Kent State
Kent State
After a few days of catching up with family matters with my cousin, laundry and being fed excellent and healthy food, my daughter flew in to join me for Easter. It was wonderful to see her. I laid down the table in the trailer, and put a board across the seats and filled the hole with foam, and it looks like a presentable sofa. It is a bit narrow for a single bed, but it works. So now I have a guest room for slim folks.
We spent most of our time catching up and reglueing our bond, she has thoroughly hooked me on Sudoku, the number puzzle. I tried it a bit in Natural Bridge last summer out of the newspaper, but she is a number cruncher by inclination and helped me with the tricks. She left me her book of “expert” ones and I really like doing them. It seems to use the same part of my brain that playing solitaire on the computer does: keeps me from worrying or dwelling on things by using just enough of my RAM to stop all those voices.
We seat out to explore Kent which is the next town west, home of Kent State University. I was drawn to see the spot where the National Guardsmen shot 4 students dead so long ago during the Vietnam War protests. Perhaps time has lessened the power of the memory, but I imagine that this school would rather forget a very bad moment. I am trying to remember how we college students felt back then, a bad war for the wrong reasons, covered up with lies from the government. And most powerfully, how the dissent was talked about, communists, un-American, outside criminal elements.
Quoting Wickipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_University_shootings:
At Kent State, a mass of intoxicated bikers left a bar and began throwing beer bottles at cars and breaking downtown storefronts including a bank window, which set off an alarm…. Before long more people joined the vandalism and looting, with others remaining as bystanders…. a crowd numbering about 100 …appeared to be a mix of bikers, students, and out-of town youths who regularly came to Kent's bars. …
Kent's Mayor Leroy Satrom declared a state of emergency on May 2 and, later that afternoon, asked Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes to send the National Guard to Kent to help maintain order.
When the National Guard arrived in town that evening, a large demonstration was under way and the campus Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) building was burning. Many believe the fire may have been set in protest, but the arsonists were never caught… At 10:00 p.m., [after the ROTC building had been set on fire] the National Guard entered the campus for the first time and set up camp directly on campus. Many arrests were made, tear gas was used, and at least one student was bayoneted…By Sunday, there were nearly a thousand National Guardsmen on campus to control the students.
During a press conferences, Governor Rhodes called the protesters un-American and referred to the protestors as revolutionaries set on destroying higher education in Ohio. "They're worse than the brownshirts and the communist element and also the nightriders and the vigilantes," Rhodes said. "They're the worst type of people that we harbor in America. I think that we're up against the strongest, well-trained, militant, revolutionary group that has ever assembled in America."
On Monday, a protest was scheduled to be held at noon, as had been planned three days earlier. University officials attempted to ban the gathering,.. .Despite this, an estimated 2,000 people gathered on the university's Commons,… [several units of the National Guard], chose to disperse the students, fearing that the situation might escalate into another violent protest. The legality of the dispersal was later debated at a subsequent wrongful death and injury trial. On appeal, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that authorities did indeed have the right to disperse the crowd. One of the judges on the court was alleged to have said "You're going to have to use the Final Solution on these kids!" on this day. …A group of 77 National Guard troops advanced on the hundreds of protesters with bayonets fixed on their loaded weapons, in an attempt to disperse the crowd. The Guardsmen were wearing gas masks and had little training in riot control. They soon found themselves trapped on an athletic practice field …[thirty three national guardsmen were injured] …. When they reached the top of a hill, 29 of the 77 guardsmen fired 67 shots at the unarmed students. …The shootings killed four students and wounded nine. Two of the four students killed, Allison Krause and Jeffrey Miller, had participated in the protest, and the other two, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder, were simply walking from one class to the next. Schroeder was also a member of the campus ROTC chapter. Of those wounded, none was closer than 71 feet (22 m) to the guardsmen. Of those killed, the nearest (Miller) was 265 feet (81 m) away. [end of quote]
And what remains ?
