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2001 NEWS and ANNOUNCEMENTS from alancanfora.com
1970 Kent State butcher Gov. James Rhodes is dead On March 4, 2001, at 2:45pm, former Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes died at age 91 of an infection & heart failure. He was in poor health & in a wheel chair in an old-age asylum in recent years. Only a high-school graduate, this corrupt, vicious liar died a millionaire after years of corporate payoffs & investments in Wendy's Restaurants, etc. The Republican, conservative, pro-war Ohio governor came to the Kent State University campus on the day before the May 4, 1970, massacre. After posing for media photos next to the burned-out KSU ROTC building, Rhodes spoke loudly & pounded his fist on the podium at a news conference in downtown Kent at the Fire Department on Depeyster Street. In a cruel attempt to win votes for his May 5 election, Rhodes demonized KSU anti-war students & called us: "...worse than the communists... the worst type of people we harbor in America... we're going to eradicate the problem!" Rhodes' speech provoked the Ohio National Guard to stab & slash KSU students with bayonets that evening and commit murder at Kent State on the next day, May 4, 1970. The blood of Kent martyrs remained on Rhodes' hands forever. In 1975, under oath in Federal Court, Rhodes admitted he spoke with President Nixon on the phone twice during the days before the massacre at Kent State. Many of us remain convinced that Nixon/Rhodes conspired & gave the approval to Ohio National Guard leaders to kill Kent students. Neither death nor the ongoing conspiracy of silence can forever hide the truth about James Rhodes and his Kent State bloodshed. The only time Rhodes ever returned to Portage County was once during the 1977 anti-gym annex protests. Rhodes was in the Portage County Court House. We surrounded the courthouse with hundreds of students & Rhodes was trapped inside. Finally, he ran through a line of police & dashed into his car as we screamed "MURDERER!". His chauffeur sped away through a stop sign & he never returned to Portage County again. During 1986, KSU May 4 Task Force students formed UNITED STUDENTS AGAINST RHODES during Rhodes' last election campaign against Democrat Governor Richard Celeste. We travelled to Columbus & elsewhere & raised the Kent massacre effectively as a campaign issue. Even USA TODAY featured the issue as a problem in Rhodes' failed1986 election. Rhodes was defeated soundly thanks to KSU students & others who remembered 1970. Often, when James Rhodes' name was mentioned, Arthur Krause, the father of KSU martyr Allison Krause, would exclaim: "May he burn!" In the unlikely event there is a hell, the murderer James Rhodes burns there now. / ---- May 4, 2001-- commemoration success & news coverage The students of the May 4 Task Force sponsored a very meaningful annual commemoration on May 3 & 4, 2001, at Kent State University. In particular, the noon event on May 4, 2001 was especially significant. Four current KSU students spoke eloquent tributes in memory of Allison, Sandy, Jeff & Bill. Tom Grace, shot through his foot in 1970, offered a powerful memorial tribute comparable to the Gettysburg address--memorable, succinct and thoughtful. Other speakers & musicians completed a significant commemoration. Already, the M4TF students are planning the 32nd annual events. Conservative Republican efforts failed to smash the M4TF and student sponsored commemorative events. In fact, a huge public-relations nightmare occurred for KSU conservatives after Barbara Bush was paid $73,000 and the M4TF received $0. Next year promises improved respect for the M4TF & continued student commemorations. All hail the 25th anniversary of the May 4 Task Force student organization at Kent State University!!! Check out the M4TF students' web site: http://www.kent.edu/may4/ ***************** REPRINT: News coverage ---------- Although nearly 750 students & others attended the 31st annual commemoration on May 4, 2001, news coverage reported fewer on hand... Published Saturday, May 5, 2001, in the Akron Beacon Journal. HUNDREDS COMMEMORATE 1970 SHOOTINGS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kent remembers Funding dispute helps revive May 4 observance at KSU BY KATIE BYARD Beacon Journal staff writer KENT: What some view as an attempt to quell the May 4, 1970, commemoration at Kent State University this year may have actually worked in reverse. Some of the 300 to 400 people at yesterday's event said a funding dispute over the commemoration helped motivate them to show up. They wanted to lend support to the annual remembrance of the 1970 shootings pivotal in the anti-Vietnam War movement. The sunshine probably didn't hurt turnout either, some said. ``I don't think I would have come if they weren't trying to forget about it,'' said Don Barone, 41, of Salem. Barone, who works at the General Motors factory in Lordstown, took his kids out of school and brought them to Kent yesterday so they could learn about the events of that fateful day 31 years ago. Four students -- Sandra Scheuer, Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller and William Schroeder -- were killed and nine wounded when Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire during a protest of the Vietnam War. ``It seems like this campus wants to quiet it and forget about it,'' Barone said, as he walked somberly around the KSU Prentice/Taylor Hall parking lot where the students fell. ``If you forget, you're doomed to repeat it.'' Barone was referring to a dispute over funding for this year's commemoration. In April, a student allocations committee initially declined to give student activity fees to the May 4 Task Force for this year's event. The task force organizes the commemorations. It was the first time in some 20 years that the task force had been denied student activity fees. Some of those on the allocations committee questioned whether student fees should go toward remembering an event that happened so long ago. After the task force appealed, the allocations committee softened its position and said it would grant $2,500 to the task force. That was much less than the amount requested. The task force rejected the lower amount, calling the gesture ``hollow.'' Yesterday, 13-year-old Courtney Barone, daughter of Don Barone, looked around at those gathered for the commemoration. ``I didn't think there would be so many young people here. They weren't even alive,'' she said. The crowd was typical for what task force members call an ``off year.'' An ``off year'' is a non-milestone year -- one that doesn't end in a zero or a five. Last year's 30th commemoration -- with speeches by well-known activists -- drew several thousand to the KSU Commons, near the Prentice/Taylor Hall parking lot. Because of the funding dispute, this year's event featured speakers who did not charge a fee to appear. The student group that denied the task force funding had complained that the commemoration often includes speeches by activists who do not spend much time talking about the 1970 tragedy. Interestingly, this year's speakers included Tom Grace, one of the nine students wounded in 1970. Grace, a social worker in Buffalo, N.Y., told those gathered on the Commons' grassy