Kent State shootings during the Student Strike of 1970

Year:
1970

Four dead in Ohio. Unarmed students were killed by the US army when protesting against the war in Cambodia.

Among the counter culture movement in the fabled 1960ies peace was a popular item. Not only hippies protested, but more people, among which students were quite prevalent, became increasingly interested in cultivating awareness about what shades of grey their local and not so local politics were, because, just like television, the worldviews of people became increasingly less black and white.

The war in Vietnam was a hot debate and who was right and wrong is a complicated topic. But what is not complicated at all is that the right to protest peacefully should not be met with deadly repercussions.
A reportedly inexperienced group of soldiers messed up badly when sent to control an instance of an ongoing protest in Ohio. Though the students were unarmed, the soldiers supposedly “panicked” and shot 4 students dead and injured another 12.

The guardsmen who opened fire claimed it was self-defense in response to a perceived threat from the students. But an FBI investigation into the events disagreed:
“The shootings were not necessary and not in order. We have some reason to believe that the claim by the National Guard that their lives were endangered by the students was fabricated subsequent to [the shootings].”

Among the killed students were:

Jeffrey Glenn Miller
20 years. He threw a tear-gas canister back to the soldiers who fired it initially at the students.
Allison Beth Krause
19 years. She believed that flowers were better than bullets. The day before she started the trend to adorn the barrels of rifles with flowers. Her choice was the lilac.
Sandra Lee Scheuer
20 years. She was walking between classes, 119 meter away from the shootings. She wasn’t even attending the protest.
William Knox Schroeder
19 years. Also just walking between classes, 116 meter away from the shooting. Shot while running away.

This shooting is remembered as a reminder of how the right to protest, even peacefully, is not a given in even countries that claim to have a high standard for morality and justice. The fact that this happened in “the land of the free” made the killings all the more shocking and though many tried to justify it, an increasing awareness arose wondering “maybe we are not such good guys after all?”
The lesson we certainly should learn here is that, yes, this was bad and we should learn not to do this again. Right?

The Kent State shootings inspired many more protests.
Musicians made sure we’ll remember this event happened when we turn on the radio or streaming app.
The most popular one is “Ohio” composed by Neil Young and performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We’re finally on our own…
This summer I hear 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???

#KentStateShootings #FourDeadInOhio #FlowersAreBetterThanBullets