There are signs pointing on to a memorial, but they are few and halfhearted. We finally find it and park. I sort of recognize the place from the famous photo of the boy on the ground and the girl with her arms wide in despair. We wander around, unsure what we are looking for, it is clear that KSU is not encouraging this pilgrimage. Several other people are equally confused and equally determined to see and remember. The places where the 4 students were shot have a low raised edging of rough stone, in a 4” x 8’ rectangle on the asphalt of the parking lot. There are 6 4’ high metal lamp posts on the corners and midway on the long side, and in one corner on the ground a triangle of polished stone with the name of the student and the date. These 4 are not all visible at once due to parked cars, and they look more like pedestrian crossing paths or perhaps bicycle parking than memorials. To get a picture of all 4, I wanted to get up on the raised porch area of a building, but it is blocked off. The skeletons are not exactly buried in the closet, but they are hardly in plain view. The actual memorial is 40 feet away, a series of polished pink granite stones and a path. There are no words to indicate what this is, it might just be a study area over looking a grassy bowl. A most minimal response to the need to remember what happened here.
I remember that day, when we realized who the un-Americans really were, and remember the unraveling of the lies. I find it deeply and tragically ironic that we are right back in the same place, this time sending National Guardsmen to their deaths, and the lies are once again unraveling. Those of us who thought the war in Iraq was a bad and misguided idea now are growing in numbers and power, but still it feels as though we might have a flag stuffed down our throats if we speak out.
I was particularly struck by the words of the governor and the judge. I understand that they were afraid, an angry mob is terrifying. Alexander Hamilton feared that too much freedom would result in another French Revolution here in America, presumably complete with guillotines. Thomas Jefferson preferred to believe that the innate good sense of the people would prevent this anarchy. I doubt that there is anyway to settle that question, it is a continual stress on our government: in God we trust but do we trust the “people”?. And is “The People” all of the people or only some of the people ?
After a few days of catching up with family matters with my cousin, laundry and being fed excellent and healthy food, my daughter flew in to join me for Easter. It was wonderful to see her. I laid down the table in the trailer, and put a board across the seats and filled the hole with foam, and it looks like a presentable sofa. It is a bit narrow for a single bed, but it works. So now I have a guest room for slim folks.
We spent most of our time catching up and reglueing our bond, she has thoroughly hooked me on Sudoku, the number puzzle. I tried it a bit in Natural Bridge last summer out of the newspaper, but she is a number cruncher by inclination and helped me with the tricks. She left me her book of “expert” ones and I really like doing them. It seems to use the same part of my brain that playing solitaire on the computer does: keeps me from worrying or dwelling on things by using just enough of my RAM to stop all those voices.
We seat out to explore Kent which is the next town west, home of Kent State University. I was drawn to see the spot where the National Guardsmen shot 4 students dead so long ago during the Vietnam War protests. Perhaps time has lessened the power of the memory, but I imagine that this school would rather forget a very bad moment. I am trying to remember how we college students felt back then, a bad war for the wrong reasons, covered up with lies from the government. And most powerfully, how the dissent was talked about, communists, un-American, outside criminal elements.
Quoting Wickipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_University_shootings:
At Kent State, a mass of intoxicated bikers left a bar and began throwing beer bottles at cars and breaking downtown storefronts including a bank window, which set off an alarm…. Before long more people joined the vandalism and looting, with others remaining as bystanders…. a crowd numbering about 100 …appeared to be a mix of bikers, students, and out-of town youths who regularly came to Kent's bars. …
Kent's Mayor Leroy Satrom declared a state of emergency on May 2 and, later that afternoon, asked Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes to send the National Guard to Kent to help maintain order.
