The Kent State Massacre: Protest In The United States

There are many differences and similarities between the Boston Massacre and the Kent State shooting.

On May 4, 1970, Kent State went into history as one of the most powerful single events and images that America would ever witness during the Vietnam era. It would be reminisant of a battle field engagement, as gunfire would fill the Midwest college campus and bring the front lines of America's war over Vietnam. In 13 chaotic seconds, the Ohio National Guard fired their weapons at antiwar demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine. The shootings solidified the antiwar movement not only in America, but worldwide as well. By the next day photographs of the slain students, and the horror that was depicted over every possilbe news media, immortilized the name Kent State and cut through the nation's conscience.

Another event that eroded support in the war and US Government occured during a protest at Kent State University. During a protest on May 4, 1970, twenty-nine National Guardsmen gathered at the university to oversee a Vietnam War protest. In the midst of the protest, the National Guardsmen fired into the crowd of protesters killing four people in the process (Gordon Page 35). This event sparked an enormous uprising from the public and “the event triggered a nationwide student strike that forced hundreds of colleges and universities to close” (Lewis). This strike had a huge social impact and through the constant strikes and protests that followed the shootings caused the US Government to lose the trust, respect, and support of many American citizens (Gordon Page 35). The Kent State shootings were also able to reach the international stage through the abundance of news broadcasts and songs following the shooting. Ohio, a famous song by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, focuses heavily on the Vietnam War and the Kent State shootings with lyrics stating, “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming. We're finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming. Four dead in Ohio” (Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young) as a direct reference to the Kent State tragedy. “A tin soldier is a toy soldier, mindlessly controlled by its owner” (Songfacts Staff). Neil Young was implying with these lyrics that the National Guard was mindlessly following orders from Nixon. This song became wildly popular and is

Numerous times, protests start off as untroubling. In fact, they are beneficial to a certain extent, for they “provide a vent to society and also allow governments to understand better the issues their citizens are facing” (UN News Centre 2012). However, often these protests cross this blurry line and are rendered violent, causing danger to the American people. A recent example of a protest transforming into a riot was the Anti- Trump protest in Portland. These protests started off as being peaceful and allowed the protesters to express their opinions on the issue. However, the protesters eventually became so invested in the matter that it quickly mutated into a riot with people smashing windows, kicking cars, and vandalizing buildings (USA TODAY 2016) .This rapid change from peace to violence is a result of the blurry line between what is considered peaceful and what is considered violent. Due to the few restrictions on both the right to petition and assemble, what is perceived as violent is open to interpretation. More specifically, the protesters may not have deemed that kicking cars and smashing windows was violent; thus, they proceeded with these clearly dangerous activities anyways. Since the unlimited nature of both of these rights leaves a massive gray area in regards to what is

Earlier in the weekend, university officials banned all protests and assemblies on campus. Students ignored this ruling and began congregating around eleven AM for the scheduled twelve noon protest. When the protest began, a Kent State police officer patrolled the campus with several guardsmen in a jeep announcing that the protest was illegal and everyone must leave the campus immediately. In response to this dispersion call, the students became violent, throwing rocks and attacking the jeep. The general in charge of the guardsmen in Kent, General Canterbury, ordered the guardsmen to arm themselves and fire tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowd. As the crowd of

The student body at Kent State numbered about 20,000 and had been considered conservative, but not overly political. In fact they were thought of as rather passive politically. The shootings were a culmination of four days of demonstrations by members of the student body. The students were protesting the invasion of Cambodia by American forces.

People in the U.S get mistreated contently because of racism. One of these acts are, the protest control. Not only african americans but people of various races are being punished , arrested and even kill because of there protesting despite it being peaceful. By law any form of protesting is allowed as long as it is peaceful the police are only allowed to take action when the peace is broken. Instances when protesters were harm when participating in a peaceful protest is,

It is considered as a national tragedy and the direct cause relates to the call of guardsman. The Ohio National Guard was called to the Kent State university campus on May2, 1970 on request by the mayor of Kent, Leroy Satrom, who declared the State of Emergency as well. The decision is made in the city officials meeting in response to the events happened on the previous day. The incontrollable crowd lights up bonfire in downtown and defeat the police by throwing bottles and rocks, together with fist fight also. The police used tear gas to disperse the crowd hardly. These events certain the government to believe that the student protesters are trouble makers and, a drastic, violent protest may occur in the following few days. The National Guard are in need

