Unfair to compare demonstrations
I am replying to the April 30 letter “Obey the Law.” Peaceful protests that eventually turn disruptive and violent are unfortunate and not necessarily the intent of the majority of protesters and detract from the intended message. We witnessed many of these events over the past year, including the Jan. 6 insurrection. However, it is wrong to compare the events of May 4, 1970, on the campus of Kent State University to the violence and looting we have recently seen at some, but certainly not all of the recent demonstrations.
As a student at Kent State and anti-Vietnam War protester, I witnessed the reckless shooting and killing of my fellow classmates by undertrained and poorly led National Guardsmen. I was within a few feet of several who were shot and killed. A few were shot in the back as they lay prone on the ground. They were walking to or from classes, with books in their arms.
Three nights prior to the shooting, a raucous crowd of students and non-students crowded the downtown Kent strip of bars. They poured out into the street on that first warm night of spring. Things got out of hand and several storefront windows were broken. There were no reports of looting. The following night, after a peaceful protest rally in front of an old ROTC barracks that was scheduled for demolition, a fire destroyed the building. I attended that rally as well, and that building was not on fire when the rally ended. Speculation abounds as to how that building burned and who might be responsible, but nothing has been proved. The NationalGuard was called in.
On May 4, 1970, the National Guard ordered the dispersal of a peaceful noon rally, and after successfully moving and dispersing the students with tear gas, they inexplicably turned and fired at a few dozen students more than a football field away, students who were starting to walk back to their dorms. I was in that group along with the four killed and nine wounded. These were not law-breaking criminals, but students on their own campus where they lived and ate. Where were they supposed to go? What crime did they commit? It sickens me that people without the slightest knowledge of what happened at Kent State insist on commenting on something about which they know so little.
This year, as we remember what happened on May 4, 1970, I urge everyone to learn a little bitabout what really happened that day, and not to categorically dismiss the truth to suit your political opinions. HOWARD IVES
Squirrel Hill