Kent State :: essays research papers

Thirty eld Later- Kent StateThirty years later, just after noon, the Victory ships cost again rings through the green grass of Kent State Universitys Commons. The bell rings twenty-seven times one toll for each of the 4 students killed andnine wounded by the Ohio National Guard whitethorn 4, 1970, and 14 times in solidarity for the two students murdered and twelve wounded by Mississippi Highway Patrol at Jackson State University whitethorn 15, 1970Kent State University officials stopped holding Commemoration ceremonies in 1975, but consecrated students have kept the ideals represented by the Kent State shootings alive. For the past cardinalyears, the students of the whitethorn 4th Task Force have organized the one-year May 4th Commemoration ceremonies, bringing such speakers as Jane Fonda, William Kuntzler, Dr. Hellen Caldicot and performers including Peter, capital of Minnesota and Mary, Joan Baez and Crosby, Stills and Nash. Co-chair of the May 4th Task Force from 1995-98, an d still considered the backbone of the organization by many students, Kent State senior Wendy Semon believes that continued student activism is the authentic remembrance of May 4, 1970. "The living legacy of those four students is activism," Semon states. "The only enamor way students of today can keep that legacy alive is to nurture activism and educate others." This year, the Task Force brought some of America s more or less prominent leaders of social and policy-making change to embody altogether facets of the current movement. These speakers include the American Indian Movements Vernon Bellecourt, environmental and social umpire advocate Julia Butterfly Hill, Philadelphias MOVE member Ramona Africa, Global Exchanges Julliette Beck, political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and world-renowned political theorist Noam Chomsky.Kent State junior Jeff Ritter, and current co-chair of the May 4th Task Force feels that this years Commemoration reflects the unification of the current subject movement. "So many movements be represented present today, the American Indian Movement, the environmental movement, anti-globalization, the MOVE organization. Its a real symbol of solidarity, of all the things that are going on today."Kent graduate student Kabir Syed, a ten-year member of the May 4th Task Force sees the Commemoration as a state of affairs for political activists to gather and connect with one another. "The wide variety of issues speaks to the evolution of the social-political movement which exists in the U.S. We see a range, and yet, an integration of ideology here today. Though there are differences between us, we are growing informed that these differences need not separate us from accomplishing our tasks.