kent state and jackson state shootings

Controlled by the state of Mississippi, Jackson States administration had long repressed student activism, expelling protestors and silencing student voices. Although some of the students who were shot had been participating in the protests, others had simply been walking by or standing and observing. Many of the residents in Alexander Hall said they are not shocked to learn about what happened on their campus in 1970 the same way they werent shocked when their university and other HBCUs across the country were targeted with bomb threats this year. Philip Gibbs, James Earl Green were murdered by racist police on May 15, 1970, at Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss. Long Live the spirit of Kent State and Jackson State! - Workers World This trip really brought the past to the present, Swan said. Eleven days after the murders at Kent State, police opened fire on students at Jackson State College (now Jackson State University) in Jackson, Miss. State Violence and the Problem of Race: The Shootings at Kent State and Jackson State: A Tragedy Widely Forgotten - NPR - Breaking News Porter had surgery to remove shards of glass from her body, but the damage left scars that went much deeper than the skin. Aliyah C. Tipton, MA 20, serves as assistant director of communications in Kent State's Division of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement. On February 13, 2023, a mass shooting occurred in two buildings on the campus of Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing.Three students were killed and five others injured. Their combined armed presence on the Lynch Street side of Stewart Hall, a men's dormitory, staved off the crowd long enough for the firemen to extinguish the blaze and leave.After the firemen left, the police and state troopers marched along Lynch Street toward Alexander Center, a women's residence, weapons at the ready. And so they shed crocodile tears and called for an end to the violence but they didnt call for an end to the violence of the cops, the storm troopers of the ruling class. After the incident, Jackson authorities denied that city police took part in the fusillade. Young lives cut short. On 10 July 2006, the Council of State annulled the declaration of public use of a project by EDF relating to a proposed high-voltage line which would have had to pass through the Verdon Gorge. No one was ever charged, let alone apprehended, for the killings at Kent and Jackson State. .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct,.mw-parser-output .geo-inline-hidden{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}321751N 901227W / 32.29750N 90.20750W / 32.29750; -90.20750. Today, countless students pass by and observe these emblems as they enter and exit the dorm, and the legacy of 1970 is present and tangible at Jackson State. Two youths were killed and a dozen wounded in the shooting by police at Jackson State in Mississippi. But the ambulances were not called until after the officers picked up their shell casings, a U. S. Senate probe conducted by Senators Walter Mondale and Birch Bayh later revealed. The trip had been planned to commemorate May 4, 1970, when . The U.S. Supreme Court this month affirmed the panel's finding that Alabama likely violated the Voting Rights Act witha congressional mapthat had only one majority Black district out of seven in a state where more than one in four residents is Black. To this day, many people in Kent and Jackson are still demanding justice, which is long overdue. After the shooting, police said they had gotten reports of a sniper in the dorm, but that was proven to be false following an investigation. On May 4, 2003, a permitted antiwar march was planned, but the administration arbitrarily took the permit away. All Jackson State students learn about the shooting in a mandatory orientation class, and professors evoke the event as a teaching tool. Kent State Shootings: Selected Articles An Inside View of Jackson States May 1970 Shooting and Its Aftermath, Sister Act! Vietnam Generation, Inc., (2.2) 1990. . If we want change, we can be the change.. Kent State and the War That Never Ended | The New Yorker Even after spending four years as an undergraduate at Jackson State, this trip made me realize how much more I had to learn about the city of Jackson including its rich history and culture, and the legacy of those who fought and continue to fight for the community and the Civil Rights Movement as a whole. There were also helicopters in the sky, just as there were in 1970. With the rising Black Power movement and anti-war activism, tensions had been building between Black students, white city residents and police officers for years. Where were McGovern, Kennedy, et al., when the