Right now I will try to refrain from giving my opinion about the Kent State Shootings of May 4, 1970.
What matters is that this May 4th, 37 years ago, 4 students lost their lives for being at the wrong place at the wrong time and/or for standing up for their convictions....something we are free to do as citizens of this great country.
In addition, numerous students were injuried and those students as well as countless others will bear the physical and emotional scars caused that day for the rest of their lives.
This is part of our history that should never be forgotten and taught to our future generations.
I will never understand why or how shooting unarmed students ever seemed like a solution to a problem.
Could this happen again?
Hopefully, we have learned.
I hope you all found the posts regarding the Kent State Shootings intriguing and something that stimulated thought.
AKM
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3 comments:
I've actually done research on SS. If you would like to talk about it hit me up at alankrug@gmail.com
While it is certainly true and tragic that four students were killed and nine others injured, no one ever seems to consider the impact that this incident had on the lives of the Guardsmen there that day.
Someone very close to me was one of them. Here are a few relevant facts that no one seems to either be aware of or address:
1. These Guardsmen were, for the most part, young. Very young. Most of them the same age as these students.
2. They were not fully trained soldiers. This was time of war when training was for "real soliers".
3. There was rioting in the streets of Kent happening at the time. From what I have been told by my Mother, who was there, (so was I as a baby) when she and my Grandmother were travelling through town via car, they were in fear for their lives. There was much destruction. The car was almost overturned with all three of us in it.
4. The Guard Unit that my relative was in had spent much of the previous week camped out alongside the highway in an attempt to curb violence resulting from a Teamsters strike. There were death threats that had been made against the non-union drivers. This is why these units were armed as they were.
5. The climate at the University at that time was being, at a minimun affected, if not controlled, by subversive and violent groups who had been on Campus for some time prior to May 4th. Groups that were infamous for their dissention and violence. They had created a firestorm of emotion in an otherwise peaceful community. Deliberately. As these letters so chillingly seem to point out.
6. The Guardsmen were under attack. They weren't monsters who came with the intention to cut down some "hippie protesters". They were in fear for their own lives as well. No one knew if there were firearms in the crowd of students or not. They were told to "expect anything".
In retrospect, I think that it should be considered that there were other factors certainly at play on May 4th. These Guardsmen were not some bloodthirsty killing machine turned loose to murder innocent students. They were young, ill-equipped to handle such a volatile situation, frightened and completely ignorant of what to expect. Most of them were also natives of this area and had never seen anything like what was happening that week.
If our Government had a hand in this plot (which seems very likely) I am completely convinced that these young men were only pawns.
None of them died that day, but they were adversely affected as well. There was much emotional trauma on their end too. This was just a tragic situation all the way around.
Their lives were changed forever as well. I can personally see that whenever this subject comes up in my family. My relative is a good and decent man who would never calculate and deliver violence willingly to another human being and to have been put in a situation where he had to be involved in something so alien to him with the outcome so horrible and far-reaching has impacted him forever.
I am sure that this doesn't compare with the despair of these families at the loss of a loved one. I would never be so callous to even hold the two up side by side. I only hope that someday all of this can come out in the open and that people will see that these young men were not evil. They didn't go there that day with intentions of destruction. They have been painted as something that were not. I can't shed any light on the thoughts and intentions of their superiors, but I can say that these young men were ignorant of any longer-reaching, sinister undercurrent.
Respectfully,
M
M,
Thank you for your thoughtful comment - it was thought provoking and I appreciate it. I will be posting comments regarding your comments soon.
AKM
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