First Amendment

Amendment I

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

May 4 Shootings At Kent State

This article gives an account of the tragic shootings of thirteen Kent State University students during a protest, which resulted in the death of four students and the wounding of nine other students. The article explains how a peaceful protest turns into a violent protest, with students and other members from the community lashing out by starting fires and vandalizing property to the point where the Mayor calls a state of emergency and soon after—the National Guard. After a two-day fiasco between the students and the Guard, the Guard opened fire with their M-1 Rifles into a large crown of students—many whom were bystander—firing for a full thirteen seconds killing four students who were over 100 feet away. They were later declared bystanders.

The controversy surrounding this tragedy in 1970, as well as probably now if it were discussed, is whether or not the Guard rightfully opened fire into the crowd and whether the slain students’ First Amendment rights were violated (which the Court has never ruled). I believe that the Guard didn’t handle the situation properly and I don’t believe that they were prepared to handle the situation in the first place. They were thrown into the situation, which caused them to react reckless. It is sad and unfortunate that the students who were killed hadn’t done anything to warrant the fate handed to them by the Guard. However, I feel that the First Amendment of the protesters was not violated because they were not peacefully assembled, they became violent, aggressive, and destructive in nature to the entire campus and community as they broke store windows an set buildings ablaze. I do not feel that the students deserved what they got, I do however feel different measures could’ve been taken such as possibly water hoses or maybe a plan of action could’ve been created by authorities so the Guard wouldn’t be left on their own to handle the crowd attacking them. The article explains that rocks and other dangerous objects were thrown at the Guard, which is not okay. With that said, guns should’ve been the last resort and the shooting definitely shouldn’t have gone on for 13 seconds. I believe that the uniformed men felt anger and attacked and wanted to lash out at the angry mobs of people. They wanted to prove that they weren’t afraid, wouldn’t retreat, and were stronger and had more power than the angry protestors.

Kent State Anon Interview

This is an interview conducted in 2000 with one of the guardsmen. During the interview, the Guard explains how there was a lot of confusion amongst the Guardsmen and that they received verbal orders to fire only when told, although some of the men fired without being told to do so. He was not one of the men who fired, and admitted that he knew it was wrong of the men to fire into the crowd of students.

The Guardsmen were in the wrong and this interview confirms it. They went against direct orders for a reason that will never be known except by the men who opened fire. The man in the interview did seem remorseful, but he seemed to be unsure of what he wanted to say often times, which made me wonder if he was lying or if there was a cover up of information by the Guardsmen or the government to hide the mistakes of the men on May 4th.

Kent State Memorial

This is the account of a news reporter who covered the Kent State shootings and his return to the school in 2004 for the memorial of the students. He explains the melancholy memorials on campus that commemorates both the slain students and the injured students. Caputo talks about the campus and the city of Kent after the tragic shootings, and you can only imagine that memory of those dreadful days lives on with the members of the community and the students of that time.

I believe that what happened was very much a tragic and unnecessary event that should’ve never happened. I do feel that this event forever changed the city of Kent and with each new freshmen class at Kent State, the legacy of the lost lives of those 4 students will live on through the memorials. I feel that many who believed that they were taking part in the violent behavior shamed the students killed. I also believe that Kent was shamed because the shootings took place in their city.

War Letters

The War Letters section is a selection of the letters written to the parents of Sandy Scheuer, one of the students killed at Kent State. One letter is from a bigoted woman who condemns and blames Sandy’s parents for Sandy’s death, one letter is from a woman who wants to send words of encouragement and support to Sandy’s parents. The last letter included is from President Richard Nixon, who expressed, in short, his support of Sandy’s parents and his condolences.

 The first letter was repulsive, racist, and ignorant. Perhaps the most disconcerting fact is that a woman who claimed that her heart was saddened as a result of the young woman’s death wrote the letter. The letter displays the woman’s racist views about Jewish people and he condemnation of them. I was shocked to find out that the majority of the people blamed the kids for the deaths. I couldn’t believe this woman would attack a family who has been through such a tragedy. She disrespected this family, implying they were unintelligent ill-equipped parents directly—and indirectly—caused their own daughters death. I even felt insulted just reading the letter and even became upset. However, that type of sentiment in regard to Jewish people does not surprise me because of my study of Anti-Semitism and antipathy for Jews. I just couldn’t believe the extent to which an individual, a woman who is probably a mother who taught the same racist beliefs to her children, would take an opportunity to use Jews as a scapegoat.

The second letter was very uplifting was I would’ve expected in Snady’s parents time of grief, I only hope they received more letters like this one.

President Nixon had the most pathetic letter of the bunch included—at least the racist bigot went into detail which meant she really gave the issue some thought in her own convoluted mind—President Nixon’s letter was probably not even personally written. It seemed insincere, and the fact that he maintained a public unsympathetic stance on the matter proves his insincerity in his short paragraph. I feel these students got the short hand of the deal because it was assumed that they were a part of the violence when in fact, they were not. I also don’t believe that the students who were involved in the violence deserved to die. I believe they deserved to be arrested, not killed. it is a shame that within our society we always have to make one side the ultimate hero, while the other side is made out to be the villian and shunned to the 5^th degree.