bullets cut into the backs of Blacks in Jackson and Augusta? On April 30, 1970, U.S. President Richard Nixon publicly announced plans to slaughter the peoples of Cambodia through a bombing campaign. Jim Rhodes, asking for assistance. No institution of higher education was left untouched by confrontations and continuous calls for change. A confrontation between protesters and the Guard ensued outside Taylor Hall. As Greens sister, Gloria Green McCray, once said about her brothers murder, He was just an innocent bystander, but they (the police) were given orders to murder anything Black that moved. (Democracy Now!, May 10, 2010). Kent State massacre: The shootings on a college campus 50 years ago The situation escalated when a non-Jackson State student set a dump truck on fire. Perspective | The Jackson State shootings are often overlooked. But The very next day which was coincidentally May Day antiwar and anti-imperialist activists from all over the world responded in anger. From 2001 until 2008, the author of this article participated in several activities against the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq at Kent State. Old TV sets play footage of the Vietnam War, Kennedy speeches, and people singing . The event happened 11 days after the Kent State shootings, in which National Guardsmen killed four students at Kent State University in Ohio during a protest against the Vietnam War. He served as ROTC Director at DSU from 1993-1999. People once again gathered at noon on May 4 at what is known as the Victory Bell. There were an estimated 2,000 demonstrators three times the number that had previously convened, despite every attempt by the school administration to stop the demonstration. As one journalist suggested, the shootings at Jackson State were simply Kent State II. Such a conflation contributed to the flattening of the distinctive histories that led to the violence, and to the popular erasure of the Jackson State shootings. FBI photograph, Presidents Commission on Campus Unrest files, National Archives and Records Administration. AP. Two dead after multiple overnight gas station shootings in Jackson JSC was an Historically Black College and University. ED GORDON, host: On May 4th, 1970, National Guardsmen shot into a crowd of anti-Vietnam War protesters at . It was unreal because I said why were they shooting because the kids were unarmed, Frazier said. At Jackson State, two youths were murdered and 12 wounded. Previous to the shooting, large demonstrations were staged over four days that culminated in a confrontation between protesters and National Guard troops at Kent State University in Ohio. Timeline Thirteen people were arrested that day and some were severely brutalized. Down the street, off campus, a dumpster had been mysteriously set ablaze. While this was the norm for me, it was an unexpected discovery for some of the other trip attendees in comparison to Kent States developed campus and downtown attractions. Injured and carried to University Hospital for treatment were Fonzie Coleman, Redd Wilson Jr. , Leroy Kenter, Vernon Steve Weakley, Gloria Mayhorn, Patricia Ann Sanders , Willie Woodard, Andrea Reese, Stella Spinks, Climmie Johnson, Tuwaine Davis and Lonzie Thompson. Several students allegedly shouted "obscene catcalls" while others chanted and tossed bricks at the officers, who had closed to within 100 feet of the group. Krause was a supporter of the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam and Miller was active with the KSU branch of Students for a Democratic Society. Subsequently, it conducted thirteen days of public hearings in Jackson, Mississippi; Kent State, Ohio; Washington, DC; and Los Angeles. Allison Krause and Jeffrey Miller were the only two slain who had participated in the demonstration. Two students at Jackson State peer from a window that was shot out by police on campus in May 1970. Investigators counted at least 160 bullet holes in the outer walls of the stairwell alone -- bullet holes that can still be seen today. Martyrs of May 14, 1970. In front of the building also stands a Mississippi Freedom Trail sign, marking the spaces historical significance in the civil rights movement and the long Black freedom struggle. The issues were the escalation of the war in Vietnam and the U.S. invasion of Cambodia; the ecology; racism and repression; and the inclusion of the experiences of women and minorities in the educational system. Jackson-Davis was named a consensus first-team All-American, averaging 20.9 points, 10.