Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
This blog post is the result of our well known regular contributor Blouise sending me a link, sent to her by one of our other long time contributors GBK. I thank them for not only the vital information they shared with me, but also for the inspiration it gave me. When people ask me what kind of blog to I write for, I explain to them that it is the creation of the well-known Constitutional Law Professor and Civil Rights Advocate Jonathan Turley. The common thread that links most of us here is our support for Jonathan’s work and our belief in upholding the Constitution. The topic raises is vital to all of those purposes.
On May 4th, 1970 I was twenty-six years old. I worked for NYC’s Department of Social Services (welfare) as a caseworker in Brooklyn. Was active in the Peace Movement and had in the last year lost in my bid for the Presidency of the radical welfare caseworkers union. Long haired, full bearded and habitually wearing shirts open to almost my waist, with tight-fitting bell bottom jeans. I was a happy and carefree imbiber of psychedelics and had a great social life. I had failed my Draft physical four years prior due to high blood pressure, which would later turn into severe heart trouble requiring me to have a transplant, but back then I was just grateful that I didn’t have to make the choice between my ideals and the Selective Service Law. So many young men whose lives were drastically changed for the worse by being drafted into that conflict, were less lucky than I because they were my contemporaries, I felt I needed to help bring them home.
Even with the 60’s decade of assassinations, Civil Rights protests ending in violence, Nixon’s election and the Viet Nam escalation, I was still hopeful that my generation would really change things for the better in this country and that the future would bring great changes in economic freedom and social justice. So hopeful was I, that I was attending my first year of Law School at night and envisioned myself becoming a Legal Aid attorney in the future. Then I heard the news about Kent State, the murder of four students and shooting of nine during what was a relatively peaceful protest. Suddenly, this brought home to me the reality of what we were facing in our country. My optimism for change died that day, but not my commitment to fight for it.
As the news proliferated the story just didn’t add up. Supposedly the young National Guardsmen heard sniper shots and in a panic returned fire. That the students shot were at a distance of at least three hundred feet and the ammunition was armor-piercing rounds. It was claimed that there was no order to fire given and that the young National Guardsmen thought they were firing in self defense. As it turned out these were lies and propaganda foisted to cover the fact that those in power in the administration and their follower, the Republican Governor of Ohio, wanted to send a message to those opposing the War, that we were in mortal danger if we dared to try to thwart their murderous rampage in South East Asia.
“The killing of protesters at KentState changed the minds of many Americans about the role of the US in the Vietnam War. Following this massacre, there was an unparalleled national response: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed across America in a student strike of more than four million. Young people across the nation had strong suspicions the Kent State massacre was planned to subvert any further protests arising from the announcement that the already controversial war in Vietnam had expanded into Cambodia.
Yet instead of attempting to learn the truth at Kent State, the US government took complete control of the narrative in the press and ensuing lawsuits. Over the next ten years, authorities claimed there had not been a command-to-fire at Kent State, that the ONG had been under attack, and that their gunfire had been prompted by the “sound of sniper fire.” Instead of investigating Kent State, the American leadership obstructed justice, obscured accountability, tampered with evidence, and buried the truth. The result of these efforts has been a very complicated government cover-up that has remained intact for more than forty years.”
You will find the article the paragraph above is quoted from if you follow the link below. The link will lead you to an article entitled: “Kent State: Was It about Civil Rights or Murdering Student Protesters?” This was written by: Laurel Krause with Mickey Huff and is from a forthcoming book: Censored 2013: Dispatches from the Media Revolution. “Laurel Krause is a writer and truth seeker dedicated to raising awareness about ocean protection, safe renewable energy, and truth at Kent State. She publishes a blog on these topics at Mendo Coast Current. She is the co-founder and director of the Kent State Truth Tribunal. Before spearheading efforts for justice for her sister Allison Krause, who was killed at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, Laurel worked at technology start-ups in Silicon Valley.”
By the way, my Law School was one of the schools shut down in response to the Kent State Massacre and I was active in the movement to shut it down for the semester as a memorial to those dead and wounded students. Then as now, I saw these killings as premeditated murder in the service of stifling dissent in our country. I urge you to take the time to read this article linked below and its proofs that these murderous shootings, were done under orders and with malice aforethought. As much as our Presidential contenders extol America’s unique status in the world, they are mute to the barely hidden agenda that is destroying what we purport to be our ideals of freedom and justice. The article below gives lie to one wicked truth of our history and should be a sobering reminder of the way things really are:
http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/kent-state-was-it-about-civil-rights-or-%E2%80%A8murdering-student-protesters/
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/03/17/a-real-history-of-the-last-sixty-two-years/
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/04/01/defending-our-freedoms/
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/05/05/what-the/
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/06/23/missing-the-point-when-the-point-is-obvious/
GeneH,
I was about to ask a similar question of ARE, since in the few minutes after the posting of the blog, he has read all the blogs referenced and managed to find something about the Bush family.
