On This Day, 46 Years Ago

Today, several Kent State University students in Kent, Ohio will be lighting candle vigils, laying flowers on memorials, and speaking out about the 46th anniversary of the shootings of May 4, 1970.

Around this time in 1970, President Nixon had announced the Cambodian Campaign, in which he planned to invade Cambodia during the Vietnam War, which the United States was still involved in at the time. Due to public outrage, Kent State students protested the campaign in the city streets, and many of the demonstrations turned violent. As a result, the mayor of Kent put into practice a curfew, and the university attempted to cancel several of the planned demonstrations for the following days, one of which being the noon demonstration planned for May 4.

As a result of the violence, the Ohio Army National Guard was called in to control the student body, with force if necessary. On the morning of May 4, the students attempted to demonstrate, however they were dispersed, and by the time of the shootings, several were headed back to class or were still demonstrating peacefully. Suddenly, as if given an order, all of the guardsmen were seen kneeling down, and began to fire what students assumed to be blanks until thirteen students were shot down. Of this thirteen, four were killed; two of which were simply walking to class. The closest student shot, Jeffrey Miller, was 225 feet away, and had not been a threat to the guardsmen. To this day, it remains a mystery as to why they opened fire on the student body, and the event sparked violence and student strikes in universities all across America.

Today, Kent State has created an exhibit on their campus to educate visitors on the events that occurred and has created memorials located in the exact spot that each of the four students killed was shot. Students have also formed an organization known as the May 4th Task Force, which will be organizing events today to raise awareness of the events to ensure that those were killed will never be forgotten, and to prevent another tragedy from taking place on college campuses ever again.