hill yesterday that the funding dispute ``brought renewed national focus to the bloody infamy of this campus.'' He said the controversy brought ``fresh attention to the murderous deeds of the Ohio National Guard.'' Grace noted that an editorial last month in the KSU student newspaper said that some of the speakers at past commemorations were political and divisive. But the politics shouldn't be left out of discussions of May 4, Grace said. People need to remember the collision of beliefs on that day, Grace said. ``The struggle of 1970 is one of the best weapons we have to resist warfare and everyday injustice,'' he said. Faith Barnett, 46, who lives in the Akron area, said that too often the commemoration is dismissed as some ``New Age, '60s'' gathering. Coming to the commemoration is like remembering other important historical events, Barnett said. Task force co-chair Kelley Gorbett, had worried that the publicity over the funding dispute might lead people to think the commemoration had been squelched. Yesterday, she was pleased for two reasons. She was happy with the number of people who showed up. And she learned at the commemoration that she had won a $1,000 KSU scholarship. It's given annually to a politically active student. ------------------------------------------------------------------- ALSO: Published Friday, May 4, 2001, in the Akron Beacon Journal: -- THE SECRET TO UNDERSTANDING BY STEVE LOVE Beacon Journal chief editorial writer The student allocations committee at Kent State University picked with seemingly careful calculation the moment to drop the curtain on May 4. It has been 31 years since the fateful day when the horrors of war came home to the haven that is the Kent campus. Last year, the 30th anniversary of the killing of four students and the wounding of nine other people by Ohio National Guardsmen, the commemoration and symposium fulfilled as never before the promise of the university's May 4 motto: Inquire, Learn, Reflect. Surely, now was the moment to move on, to begin investing more in a vision of the future and less in the message from the past. As it has turned out, the committee's timing could not have been worse. The choice to short the May 4 Task Force on this year's funding was, I thought, shortsighted from the first. In the past week, events beyond Kent have sharpened the focus on the terrible days of conflict in and over Vietnam and made the decision look even worse. In the dark of night more than 32 years ago, Bob Kerrey, Medal of Honor winner, former U.S. senator, genuine American hero, led a team of Navy commandos into a village in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. It was Lt. Kerrey's first important mission. The mission went wrong, as indeed much did on May 4, 1970, at Kent State. Kerrey and others in the SEAL team he led have been forced to remember and acknowledge the night of Feb. 25, 1969 -- their Vietnam -- even as the student allocations committee has tried to distance Kent from its Vietnam. The past is never really past, however, when it is in the marrow of our personal and public memories. Kent State's reflections on its darkest hour, though sometimes embraced with limited enthusiasm, have been nonetheless among its finer moments. It has looked in the mirror and, ultimately, not turned away, even when it didn't like what it saw. Now, Bob Kerrey has had to do the same. He and his men went behind enemy lines, which in Vietnam were vague, at best, to eliminate the local political leaders in Thanh Phong, a village in southeastern Vietnam. In this Viet Cong stronghold, as elsewhere, the distinctions between civilians and soldiers were thinly drawn. Old women and young children could be killing tools of the Viet Cong. This heightened the fears of the young men -- trained to kill and on a mission to kill -- already caught up in the most terrifying moments of their lives. Stories conflict as to what happened at Thanh Phong. Whatever it was, whether it was, as Kerry and five of his men remember, a situation in which they were fired upon and returned fire, or whether it was, as one of the commandos insists, a wanton assassination of old men, women and children, Kerrey is haunted because: ``I have not been able to justify what we did . . . morally.'' Long before a story in the New York Times Magazine last Sunday and a subsequent airing on CBS' 60 Minutes II, facts not unlike Kerrey's had been the grist for Tim O'Brien, arguably the most perceptive (If I Die in a Combat Zone, Going After Cacciato, The Things They Carried) of those who have written extensively about Vietnam. In his novel In the Lake of the Woods, it's as if O'Brien has looked into Kerrey's soul and been seared by the pain he found there. The circumstances of O'Brien's fiction and Kerrey's fact are by no means identical, but O'Brien's protagonist, John Wade, is a former politician with dark and haunting secrets from his days in Vietnam. Wade, whom his men called the Sorcerer because he could do magic, including making entire villages disappear, could be a hero one minute and the living, breathing heart of darkness the next. He was a mystery. ``The war itself was a mystery,'' O'Brien writes. ``Nobody knew what it was about, or why they were there, or who started it, or who was winning, or how it might end. . . . Who was VC and who was friendly and who among them didn't care? These were all secrets. History was a secret. The land was a secret. There were secret caches, secret trails, secret codes, secret missions, secret terrors and appetites and longings and regrets.'' Like Kerrey, ``Sorcerer had his own secrets,'' O'Brien writes. ``And there was the deepest secret of all, which was the secret of (the village of) Thuan Yen, so secret that he sometimes kept it secret from himself.'' Secrets remain from Vietnam. Kerrey had his. He still may be clinging to the shreds of them. Ohio National Guardsmen, who knew a different terror on the day they opened fire on Vietnam protesters at Kent, still have theirs, as do others involved in May 4. Former Gov. James Rhodes, who sent the Guard onto the Kent campus, went to his grave with whatever Kent secrets he might have had. The value of May 4, even if it seems as if it's a relentless ghost, is that each year it serves as a reminder of the value of letting go of secrets in the service of understanding. In that sense, May 4 has been and continues to be both about remembering and moving on. The student allocations committee (at least some its members) refused to recognize this and rejected funding sufficient to bring to campus speakers such as Martin Luther King III and American Indian activist Charlene Teeters. What, the committee wanted to know, do King and Teeters have to do with Vietnam? That's no secret. I once asked Tim O'Brien about the contradictions of war. His answer is applicable today. ``There are moments in war,'' he told me, ``when you are just full of despair, self-pity and doubt. And they have a real-life analogue.'' In civil rights. In social justice. In so many issues that remain with us on this May 4. As the Victory Bell tolls today on the Commons at 12:24 p.m. in memory of those who died not only at Kent but also at Jackson State University, it also will toll for the villagers -- women, children, old men -- of Thanh Phong. It will toll for all of us, for everyone who accepts that life can be messy and filled with contradictions and secrets worth examining again and again. Love is the Beacon Journal chief editorial writer. He may be reached at 330-996-3744 or e-mailed at slove@thebeaconjournal.