I am not over Kent State.

[bunkerbuster1]

I hadn't really thought about it until I heard Democracy Now's broadcast this afternoon.

Yes, it's 39 years on. And maybe I should move on.

Still.

A couple hundred malcontents making a joyful noise against their oppressors. Richard Nixon has a problem. He orders a hit.

39 years later, there's still no justice.

And I guess I can take comfort in the knowledge that when this kind of monstrosity happened to us, we organized, we had a student strike across the nation to commemorate this abomination, and it helped turn the tide against the war in Vietnam.

Contrast this with the Reich Wing's big poutrage, the Waco case, wherein on the one-year anniversary, some nutball decided to blow up a federal building.

Yes, I get that we are better than they are. Yes, I get that we won.

What I don't get is the rage I still feel inside for those unavenged deaths.

[Tikki]

1. Nor am I.....

I feel exactly as you do....


Tikki

[bunkerbuster1]

2. Guess it's just you and me here at DU

That's ok. I don't want to be consumed by hate. But I can't think of any other word to describe my feelings to those who issued the orders to fire on a group of unarmed Americans.

[Siwsan]

4. Count me in

The CSNY refrain "Four Dead in Ohio" can still bring me to tears.

[rurallib]

15. listening to CSNY right now - crying - rmembering

the fear that pervaded our campus in Iowa City that day as the word spread of the deaths in Ohio. The next day everything closed up tight, school was over.
And here I am 39 years later still mad, still wondering. And so sad our country learned not one damned thing.

[bluethruandthru]

5. Me too!

Just try to imagine what would happen today if something like this occurred.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. No one who was a student during that time

gets "over it."

Never. We'll never forget. Those faces are as familiar to us as our own. We got older, but they're forever young, forever lost.

It's another unforgivable legacy of that fucking Nixon...................

[ailsagirl]

6. It was a killing spree-- unconscionable. I haven't forgotten

[JeffR]

7. And good on you for it.

K & R.

These were not the actions of a civilized society. And all these years later, we're still kidding ourselves that we're any closer to being one than we were then.

What I don't get is the people who don't share your rage. They're the problem, not you.

[knowbody0]

8. me too

millions of Vietnamese, thousands of our military, it took far too long for us to "win" that battle. what I remember most about Kent State is the dark energy of betrayal we felt when they shot some of "us". that they hated us enough as the enemy of America to kill us.

the masses are disposable when push comes to shove.

[Raejeanowl]

9. I Remember

[safeinOhio]

10. A few weeks ago I was in a discussion about the 60s

A guy was talking about how bad the returning troops were treated and spat on in the SF airport. I mentioned that some protesters were treated just as bad. He said not by military types. I mentioned 4 dead in Ohio.

[tucsonlib]

11. This Might Help

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5592272

[L0oniX]

12. I will never trust our military.

Remembering May 4 1970 The Kent State massacre. 4 dead, 9 wounded.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/L0oniX/44

[Echo In Light]

22. I never trust them, for that, and a very long list of other reasons

[marshall]

24. You can't trust anybody in the government

We have to look out for ourselves and for each other.

[mitchum]

13. How do you feel about the Orangeburg Massacre at South Carolina State in 68?

[bunkerbuster1]

37. At first I thought you were referring to Jackson...

and then, I am ashamed to admit, I googled "Orangeburg."

Mind you, I was a kid at the time; Kent State happened when I was in middle school.

[mitchum]

38. You shouldn't be ashamed to admit to having to google "Orangeburg"

What is truly shameful is how under publicized the tragic events remain to this day.
Media bias endures; some victims are apparently more worthy than others.

[bunkerbuster1]

39. Take the "apparently" out of that last sentence.

No doubt that some victims are more worthy than others, per a commercialized media. Guess it's always been the case.

[MyOwnPeace]

14. We can never "move on!"

I remember it all too well.
The photographer who won the Pulitizer Prize (John Filo) (shot the picture of the girl on her knee - that's the pic that won the prize) was from my own high school - a yearbook photographer with an interest in the craft.
One of the victims (Alison)was from this same area (Western PA).
How DARE them - killing our own because the "President" didn't like them making him look bad.
We've all gone on - but we have a stain in our national fabric that will never wash out - and I'm afraid that there are too many around now that would just as readily do it again (torture, anyone???).

