Kent State

A tragic thirteen seconds on a sunny day in May

The Two Perspectives of the Kent State Shootings:

• It was the National Guard’s / the US Government’s fault

• It was the protesters fault

It was the National Guard’s fault

• The closest student shot was fully sixty feet away; all but one were more than 100 feet away; all but two were more than 200 feet away. One of the dead was 255 feet away; the rest were 300 to 400 feet away. The most distant student shot was more than 700 feet from the Guardsmen.

• The protesters were not armed. • Students had been released from class at 12:30 and

approximately 200 students converged on the common for a break from class. The guardsmen misinterpreted this as an illegal assembly. Shots were fired at 12:34.

• Around 67 rounds were fired into the crowd

Pulitzer Prize photo of Mary Vecchio and victim Jeffrey Miller

…”Point, FIRE!”

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mid-j9Ki49s

It was the protester’s fault

• On May 3rd, protesters had gathered in downtown Kent and smashed store windows and looted a jewelry store.

• On May 2nd, more than 1000 protesters are estimated to have gathered at the commons on the Kent State campus .

• Protesters are thought to have caused a fire that burned the campus ROTC building to the ground.

• By May 4th, it is estimated that 3000 students had gathered on the campus at Kent State. Many protesters were throwing rocks at the guardsmen.

• The students had been ordered to disperse by university officials.

It was the protester’s fault

How do you see it?