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ ALSO: Published Thursday, May 3, 2001, in the Akron Beacon Journal. By David Giffels, columnist -- MAY 4 STILL IMPORTANT TO TALK ABOUT -- Every single time I write about May 4, I get three kinds of phone calls. Person No. 1: ``They shoulda shot more of 'em. (Click.)'' Person No. 2: ``I'm sick of the liberal media only talking about one side of this.'' Person No. 3: ``You know, I've thought about this for a long time and . . . '' So today, to cut down on the amount of time I spend answering voice mail, I will respond to each of you in advance. Response to Person No. 1: I hope you don't own pets. Response to Person No. 2: You're right, at least in some ways. I spent a lot of time last year, the 30th anniversary, studying this newspaper's coverage of the 1970 Kent State University shootings, along with many other accounts. The Akron Beacon Journal won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting, and it's true that the focus at the beginning was mainly on the victims. Part of that is the nature of breaking news. The drama of the event was that four people died and nine others were wounded and a lot of people were angry and vocal about that. The members of the National Guard, understandably, werent sitting around gabbing with reporters afterward. So the emotional weight of most of the writing at the time was in the balance of the students. Was that right? I can't see, given the circumstances of the time, how it could have gone any other way. Kent State was important in a micro sense, but it was far more important as a symbol of the emotional turmoil over the Vietnam War. The war was being fought primarily by young people, and four young people died in Kent during a student protest. But the reason I can agree with you is that the passage of time doesnt seem to have broadened the thinking. Most of what's been written or said about the shootings in the past 31 years has mimicked what was written and said in the opening days. That hasn't helped the historical context. Very few, if any, journalists have looked at the guardsmen as victims. But they were young men, under intense pressure, inadequately trained and caught in the middle of something beyond their control. There is enough evidence at least to argue that they heard an order to fire. Last year, when the Beacon Journal devoted a special section to the 30th anniversary, I tried to give the former guardsmen who fired shots that day a chance to talk about those things. They all declined, some bitterly. I can't say I blame them. After three decades of being asked only one kind of question, why should they believe me? Response to Person No. 3: You are evidence of why I think it's important to keep writing and talking about the Kent State shootings, even as others say we should all just get over it and move on. You've moved on, but you haven't forgotten. This event, probably more than any other that has happened in our midst, affected people. Thirty years has given a lot of people from Kent and surrounding areas time to think about what this means. And you have done that. Whatever your emotional response at the time, and whatever your current point of view, you have evolved. You have taken into account the various opinions and you have arrived at conclusions that continue to be relevant long after the shootings and the war have faded. What's most interesting is that you range from people who totally side with the students to people who totally side with the Guard. You are the reason May 4 is still worth talking about. You will be the reason why, in 2020, on the 50th anniversary, the place where the shootings occurred should be declared a national historical site. Strangely, Person No. 1 is the other reason. I got a call from a man the last time I wrote about Kent State. He was livid, screaming obscenities at me. Thirty-one years later. That's as much proof as I need that this is still important. David Giffels' column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. He can be reached at 330-996-3572 or at dgiffels@thebeaconjournal.com. / NEWS!!! 2001 MAJOR CONTROVERSY!!!
FORGET KENT STATE -- STUDENTS VOTE TO KILL MAY 4TH COMMEMORATION by Sandeep Kaushik Published March 28 - April 3, 2001 The obituaries made the front page of every newspaper in the state when 91-year-old James A. Rhodes, the former four-time governor of Ohio, went to meet his maker on March 4. Some lovingly retold his rags-to-riches story – he was the son of a coal miner – while others gave mixed reviews to his two eight-year stints in office. But every one mentioned his one "terrible decision" that left a "permanent stain on his legacy" as one of the preeminent figures in Ohio’s political history. It was his call to send out the National Guard on May 4, 1970, to quell a peaceful student protest against the Vietnam War on the campus of Kent State University. The upshot: nine wounded and, as immortalized in the song, four dead in Ohio. If Rhodes felt bad about the shootings, he never said; nothing like an apology ever crossed his lips. But at the time, the Kent State incident was a shock to the nation, a turning point for public opinion and a catalyst for change, its iconic status later solidified by annual May 4th commemorations on the KSU campus. Now, however, those commemorations may cease to exist and, like Rhodes, the event they immortalize may end up merely a footnote in the history books. Rhodes’ death does perhaps signal the passing of an era. While it often seems the baby boomers will never let us forget the cultural milestones of the ’60s, memories of real political turbulence and upheaval are fading as succeeding generations create, one presumes, their own defining moments. These are kids who harbor no personal memories of the assassinations of Kennedy and King, of Altamont, Watergate or Kent State, who think Woodstock happened in 2000, and for whom the Vietnam War is almost as much a part of the past as WWII. And this is true even of the current students at KSU itself, so maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that their representatives on the undergraduate Student Senate Allocation Committee (SSAC) voted 7-1 last week to deny funding to the May 4th Task Force (M4TF), the student organization responsible for running the annual commemoration, which had requested $15,900 of the SSAC’s $300,000 annual outlay to bring two outside speakers – including Martin Luther King III – to campus this year for the 31st anniversary. The SSAC’s decision jolted supporters of the M4TF into action, and it turns out there are more of them than previously had been realized. An outcry against the perceived unfairness of the committee’s priorities – the M4TF is the only student group it’s turned down this year, and this after recently dispensing $86,000 for a speech by Barbara Bush on April 10 – has exploded, both on campus and off, in the last few days. "People have been coming up to me and saying the decision was fucked up, that it sucks," reveals