46th Anniversary
The sound of gun shots echo across campus. This year the Kent community remembers the lives lost on May 4th, 1970 during a student protest of the Vietnam War. Unfortunately not all incoming students know about the tragic history of Kent State. To help combat this Dr. Jerry M. Lewis, a professor here at Kent State gave an interview giving a first hand view in to the events of May 4th, and the 46th anniversary that took place this year.
On May 4th, 1970, students of Kent State University gathered on Taylor Hill to protest the U.S involvement in the Vietnam War, which would end in loosing the lives of 4 students. Jerry M. Lewis, A professor here at Kent State was present at the time of the shooting and gave a detailed report on the events that took place that lead too the national guard being called in, up to the fatal gun shots that killed 4 students and injured another 9, all posted on the following link, http://dept.kent.edu/sociology/lewis/lewihen.htm. According to Dr. Lewis, after the protesters actions became too violent, the National Guard was summoned to campus to disperse the crowd to restore calm. After the Guard’s initial attempt of trying to break up the rally was met with resistance, they were given orders to lock and load their weapons, along with attaching bayonets to the ends of the guns, they began to march up Taylor hill, driving the protesting students into the Prentice parking lot. The National Guard then halted and retreated to the pagoda, at which point, Dr. Lewis saw the right rear echelon turn and fire on the students. “… a student came up to me and said that they were firing blanks, then I pointed to a body…” said Lewis in an interview.
This year, on the 46th anniversary, Samaria Rice a mother who had lost her son to a mistake made by a police officer, came and spoke to those who came to the memorial about how senseless gun violence has been affecting the country over the past several years (http://www.kent.edu/kent/news/success/kent-state-observes-46th-annual-may-4-commemoration-0). Dr. Lewis commented when asked about how gun violence could be better avoided in the case of May 4th that, he believes strongly that the social control forces should better state their intent in order to avoid meaningless deaths. Again in the interview he had stated that the protesters did not know that the guns of the National Guard were loaded, and that if the students knew, they would have dispersed much sooner, and that if the guard had waited just another hour, none of this would have ever happened and that May 4th would just have been another date on the calendar.
