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At U of I, Champaign-Urbana, I took a whole class on the Kent State massacre taught by a professor who was there and wrote a book about it. The Guardsmen were young kids, from the area, also known as 'townies' who had a bit of a resentment against the more privileged students. The first Guardsman who shot is believed to have just... done it. There wasn't an order or maybe there was from a low level lieutenant who was his immediate superior - no one really knows. When the first shot rang out, others followed immediately. Many of the Guardsmen testified that they thought the shot came from the protestors. Anyhow, it was a FUBAR. Fast forward, this will happen again as we continue to rile up our youth (and older people too) who are brain washed by the fear-mongering and hate spewed by ... everyone. I was listening to an AA Speaker this morning who got sober under infamous, national news reported circumstances. He told a counselor once, when still drinking that, "I'd rather Hate than Hurt.' I think that says it all; so many would rather hate.

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Kent State was a bloodbath that never should have happened. The students weren’t armed, and some of those killed were going to class. There was another shooting in 1970 at Jackson State in Mississippi, a HBCU and two students were killed there.

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Another thing with Kent State was that people spread nasty and false rumors about the students protesting and those who were injured and killed. It’s rather like how the wingnut media sphere functions now.

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I was listening to a call in talk radio show in Cleveland then. A man called in and said if his daughter was protesting the war he would want her killed. There was 30 seconds of dead air and the host came back on. He said that was the most horrible thing he ever heard and he sounded emotional.

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That is a horrible thing for a parent to say. Sandy Scheuer was killed while walking to class, and Allison Krause was killed for protesting. I doubt their parents agreed with this.

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Aug 4, 2023
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I can imagine that you were told just that. If only it were that 'sexy'. My professor stated that the Guardsmen were in fact from the Ohio National Guard and some were local. Many were 18, 19 years old. The 'locals' 'Townies' had a fear of the SDS and some of the more militant student organizations. The fear was not legitimate but years of underlying resentments towards the 'privileged' college kids and blue collar working class did fuel the situation. Keep in mind that the college students escaped the draft; the town saw them as draft dodgers. Also, some of the Guardsmen had either been to Vietnam, might have to go and/or had family members who were there. I'm not sure but, I recall that one of the Guardsmen had a brother who was killed in Vietnam. I'll look for the book as see if I can find it.

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You didn't read or absorb Robert Webers post. He said "We were told #Nixon conjured willing guardsman from a southern state to head north of "Yankee Land"

He did not say that it was guardsman from southern states that shot the students.

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