Our honey was a child of the 60's....Sue and I were too young to have been hippies. We were not part of the counter-culture revolution. But Tom was ripe for all the free love and drugs. He was as militant as possible. He loved that life and it was the foundation of the man he is today.
On May 4th of 1970, unarmed students and the Ohio National Guard clashed on the Commons of Kent State. The 28 guardsmen, fired 67 bullets in 13 seconds, killing 4, wounding 9, and changing the landscape of the anti-war movement forever.
Tom was not at Kent that day. He was a student protester at Bowling Green. He participated in the Student Strike that was held across the nation at more than 450 campuse that including over 4 million students. Over 900 campuses had to be closed due to the protests. Kent State remained closed for 6 weeks.
Five days after the shootings, over 100,000 students marched on Washington D.C. to protest the war and the senseless slaughter of the unarmed students of Kent State.
Shortly after the shootings, a national survey was performed and it was found that the Kent State Shootings was the single defining moment that caused the national Student Strike.
Nixon didn't help matters when he callously called the slaughtered students "Bums".
In honor of the murdered and wounded students. In honor of the man who grew up during those turbulent times. And in honor of all who protest for the rights of others. I finish with the words of Neil Young...
OHIO
Tim soldiers and Nixon's coming
We're finally on our own
This summer I heard the drumming
Four dead in Ohio
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
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 coming
We're finally on our own
This summer I heard the drumming
Four dead in Ohio
Four dead in Ohio
Four dead in Ohio
Four dead in Ohio
t
I remember the Kent State Massacre. I was a junior at Tufts. Classes were cancelled and we were allowed to skip exams and final papers and... take classes pass/fail? Something like that. Who could think about classes?
ReplyDeleteWe lost our innocence on that day. Our belief in our right to speak out. Our belief in our safety. In democracy. In America. We became like people in so much of the rest of the world.
We were used to protests.
We were used to tear gas.
We did know about police beatings.
We knew about the South.
We knew about Chicago.
But bullets?
Against white college kids on a Midwestern campus?
We lost our innocence on that day.