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Kent State

By Bill Davis

Bill Davis
VVAW National Office

It rained most of the weekend at Kent. The occasional sunburst through the overcast seemed oddly inappropriate. The mood was somber on the 4th.

VVAW's operation Blanket Hill, named for the spot the Ohio National Guard stood committing murder and mayhem, was a resounding success. VVAW members from the East & Midwest came together and created a presence during the week, equaling or surpassing our past efforts there.

Our base of operations named Firebase Carmody, spoke well of Michael Carmody, a founding member of the KSU chapter. Mike checked out of life and VVAW last year but he would have enjoyed this one. In 1971 he and some other brothers built a replica of the ROTC building destroyed in 1970. When the students and media gathered to see this model constructed of "borrowed" ammunition cases from nearby Ravenna arsenal, they torched it and laughed. He would have laughed on this weekend, too.

We often laughed that the weather over the many years was so bad. It seemed it had only been ideal when the guard worked its havoc. Sitting in the Gin Mills on Water and Franklin Streets talking with old Kent chapter bothers, one expected the doors to fly back and the room to fill with his booming laughter. The war that killed the four students had claimed yet another.

The upside of events included the strength of today's student movement, the precision and organization of VVAW throughout the four days, the great solidarity work that went on with VVAW and our friends from the Philippines, Nicaragua, Cambodia, El Salvador and more.

Our contributions to the vigils, marches, programs, workshops, the silent protest with the students at the "official" program dedicating a "memorial" to the slain and wounded (the memorial if called minimalist would be an exaggeration)—all these things were good.

Following the somber notes of May 4th, the PSN Conference was a welcome relief and an uplifting experience for us older folks. Yes, the RCP had their flag burning workshop, explaining the "significance" of burning symbols instead of commitment to real political activities and work. After the RCP put some of their own meager forces to sleep with a stunning performance, the PSN students proceeded to rip the RCP up, bringing them to task for leaching off of other people's work and activities, with their infantile arson. VVAW members barely got a word in edgewise, so thorough was the student's wrath.

Some young students from KSU expressed the opinion that they "hoped all this would go away after the 20th Anniversary of the killings."

VVAW has been there all along and will be there again. Murder can never be forgiven or forgotten. Crimes do not go unpunished. People like Mike Carmody and all of the brothers and sisters who have fought for justice at Kent and Jackson State, I hear their chanting, marching and laughter down through the years. VVAW is firm in its resolve, we won't return to Kent—we never left!