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Contact Alan: "...it's very hard to ignore that Kent State thing. They were down there, man, ready to do it.
alan.canfora@gmail.com You can see them, they're all kneeling there, they're all in the kneeling position and they got their slings tight and they're ready to shoot. And there's this kid, this long-haired kid standin' there with a flag wavin' it... I mean, I cannot be a man, and be a human, and ignore that." -- DAVID CROSBY, ROLLING STONE magazine interview, July 23, 1970, pp. 22-23. |
Unarmed anti-war Kent State University student Alan Canfora takes a stand against the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State campus on May 4, 1970, before being shot through the right wrist. (Photo: John Filo)
Hello, my name is Alan Canfora. I survived the Kent State massacre and I'm still here to lead our May 4 Movement for truth and justice in Kent, Ohio. As the Director of the Kent May 4 Center, I am an eyewitness and leading expert regarding our misunderstood 1970 Kent State tragedy.
Attention students, scholars, media and all others: if you seek factual, accurate information about Kent State 1970, I will assist!
JOIN US! May 3-4, 2008, at KSU -- 38th annual commemoration
Submitted by Alan Canfora on Sat, 2008-04-05 21:19.May 3-4, 2008: JOIN US in Kent
38th annual Commemoration -- all events free and open to public -- sponsored by May 4 Task Force students at KSU: http://dept.kent.edu/may4/
May 3: 7pm, Kiva Auditorium of the KSU Student Center, RON KOVIC will introduce his film, BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY. Kovic will also answer audience questions after the film. A brief poetry reading session will occur to start the program.
May 3: 11pm-midnight: Annual candlelight march across the KSU campus. March culminates at Prentice Hall Parking Lot where our martyrs died in 1970. All-night vigil from midnight to noon. Contact May 4 Task Force students to sign-up for your 30-minute vigil reservation: http://dept.kent.edu/may4/
May 4: 11am-noon: pre-Commemoration music by Tropidelic Band.
May 4: Noon-2pm: 38th annual commemoration event sponsored by the dedicated KSU students of the May 4 Task Force.
Speakers include: Scott Ritter, former UN Weapons Inspector, expert on Iraq/Iran crisis; Ron Kovic, anti-war activist Vietnam Veteran and author; the family of revolutionary hero & attorney William Kunstler; 1970 KSU wounded students Dean Kahler and Joe Lewis, Jr.; other speakers to be announced. LONG LIVE THE SPIRIT OF KENT AND JACKSON STATE!
Alan Canfora exposes secret 1970 order to shoot. KENT STATE COVER-UP ENDED May 1, 2007! New investigations soon?
Submitted by Alan Canfora on Mon, 2007-03-26 02:27.“RIGHT HERE, GET SET, POINT, FIRE!” – exact words of the recently-discovered Ohio National Guard verbal command to shoot unarmed Kent State students on May 4, 1970. Seconds before the massacre, which ONG officer shouted this order? General Robert Canterbury? Lieutenant Colonel Charles Fassinger? Major Harry Jones? COVER-UP ENDED May 1, 2007!
* MEDIA INQUIRIES: phone Alan Canfora at 330-745-1097 *
AOL NEWS audio, video and poll results 52% support new 2007 investigation
ALAN CANFORA: MEMOIR BOOK AVAILABLE FOR 2007 PUBLICATION: Kent State, Vietnam; War, Anti-War; National Student Strike of 1970.
Submitted by Alan Canfora on Wed, 2007-01-24 05:17.ATTENTION LITERARY AGENTS, BOOK PUBLISHERS AND READERS:
Alan Canfora's memoir book is available for publication. Canfora will travel to New York during May and June of 2007 to offer his timely memoir for prompt publication. Below is Canfora's brief book description followed by an outline of chapters. In days ahead, as May 4, 2007, approaches, this outline will be detailed online here, chapter by chapter, and sample chapters and eyewitness anecdotes will be included. The book's numerous photos will also be available online in days ahead. Check back here often...
BOOK SUMMARY: Alan Canfora's memoir book focuses upon eyewitness descriptions of war in Vietnam as well as Kent State University student anti-war action during years leading to infamous tragedy on May 4, 1970. Canfora offers his personal anti-war evolution along with true war stories of his hometown friends who suffered and survived the controversial Vietnam war. When one of Canfora's friends was killed in Vietnam in April of 1970, that lone soldier's death inspired Kent State anti-war actions culminating in the Kent State massacre on May 4, 1970. Canfora, a leading anti-war protester, was shot and wounded when Ohio National Guardsmen fired into a crowd of unarmed anti-war demonstrators killing four students.
