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Tuesday, May 4, 2010
remembering 40 years ago
Monday, May 4, 1970 - 40 years ago at Kent State University, members of the Ohio National Guard fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.
Killed (and approximate distance from the National Guard):
Jeffrey Glenn Miller; 20, 265 ft (81 m) shot through the mouth - killed instantly
Allison B. Krause; 19, 343 ft (105 m) fatal left chest wound - died later that day
William Knox Schroeder; 19, 382 ft (116 m) fatal chest wound - died almost an hour later in hospital while waiting for surgery
Sandra Lee Scheuer; 20, 390 ft (120 m) fatal neck wound - died a few minutes later from loss of blood
Wounded (and approximate distance from the National Guard):
Joseph Lewis Jr. 71 ft (22 m); hit twice in the right abdomen and left lower leg
John R. Cleary 110 ft (34 m); upper left chest wound
Thomas Mark Grace 225 ft (69 m); struck in left ankle
Alan Michael Canfora 225 ft (69 m); hit in his right wrist
Dean R. Kahler 300 ft (91 m); back wound fracturing the vertebrae - permanently paralyzed from the chest down
Douglas Alan Wrentmore 329 ft (100 m); hit in his right knee
James Dennis Russell 375 ft (114 m); hit in his right thigh from a bullet and in the right forehead by birdshot - both wounds minor (died 2007)
Robert Follis Stamps 495 ft (151 m); hit in his right buttock (died June 11, 2008)
Donald Scott MacKenzie 750 ft (230 m); neck wound
Kia ora Marty, It is interesting that the acutal culprits in getting these kids shot was not Nixon, but rather the mayor who asked the governor of Ohio to call out the National Guard and armed them, and let the bastards shoot unarmed demonstrators or onlookers. Then they were exonerated by the state. Nixon though used this to create even more animosity towards the student movement, created even more hatered of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), by equating it with, god forbid, socialism and communism, and allowed him to open millions of pieces of mail , tap phones, infilitrate groups, all on the most spurious of grounds. It all has a familiar ring to it eh! Unfortunately in so many ways, our worlds universities have now been so absorbed, as they were being then, into the established system by no longer encouraging critical thinking, eliminating liberal art based education as a waste of time, and making uni so costly as to make asking any real questions or having any real convictions simply interference in the students absorbtion into that very system. Thanks for this post Marty. It is a date I remember well. I attended the University of Wisconsin, which at that time was a hot bed of student protest activity, and the cops and National Guard were always in attendance. But after this day it all changed, it all got darker and more violence focused. America started shooting white kids, and it has never been the same. Cheers, Robb
1 comment:
Kia ora Marty,
It is interesting that the acutal culprits in getting these kids shot was not Nixon, but rather the mayor who asked the governor of Ohio to call out the National Guard and armed them, and let the bastards shoot unarmed demonstrators or onlookers. Then they were exonerated by the state. Nixon though used this to create even more animosity towards the student movement, created even more hatered of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), by equating it with, god forbid, socialism and communism, and allowed him to open millions of pieces of mail , tap phones, infilitrate groups, all on the most spurious of grounds. It all has a familiar ring to it eh!
Unfortunately in so many ways, our worlds universities have now been so absorbed, as they were being then, into the established system by no longer encouraging critical thinking, eliminating liberal art based education as a waste of time, and making uni so costly as to make asking any real questions or having any real convictions simply interference in the students absorbtion into that very system.
Thanks for this post Marty. It is a date I remember well. I attended the University of Wisconsin, which at that time was a hot bed of student protest activity, and the cops and National Guard were always in attendance. But after this day it all changed, it all got darker and more violence focused. America started shooting white kids, and it has never been the same.
Cheers,
Robb
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