I guess you just had to be there

Stow OH

Description

A gentleman that I correspond with through social media, reminded me what day today is. On May 4, 1970, I was 20 years old and the news came down about the Kent State demonstration that took the anti-war, civil rights activist's underground. Demonstrators think it is so bad today, but allow me to help you gain some incite into the real human rights movement, me and those like me endured to make our voices known. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young probably said it best, ushering in the Woodstock Revolution of Peace and Love: "Tin Soldiers and Nixon coming, We're finally on our own" "This morning I here the drumming, four dead in Ohio" We eventually lost the war, but the gains in Civil Right's would flourish more and more with each generation. On May 4, 1970, in Kent, Ohio, 28 National Guardsmen fire their weapons at a group of anti-war demonstrators on the Kent State University campus, killing four students, wounding eight, and permanently paralyzing another. The tragedy was a watershed moment for a nation divided by civil unrest and the conflict in Vietnam. Further galvanizing the anti-war movement. Two days previous, on May 2, the National Guard was called to Kent to suppress students rioting in protest of the Vietnam War and the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. The next day, scattered protests were dispersed by tear gas, and on May 4 class resumed at Kent State University. By noon that day, despite a ban on rallies, some 2,000 people had assembled on the campus. National Guard troops arrived and ordered the crowd to disperse, fired tear gas, and advanced against the students with bayonets fixed on their rifles. Some of the protesters, refusing to yield, responded by throwing rocks and verbally taunting the troops. Minutes later, without warning, the Guardsmen discharged more than 60 rounds toward a group of demonstrators in a nearby parking lot, killing four and wounding nine. The closest casualty was 20 yards away, and the farthest was almost 250 yards away. After a period of disbelief, and shock, angry students gathered on a nearby slope and were again ordered to move by the Guardsmen. Faculty members were able to convince the group to disperse, and further bloodshed was prevented. The shootings led to protests on college campuses across the country. Photographs of the massacre became iconic images of the anti-war movement. In 1974, at the end of a criminal investigation, a federal court dropped all charges levied against eight Ohio National Guardsmen for their role in the Kent State students’ deaths. Exerts and information taken from; CSU archives, The Everett Collection A&E Televison Series History.com Citation Information Article Title National Guard kills four students in Kent State shootings Author History.com Editors