kent state shooting

i'm doing a huge project (speech, model monument, and paper) on kent state. the purpose of the project is to design a monument to someone/something i feel passionate about in history. i chose kent state because it is a horrible, yet beautiful example of useless killing, protest, and our rights. i just needed some ideas on a title for it, and what the purpose of the monument ( not just rememberence for the 4 killed) would be. so if anyone can briefly tell me what in your opinion this event means to you. thanx for you help

This may be of no benefit for your purposes but it may serve as a reminder/new info to Others.

http://www.thrasherswheat.org/fot/ohio.htm

Godspeed,
A

In that particular case, four students made an incredibly stupid and dangerous move which resulted in their deaths.
Police were preparing for a possible riot.

Four Students (or at least several in the group of four) moved away from the main group, positioned themselves to the side and began throwing rocks at the poice officers.

Since rocks sound and feel very very similar to bullets (to an officer in gear) - the police DO NOT GIVE THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT and quickly responded with fire.

Since then police have worked on ways to better identify the difference between bullets Vs rocks hitting them.
Even still - if you throw rocks at police helmets and shields today, there is still a very good chance they will shoot you till you are dead.

Same goes for spinning around and pulling out a cell phone and pointing it at police.

The reason they will kill you is because many times it IS BULLETS or IS a small handgun.

Its pretty sad those four students put the cops in that position.
They obviously did not think through what they were doing when they chose to hit cops in the head with rocks

Link Update: http://dept.kent.edu/sociology/lewis/lewihen.htm

Originally Posted by Desapman

In that particular case, four students made an incredibly stupid and dangerous move which resulted in their deaths.
Police were preparing for a possible riot.

Four Students (or at least several in the group of four) moved away from the main group, positioned themselves to the side and began throwing rocks at the poice officers.

Since rocks sound and feel very very similar to bullets (to an officer in gear) - the police DO NOT GIVE THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT and quickly responded with fire.

Since then police have worked on ways to better identify the difference between bullets Vs rocks hitting them.
Even still - if you throw rocks at police helmets and shields today, there is still a very good chance they will shoot you till you are dead.

Same goes for spinning around and pulling out a cell phone and pointing it at police.

The reason they will kill you is because many times it IS BULLETS or IS a small handgun.

Its pretty sad those four students put the cops in that position.
They obviously did not think through what they were doing when they chose to hit cops in the head with rocks

Link Update: http://dept.kent.edu/sociology/lewis/lewihen.htm

Interesting.
Your Post is based on the link?

"The Guard then began retracing their steps from the practice football field back up Blanket Hill. As they arrived at the top of the hill, twenty-eight of the more than seventy Guardsmen turned suddenly and fired their rifles and pistols. Many guardsmen fired into the air or the ground. However, a small portion fired directly into the crowd. Altogether between 61 and 67 shots were fired in a 13 second period."
Would you please provide proof the four dead were even indirectly involved (as spectators) much less the way you've described their actions?

Why did only a small portion of the 'cornered' Gaurdsmen fire directly into the crowd?
Were they actually in Fear of Bodily Harm?
Poorly trained w/no business conducting crowd control?
A sinister reason?



"Four Kent State students died as a result of the firing by the Guard. The closest student was Jeffrey Miller, who was shot in the mouth while standing in an access road leading into the Prentice Hall parking lot, a distance of approximately 270 feet from the Guard. Allison Krause was in the Prentice Hall parking lot; she was 330 feet from the Guardsmen and was shot in the left side of her body. William Schroeder was 390 feet from the Guard in the Prentice Hall parking lot when he was shot in the left side of his back. Sandra Scheuer was also about 390 feet from the Guard in the Prentice Hall parking lot when a bullet pierced the left front side of her neck."
Don't the distances seem unusually long for effective rock throwing?
Many pro baseball players don't have that good of an arm.


Kent State didn't pass the smell test in 1970 and still doesn't Today...


REFERENCE
http://dept.kent.edu/sociology/lewis/lewihen.htm

The national guard fired, not the police.

Two of the people killed were not involved in the protest. They were students going to and from class. It's not known if the other two who were killed were throwing anything.

Some of the protestors where throwing pieces of gravel at the guard from the Prentice Hall parking lot.

If the guard had thought they were being fired upon due to gravel, they would have already returned fire when they were in close proximity to the protestors. They were hundreds of feet away from the protestors in the parking lot and on top of the hill when they turned and fired.

Well your free to disagree with the Courts and all the following appeals and final rulings.

The facts remain that the police were being cornered and pelted with rocks (and tear gas cannisters thrown back.

They fired a burst of gunfire in the direction of the students and 4 of them were standing in the wrong place.

Whats always interesting is to put yourself in the shoes of the Cops.
IF a mob backed you into your house and was tossing tear-gas, screaming at your window and suddenly someone you couldnt see threw handfuls of gravel at your window..... its very likely you would, at least be slightly terrified they were 'shooting' at you.

Cops are better trained now.
They would NEVER let themselves get surrounded into a corner anymore.
They would start shooting you dead BEFORE it got that far as it did at KEnt.

The guard didn't shoot when they were in a situation when they were the most surrounded. They were never really surrounded by protestors. They put themselves in a position where they were up against a fence, but that's not where they shot from. They shot from up on the hill when they were hundreds of feet away from the protestors.

I'm not saying some of the guard weren't frightened. Some of them were. It's just hard to explain why they chose that moment to fire.

You should check out some of the disciplined ways the Japanese police handle protestors. I watched a documentary about it and the youngsters there make Kent State look like a baby play, yet the police don't kill anyone. They are simply well-trained.

It's also worth noting that it wasn't a case of the guard shooting because they were outnumbered. There was actually a much larger crowd of students standing almost right next to the guardsmen along the edge of Taylor Hall. The guard didn't shoot at them but were aiming mainly at people in the parking lot.

If you look at a map of where the protestors were, Alan Canfora, the one who would wave the flag, was one of the closest to the guard. The much of the fire went right past the vicinity of him. He was shot through the wrist.

Canfora has always thought that the guard was shooting at him intentionally and many of the bullets that went past him hit people in the parking lot. Canfora said that the day before the shooting, he was approached by a couple of guard members who said that they were going to make him eat that flag the next day.

It would almost impossible to prove in a court of law that the guard conspired to shoot at the protestors unless a guard member came right out and admitted it.

To the original poster, read about the Kent State incident as much as you can. There are plenty of links on the web. The people involved in that incident tend to get bombarded with email in March and April, especially this year since it is the 35th anniversary. So, you might have trouble reaching some of them.


Here are some photos I took when I attended the 34th memorial last May 4th.

The memorial for William Schroeder in the Prentice Hall parking lot.



The plaque on the top of the hill in the woods honoring the killed and injured.