On This Day 50 Years Ago Four Kent State University Students Were Killed On Campus Forever Changing America.

Article written by Purple Walrus Press contributor Brooks Parola, formerly of Flint.

One of the most disgusting and horrific moments in American history...Yeah, there's a good idea: lets bring a military force onto a college campus to control a group of students so outraged by the war, (and the military) that they've burned down the ROTC building. Lets also allow those guardsmen to have LIVE ammunition in their guns as opposed to say something like rubber bullets, or why not just equip them with tear gas. Now clearly the burning of the ROTC building, the damaging of property in Kent never should have happened, and was the impetus for calling in the National Guard. This is why left-wing protests should always be about non-violence. Using violence provides an excuse for the right-wing to not only use deadly force, but after it's all said and done, "law and order" America will claim you deserved to be shot and killed for your violent behavior, which is exactly what happened.

Let's also keep in mind the historical context. By 1970 people, especially those on college campuses were fed up with this morally reprehensible war. They were fed up by 1968, which is why LBJ didn't bother running for a second term; he knew he'd lose. The guy who did win, "Tricky-Dick Nixon" campaigned on a promise that he had a "secret plan to end the war". That was utter bullshit, and by 1970, not only was he not ending the war, but he was now expanding it into neutral Cambodia. And as with the war itself, all being done without an official congressional declaration of war, as the constitution requires...I'd say the students had every right to be fucking pissed.

So here we are at Kent State, and our troops are not just killing innocent Vietnamese and Cambodians, hundreds of miles away, but now they are KILLING OUR OWN KIDS HERE AT HOME!! The state has now sanctioned the use of deadly force against it's own people!

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