May 042014
Forty-four years ago today, Richard Nixon and the Republican Party committed a horrid crime against the people of the United States and murdered four of them in cold blood. Please join me in remembering these fallen heroes and all who put life and limb in jeopardy through their opposition to the Vietnam War.
Both those who fought in and those who fought against that immoral war were doing what they believed to be their duty. All are worthy of honor.
16 Responses to “Remembering the Fallen Heroes”
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When I think of Kent State, I immediately think of the Holly Near song which you can hear at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CadP4dRemYk
Here are the words:
CHORUS:
IT COULD HAVE BEEN ME, BUT INSTEAD IT WAS YOU
SO I'LL KEEP DOING THE WORK YOU WERE DOING AS IF I WERE TWO
I'LL BE A STUDENT OF LIFE, A SINGER OF SONGS
A FARMER OF FOOD AND A RIGHTER OF WRONG
IT COULD HAVE BEEN ME, BUT INSTEAD IT WAS YOU
AND IT MAY BE ME DEAR SISTERS AND BROTHER
BEFORE WE ARE THROUGH
BUT IF YOU CAN WORK FOR FREEDOM
FREEDOM, FREEDOM, FREEDOM
IF YOU CAN WORK (LIVE, DIE, SING) FOR FREEDOM I CAN TOO
VERSE:
STUDENTS IN OHIO 200 YARDS AWAY
SHOT DOWN BY NAMELESS FIRE ONE EARLY DAY IN MAY
SOME PEOPLE CRIED OUT ANGRY YOU SHOULD HAVE SHOT MORE OF THEM DOWN
BUT YOU CAN'T BURY YOUTH MY FRIEND
YOUTH GROWS THE WHOLE WORLD ROUND
CHORUS;
IF YOU CAN DIE FOR FREEDOM I CAN TOO
VERSE:
THE JUNTA BROKE THE FINGERS ON VICTOR JARA'S HANDS
THEY SAID TO THE GENTLE POET ;PLAY YOUR GUITAR NOW IF YOU CAN;
VICTOR STARTED SINGING BUT THEY BROUGHT HIS BODY DOWN
YOU CAN KILL THAT MAN BUT NOT HIS SONG
WHEN IT'S SUNG THE WHOLE WORLD ROUND
CHORUS:
IF YOU CAN SING FOR FREEDOM I CAN TOO
VERSE:
A WOMAN IN THE JUNGLE SO MANY WARS AWAY
STUDIES LATE INTO THE NIGHT, DEFENDS THE VILLAGE IN THE DAY
ALTHOUGH HER SKIN IS GOLDEN LIKE MINE WILL NEVER BE
HER SONG IS HEARD AND I KNOW THE WORDS
AND I'LL SING THEM UNTIL SHE'S FREE
CHORUS:
IF YOU CAN LIVE FOR FREEDOM I CAN TOO
For me, it is impossible to forget those times. In Canada, the Vietnam War was not that close mainly because we were not fighting in it. But there was a social consciousness that began emerging in the late 60's and early 70's, and it is still living on today.
We honor the 4 dead in Ohio but also, never forget those who fought so bravely in Nam, whether drafted or volunteered to serve. We honor and remember those who came back and those who will never come back. Then there are those who came back but could not live with themselves and chose to exit this life. I lost too many family and friends because of this senseless "police action". So I also honor those who fled to Canada or other places on pure principal. They are ALL heroes in my mind.
You are right TC, all are worthy of honour – God bless them all. Although a child at the time, I recognised that picture instantly, those poor innocent students!
Freedom Riders and Viet Nam war protesters share an anniversay, and both anniversaries are in the same month as Memorial Day. How sadly appropriate. Thank you for remembering and helping us not to forget.
I remember that day as the memory of it, Kent State, has been burned in my brain.
i was living in Yellow Springs, Ohio and attending Wright State University & Antioch College, only a few miles from Kent, when the news of Kent State came over the wires. I have never forgotten where I was when I first heard the news.
There were many friends I had at the time and we were all very worried about the
draft and being called up to go to Vietnam. Dark days… Talk of going to Canada to avoid the draft.
The Kent State incident should never have happened!
It galvanized an increase in protesting an end to Vietnam war.
Remember Madison, WI…
Madison Antiwar protests May 5, 1970 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwkqkXG7fac
Remembering the Sterling Hall bombing in Madison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4q5MRG-5hg
History: UW-Madison Campus Voices: Bombing of Sterling Hall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSrrUO6uywk
The march on the Pentagon… Images: http://www.google.com/search?q=march+on+the+Pentagon&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=PrNmU7qqOu3IsASXsoD4BA&ved=0CC8QsAQ
Holly Near is an awesome singer and the song brought back more memories…
"it Could Have Been Me (Live)" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CadP4dRemYk
I still play her songs and my favorite album of Holly Near is "Edge".
What a day – down the old memory lanes… in YouTube.
Jim, the reason the software held this for moderation is the bumber if links. To avoid that, put no more than three in one comment.
Thanks for the tip. I was not worried while waiting for moderation. I think this was the first time I had used more than two hot links in a reply.