May 4, 2007: 30th anniversary of 1977 "Move the Gym" struggle at KSU -- LONG LIVE THE SPIRIT OF KENT AND JACKSON STATE...
Submitted by Alan Canfora on Mon, 2007-01-22 01:03.UPDATE: March 25, 2007:
What are the lessons of the 1977 "Move the Gym" struggle which began on May 4, 1977 and ended on May 4, 1978? Thousands of people from across America joined us in Kent, hundreds of people, mostly students, were arrested during non-violent civil disobedience protests. "Brothers and sisters on the land!" We camped out at "Tent City" on beautiful Blanket Hill from May 12-July 12, 1977. We battled to stop the desruction of historical ground where one student was shot and injured -- and where Ohio National Guard troops marched before the 1970 massacre. Ah, those were the beautiful days of our youth when our May 4 Movement was joined by so many including the parents of our martyrs.
We could have won...but the so-called "gym-annex" (the largest building on the KSU campus then) was built despite our passionate protestations. In days ahead, I'll offer my comments about the positive and negative lessons of 1977-78.
JOIN US at the 37th Annual May 4 , 1970, Commemoration: KSU, May 2-4, 2007
Submitted by Alan Canfora on Sun, 2006-04-02 17:20.
MAY 4 TASK FORCE
"Truth: The First Casualty of War"
May 2 - 4, 2007
Kent State University
NOTE: Mary Ann Vecchio will be the guest of the Kent May 4 Center in Kent, Ohio, during May 1-5, 2007. She will offer a comment on May 4 at the noon commemoration.
May 2: 3:45-5 p.m. Guided Campus Tours with Thomas Hensley and May 4th State Historical Marker Commemoration, Kiva, KSU Student Center.
INVITATION: Our dear friend, my blood-brother, Dr. Tom Grace, our esteemed comrade and historian, will deliver an oration upon the dedication of the Ohio state historical marker at the Kent State University campus on the afternoon of May 2, 2007. You are invited! Join us.
National History Day / May 4 Student Projects
Submitted by Alan Canfora on Thu, 2006-03-30 17:50.The National History Day program "helps students learn about historical issues, ideas, people, and events." The Kent May 4 Center recently received a large number of emails from students in response to National History Day. A sample of these emails follows:
More info on National History Day
February 20, 2007:
Hello my name is Jodie and right now I’m in 11 grade at Whitney High School in CA.
Alan Canfora, Kent State - May 4, 1970
Submitted by Alan Canfora on Thu, 2006-03-16 04:16.Alan Canfora, Kent State University
May 4, 1970
Here's my brief description of my actions and observations on May 4, 1970. This is a capsule description of moments of terror etched into my memory forever.
In the months of 2007 ahead, I will offer a much more detailed memoir here at my web site. My online memoir will be the very first book offered by an eyewitness participant in the historic 1970 Kent State student rebellion.
More details here soon including an outline of my chapters. Stay tuned...
****
May 4, 1970 -- prelude to tragedy -- my brief description:
My frightened girlfriend stayed in my apartment after I prepared two black protest flags. I purposefully chose black material to match my dark mood of despair and anger following the recent death of my friend Bill Caldwell in Vietnam. Four hundred Ohio national guardsmen (ONG) were in the city of Kent and 800 were on the campus. Leaving my apartment, I walked past many of these soldiers, went several blocks east to the Kent State campus, and joined my friends on the KSU Commons at noon. About 1,000 students had joined the protest rally, but classes were being held on campus as usual.
Beware of author William A. Gordon: Kent State vendetta: 1984-2007
Submitted by Alan Canfora on Thu, 2006-03-16 03:24.Beware of California tourist-guide author William A. Gordon.
Beware of his misleading books about Kent State 1970: FOUR DEAD IN OHIO and also THE FOURTH OF MAY. Both are the same bogus 1981 book sold with two titles in 1990 and 1995.
Beware of his repeated attacks against Alan Canfora, Kent May 4 Center (KM4C), May 4 Task Force (M4TF) students, KSU professors and many others.
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William A. Gordon's Kent State vendetta: 1984-2007
During 37 years of our ongoing May 4 Movement for truth and justice at Kent State in Kent, Ohio, one peculiar individual has maintained a perpetual vendetta against Alan Canfora, Kent May 4 Center, May 4 Task Force, Kent State University, KSU Professor Jerry M. Lewis, the late KSU Professor Glenn Frank and others too numerous to mention here.
William A. Gordon, aka Bill Gordon, was born and raised in Akron, Ohio, and attended Akron University as a freshman when the students were killed at Kent State in 1970. Bill Gordon transferred to KSU, curried favor with KSU student government leaders and, for a brief time, played a small role in the early KSU movement seeking truth and justice until he graduated KSU in 1973.