Will college leaders ever learn that force is the wrong response?
I was a student at Kent State University in Ohio on May 4, 1970. I was with my friend Sandy in the parking lot that day protesting the war in Vietnam, when she was shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard.
The feelings from that time run deep and personal, and they have once again come back in light of all of the turmoil on college campuses in recent days over the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The Vietnam War raised questions having to do with politics, honesty and morality. It was not primarily a question of ethnic conflict between two peoples. Protests are part of the American heritage we can be proud of, and they can force needed change — but those that descend into violence are no longer accepted forms of expression.
I am truly amazed that the leaders of American universities have seemingly not learned anything from history on how best to address protests in which participants on all sides have complex, strongly held beliefs. Sending in the National Guard at Kent State was not the solution then, nor is a similar response to protests the solution now.
In their song “Ohio,” Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young asked, “What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground? How can you run when you know?” I knew her and found her dead on the ground. I would like to think I haven’t run from my responsibilities as a global citizen.
Watch the letter writer tell his story at latimes.com/letters.