For those who remember, MikeS did come out indirectly against the Bushes in reviewing and approving in a book review here, written by Russ Baker. I am still digesting it page by torturous page. Read it all.
So ARE has likely held a grudge all this while waiting for a time to deliver his apparent non sequitur.
Oh it followe, he is an agent of he Bushes, a protegé or an CIA officer or agent. No matter, I have no
proof. Hiding proof in multiple layers and pre-arranged red herrings is a specialty of the CIA.
But Russ Baker delivers a narrative which holds.
Can I ask if ARE has connections to the Texas Republican scene, or the oil business?
Arthur Randolph Erb 1, October 27, 2012 at 10:17 am
…
I seriously doubt he would look kindly on his employee being part of any plot to overthrow FDR.
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The spirit of Judas Iscariot is not written about only in the pages of the Bible.
Traitors are found everywhere, including those in the U.S.eh? that are not of the U.S.A.
The General who helped protect FDR and helped expose the plot clearly explains that fact:
(The Universal Smedley, quoting General Butler, 1933 speech). The Plutocracy which killed the Kent State kids, as Mike S has pointed out in this post, is stronger by far than it ever has been (The Homeland: Big Brother Plutonomy).
“Prescott Bush was a flunky for Averell Harriman who was a great supporter of FDR, so I seriously doubt he would look kindly on his employee being part of any plot to overthrow FDR.”
Arthur,
I think sometimes you read too quickly and in your haste miss the point of what was being said. This guest blog was wrapped around the article linked here:
http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/kent-state-was-it-about-civil-rights-or-%E2%80%A8murdering-student-protesters/
Under “Submitted by: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger” I listed four links from my past guest blogs that abut on the topic and I thought would be useful for the reader to know where I’m coming from. One of those guest blogs titled
“A Real History of the Last Sixty-Two Years” indeed is an indictment of the Bush family:
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/03/17/a-real-history-of-the-last-sixty-two-years/
The fact that Averill Harriman was a great supporter of FDR does not mean that Harriman was a good person. He was born of an oil baron and formed the investment bank which became Brown Bros., Harriman. This piece of information from wikipedia may be of interest:
“While While Averell Harriman served as Senior Partner of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., Harriman Bank was the main Wall Street connection for German companies and the varied U.S. financial interests of Fritz Thyssen, who had been an early financial backer of the Nazi party until 1938, but who by 1939 had fled Germany and was bitterly denouncing Adolf Hitler. Business transactions for profit with Nazi Germany were not illegal when Hitler declared war on the US, but, six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Trading With the Enemy Act after it had been made public that U.S. companies were doing business with the declared enemy of the United States. On October 20, 1942, the U.S. government ordered the seizure of Nazi German banking operations in New York City who had been an early financial backer of the Nazi party until 1938, but who by 1939 had fled Germany and was bitterly denouncing Adolf Hitler. Business transactions for profit with Nazi Germany were not illegal when Hitler declared war on the US, but, six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Trading With the Enemy Act after it had been made public that U.S. companies were doing business with the declared enemy of the United States. On October 20, 1942, the U.S. government ordered the seizure of Nazi German banking operations in New York City.”
Prescott Bush was a partner in one of the banks seized along with the infamous Dulles Brothers of Eisenhower Administration fame. I would suggest that rather than focusing on my prose in the article, you peruse the proofs which are linked and then get back to me.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/daniel_ellsberg_urges_activists_in_swing_states_to_vote_for_obama_20121018/
When Kent State happened we were all so shocked that we couldn’t draw the conclusions. Now, we can draw the conclusions.
1. Psychotic out-of-range intense terroristic violence WORKS — if it’s done by the guys who have all the big guns.
2. It works over time and it does not get diluted very easily.
3. If you show that you are willing to absolutely destroy anybody who might gain enough of a foothold to eventually begin to deprive you of the big guns, you greatly decrease the chances that anybody WILL.
4. Forty years or so later you can get away with anything.
Karl, Daniel Ellsberg say vote Obama in swing states.so does Chomsky.
What’s even sadder than the massacre itself is how many of those students of Law who were moved & traumatized by Kent State have now grown up to be giddy supporters of a president who lied & kept open Guantanamo, who lied & upheld torture, who upheld the abolition of habeas corpus and who keeps a secret “kill list” from which he can murder anybody, including US citizens, without charges, let alone a fair trial.
A more inconsistent & hypocritical mindset is difficult to fathom.
That’s rather interesting, ARE. Neither commentator nor article mentioned the Bush family or Harriman. But I did mention fascists trying to overthrow the government a piece at a time and you suddenly from left field take the non-sequitur leap in defense of the Bush family.
Very interesting indeed.
While I am no fan of any Bush, the accusations in your blog are way out and have no basis in fact. Prescott Bush was a flunky for Averell Harriman who was a great supporter of FDR, so I seriously doubt he would look kindly on his employee being part of any plot to overthrow FDR.
Then we have the accusation that GHW Bush was part of JFKs assassination or knew about it. This stuff is so out of it that it is surreal. That Bush did NOT start the first Gulf War by the way. That honor goes to Saddam Hussein who invaded Kuwait, a FULL member of the UN. The UN is first and foremost a military alliance which was the victorious side in WWII. To let a member nation be attacked and destroyed by another nation would be a violation of the UN Charter, and would have let the UN become like the League of Nations which allowed Ethiopia to be invaded without doing anything about it.
There are lots of valid criticisms to make, but let’s not go off the deep end.
OS:
“What I find amazing is the amount of vitriol expressed toward the dead students even to this day.”
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It’s much easier to hate than think.
Thank you for the excellent article, Mike. I grew up and was living at the time 45 miles away in Youngstown (site of Paul Ryan’s recent soup kitchen fiasco) attending YSU. One of the victims, Sandra Scheuer, from the Youngstown suburb of Boardman, was a month younger than me. This hit our town very hard on both sides of the war issue. For me, it was the turning point to be more vocal in my opposition to the carnage in SE Asia. But, this was 1970 and most folks in that steel producing town were pretty hard in favor of the Viet Nam War. Many, including members of my family, saw the students’ deaths as justified, exactly as the media sought to portray them. The kids were said to be radicals, members of the SDS or some other “commie” groups or outside agitators (a favorite epithet for anti-war protesters). I remember a commentator at the time mentioning that the guardsmen or their superiors were really upset about the torching of the Kent State ROTC building a couple of nights earlier and this was their retribution. It was and is a very sad episode in American history. I can’t listen to the CSN&Y song without getting choked up at the wasteful innanity and the un-American-ness of it all.
What I find amazing is the amount of vitriol expressed toward the dead students even to this day. There is a large segment of the American population that support these killings. The fact that the students killed were not even part of the protest does not seem to soak in. This was murder, pure and simple. Since there is no statute of limitations on murder, and forensic science is getting better and better, perhaps further analysis of the sounds of that day will shed more light on who gave that order to fire.
I hope that someday, somebody will stand before a trial jury on murder charges.
protesters
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/choice-2012/artifact-two-mitt-romney-protesting-the-protesters/ Yet another reason I don’t like Romney. He protested the protestors.
I won’t forget the day when republican Gov. Jim Rhodes ordered this. I protested some but not too much after witnessing the Chicago police bash heads in. It was safer to go to Madison and protest.
It is so important that we never forget. Keep on going.
Mike S:
Thank you Mike for reminding is of that sad May day when a US governor got away with the murder of kids walking to class.
I call this the song that won the 60s.
Excellent job, Mike. And Project Censored is a website everyone interested in media manipulation should make a regular destination. I’ve had a couple of the regular contributors here recently ask me offline if I think things are as bad as they look from the stories relayed on this blog regarding our civil rights and the state of our democracy. I told them yes and, essentially, it’s later than you think. A review of the items Project Censored tracks, including but certainly not limited to the Kent State “fire order”, will tell you that – yes – it is later than we collectively think. History repeats for those who do not learn its lessons. We need to wrest control of our democracy from the fascists stealing it piece by piece. I prefer a peaceful methodology, but as Kent State and other stories show, We the People may not be afforded that option by the socio- and psychopaths running amok in Washington.
Mespo,
Thank you. That was the perfect contribution. The great song backs up the stark pictures that tell so much.