Ethan Picman, the sole SSAC member who voted in favor of the M4TF, and on Friday, an editorial in The Daily Kent Stater opined that "the details behind the denial make the committee look shady at best and biased at worst," and called on the full Student Senate to override the SSAC. "They’re biased," says Laura Haring, secretary of the M4TF, about the SSAC. "The decision to bring Barbara Bush sucked up a lot of money. It’s too big a chunk of the total allocation." And her opinion is echoed by others, who believe the allocation committee is dominated by conservative Republicans who cut off funds on purely ideological grounds. One observer, who asked to remain anonymous, contends that seven of the eight voting members of the committee are identified Republicans, an outgrowth of the fact that four were appointed by Alex Manders, the student senator for business and financial affairs and a political conservative, who sits as non-voting chair of the SSAC. Picman openly charges his colleagues with political bias: "The basic reason why they didn’t has to do with their political views, though they won’t admit it." He could tell by the tone of their private conversation just prior to the meeting that their minds were made up, he says, adding that, in reference to the fact that Bernice King had spoken at a previous commemoration, one of them snidely asked, "How many damn Kings are we gonna bring to this thing?" That sort of attitude doesn’t surprise Alan Canfora, who as a Kent junior was shot in the wrist at the 1970 demonstration, and who is now the director of the Kent May 4 Center, a volunteer, nonprofit charity dedicated to teaching students at all levels about the context and meaning of the original tragedy. "I’m very disappointed with the decision, but I thought it might happen," he says. "The conservative Republicans have been hogging student money for three years now." Besides Barbara Bush, college Republicans have brought Bob Dole and Colin Powell to campus the last two years, both requiring a large outlay of student money. The SSAC members who voted to defund the M4TF deny making their decision on ideological grounds, attributing it instead to far more quotidian considerations. While numerous attempts by the Free Times to contact them were fruitless, several members have publicly expressed their reasoning in other forums. Some asserted that the M4TF’s request was late and disorganized, and its budget vague. "Their numbers were off on how much it would cost, and the request seemed rushed," contended Mike Chadsey, who voted against the task force. Picman, though, claims that they openly questioned the necessity of staging an annual memorial, instead suggesting the shootings be commemorated every five or even 10 years, and Chadsey was quoted in The Daily Kent Stater as saying, "The event seems redundant … most students weren’t born when May 4th happened and want to move past it." A wholesale rejection of the commemoration, an event that many no longer identify with, has been brewing for years. But the real nail in the coffin may have come last year during a special, larger 30th anniversary event. The M4TF brought in five speakers who addressed an assembled crowd estimated at 5,000. One of the speeches was a recorded address by Mumia Abu-Jamal, the civil rights activist on death row for the 1981 slaying of a Philadelphia police officer. Many students, including SSAC members and Student Senate Executive Director Nic Smith, considered his inclusion inappropriate and divisive, and the administration called the choice "disappointing." But Haring rejects these concerns, pointing out that Abu-Jamal’s talk was only three minutes in length, and made no mention of his campaign for a new trial. And Picman agrees that his address was "extremely relevant, beautiful, and metaphorical," dismissing critics as "right-wing people opposed to his freedom of speech." If it wasn’t Abu-Jamal, then perhaps it’s the administration itself, suggests Canfora, who contends that much of the impetus for the SSAC’s decision originates with the administration’s Student Life Office (SLO). He refers to it as the "Office of Student Control." In his view, "the administration and SSAC are working hand-in-glove – the Kent State bureaucracy has shown 25 years of insensitivity to the martyrs of 1970." Sheryl Smith, director of the SLO, scoffs at such notions. "The day I figure out how to control the students is the day I can sell out for a lot of money," she laughs. As for insensitivity, she hasn’t seen any: "I think it’s imperative the community never lose sight of what happened at Kent State in 1970." The administration aside, the M4TF continues to plan for the quickly approaching anniversary. According to Haring, the core of her group is comprised of between 20 and 25 student and community volunteers who meet weekly during the academic year to plan, promote and produce the May 4th events. It has honored the slain and wounded students every year since 1975, when the university’s administration decided to end its own annual remembrance ceremony. (The commemoration traditionally includes educational workshops and a concert, which are funded by the All Campus Programming Board, a separate student organization; it has already earmarked $7,500 for this year’s performance.) The bottom line, say M4TF members, is that the commemoration will go on as planned this year, with or without student money. Nic Smith promises the senate will expeditiously hear any appeal, and Haring admits that one is in the works, though she adds that any appeal will be a question of principle rather than necessity. "Our speakers are willing to come for little or no money," she states, "and we expect to get what we need in outside support and donations." ***for online version of this complete article (including a photo of Alan Canfora, CLICK HERE: http://freetimes.com/issues/928/news-ksusaysno.php3 / CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER -- FRIDAY MAGAZINE column by Michael Heaton (Minister of Culture) Kent State Student Senate trivializes the lives of the kids who died on May 4, 1970, by refusing fee request 04/20/01 How about these crazy college kids today, eh? The things they do for entertainment. What are ya gonna do? My alma mater, Kent State University, was in the news last week. It seems the student senate, which allocates funds to different student groups for activities, turned down a request by the May 4 Task Force for $18,000 to pay for speakers. Years ago, it was the school's administration that seemed eager to sweep the legacy of the Kent State killings under the rug. Administrators even went so far as to build a gymnasium on the historic site in a naked attempt to bury what happened there more than 30 years ago. But now there are even students trying to whitewash history. There seems to be some confusion about May 4 and its importance. Don't they know the old saying about those who refuse to learn from history? Or has the lesson been lost over time? Maybe they think May 4 is Mexican Independence Day Eve. You know, one of those diversity issues. Latin History Month. But who exactly is running the history department down there at Kent? What do they think they're going to be remembered for? The athletic program? It's like saying Gettysburg