Today, May 4^th is the 54^th anniversary of the shootings at Kent State University.  We are asking people in Ohio and across the country to join on May 4th to remember Kent State, Jackson State, and to support anti-war protests calling on an end to the war on GAZA.   All over the world, students and working people are demanding a permanent ceasefire and an end to military aid to Israel. 

April 15, 1970, was a nationwide anti-draft action day.  Here in Dayton, there was a sit-in at the local draft board of about 35 people.  At Miami University in Oxford, OH there was an anti-draft peace rally.  At the end of the rally a student spoke up to say, “it was not enough to protest the war; people have to take action.” At that point, they marched over and occupied the Navy ROTC building.  Later, the black students who were organizing for a black studies program and an increase in black enrollment joined the occupation.  Over 300 students were arrested, making national news and rocking Ohio. 

With the announcement of the US invasion of Cambodia, protests occurred across the country with major protests at Ohio State and Ohio University.  The week before Kent State, over 1,000 students were arrested at Ohio State protesting the war, and black students there were also demanding a black studies program.

During the spring of 1970, the Nixon administration orchestrated the overthrow of the Cambodian government, setting up a military dictatorship and paving the way for a US invasion.  After 11 years of war in Vietnam, the American people were growing weary of the cost in lives and money. Across the country, student protests had increased both in numbers and militancy. 

At Kent State there was a sharp confrontation between police and student protestors.  On Saturday night May 2^nd an unknown arsonist burned the Army ROTC building to the ground. Governor Rhodes called out the National Guard and on May 4 they fired into unarmed protesters killing 4 and wounding 9. Across the US, campuses and communities erupted into massive protests against the war, the draft, and the shootings at Kent State.  Hundreds of college campuses were shut down as students went on strike, the largest student strike in US history. 

Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green. Source: Jackson Free Press

At Jackson State in Mississippi, two black students were killed, and twelve students wounded when the police opened fire at the crowd of protesters. Black and white students united in calling for black studies courses, more minority enrollment at colleges, and opposition to the war. 

US Wars continue throughout the Middle East and Africa and now the US is supporting genocide against the Palestinian people.  Billions of dollars are being squandered in these quagmires.  Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, two of the longest wars in US history. There are ongoing wars in Syria, Somalia, Ukraine, and Ethiopia that need to end.  Instead of making peace, American foreign policy is aimed at making the world safe for US corporations.   The US congress just passed a massive military aid package that ensures these wars will not end soon.

We need to build a massive peace movement to stand up to the US WAR Machine and force an end to these wars.  Act now!

For Jobs and Peace,  

Logan Martinez
Green Party of Ohio—Dayton

Top Photograph: William Schroeder, who was killed by the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970 on the campus of Kent State University. Photo by McNees, Ronald P.

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