Fifty years ago _May 4, 1970

This week, May 4 was the 50th anniversary of the killing of four students and the wounding of nine others at Kent State University in northeast Ohio.

That weekend, when there were no cell phones and many cars only had AM radios, some friends and I went camping. We didn't learn of the tragedy until late Sunday afternoon when we returned to the Wilmington College campus. (Wilmington College is in south central Ohio between Cincinnati and Columbus, about three hours or so from Kent.)

The campus, like most of the country, was in chaos, trying to figure a way to respond to the horror of American soldiers killing American students. Eventually it was decided that we would join students and faculty from other colleges in a rally at the state capitol in Columbus. We, the Wilmington students would walk from our campus to the statehouse and join the other schools.

I was on that march. We had to go the long way round to avoid Washington Courthouse, then the "home" of the John Birch Society in Ohio. The first night out we slept in a generous farmer's field, a cow pasture if I remember right. We woke in the morning with frost on our sleeping bags. The second night, a number of generous Friends (Quakers) just outside Columbus allowed us to sleep in their homes. The rally/protest at the State capitol was planned so we, those who walked to get there, would arrive first. We hung out on the capitol steps, a bunch of tired, mostly out of shape hippies who just walked roughly 75 miles in three days. There were plainly visible police snipers on the roof of the hotel across the street from the capitol and on the the roof of the capitol itself. Just to be sure we saw their show of force, the Ohio State police in full riot gear marched out of the capitol and surrounded the building Other state troopers came out and, again in full view to be sure we saw, issued tear gas grenades to to police surrounding the building. As tragic and horrible as our reason for being there was, fortunately the rally was peaceful, with no more violence.

This photo of the rally was taken by my classmate and friend David Fink (who also taught me a lot about photography).

This article about Wilmington College student, staff, and faculty participation appeared Monday, May 4, on the WC website.

In this Op/Ed in the New York Times, Dr. Richard M. Perloff, a professor at Cleveland State University, makes the case that the killings at Kent State were a watershed moment in American history. The effects of this moment are still being felt today in our ever-more radically polarized society. 

My fifteen-year-old granddaughter thinks history is boring. (Don't all fifteen-year-olds?) I tried to tell here that history, despite the way it is taught, is not always big, important people doing big important things. Sometimes we, the little people, are in the middle of making history. 

She, right now, in this time and place, is part of a history that her children and grandchildren will read about. (I hope they will still be reading!) And when they read about the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, she can tell them, "I was there! This is what it was really like."