[kath]

18. small world - my mom graduated from that same high school (in the early 50s), as did several of my

cousins. Dad and his sibs graduated from St. Joe's.


I'm not over the Kent State massacre either. It truly is "a stain in our national fabric", as you so aptly put it.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

16. Ohio....

Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming

We're finally on our own

This summer I hear the drumming

Four dead in Ohio.

Four dead in Ohio, four dead in Ohio, four dead in Ohio....


Every time I hear the lyrics to Neil Young's powerful dirge written in 1970 following the deaths of the those four college students on that sad day in May on the campus of Kent State. I can well remember the impact of those shootings and every year as we approach the anniversary of that event I grieve always for the senseless loss of those young lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRX4R9cYeDQ

[Berry Cool]

17. When you're from this area, especially, you don't forget it

or the injustice of it.

[JPettus]

19. You aren't alone

I'm still angry over those four needless deaths.

[ConsAreLiars]

20. And 10 days later, two more were murdered at Jackson State.

And many, many more who resisted the war and the multinational corporatists' use of the US military to expand their domination over this poor planet.

[conscious evolution]

21. Never Forget Never Again

I remember.
It was one of those events in my early childhood that told me things weren't they way they seamed.

How can you run when you know?

[BoneDaddy]

23. Where I understand the trauma of the event

and certainly the anger and strong feeling behind it, don't you think it is time to let go of it and accept that it may not resolve itself the way you want. Holding on to such a painful event can only hurt you in the long run.

[demodonkey]

26. Even if we forgive, we must never forget.

If you don't remember History, you may be doomed to repeat it.

[BoneDaddy]

34. True

but I am referring to the amount of emotional pain people are still clinging to. That can do nothing but hurt the individual.

[L0oniX]

27. I will never forgive our military for this. No trial ...no jury ...no justice.

[Zorro]

28. Ohio National Guard were the perps

That's a little bit different than the regular military.

Just sayin'.

[L0oniX]

31. Uhm ...I thought the national guard was also over in Iraq and other.

To me that would be about the same thing as ftm.

[Zorro]

32. Ohio National Guard at that time consisted mainly of weekend warriors

Citizen soldiers that worked a day job, not professional soldiers.

[L0oniX]

33. They go through the same training and spend one weekend a month on duty...

and attend bivwac once every year. The national guard today was the same way as those at Kent State until Bush decided it was ok to use them as FTM.

[BoneDaddy]

35. You act as if the entire militarty did this

This was a horrible but an isolated incident in America. This would be akin to hating the teaching industry because some teachers molested their students. Seems really over the top if you ask me.

[L0oniX]

40. You act as if the military will not shoot you too if they were "ordered" to do so.

[defendandprotect]

25. I agree, the truth of this is shocking and one day hopefully every will know it ..

We do need truth hearings in this country -- desperately!!!

[SidDithers]

29. One of my favourite pieces by Will Pitt...

Tin Soldiers and We are Coming
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1525091

Meant to dig this out earlier this week. Happy to do it now.

Sid

[Are_grits_groceries]

30. I am not holding on to the memory.

It is holding on to me. It's the same for the Orangeburg Massacre and all the other school shootings.

It is equally true for the assassinations of JFK, RFK, MLK, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and the bombing of the church in Birmingham with the 4 little girls.

There is an ache that never goes away. Some days it still seems unbearable.

[alfredo]

36. Seven of the eleven shot were shot in the back or side. The closest

victim was 90 yards away. Those guardsmen were not under any threat. If as they say they were being fired on by someone on the roof of a building, why did they fire into the crowd? One of the victims was walking between classes. She was armed with school books. Educated women are a threat.


I let a group of students and faculty stay in my apartment days after the massacre. They were severely traumatized.

[lonestarnot]

41. To late to rec!

:thumbsup: