Kent State Massacre 40 Years Later, Students Killing Students Now

President Richard Nixon rode into office in 1968 partially due to a commitment to end the Vietnam War. When he spoke in a televised and radio broadcast speech on Thursday, April 30, 1970, he defined a new course: war expansion. The war would now include invasion of Cambodia.

Students at Kent State protested the next day, Friday, May 1, 1970. But that protest led to additional protests-on and off campus-which necessitated law enforcement intervention. Tensions mounted, students grew bolder in their antagonism towards National Guard soldiers, and on May 4, 1970 four people, regrettably, paid the ultimate price.

My College Taught Me About Kent State Massacre

In 1970, I was far too young to understand the tragedy of the Kent State Massacre. But as a criminal justice graduate-and one involved in the law enforcement community-I came to understand the dynamics that drove such an event much later.

I first heard about the Kent State Massacre during my own college years. Criminal justice professors, in particular, seek to educate the masses on the need to temper disagreement with political bodies in appropriate and law-abiding ways. But they also teach how to deal with violent students too.

First Thought Was Anger at Senselessness

My first thoughts when I learned about the protest and its dire outcome was anger. But my anger was at a body of students who thought soldiers brought in to enforce peace were ripe as targets for bottle and rock-throwing. Where was the respect for authority? Where was the intellectual advancement that college is supposed to bring-- solving problems diplomatically, and with prudence and wisdom? Where was common sense?

Perspective Shift: Those Who Decry Violent Means Often Use It Themselves

Even prior to my desire to enter the law enforcement field, I had a respect for authority. So the massacre at Kent State has done nothing to diminish that. However, it has changed my perspective of the world in one respect. It has made me realize that even in America there exist those who believe it is okay to use force against a law enforcement entity-for a political motivation-but then harp about the logical result that can't help but follow from such an attack. That's like the pot calling the kettle black.

Kent State Compared to Later School Shootings

Kent State students provoked the event, as they used their weapons first, yet they refused to accept it was only logically going to be quid pro quo with people who are employed to carry a gun and enforce peace. That was the height-and folly-of naiveté, and yet these same students proposed that the government should listen to them?

The Kent State students didn't use the very methods that they were supposedly attending school to learn: changing things through smarter and less violent means. In comparison, the shootings at Kent State resulted from student hostility and aggression directed at 'authority entities'; Columbine (and other school shootings like that) resulted more in student aggression against fellow students or teachers.

Current College Climate and Dangers

Colleges have not become more dangerous, per se, towards law enforcement; they have become more dangerous against their fellow academic leaders and fellow students. Security at the two colleges I have attended was top-notch from the get-go, though, with no need to amp up security, since it already is manned by seasoned and retired law enforcement personnel.

Sources
Kent State