is known for its french fries and plenty of free parking! Has May 4's historical ranking been called into doubt? Has the Texas A and M bonfire disaster usurped its significance? Was it bumped by the Survivor craze? OK, it did take place a long time ago. I've heard these college kids had short attention spans. Many important things happened a long time ago. Call-waiting is an example. The May 4 killings have meaning that transcends generations. It's an important lesson. See, there was this war in Vietnam. It's a little country halfway around the world where most of the indigenous people's main concern in the mid-'60s was lunch. And our government wanted to show the communists in both China and Russia that we could go man to man with them when it came to disposing of soldiers. The thinking on the American side was, We'll kill their troops 12-to-1. We'll keep coming. They'll give up. The problem was the other side was fine with those same figures. They had no problem losing 12 to our one. It was a great cultural misjudgment on our part. They kept coming and we gave up. On top of that, we had no exit strategy. It was bloody chaos. On both sides. American college kids were among the first to rise up against the war. They got out in the streets. The civil rights movement had been a perfect model for achieving social change. All the protest culminated on May 4, 1970. Over-tired and inexperienced Ohio National Guardsmen arrived under the orders of Gov. James A. Rhodes. They freaked, opening fire on unarmed protesters, killing four and wounding nine. The Kent State killings did two things simultaneously: The brutal response to college protest broke the back of pro-war movement. It also exposed the American public to the barbarous nature of America's leaders. Those killings dissolved public parental support for the war. Kent State turned the tide in a big way. Do you people in the KSU Student Senate think those protesters and soldiers who couldn't get college deferments died so you can sit there at Kent State today and play games with the May 4 Task Force? Are you so thick, so full of your own smell that the ghosts of those dead don't haunt you? And then to add insult to idiocy, you give $45,000 dollars to a former First Lady whose sole issue while in the White House was the controversial subject of literacy? We need look no farther than her son George W. to understand why she was so passionate for that cause. What else is the Senate preparing to fund for the student body of old KSU? Listen, as long as you're out to get the goat of the May 4 Task Force, why screw around? Get Richard Nixon or James Rhodes to give a speech. Oh I'm sorry, they're dead. Well how about Henry Kissinger? He's not in dead yet. He'd probably be delighted to do a dirty little dance for your dollars. And imagine how angry it would make the May 4 Task Force! College students today. I swear. Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em. Oops, sorry again. I forgot. Guess you can shoot 'em. Have a good May 4, kids. e-mail:mheaton@plaind.com Phone: 216-999-4569 / CLEVELAND FREE TIMES, April 18-24, 2001 CITY CHATTER [excerpted] It's academic We thought the Kent State students might have overspent a tad -- $73,500 is a pile of dough in our book -- on Barbara Bush's April 10 campus visit for a day of hobnobbing with young conservative go-getters, followed by an evening speech in the 2,500-seat MAC Center. Our suspicions were heightened when we noticed that Babs didn't fill the house; 600 of the $10 tickets went unsold. And suspicions began to harden into certainty when Bush's speech, justified by College Republicans as an exercise in political consciousness-raising, turned out to be a series of "grandkids at Kennebunkport" Family Circle-style anecdotes interspersed with Lake Wobegonesque tales of the foibles of her family pastor. But complete surety wasn't had until we learned the First Mother had managed, at an afternoon photo session with selected students, to deeply offend Ethan Picman, a student senator, who happens to sport blonde, shoulder-length dreadlocks. Seemingly mystified by his choice of coiffure, Bar launched into a string of insults, culminating with her comment, "Thank God you're not my grandson." "I was pretty pissed off and offended it was inappropriate," Picman tells Chatter. "I expected a little more from a person of her stature." Well, college is supposed to be a learning experience, after all. ************************* CLEVELAND FREE TIMES, April 18-24, 2001 Letter to the editor KILL THE HIPPIES As someone who happened to be on the Kent State campus on May 4, 1970, I felt compelled to respond to the article ("Forget Kent State," March 28). I am sick to death of still having the lie of protesters being "victims" still being shoved down my throat by aging hippie relics like Alan Canfora. Although the group of left-wing, mind-numbed robots who weren't even alive when May 4 happened, like Ethan Picman, should stick to something he actually knows something about. To refresh these "comrades'" memories, they should study what actually happened back then. These "victims" were actually part of a dope-smoking, maggot-infested hippie rabble that terrorized Kent and the surrounding area. From burning down the ROTC building to vandalizing downtown Kent businesses, they were clear and present danger to all decent people. So I commend the Kent State Student Senate Allocation Committee for refusing to waste any more money on something that should be buried. Rest in peace, James Rhodes. You did the right thing 30 years ago and you certainly had nothing to apologize for! Scott Dotson Via e-mail / AKRON BEACON JOURNAL--April 18, 2001, Letter to the editor-- Barbara Bush and KSU: Match made in heaven The April 11 Akron Beacon Journal story headlined ``Barbara Bush speaks at KSU'' reported on the best PR event that has happened to Kent State in years. Alex Mander, Mike Chadsey and the other respectable members of the Undergraduate Student Senate Allocations Committee should be commended for their efforts to help rebuild the university's image. By funding speakers such as Barbara Bush and ending the decades-long practice of forcing undergrads to foot the bill for Alan and ``Chick'' Canfora's yearly May 4 political conventions, the allocations committee is helping to set a more positive agenda for the future and of Kent State University's reputation. This is no small task, considering there are still fanatics on the fringe of the KSU faculty, administration and student body who insist on keeping the university's future in the history books. However, it is important to remember that the hysterical fanatics who protested Bush's speech are nothing more than comical caricatures of Kent's political past. Today, KSU's Greek community and other Republican-leaning students seem to have the clout on campus and are using it to great effect. I hope the fraternities and sororities realize that they could control every seat on the Student Sentate, the allocations committee and the All-Campus Programming Board if they planned and organized for it. If this happened, then maybe someday Kent State will earn the reputation that it desperately needs. Richard Heinz Rittman / Cleveland's TV-3 had great coverage of the anti-Bush demonstration-- students (Michelle, Troy, Danielle, etc., were covered much more than old Bush who looked like a pompous greedy dinosaur. Other media coverage: Published Wednesday, April 11, 2001, in the Akron Beacon Journal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Barbara Bush speaks at KSU Former first lady focuses on family values, literacy; avoids Clinton question BY STEVE HOFFMAN Beacon Journal politics writer KENT: With make-or-break budget and foreign policy issues swirling around her son's presidency, former first lady Barbara Bush stuck close to her signature themes of family values and literacy during an appearance yesterday at Kent State University. She declined to answer a question from the audience about whether the Clintons had affected the dignity of the White House. She also said that she had ``no terrible stories to share with you'' about her son. Instead, Mrs. Bush urged members of the audience to get involved, first and foremost, with their own families. Tying her two themes together, she urged parents to turn off the television and read with their children. ``There is no better way to spend quality time with your children'' than to read with them, Mrs. Bush said. ``Our most important job is that of parenting.'' ``An Historical Evening With Former First Lady Barbara Bush,'' as the event was officially dubbed, was held at the Kent State University Memorial Athletic Convocation Center. Mrs. Bush spoke for about 35 minutes and then answered questions from the audience. About 1,900 tickets were either sold or given to students. The convocation center holds about 2,500. Earlier in the day, Mrs. Bush met briefly with students during a private reception. Mrs. Bush has long championed the cause of literacy. She is the honorary chairwoman of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and supports a variety of other causes. She is a former board member of the Mayo Clinic Foundation. Her appearance on campus was preceded by controversy. Members of the May 4 Task Force, the student-run group that organizes the annual remembrance of the May 4, 1970, shootings, had questioned the use of student activity fees to bring Mrs. Bush to campus when their organization was initially denied funding. On appeal this week, the May 4 Task Force was offered $2,500 by a student activity committee, an amount far below its request of about $12,000. The task force turned down the offer. College Republicans received about one-quarter of the funding available for student programming, some $73,500. Of that, Mrs. Bush received $45,000 as her speaking fee. Her contract did not allow any direct contact with the press, according to university spokesman Ron Kirksey. In December, Mrs. Bush appeared in Cleveland at the Town Hall lecture series, where she dodged questions about the election recount in Florida. Her speech was devoted mainly to the role of marriage and family and her pet interest, literacy programs. Mrs. Bush's speaking fee has drawn fire from students upset that the May 4th Task Force didn't initially get any student-fees money this year for its annual commemoration. Outside the arena, about two dozen protesters chanted ``Sixty thousand thrown away. What about the Fourth of May?'' ``I just hate the policies that the Bush family has implemented,'' said Claudia Cortese, 19, a freshman from Canton. ``I feel she profited off these things. She stood by and did not oppose any of the oppressive policies.'' In her speech, Mrs. Bush made reference to the protesters outside. ``It is sort of flattering to be yelled at again,'' she said. Earlier in the day, Mrs. Bush greeted about 100 student leaders, faculty, staff and alumni at the Rockwell Museum on campus, according to Shauna Adams, a junior from Cleveland who works for the All Campus Programming Board. Steve Hoffman can be reached at 330-996-3740 or slhoffman@thebeaconjournal.com **************************************************************************** ********************** The AKRON BEACON JOURNAL editorial staff obviously fails to appreciate M4TF opposition to censorship of STUDENT programs & praises sham programs offered by the KSU ADMINISTRATION... Remembering May 4 (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL editorial, April 11, 2001): Kent State has found an appropriate and enduring way The students who want more money for this year's May 4 commemoration would surely see their glass as less than half full. They should adjust their view. Last month, a committee of Kent State University students rejected the May 4 Task Force's request for student activity fees for speakers for the annual ceremonies remembering the protests and shootings of May 4, 1970. The Task Force appealed, and on Monday, the student appropriations committee approved $2,500. Not good enough, said the task force members, who rejected the appropriation as ``a hollow gesture.'' Perhaps they would find more substance if they listened to some of the speakers who are on campus in the name of May 4. The Kent State University Symposium on Democracy was instituted during last year's 30th May 4 anniversary as a permanent way to acknowledge and honor the historic event while fostering the inquiry and debate that is essential to democracy. This year's symposium begins today. Titled Media, Profit and Politics, its topic is as current as the latest headlines and values on Wall Street. It features such nationally known speakers at Hodding Carter III, Nancy Hicks Maynard and Oscar H. Gandy Jr. Over two days, the symposium and its many participants from throughout North America will examine such issues as how the market is changing news, public journalism and declining voter turnout in the digital age. It is all but impossible for Kent State, Northeast Ohio or the country to forget what happened on May 4, 1970. Still, this annual event honors the questioning spirit at the heart of the antiwar protests while seeking to build bridges that aim to ensure its tragedy is never repeated. That is a fitting legacy. Surely, the May 4 Task Force should see that its cup runneth over. / Published Monday, April 16, 2001, in the Akron Beacon Journal. Real-life stories are more relevant to May 4 Last Wednesday's editorial in regard to Kent State Student Senate denying funds for the 31st annual May 4, 1970, commemoration (``Remembering May 4,'' Akron Beacon Journal) seemed to miss the point. Indeed, I do see my cup as less than half full, but my view will not be ``adjusted.'' While the university administration did decide to capitalize on the 30th commemoration by creating a ``scholarly symposium,'' to me my ``cup'' would be far more full if I could attend a fully student-funded and student-run commemoration, as the thousands of people from around the world have enjoyed at Kent State for 25 straight years. These student-based, grass-roots programs have featured far too many great speakers to mention here, and they have all spoken eloquently of the past and the present. It is interesting to note one of the criticisms of commemoration speakers: If they are known for their views on current affairs, then they have ``nothing to do with May 4, 1970,'' and if they are known for their views on the '70s, then they ``can't relate to students today.'' Tell me, will anyone satisfy the self-appointed critics of the student