Kent State moment

[bex77]

If I say "Kent State Shootings" do people know what I am talking about? I know it was before almost everyone on my f-list was born, so I don't want to assume.

It's hard for me to believe that it was 40 years ago today. And in another way, it seems part of a world so far away now. Maybe working on a university campus makes it more relevant to my life. I just read the Wikipedia article about it. Still a lot of "we don't know." I thought by now someone would have figured out what really happened.

I don't remember the event itself, but I do remember that summer. We were visiting my grandparents' tobacco farm in North Carolina, and my redneck Air National Guardsman uncle kicked my liberal pacifist Yankee New Yorker dad out of his house for saying that the Guardsmen in Ohio should not have shot those students, and that the war in Vietnam wasn't a good idea. *sigh*

It did have a big influence on musicians. People are posting Crosby, Still, Nash and Young's "Ohio" on Facebook today. There are twenty-five entries in the Wikipedia article with musical references to the event, from Holly Near to Genesis.

Odd musical fact - both Chrissie Hind (later of the Pretenders) and two guys who founded the band Devo were students at Kent State and there for the protest. Wikipedia says "Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, founding members of Devo, also attended Kent State at the time of the shootings. Casale was reportedly "standing about 15 feet (4.6 m) away" from Allison Krause when she was shot, and was friends with her and another one of the students who were killed. The shootings were the transformative moment for the band, which became less of a pure joke and more a vehicle for social critique (albeit with a blackly humorous bent)."

Comments

[aphrabehn.livejournal.com]

I don't personally remember it - I wasn't born yet - but I certainly know what you're talking about. Events like Kent State were a big part of how I was raised...well, not the event itself, but the lessons learned.

Ohio is an amazing song. I'm always surprised when people have no idea what it's referencing.

[trinalin.livejournal.com]

I live in Ohio, so of course I know of the Kent State Shootings even though it happened before I was born. Dunno if my students would know of it. If I remember, I'll ask them tomorrow.

[dpolicar]

Yeah, though as history rather than lived experience.

[swiftangel.livejournal.com]

Another Ohio native, so I was aware of them. I thought it in very poor taste that they used to sell t-shirts that said "Kent State - What a Riot!" with bullet holes through the words "Kent State". One of the upperclassmen at my school had gone on a campus visit and came back wearing one. She didn't understand why so many of the teachers were appalled by it.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

Not from Ohio (obviously) and sometimes I forget Kent State is in Ohio, but naturally I think about the shootings first and foremost whenever someone mentions Kent State. Isn't it part of everyone's high school history curriculum in the States?

[ron_newman]

I lived in Ohio at the time and remember the events vividly, though I was in Columbus rather than the Akron-Cleveland area. I was 13.

Still, if you say the name 'Allison Krause' to me these days, I think of a country-bluegrass singer.

[gale_storm]

1. Too young then, barely born.

2. Interesting musical fact. I remember Devo, and liked them a lot, way back when.