[T4Texas]

Originally Posted by Yellow band

I am a little young to be a real hippy. But not by much. I saw it and knew what it all meant.

People wearing those military vietnam war jackets with peace signs sewn onto them. That was a bold statement. It was not to disgrace to military.
It was to protest the war. The Kent State massacre comes to my mind.
Every May 4th, it is mentioned. Maybe because it is very near here.

The National Guard randomly shot into a crowd of college sudents at Kent State University in Ohio, who were protesting the war. Four were killed and 9 were injured. Students across America went on strike. This was 1970.
Many Colleges and Universities shut down. This had a significnt impact on politics in America. Young people were posturing. The Nixon Administration began sliding. Then came WATERGATE. America had deep politcal social divisions. (Funny, history does repeat itself) Younger people today feel our music was all about drugs. Some may have been. Most was about political ramifications.

If ever freedom to speech and expression was exercised. It was then. The
shootings at Kent State backfired. Those Hippies were smart and underestimated.

Kent State happened when I was in my first year of high school and it had an enormous impact on me because it started me thinking about our government and its workings. It was the beginning of my becoming interested in politics and noting the vast differences between our political and private selves. Shortly after, I read the book Kent State by James Michener which chronicled the events of that time. Most of those kids that were shot were not even protesting, but passing through a parking lot nearby. They were murdered by the National Guard, non of whom were ever charged and except for a few people who remember, the event has pretty much been shoved under the rug of history. I hope they will never be forgotten, and I believe it was an indictment to what our country had become in those turbulent times.