A Change of Guard

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Friday 1 May 2015

Recalling Kent State, 45 Years Later


FILE - In a May 4, 1970 file photo, Ohio National Guard moves in on rioting students at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. Four persons were killed and eleven wounded when National Guardsmen opened fire. The U.S. Justice Department, citing "insurmountable legal and evidentiary barriers," won't reopen its investigation into the deadly 1970 shootings by Ohio National Guardsmen during a Vietnam War protest at Kent State University. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez discussed the obstacles in a letter to Alan Canfora, a wounded student who requested that the investigation be reopened. The Justice Department said Tuesday, April 24, 2012 it would not comment beyond the letter. (AP Photo, File)


Ten Soksreinith VOA Khmer
The May 4, 1970, shootings at Kent State University came after then President Richard Nixon ordered an invasion of Cambodia, escalating the conflict with Vietnam and leading to massive protests outside the university. Four students were killed in the shooting, by Ohio National Guard troops.
On April 30, 1970, Nixon announced on national television the decision to allow an armed incursion in Cambodia, and the next day, protests broke out across university campuses in the United States.
On Friday May 1, 1970, at Ohio’s Kent State University, a large group of students gathered at the Commons on the campus to peacefully protest against the war in Vietnam and against Nixon’s decision of an armed invasion in Cambodia.


Some 1,000 Ohio National Guardsmen were deployed at the protest site, where the confrontations between student protesters and the police were critically tense.
A Kent State University student lies on the ground after National Guardsman fired into a crowd of demonstrators on May 4, 1970 in Kent, Ohio. (AP Photo)
A Kent State University student lies on the ground after National Guardsman fired into a crowd of demonstrators on May 4, 1970 in Kent, Ohio. (AP Photo)
The tension continued for four days until Monday, May 4, when the number of protesters increased to about 3,000. At noon that day, the Guardsmen opened fire at the protesters, killing four and wounding nine.
The Kent State shootings had significant impacts nationwide, bringing hundreds of college students to the streets and shutting down more than 500 colleges.
Until today the Kent State shootings remain a symbol of the Vietnam War’s impact on Americans.
And though there have been efforts to prevent another such incident, they have failed: with police shooting unarmed civilians, igniting protests in violence in places like Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Long Boret remained in office until the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. US Ambassador John Gunther Dean recalls that, unlike many government officials who fled Phnom Penh, Long chose to remain behind despite being on a death list announced from Beijing by Norodom Sihanouk:

"Long Boret refused to be evacuated. He was a competent, able man, much younger than Lon Nol or Sirik Matak. When I personally went to see him on April 12, the very morning of our evacuation, to ask him to take his wife and himself and his young children out of Phnom Penh because I feared for his safety, he thanked me but [said he] thought his life was not in danger."[6]
General Sak Sutsakhan recalled that on the morning of April 17 Long decided to take his family and leave the city.[7] Both General Sak and the journalist Jon Swain[8] reported that Long and his family were unable to board the last helicopter flying out of the city.[9] In his memoir, Danger Zones, Ambassador Dean stated that: "Long Boret had stayed in Cambodia, thinking that he could have some kind of dialogue with the Khmer Rouge. When he realized that that was impossible, he raced to the airport with his family in a jeep to try and get out of the country. When they arrived at the airport, they got on a helicopter with some military officers. One officer brutally shoved him off the helicopter. The copter took off. The Khmer Rouge captured Long Boret and his family and killed them all. [10]He was last seen by Swain, Sydney Schanberg and Dith Pran outside the French Embassy. Jon Swain reported: All Aboard!