May 4th (today) was our 40th Anniversary..one of the reasons I picked May 4th was this…power to the people!
Happy belated Anniversary!! 🙂
Went into Military around this time… I'm now a Vietnam Veteran Against the Wars…:!:
I can't believe it has been 44 years since that awful day. I cried all day, wishing I had been there with ehm to show my support for their courage. Many were condemned for protesting our so called police action when they were exercising their rights as US citizens. I, too, honor those who served and wish they had not been treated so poorly when they returned. I will never like Jane Fonda for her actions, she may be honored as one of the most important women of our time by others, but what she did to those soldiers who were held captive was not honorable in any way.
Thanks everyone.
The Kent State four were not the only protestors to die for their opposition to the war. Jackson State was another. I saw police kill a girl in the demonstration at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, 1968. She was offering them a flower just a few feet away from me. They laid her head open with long batons. That was the only time I ever reacted violently during a demonstration. They beat me unconscious. I woke up in a holding cell.
I would never defend Bush and his lies that started an illegal invasion of another country and cost thousands of needless deaths, but the country did vote for him a second time when his lies were well known. Just as the country voted for Nixon a second time when the links to his administration and Watergate had been reported. Nixon ran on a platform of getting tough on crime and the lawlessness in the streets, and won. We get the leadership we vote for. Nixon's past history of violating individual rights should have been proof enough that he was not an honest man.
Having heard Dr. King's message, I was willing to go to jail as a result of defying the government, to draft me to a war I disagreed with. I got lucky, my lottery number was 228. It was an irony that I ended up in jail anyways, protesting the war I would have refused to serve in.
Ford pardoned Nixon for all crimes against America, even though he did not know what all those crimes were. Obama did not give Bush a pardon, but one of his first orders as President was to instruct his GA not to investigate, or prosecute crimes Bush, or his administration officials might have been guilty of. There are many countries around the world where Bush and other Bush administration officials have been judged war criminals.
Rightfully, Jimmy Carter gave amnisty to those who fled the country in protest against the Vietnam war. If a crook like Nixon could be pardoned certainly objectors could get amnisty. I still have a rather long arrest record, which makes me think I should have just left the country and then gotten that amnisty. But I felt civil disobediance and its punishment was the right way to make my statement as a citizen. If MLK made his fight from a jail cell, so should I.
Congress gave LBJ (not innocent in the Vietnam mess of lies) the power to conduct war, just as Congress gave Bush the power to conduct war. I don't accept Clinton's, or other Democrats excuse that Bush assured them he had no intention of going to war, or invadinbg Iraq. To accept that would be to accept that they were idiots, and I don't think Hillary, or her Democratic partners are idiots. They can rightfully claim they were lied to, but then their judgment is questionable and their rise to higher office should never have happened. Who will bring up Hillary's decision about the Iraq war, if she runs for president? It won't be an issue, just as it was not an issue when she ran for Senator. We get the leadership we vote for.
Those of us who vote for the candidate who loses don't. Yes, I take your point, but unless someone is elected unanimously, there's always an exception.
Eleven days after Kent State — Jackson State.
On May 14, 1970, a group of student protesters against the Vietnam War, specifically the United States invasion of Cambodia, were confronted by city and state police. Shortly after midnight, the police opened fire, killing two students and injuring twelve.[1] The event happened only 11 days after National Guardsmen killed four students in similar protests at Kent State University in Ohio, which had first captured national attention.
A group of around a hundred African-American students had gathered on Lynch Street (named after John R. Lynch), which bisected the campus, on the evening of Thursday, May 14 to protest the United States invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War.[2] By around 9:30 p.m. the students had started fires, thrown rocks at white motorists and overturned vehicles, including a large truck. Firefighters dispatched to the scene quickly requested police support.
The police responded in force. At least 75 Jackson police units from the city of Jackson and the Mississippi Highway Patrol[3] attempted to control the crowd while the firemen extinguished the fires. After the firefighters had left the scene, shortly before midnight, the police moved to disperse the crowd then gathered in front of Alexander Hall, a women's dormitory.
Advancing to within 50 to 100 feet (15 to 30 m) of the crowd, at roughly 12:05 a.m., officers opened fire on the dormitory.[4] The exact cause of the shooting and the moments leading up to it are unclear. Authorities claim they saw a sniper on one of the building's upper floors and were being sniped in all directions. Later two city policemen and one state patrolman reported minor injuries from flying glass,[5] and an FBI search for evidence of sniper fire was negative.[6] The students say they did not provoke the officers. The gunfire lasted for 30 seconds, and at least 140 shots were fired by a reported 40 state highway patrolmen using shotguns from 30 to 50 feet. Every window on the narrow side of the building facing Lynch Street was shattered.[5]
The crowd scattered and a number of people were trampled or cut by falling glass. Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, 21, a junior, and James Earl Green, 17, a senior and miler[5] at nearby Jim Hill High School, were killed; twelve others were wounded. Gibbs was killed near Alexander Hall by buckshot, while Green was killed behind the police line in front of B. F. Roberts Hall, also with a shotgun.
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