commemorations? Let's not forget it is the Kent State administration that cut off annual commemorations 25 years ago, and it was students who stepped forward and continued the tradition we now all take for granted. Now the university administration seeks to take the high road and change the name of the university back to Kent State instead of ``Kent'' and parade Ph.D.s around in an annual remembrance of the victims of May 4. Isn't this a little like the U.S. Army holding a remembrance program for American Indians slaughtered in our bloody westward expansion? I have always found the most appropriate way to remember May 4 is by listening to a commemoration that features the people who lived through the shootings and those who live through similar struggles today. Their real-life stories will always fill my cup more than a furrowed-brow lecture by a do-nothing intellectual. Nathan Solinsky Kent / Excerpt from a larger KENT RECORD-COURIER newspaper article, April 11, 2001, re: Barbara Bush at KSU,: Prior to her speech, about two dozen students protested her appearance. Some of the students wore evening gowns and tiaras and one wore a George Bush mask. The students were upset about the amount of student activities money Bush was paid for her appearance _ about $60,000. The group also was upset by Monday's Undergraduate Student Senate Allocations Committee's decision to allocate $2,500 for the annual May 4 commemoration. Alan Canfora, one of the students who was wounded by Ohio National Guard gunfire on May 4, 1970, said too much money is being spent to bring in speakers such as Bush, and it was "inherently unfair" to other groups. "The university keeps provoking conflict," he said. "The students have every right to speak out against this." / ---- Terrorism? War? Anti-war? Good riddance Taliban! ALL HAIL THE DEFEAT OF THE RELIGIOUS EXTREMIST LUNATIC TALIBAN IN AFGHANISTAN!!! OPPOSE RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM EVERYWHERE *including the USA* Now, more than ever, people should appreciate the importance of the "separation of church and state" as guaranteed by the US Constitution. ***************************************** Today's students seek info and opinion after the insane terrorist attacks in New York City. Here's three typical questions I've received and my initial responses from mid-September, 2001... **************************************** Hi Alan! I am writing to you, because I am very interested in how you feel about the government's retaliation against the Taliban. This is a different kind of war now, and I am trying to form an opinion on the issue. Also, I am a journalism student at Louisiana State University and am writing an article for class on student and faculty opinion on war now vs. opinion in the 60s and 70s. Please enlighten me with your ideas! -Sincerely, Britney M. **************************************** Alan, As a current student of History at New York University, I was impressed with your Web site. I am currently doing a research paper on the Vietnam War and my topic will specifically deal with the events leading up to the Kent State Killings and with the killings themselves. One of the connections I would like to make is the opinion or your organization on the tragic recent events in NYC and what our Government response should be. Thank you before hand for your time and attention in this matter. Joe D. **************************************** MY REPLY: In my opinion, retaliation is inevitable considering the massive slaughter of innocent lives on September 11 in New York. The fanatical religious-extremist Taliban government must be eliminated for the sake of the Afghan people and the world. Hopefully, our government will not become as vicious and destructive as the terrorists. I think the American people will support military efforts if we engage in a sincere, focused, effective attempt to bring these criminal religious-fanatics to justice. But if we start another long Vietnam-style war of foreign intervention (including a military draft), I think that another powerful anti-war movement will be realized once again. Additionally, modern American foreign policy has too often focused upon US support of corrupt, violent, criminal regimes that provoke militant fanatical lunatics such as the terrorists in New York recently. This is a golden opportunity to have the United Nations engage many nations to address various problems such as terrorism, religious governments, exploitation, greed, violence and other neglected issues. In conclusion, there are just wars and unjust wars. Most Americans supported the Vietnam war until it became painfully apparent that our war was unjust. The same is true today--our "war" against terrorism must be seen as justifiable or Americans will once again massively rise up in opposition. Our anti-war activism was in the best interests of the American people during the Vietnam war. I always thought we were therefore patriotic to stand against our government when it was pursuing such wrong foreign policy. If necessary, similar anti-war activism may once again become our patriotic duty. I hope not. Let me know if I assisted your project sufficiently, please. Good luck. --Alan Canfora http://alancanfora.com/ http://may4.org/ ______________________________ hi alan! i am a journalism student at the university of wisconsin-madison researching the anti-war movement of the past in comparison to those that have developed as a result of the recent events in new york and washington d.c. as i was reading through the content on your web site i found an interesting response that you gave answering questions from students. one student asked your opinion concerning the different kind of war being fought today against terrorism. i was hoping you could follow up on the response that's posted, focusing mainly on the ways in which you feel the anti-war movement will be different today than it was in the 60's and 70's, and why those differences will incur. the anti-war movements of the 60's and 70's have created an extreme amount of nostalgic literature, photographs, films, etc...that inspire young people of today to want to become more involved in peace efforts. i find myself extremely intrigued by this era, and i am also very interested in your thoughts on this nostalgia, as someone who played a major role in the reality... please let me know what you're thinking! thank you in advance for your time, samantha s. s______@students.wisc.edu ******************************** Hey Samantha, Thanks for your intelligent questions. These are dangerous times and your thoughtfulness shows you're honestly trying to learn important historical lessons. I think there are some similarities and differences when considering our earlier Vietnam-era anti-war movement and the blossoming new movement today. Our 1960's movement started small and exploded later (especially in May of 1970 after the Kent massacre). The current movement is small but has similar great potential. Both early movements were denounced as "unpatriotic" minorities. Both also were primarily comprised of college students and youths. The differences are apparent as well. The US government war in SE Asia was a unilateral affair while the current campaign will be multi-national. War against Vietnam was an