporting torture during interrogations.
Oops.
John Donnelly
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May 4, 2010 2:35 PM
Thanks for posting this. Many of us who live in this part of Ohio feel a particular responsibility to make sure that the shootings are remembered. The good people at WKSU lead the way, and both their news director and the chair of their community advisory council are Episcopalians.
--Rebecca Wilson
(M.A., Kent State University, 1995)
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May 4, 2010 8:20 PM
The killings at Kent State permanently scarred me, too (I was only 8 years old, but left a terrifying impression).
Never again!
JC Fisher
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May 4, 2010 9:30 PM