People have the rights to freely protest peacefully, if they feel as though the government is not being just to them can be seen as a form of Social Movement. The problem comes in when the Acting crowds, protest turns into an aggravating riot, causing harm to other people and their property. It not only draws away from what they are fighting for, but it gets more attention, globally especially the negative aspects when media runs with it. I came across an article where the President of the United States, talks about the "criminals and thugs who tore up" the city of Baltimore on Monday night, after rioting and looting paralyzed the city and overwhelmed local officials”. He also mention that the media, play a major part, because they do not react

The corporate connections of The Board of Trustees of Stanford University stated that the turning point for these riots was on May 4 1970. Four peaceful student demonstrators at Kent State University in Ohio were murdered by Ohio National Guardsmen during a campus anti-war rally which started a long train of disturbing, violent, riots in the United States. Some college campuses became virtual war zones, with arson and bombings as well as low-level vandalism and window-breaking says author James K. Sayre who then states that the protests became political blockades.

By the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon) “You have a constitutionally protected right to engage in peaceful protest in 'traditional public forums’ such as streets, sidewalks or parks.” But most people aren't familiar for what they are doing and breaking the law. But most police do not arrest for trespassing like they should. “The right to join with fellow citizens in protest or peaceful assembly is critical to a functioning democracy and at the core of the First Amendment. “Unfortunately, law enforcement officials sometimes violate this right through means intended to thwart free public expression.” These officers don't force this law as much as they should which has many people thinking they should protest how they want. Causing them to do crazy things to get their points

The right to assemble is significant in today’s society because there are numerous of protests occurring every day in different states. The First Amendment declares “the right of the people peaceably to assemble”, the key word in this is peaceably. A crucial legal and cultural protection is this right to assemble. The Supreme Court expanded the right to assemble over the federal government to the states in the De Jonge versus Oregon case in 1937. This case was unanimous and led to the “ right of peaceable assembly is a right cognate to those of free speech and free press and is equally fundamental.” The people of Charlotte have the right to protest, however they took it too far when they began to destroy property, and ignite fires. When situations like this begin to get out of control, people’s lives start to get endangered, countless of civilians and police officers were injured and rushed to the hospital. Violence is not the answer to any problem and because of this non peaceable protest a civilian was shot and is now on life support. This was the second night of protests in Charlotte over police shootings killing African Americans. Protesters were chanting “ Black lives matter” and “ No justice no peace .” One protester was so furious she even wiped the blood from the gunshot victim onto the police officer. Many African

There is no law that prohibits a protester or a march from conducting a peaceful public assembly. However, the government can restrict the time, place, and the manner according to the First Amendment, Nevertheless, it would be wise for a leader of a protest or march to attain a permit to secure the location for the participant and their safety by getting road and street block. In doing so, if the protest becomes disorderly or wrongful activities. There can be some arrest made if the speech displays fight words. If this mannerism is acknowledged the Supreme Court gives the government authority to interrupt if there is a justification of the circumstance. Therefore, the line between the right to assemble and seek redress of grievances is guaranteed

There were many protest held at universities such as the Kent State University in Ohio, where four protesters died. Some protests were held in major cities like Washington D.C. where more than 250,000 protesters gathered in the largest anti-war demonstration to occur during the Vietnam War. Some protests, like the one in Washington D.C., were mostly peaceful, while others ended in violence and death. Protests were the people's way of pressuring the government to put an end to the war. Jessie Kindig, a student at Kent State University says that, “Campus unrest is one of the most-remembered aspects of the Vietnam War era. While college students were not the only ones to protest, student activism played a key role in bringing anti-war ideas to the broader public.” Some of the reasons why they would get killed, is that they would talk trash to guards and get shot. History.com staff states that, “At Kent State University, 100 National Guardsmen fire their rifles into a group of students, killing four and wounding 11.” Mostly they were killed because of protesting and rallies in front of guards.

Unfortunately, for some of the protesters who were arrested the actions of the police department was possibly not true, good, or honest at best, where these freedoms are concerned. According to an article in the New York Times, a lot of the protesters were questioned in a manner that was rude and not related to the reason for their detention in the first place. Many of the protesters reported that the police questioned them related to their political associations, the types of social media that they used, and other questions unrelated to any charges that may have been pending against them (Moynihan,