Scary thing, that is.

May 4, 1970 was a very historical day in the history of Kent State. Students held an anti-war protest against the Vietnam war. It took place at Taylor Hall near the liberty bell on campus. According to dept.kent.edu there were about 500 actual "core demonstraters", about 1000 people acing as a cheering squad so to speak, who weren't quite participating in the demonstrations but definately urged them on. To make a grand total of approximately 3000 people at this rally, about 1500 were simply spectators. Also present at twelve noon, were about 100 Ohio National Guardsmen. Students and instructors alike as well as others present at or around the liberty bell were told to disperse by a police man with a bullhorn. After the bullhorn didn't work he got into a jeep and drove into the crowd, only to be met with rocks and nasty words being thrown his way, so he retreated. After this General Canterbury (general of the national guard) ordered his men to lock and load. Then all hell broke loose and shots were fired by the National Guard. Among the shootings between 61 and 67 shots were fired in a 13 second period. Four Kent State students died in the mayhem and nine were injured. After the shootings the Natoinal Guard retreated and ambulances and parents were called and the school shut down until the summer.

If I had been a student at Kent during the rally, shootings, Vietnam War, and the 70's, I would've probably been somwhere within view of the rally at the bell. It's a really scary thing that the National Guard was called to a school in Ohio, where nothing significant ever happens. I feel as though I would've been an unlucky spectator who might've gotten shot in the throat. And that is a scary thing.

  

"...whatever the sacrifices, however long the struggle...until Vietnam is fully independent and reunified," - Ho Chi Minh. 


Since I'm not all into the historical value of this war like I should be... I plan on telling you, my readers, about the hippies, and the new era of music, and the changing times because of the war. 


Hippies: long hair, colorful ensembles of clothing, abundant in jewelry, and playing their guitars. Hippies were a culture within the 1960's. They wore loose t shirts, headbands to hold back their long braided hair, woven belts, jeans fashioned with patches of all sorts. Hippies were a people of peace and tie-dye. They ate organic food and lots of them were vegetarians. They were of the earth and in tune with Mother Nature. Hippies were often high from smoking weed, and they let themselves go basically. They were full of free spirit and were all about the love and peace. They hated war and were definitely anti-vietnam. 


Music during this era changed; rock 'n roll sprung forth. Bands like The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones and The Doors became popular. These artists simply fed the hippies their drugs. The Beatles were almost always stoned, or "on something" when they wrote their songs which are still popular today. One of their songs, "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" is an acronym for LSD- the drug the 4 Beatles were likely taking at the time of writing their music. One of my favorites by The Beatles is the classic "Yellow Submarine". [: 

History in Action.

The world is a cruel and hateful place... unless you can learn to embrace change and diversity. All they wanted was the same rights. All they wanted was to be accepted. Africa American peoples were discriminated against because of their skin color. Naturally, the African American people fought back. They didn't go and bomb the White House, they didn't shoot and stab whites, instead they organized small acts to stand up for themselves through a peaceful fight. They did things such as: the Greensboro sit-ins where black skinned college students sat at the lunch bar in a local diner, in 1961, they went on 'freedom rides' through the black-hating south, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I have a dream..." speech during the march on Washington. People such as Rosa Parks, the African American woman who wouldn't give up her seat to a white man, Ella Baker, who helped to organize sit-ins and protests, and Dr. King, who gave faith adn hope to the African American people are the people our history needs to look up to. They found a way to fight back and stand up for themselves and their own rights without causing destruction to any other race or peoples. People in history like the people listed above are a large factor in the all embracing United States.
Personally, I would like to think I would be the same in this regard; standing up for what i believe in at all costs. But I guess you'd never really know for sure until you were put directly into the situation. I mean, I'd stand up for what i believe in, sure. But would I ride a bus through a community that hates me knowing that I'd get attacked... I don't know. I'm not stupid, but if I thought it'd be worth it I just might.