I agree with that wholeheartedly. It was a fucked up situation, but the American way is to label everything with "winners" and "losers" and shit just don't work that day.

I really recommend going and seeing it if you get the time for the trip. Kent's a nice small town by itself, but we wandered the damn campus trying to find it for a half hour or so. Then we found the artsy memorial in a small grove of trees, which seemed a bit lacking. We walked back to the car, and after we got in and were backing out of the parking space I realized what the fuck was going on.

There were three spaces in the parking lot that were blocked off with pillars on each corner. It's not uncommon to see spots blocked in parking lots from time to time, so it didn't dawn on me until i saw the same four pillars marking a spot on the walking path down the hill. That made four. I told my father to stop the car, hustled over to one of the blocked spots, and sure enough, that's what it was. I stopped me in my tracks.

When I got closer, I realized the pillars were lamps. This picture shows what it looks like, but doesn't really do it justice when you are standing there in an open parking lot and there are "bodies" around you.



Another documentary you might like is Berkeley In The Sixties. I didn't have high hopes going in, because though I am all for protest, I'm not a big fan of the era's protesters and some of their techniques, especially violence and rioting. I am much more fond of the Dr. King/Gandhi/Thoreau sort of protest.

One of the leaders of the Berkeley protest movements expresses remorse over the actions of crowds in California after they had gotten too big. He says that when protesting became the cool thing to do in Berkeley, it got out of hand fast. The wrong people inserting the wrong influences on previously effective and peaceful methods. Of course, then the violence and rioting makes the evening news, so people start believing that's how it's supposed to be done.

I wasn't trying to say that Kent State = Tiananmen Square. I was just commenting on Konstantin's observation that if you are a serious threat to the powers that be ANYWHERE they will use their power to shut you down.

Thousand of people calling themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force squatted on public buildings and land, set up a makeshift village right in the heart of the government's seat of power. They demanded an audience with the government and the passing of certain legislation. Their demands were rejected. When the protestors didn't leave the government sent out the military. Soldiers charged with bayonets while tanks and tear gas got rid of the crowds and leveled tents and shacks. Many were left dead.

This occured in Washington, DC, on July 28, 1932. The miltitary men who commanded these troops were Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, and George Patton on orders from President Hoover

Sorry, Steve. I read that completely wrong.