Kent State
A tragic thirteen seconds on
a sunny day in May
The Two Perspectives of the Kent
State Shootings:
• It was the National Guard’s / the US
Government’s fault
• It was the protesters fault
It was the National Guard’s fault
• The closest student shot was fully sixty feet away; all but
one were more than 100 feet away; all but two were
more than 200 feet away. One of the dead was 255 feet
away; the rest were 300 to 400 feet away. The most
distant student shot was more than 700 feet from the
Guardsmen.
• The protesters were not armed.
• Students had been released from class at 12:30 and
approximately 200 students converged on the common
for a break from class. The guardsmen misinterpreted
this as an illegal assembly. Shots were fired at 12:34.
• Around 67 rounds were fired into the crowd
Pulitzer Prize photo of Mary
Vecchio and victim Jeffrey Miller
…”Point, FIRE!”
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mid-j9Ki49s
It was the protester’s fault
• On May 3rd, protesters had gathered in downtown Kent
and smashed store windows and looted a jewelry store.
• On May 2nd, more than 1000 protesters are estimated to
have gathered at the commons on the Kent State
campus .
• Protesters are thought to have caused a fire that burned
the campus ROTC building to the ground.
• By May 4th, it is estimated that 3000 students had
gathered on the campus at Kent State. Many protesters
were throwing rocks at the guardsmen.
• The students had been ordered to disperse by university
officials.
It was the protester’s fault
How do you see it?