America was stunned on May 4 1970

[AverageJoe]

when rally turned to riot up at Kent State University

They say the students scared the Guard, though the troops were battle dressed

Four martyrs earned a new degree, the Bachelor of Bullets....

--The Beach Boys, "Student Demonstration Time," from the album SURF'S UP


That horror show was forty-one years ago, today.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Riot? What riot happened at Kent State?

[northoftheborder]

2. you make me feel so old.....

[hlthe2b]

5. makes me feel so sad. Is Vietnam even taught in history classes?

My sigline is more important now, than ever. sigh....

[Recursion]

14. I'm pretty sure sinkingfeeling is arguing that it wasn't a riot

He's definitely posted on Kent State before.

[sinkingfeeling]

18. Uh, I was on the campus of OSU and my sister was at Kent State on May 4, 1970.

[steve2470]

7. info here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings

[hlthe2b]

3. Rally turned to Murder.....

As recent audio evidence has unequivocally confirmed.... A very dark chapter in our history.

Thank you Neil Young for writing and Crosby, Stills & Nash for joining you on your perfect anthem "Ohio".... We shall not forget.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Not nearly as stunned as it should have been.

Many of us believed, at that time, if Americans could see what the government was capable of doing to it's own people, let alone to the rest of the world, they would rise up against the warmongers and killers.

As I recall, all too vividly, most Americans chose to "support the troops" and blame the "radicals" at Kent State.

[leftstreet]

8. +1 Unfortunately Americans DID see what law enforcement was capable of

and everybody caved in fear.

Then bring on the hippy punching! How dare those radical nutz force us to face reality!

:grr:

[LeftinOH]

6. There is news footage out there (but I can't find it) of on-the-street reaction

from people stating "they should have killed more of them", etc. I've seen it.

[MarianJack]

9. Today's teabaggers...

...are the children & grandchildren of those who were chanting "we got 4 and next time more" at the time.

It was, however, the event that started my mother's evolution against the war.

[virgogal]

10. Followed in the fall by the killing of a Boston Police Officer,who I

knew.

He was killed by anti-war activists.

They were awful times.

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. Got specifics? I don't remember the incident. nt

[Recursion]

15. Walter Schroeder

There was an episode of Law & Order based on it.

[virgogal]

17. Here you go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Ann_Power

[RaleighNCDUer]

27. OK, I mentally translated "anti-war activists" into "peace activists" and

therefore I didn't make the connection to a clinically depressed former anti-war activist who had gotten mixed up with professional criminals and thought she was joining the Revolution.

An armored car robbery trying to arm the Panthers had nothing to do with anti-war activism, nor does delusionally fomenting 'revolution'.

I still wonder which of the gang was the FBI informant and COINTEL PRO provocateur.

Pinning this on the peace movement is disingenuous at best.

[hfojvt]

28. kinda sad that one of the perpetrators has a wiki page

but their victim does not warrant such a page.

[virgogal]

29. I know. We'll always remember the name Ted Bundy yet I couldn't give

you the name of one of his victims.

[PlanetBev]

30. I was the same age as three of them

19 years old:

Jeffrey Miller
Alison Kraus
Sandy Schuer

[virgogal]

31. It was a terrible day.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

12. There was retaliation? I didn't know that. -nt

[Recursion]

16. Schroeder's 9 kids sure did (nt)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. What the hell kind of reply is that?

[Recursion]

22. I mean the guy who died had 9 kids. Though I don't know if it was "retaliation"

as much as "people robbing a bank got surprised by a cop".

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

23. Yes, that's what it was. A bank robbery. -nt

[Libertas1776]

13. Is this the officer of which you speak?

http://www.odmp.org/officer/11906-patrolman-walter-a.-schroeder

[virgogal]

20. Sure is----also see link on post #17.

[Libertas1776]

21. Ah, thank you for the link

[hlthe2b]

25. Damn... His brother was shot and killed as well later on...

That's one family that certainly sacrificed in the line of duty.

[EstimatedProphet]

36. How can you even compare the two?

[Iterate]

24. I can still feel the pain.

Two hurts really. The pain of the event, which was bad enough and reinforced two weeks later at Jackson State. It felt like loosing a friend. It felt like a combination of rage and betrayal and despair.

Then there was the pain that occurred time after time in the following weeks when you shared the news with someone you had trusted, only to hear them side with the troops that fired on unarmed protesters. "They should have shot more of them," they would say, or "It's none of my business", or "They shouldn't have been there."

It ended friendships instantly, never forgiven or forgotten.

And on one campus at least, always on May 4th there was fresh and prominent graffiti as a reminder, just in time for the tours of prospective students. It gave them something to puzzle about.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

26. BUTBUTBUT TEH LEFT DID IT TOO!!11(biblepi/3)11!!

:sarcasm:

[Curmudgeoness]

32. It was a very sobering day. I know that none of us

who were protesting all over the country ever thought that we could die at the hands of our government because we were carrying signs and chanting anti-war slogans.

[Raine]

33. R-I-P Four Dead in Ohio nt

[Irishonly]

34. Horrible Day

I remember it. I also remember being faced with suspension when a group of us wore black arm bands the following year.

[Fool Count]

35. Stunned? According to the Gallup poll taken soon after

58% of respondents blamed the students, 11% blamed the National Guard and 31% expressed no opinion. American nation has been
immunized to extreme violence for so long. It has to be the most bloodthirsty nation in the developed world by a mile.