When the National Guard arrived in town that evening, a large demonstration was under way and the campus Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) building was burning. Many believe the fire may have been set in protest, but the arsonists were never caught… At 10:00 p.m., [after the ROTC building had been set on fire] the National Guard entered the campus for the first time and set up camp directly on campus. Many arrests were made, tear gas was used, and at least one student was bayoneted…By Sunday, there were nearly a thousand National Guardsmen on campus to control the students.
During a press conferences, Governor Rhodes called the protesters un-American and referred to the protestors as revolutionaries set on destroying higher education in Ohio. "They're worse than the brownshirts and the communist element and also the nightriders and the vigilantes," Rhodes said. "They're the worst type of people that we harbor in America. I think that we're up against the strongest, well-trained, militant, revolutionary group that has ever assembled in America."
On Monday, a protest was scheduled to be held at noon, as had been planned three days earlier. University officials attempted to ban the gathering,.. .Despite this, an estimated 2,000 people gathered on the university's Commons,… [several units of the National Guard], chose to disperse the students, fearing that the situation might escalate into another violent protest. The legality of the dispersal was later debated at a subsequent wrongful death and injury trial. On appeal, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that authorities did indeed have the right to disperse the crowd. One of the judges on the court was alleged to have said "You're going to have to use the Final Solution on these kids!" on this day. …A group of 77 National Guard troops advanced on the hundreds of protesters with bayonets fixed on their loaded weapons, in an attempt to disperse the crowd. The Guardsmen were wearing gas masks and had little training in riot control. They soon found themselves trapped on an athletic practice field …[thirty three national guardsmen were injured] …. When they reached the top of a hill, 29 of the 77 guardsmen fired 67 shots at the unarmed students. …The shootings killed four students and wounded nine. Two of the four students killed, Allison Krause and Jeffrey Miller, had participated in the protest, and the other two, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder, were simply walking from one class to the next. Schroeder was also a member of the campus ROTC chapter. Of those wounded, none was closer than 71 feet (22 m) to the guardsmen. Of those killed, the nearest (Miller) was 265 feet (81 m) away. [end of quote]
And what remains ?
There are signs pointing on to a memorial, but they are few and halfhearted. We finally find it and park. I sort of recognize the place from the famous photo of the boy on the ground and the girl with her arms wide in despair. We wander around, unsure what we are looking for, it is clear that KSU is not encouraging this pilgrimage. Several other people are equally confused and equally determined to see and remember. The places where the 4 students were shot have a low raised edging of rough stone, in a 4” x 8’ rectangle on the asphalt of the parking lot. There are 6 4’ high metal lamp posts on the corners and midway on the long side, and in one corner on the ground a triangle of polished stone with the name of the student and the date. These 4 are not all visible at once due to parked cars, and they look more like pedestrian crossing paths or perhaps bicycle parking than memorials. To get a picture of all 4, I wanted to get up on the raised porch area of a building, but it is blocked off. The skeletons are not exactly buried in the closet, but they are hardly in plain view. The actual memorial is 40 feet away, a series of polished pink granite stones and a path. There are no words to indicate what this is, it might just be a study area over looking a grassy bowl. A most minimal response to the need to remember what happened here.
I remember that day, when we realized who the un-Americans really were, and remember the unraveling of the lies. I find it deeply and tragically ironic that we are right back in the same place, this time sending National Guardsmen to their deaths, and the lies are once again unraveling. Those of us who thought the war in Iraq was a bad and misguided idea now are growing in numbers and power, but still it feels as though we might have a flag stuffed down our throats if we speak out.
I was particularly struck by the words of the governor and the judge. I understand that they were afraid, an angry mob is terrifying. Alexander Hamilton feared that too much freedom would result in another French Revolution here in America, presumably complete with guillotines. Thomas Jefferson preferred to believe that the innate good sense of the people would prevent this anarchy. I doubt that there is anyway to settle that question, it is a continual stress on our government: in God we trust but do we trust the “people”?. And is “The People” all of the people or only some of the people ?
posted by Thistledown24 at 1:02 PM
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