we see them all
"...I see them all. Such as the raising-to-god status of Lumpenproletariat like the football player-cum-college student who stood guard over the flagpole soon after the Kent State massacre, who refused to allow his fellow students to lower the flag to half-mast in memory. It’s okay to half-mast Old Glory for Ev Dirksen, one of the more corrupt public officials to go to his much-deserved judgment, but it’s a patriotic no-no to weep for kids senselessly slain by golem in Reserve uniforms. That silly git, that muscle-brained pigskin patriot, has received thousands of letters from similarly minded humanitarians, commending him for his defense of a scrap of cloth. It is a manifestation of the anti-intellectual attitude that property rights far outweigh human rights." - Harlan Ellison. The Other Glass Teat. Open Road Media.
University of Wyoming - Laramie. May 6, 1970. Students, faculty & ministers vs Univ admin & Gov. Hathaway, who sent National Guard troops to point guns at students' heads during their May 7 prayer vigil in honor of the four dead. University admins did allow lowering the flag for one day. Laramie police chief was heard shouting at National Guard commander that "You just came here to shoot kids."
Long Island. May 5, 1970. High school students, mostly Jewish, attempted to lower the flag to half mast (three of the four dead were Jewish, and one, Jeffrey Miller, was from Long Island) and were attacked by jocks shouting "Kill the Jews." The football players insisted the shootings were justified because the victims were "dirty hippies" who were "throwing rocks" and weren't in class (it was between classes). These men later bragged that they "killed" the Jews who tried to lower the flag. - Jeff Kisseloff, Generation on Fire: Voices of Protest from the 1960s, An Oral History (PDF)
UNM-Albuquerque, New Mexico. May 5, 1970. Here, National Guardsmen were sent without bullets, so instead they bayoneted nine students, a visiting teacher, and a reporter from local station KOB. Most of the victims were holding cameras. The reporter had believed it was obvious he was a working newsman covering the story, but the National Guard commander said "anyone can paint letters on a camera," and the visiting teacher had severed an artery when he "fell into a rosebush". In front of Johnson Gym, a fight broke out over lowering the American flag to half-mast. Administrators lowered all flags until tempers cooled down.
New York. May 8, 1970. Mayor Lindsay ordered flags at City Hall lowered in respect of the four dead, a move perceived as "communist" by New York's blue-collar workers. Students holding a planned rally were attacked by construction workers. Police largely stood by and watched or encouraged it as the hardhats punched and kicked young people whose crimes against humanity included "looking like hippies" and "flag desecration". The workers stormed City Hall and attempted to break in, demanding that the flags there be raised to full staff. Police let some of them inside to "defuse tension". On May 20, 150,000 workers marched down Wall Street and were showered with ticker tape and confetti. President Nixon invited some of their leaders to the White House, saying they had "character and guts." Chief of Staff Haldeman suggested Nixon could "mobilize" these men in the future.
Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois. May 19, 1970. Illinois state police and university employees guarded a flagpole on the Normal campus to (successfully) prevent bloodshed between black students and hardhats. The students wanted to lower the flag to half-mast for Malcolm X's birthday, and for the murders of Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark as well as for Kent State.
[Central Illinois was unofficially segregated. Black and Hispanic students coming to ISU were considered "commie n$@#s pouring into our community bringing their.." etc etc etc. While Illinois is generally considered a progressive blue state, these attitudes still pervade the central and southern regions and there are still many sundown towns. ISU has been condemned as "neo-Marxist" and "woke" for establishing a multicultural center and a curriculum for its teachers' college on racial and cultural differences they should be aware of.]
Meanwhile, back at Kent State, football player (now Alabama head coach) Nick Saban WANTED to go to the protest. The only reason he wasn't killed is he stopped for lunch first.
University of Wyoming - Laramie. May 6, 1970. Students, faculty & ministers vs Univ admin & Gov. Hathaway, who sent National Guard troops to point guns at students' heads during their May 7 prayer vigil in honor of the four dead. University admins did allow lowering the flag for one day. Laramie police chief was heard shouting at National Guard commander that "You just came here to shoot kids."
Long Island. May 5, 1970. High school students, mostly Jewish, attempted to lower the flag to half mast (three of the four dead were Jewish, and one, Jeffrey Miller, was from Long Island) and were attacked by jocks shouting "Kill the Jews." The football players insisted the shootings were justified because the victims were "dirty hippies" who were "throwing rocks" and weren't in class (it was between classes). These men later bragged that they "killed" the Jews who tried to lower the flag. - Jeff Kisseloff, Generation on Fire: Voices of Protest from the 1960s, An Oral History (PDF)
UNM-Albuquerque, New Mexico. May 5, 1970. Here, National Guardsmen were sent without bullets, so instead they bayoneted nine students, a visiting teacher, and a reporter from local station KOB. Most of the victims were holding cameras. The reporter had believed it was obvious he was a working newsman covering the story, but the National Guard commander said "anyone can paint letters on a camera," and the visiting teacher had severed an artery when he "fell into a rosebush". In front of Johnson Gym, a fight broke out over lowering the American flag to half-mast. Administrators lowered all flags until tempers cooled down.
New York. May 8, 1970. Mayor Lindsay ordered flags at City Hall lowered in respect of the four dead, a move perceived as "communist" by New York's blue-collar workers. Students holding a planned rally were attacked by construction workers. Police largely stood by and watched or encouraged it as the hardhats punched and kicked young people whose crimes against humanity included "looking like hippies" and "flag desecration". The workers stormed City Hall and attempted to break in, demanding that the flags there be raised to full staff. Police let some of them inside to "defuse tension". On May 20, 150,000 workers marched down Wall Street and were showered with ticker tape and confetti. President Nixon invited some of their leaders to the White House, saying they had "character and guts." Chief of Staff Haldeman suggested Nixon could "mobilize" these men in the future.
Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois. May 19, 1970. Illinois state police and university employees guarded a flagpole on the Normal campus to (successfully) prevent bloodshed between black students and hardhats. The students wanted to lower the flag to half-mast for Malcolm X's birthday, and for the murders of Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark as well as for Kent State.
[Central Illinois was unofficially segregated. Black and Hispanic students coming to ISU were considered "commie n$@#s pouring into our community bringing their.." etc etc etc. While Illinois is generally considered a progressive blue state, these attitudes still pervade the central and southern regions and there are still many sundown towns. ISU has been condemned as "neo-Marxist" and "woke" for establishing a multicultural center and a curriculum for its teachers' college on racial and cultural differences they should be aware of.]
Meanwhile, back at Kent State, football player (now Alabama head coach) Nick Saban WANTED to go to the protest. The only reason he wasn't killed is he stopped for lunch first.
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