say a prayer or observe a moment of silence today for the Kent State dead.

[MnFats]

thirty-six years ago today.
they were murdered by the Ohio National Guard.
One of the dead was walking to class.
it remains an outrageous injustice.

honor them in whatever way you choose.

[grytpype]

1. .

[texastoast]

2. Republican Murders

[AndyA]

3. I've had the song "Ohio" in my head all day today. Someone posted

the lyrics to this song in another thread here at DU earlier.

When I look at the images of that awful day, I keep thinking about how young those kids were, and how they might have done so much good had they been given the opportunity.

[Cooley Hurd]

4. K&R, MnFats...

Thank you for your post.


Tin soldiers and Nixon's comin'.
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drummin'.
Four dead in Ohio.

Gotta get down to it.
Soldiers are gunning us down.
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.

Gotta get down to it.
Soldiers are cutting us down.
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?

Tin soldiers and Nixon's comin'.
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drummin'.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.
Four dead in Ohio.

[mrcheerful]

5. I remember Kent State every day since 1970, even during the years most for

got. I play Crosby,Stills,Nash and Young's song Ohio on this day every year.

[mrcheerful]

6. Sadly Kent state wasn't the only place students were gunned down

there were also black students in another school and state that they gunned down too.

[MnFats]

7. Jackson State, Mississippi. you are correct.

i remember protesting their deaths, too

on edit: most of their dead and injured were minding their own business in their dorm rooms as a ragtag deep south militia went looking for trouble.
someone "saw" a sniper on the roof of the dorm and started a gun-fest that lasted several minutes.
somewhere there is a photo of the outside wall of that dorm absolutely shot to pieces.

[tomg]

8. Thanks for the rememberance. We need to

evoke this now more than at any time in the past 36 years. I was teaching Thomas Pynchon's _Crying of Lot 49_ in class today, and I mentioned that today was the anniversary of Kent State. None of the students knew what it was about or that Americans - students their own age - had died there and at Jackson State for exercising free speech. At the time, I was in the New York State National Guard, and I was activated five days later for basic at Campbell and ait at Fort Sill. I first heard "Ohio" in a barracks at Fort Sill. A week later I filed for conscientious objector.

I have never felt so bereft as when I looked out at that class of students, and I realized that they just didn't get it. I honest to God thought one of them was going to ask if it was all was going to be on the final exam.

[Bigmack]

9. When I was teaching H.S. ......

History, one of my students brought in the opinion from home that the kids had been violent and "asking for it".

I had the kids choose up sides for a debate two days later. The debate didn't come off. After one day of research, the kids came to me and said there could be no debate ... the National Guard murdered the kids. They weren't even involved in the protest and were hundreds of yards away from the demonstration.

The parents even sent word to me through their kid that they had learned something from their kid.

[cookiebird]

10. At Kent State

you'd be surprised at the number of young students who think this whole observance is "so past tense"
and they really do not understand the issues. BTW, 2 of the students were on their way to class when the shooting started. It was a fairly quiet day, today, at Kent State University.
I teach here.

[MnFats]

11. was there ANY type of memorial? even a moment of silence?

i've heard that the effort to carry on the memory and the lessons learned had been, well, not exactly energetic...

[kath]

13. There have been commemorative events all week, just like there are

at this time every year. See here:
http://dept.kent.edu/may4/

[WinkyDink]

12. I was in college at the time, also. PSU.

Scary times.