The Shadow of Kent

Today marks the 39th anniversary of the massacre at Kent State University.

There are some great posts about it this year:

Angus Johnston has a good recap over at studentactivism.net, and reminds us of the racial context that protest was situated in:

In early 1968 police had fired on anti-segregation activists at South Carolina State University, killing three. And it would not be the last — nine days after Kent State, two students at Jackson State College in Mississippi were killed in circumstances similar to those of the South Carolina shootings.
But unlike in South Carolina and Mississippi, the students killed at Kent State were white.

DailyKos blogger kainah has a very detailed - and very personal - retelling of the day's events and aftermath:

You see, that's not just any picture of the crowd. See the girl towards the back of the crowd in the red shirt and blue jeans? That's Sandy Scheuer. And right over her right shoulder, see the girl with the tan jacket and her hair pulled up in a modified pony tail? Allison Krause. And to Sandy's right, the boy in the distinctive orange bell-bottoms? Bill Schroeder. Within half an hour, they will all be dead or dying.

As they do every year, Kent State staff and students will be holding a ceremony at the memorial - this year will feature "May 4 eyewitness Mary Ann Vecchio; Pulitzer-prize winner photographer John Filo; Laurel Krause, sister of Allison Krause; 1969 Ann Arbor White Panther leader Pun Plamundon; May 4 casualty Alan Canfora; 1970 eyewitness Steve Drucker; May 4 eyewitness Chic Canfora & other speakers & musicians." There will also be a two-day "Symposium on Democracy" starting today, featuring among others Friend of the Blog Ted Morgan.