imperialistic war of foreign intervention in the internal politics of a nation--the current "war" is a response to barbaric attacks on US soil which killed thousands of civilians. The Vietnam war was during the Cold War against communism. Today, our former "enemies" (Russia and China) support our new war against terrorism. There was a military draft years ago but today there is not. Today, the enemy is fundamentalist religious extremism-- a legitimate target in the eyes of many, including me. The fanatical Taliban government in Afghanistan not only protects and condones international terrorism--these lunatics cruelly oppress their own people including Afghan women who suffer dearly in a nation that prevents their education or proper participation in human society. War against the Taliban is an internationalist duty for many today. For the sake of the Afghan people and to strike back against terrorism, a limited "war" is inevitable now. Perhaps a better comparison for today involves World War II. During the 1930's, there was a powerful US student movement against the looming war in Europe. Isolationist, pacifist students rallied annually during "Peace Week" and "Peace Day" on hundreds of US campuses during the 1930's--including at your campus in Madison, Wisconsin. When the US declared war against the German fascists and the Japanese imperialists, the American student movement evaporated because students supported our just war at that time. I think that most students again see our present "war" as legitimate. If the US government does not over-react and kill many innocent people, there will continue to be strong support of the current war against terrorism. In short, there are just wars and unjust wars. Vietnam was an unjust war. World War II was a just war. As long as the war against fanatical religious terrorism is considered as "just", the students and American people will offer support. However, the tide of public opinion may change if the present ongoing crisis is not resolved, if many innocent civilians are victimized and if the US government poorly handles the situation by becoming too heavy-handed internationally and here in America too. One of my main concerns is the Bush administration's attempt to destroy our freedoms as a means to attack "the enemy". The nazis in Germany seized maximum political power after a 1932 crisis when the Reichstag--the German congress building-- was destroyed by a fire started by "terrorists". Hopefully, our current crisis will not open the door to American fascism. This is a real danger is these times of unprecented American crisis. Any such tendency must be strenously opposed by students and many others. In conclusion, the great patriotic movement of pro-government support for a war against terrorists will continue until our government takes extreme actions that may turn the tide of public opinion against the government. Then, as with Vietnam, another great anti-war, pro-peace, pro-freedom movement may once again be realized here in our homeland. Well, Samantha, I hope my comments assist your efforts. Just as I remain aware and active regarding US and world politics and history, I hope you and your fellow students also stay vigilant with your eyes wide open. It's still a very dangerous world out there and if you don't learn your history lessons well, your younger generation could suffer serious consequences just as we did during Vietnam and the Kent State massacre. Remember the past--continue the struggle. --Alan Canfora
/ Kent documentary wins EMMY award!
Congratulations to Mark Mori, Ron Goetz, Chris Triffo, Jim Hense, The Learning Channel and everyone else who created this great documentary film. Here's the announcement I received from Jim Hense, a producer for the project: ---------------------------------------------- September 7, 2001-- For everyone who had anything to do with the production of "Kent State: The Day The War Came Home," and for those who did not.... The program won an EMMY award on Wednesday night at the 2001 News and Documentary Emmys in NYC. It was up against two PBS documentaries and a Nightline in the category of "Background/Analysis of A Continuing Story." The Learning Channel had five programs nominated, and Kent State was the only one to take home the Emmy. A happy Mark Mori and Ron Goetz were on hand to accept the award. Thanks again for everyone's participation in this program. I'm told by Prof. Jerry Lewis at Kent State, that all incoming Freshmen are now required to watch the program during Freshmen orientation. Nice to see the University is no longer trying to bury the truth about this tragedy. Jim Hense ****************************************** July 23, 2001 Partners In Motion Earns Nomination for Emmy Award Ron Goetz, CEO of Regina production company, Partners in Motion, is proud to announce that the company has received a nomination for an Emmy Award for the Outstanding Background / Analysis of a Single Current Story – Programs. The nomination is for the award winning production of “Kent State: The Day the War Came Home”, which aired on TLC (The Learning Channel) in the US, and History Television in Canada. The show has also been named “13 Seconds, The Kent State Shootings” for Canadian and international broadcasting purposes. The one-hour documentary revisits the events that occurred 31 years ago leading up to May 4, 1970, when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on 22Kent State students protesting the Vietnam War. In 13 seconds, 67 bullets were fired, killing 4 students and wounding 12 others – horrifying an entire nation. This dramatic event was the beginning of the turning point that saw the United States begin to pull out of the Vietnam War. “This is tremendous recognition for our work” said Chris Triffo, President of Partners in Motion, and Director of the Program. “This was a story that we felt had never been told in this way before. Being from Canada, this allowed us to relay the events impartially. We’re extremely proud of the fact that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has chosen to recognize our work.” “Kent State” will be up against American Broadcasting heavyweights such as PBS (two nominations) and ABC. “13 Seconds” has recently won Best Sound, Best Editing and Best of Saskatchewan at the Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival, as well as 6 awards at the 2000 Showcase Awards. The Houston International Film Festival also considered “Kent State” as a finalist in the Best Social Documentary Category, and awarded a Bronze award for Best Documentary. It was also a finalist in the New York Film Festivals. “13 Seconds” was produced by Ron Goetz, Partners in Motion, and two-time Academy Award Nominee Mark Mori acted as Executive Producer, from Single Spark Pictures in Santa Monica, California. It was produced with the financial assistance of TLC (The Learning Channel), History Television, The Saskatchewan Film or Video Employment Tax Credit, as well as Harmony Entertainment Management, Inc., who currently distributes the program internationally. Partners in Motion is a Regina-based production company that produces television programming for a world wide audience, as well as corporate and multimedia projects. / |
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