When Ohio National Guardsmen fired sixty-seven gun shots in thirteen seconds at Kent State University (KSU) on May 4, 1970, they murdered four unarmed, protesting college students and wounded nine others. For forty-two years, the United States government has held the position that Kent State was a tragic and unfortunate incident occurring at a noontime antiwar rally on an American college campus. In 2010, compelling forensic evidence emerged showing that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) were the lead agencies in managing Kent State government operations, including the cover-up. At Kent State, lawful protest was pushed into the realm of massacre as the US federal government, the state of Ohio, and the Ohio National Guard (ONG) executed their plans to silence antiwar protest in America.The new evidence threatens much more than the accuracy of accounts of the Kent State massacre in history books. As a result of this successful, ongoing Kent State government cover-up, American protesters today are at much greater risk than they realize, with no real guarantees or protections offered by the US First Amendment rights to protest and assemble. This chapter intends to expose the lies of the state in order to uncensor the “unhistory” of the Kent State massacre, while also aiming toward justice and healing, as censoring the past impacts our perspectives in the present.
Read the rest of the article, written by Laurel Krause, sister of Allison Krause who was murdered at Kent State, here.
There is a beautiful memorial there now, I remember daffodils, lots of daffodils.
ReplyDeleteWhen one is in Kent (and it is a place I have spent a lot of time, surprisingly) it is impossible to forget for a moment that this happened. At least, for those of us old enough to remember Vietnam and war protests.
I am taken with how brave they were. And how united.
This was really the defining moment for me about the war. I remember this so vividly, perhaps because I was the same age as the students. Horrifying then and now. The same tin soldiers were at the Occupy movement.
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