I have been thinking a lot about the chapters and volumes of life I have seen. I realized something just the other day. My memories of life (so far) have been bookended by two major political upheavals. The year I started high school the world went to hell in Chicago. And in the past few weeks, the world is trying to repeat the process in Minneapolis.
The first time, it was protesting a very unpopular war. The conflict was getting a bunch of us killed each night on the evening news. The brunt of the anger that year was aimed at the Democrats that had been leading us for eight years. so I spent my four years of high school with the threat of Vietnam hanging over my head. 1970 went down in history for Kent State… For anyone who didn’t live thru it go check out the article. The resemblances are really striking.
Eyewitness Account From Kent State
“The shots were definitely coming my way, because when a bullet passes your head, it makes a crack. I hit the ground behind the curve, looking over. I saw a student hit. He stumbled and fell, to where he was running towards the car. Another student tried to pull him behind the car, bullets were coming through the windows of the car.”
“As this student fell behind the car, I saw another student go down, next to the curb, on the far side of the automobile, maybe 25 or 30 yards from where I was lying. It was maybe 25, 30, 35 seconds of sporadic firing.”
18 x 25.5 inch screenprint poster, which says “Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win! Strike May 4th”. On May 4, 1970, students across the United States protested in response to Nixon’s bombing of Cambodia. The most infamous of these protests was at Kent State University where four students were shot and killed.
Around and around the calendar ran, year after year. And suddenly we find ourselves living through… What… A war being fought against American cities because they didn’t vote for the pResident! We’ve spent a year observing our America decline. This has happened because of a man who can’t seem to get out of his own way. One who did his best to avoid serving at the time.
And now we find ourselves right back in the same place again. A government “agent” has shot someone again for not following directions. And we now find ourselves facing the aftermath of the killing of Renee Good. And once again the government is trying to blame everyone except the one who fired the shot, or the people who turned them loose.
And just because I like the song and it seems like it could be the anthem of our time…
Every one stay safe out there…