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.9 blocks per game on 58.1 percent shooting during an impressive senior campaign. Solidarity with Kent State protesters after National Guard shootings, at the Massachusetts State House opposite Boston Common. Demonstrators occupied the location for 60 days, which became known as Tent City. Many socialist organizations, including the Cleveland branch of Workers World Party, participated in Tent City. At Kent State, the Ohio National Guard opened fire killing four students and wounding nine. On May 14, 1970, city and state police confronted a group of students outside a campus dormitory. Phillip Lafayette Gibbs was a junior at JSC, a husband and the father of an 18-month-old child. That evening, the National Guard which had been deployed days earlier against a Teamsters strike in nearby Akron was given the order to invade Kent State and another demonstration was organized. Lynch Street was symbolic as it was named after Reconstruction-era State Rep. John Roy Lynch. Jackson, like Flint, is a predominantly Black city, with inadequate and unhealthy water. The Kent State shootings (also known as the May 4 massacre and the Kent State massacre [3] [4] [5]) resulted in the killing of four and wounding of nine unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard, on the Kent State University campus. The two men killed, Phillip L. Gibbs and James Earl Green, were awarded posthumous honorary doctorate degrees at 2021s graduation, which were accepted by family members on their behalf. After a three-hour tense standoff, the incident ended without violence. The tragedy was the culmination of increasing friction among students, local youths and law enforcement. Commemorating events such as the killing of students by fellow Americans is surely uncomfortable. There was a sharp contrast between supporters of the establishment and . Workers World reported on Jackson State murders when others did not! As a native of Flint, Michigan, Ive lived through a water crisis, so this hits home for me. The gunfire lasted for 30 seconds and more than 460 shots were fired by a reported 40 state highway patrolmen, who used shotguns from a distance of 30 to 50 feet. Famous Residents in Provence - Welcome to Provence We met Hezekiah Watkins, the youngest Freedom Rider, who was arrested and put on death row at age 13 because his friend jokingly pushed him into this bus stations Whites Only entrance. We recommend that subscribers with internet access get our free email subscription and share our articles with your contacts and on social media. While the Kent State shooting was shared widely on news outlets across the nation, the story of the Jackson State shooting was pushed to the media background. The patrol and city officers quickly turned to face the dorm and fired into the crowd of students, riddling the building with bullets. He was standing in front of B. F. Roberts Hall when a single buckshot blast slammed into the right side of his chest. But these liberals didnt call a press conference to denounce the murders. These tragedies happened within days of each other. You might not even live to see it but your effort will never be forgotten. They would throw things out their windows.. Four Kent State students -- Alison Krause, Sandra Scheuer, Jeffrey Glenn Miller and William K. Schroeder -- were killed by Ohio National Guardsmen. Four students were killed. Copyright 2023 Workers World. SUNY Plattsburgh commemorates 53rd anniversary of Kent State, Jackson photography and opinion pieces" contributed by people "personally involved in the struggle over the meaning of the Kent and/or Jackson State shootings in 1970." This item is located in the book collection (Spec Coll LD4191.O72 K354 1990). The early morning shooting on Sunday saw three people killed . Authorities say they saw a sniper on one of the building's upper floors and were being shot at from all directions. From March 22-26, 2020, students will head to Jackson, Miss., to learn about the complexities between the Kent State May 4 shootings and the Jackson State shootings, both of which occurred in May of 1970. Carlos Holmes is Director of Public Relations atDelaware StateUniversity. May 4 and May 15, 2020, mark the 50th anniversaries of the murders of students at Kent State and Jackson State in the United States. Bloomington, Indiana 47408-4141 On the reverse side of the hill they fired into the asymmetrical student ranks, killing 4 and wounding 9. Arekia S. Bennett-Scott, executive director of Mississippi Votes and fellow Jackson State alumna, spoke with me about Jacksons water distribution. Shortly after the closing of John R. Lynch Street, a plaza was constructed near Alexander Center. . As the march started to move off campus, we were met with Kent State and Kent City police in riot gear. Police fired for about 30 seconds on a group of students at Jackson State in Mississippi, killing two and wounding 12 others. Republican Richard Nixon won election as president of the United States in 1968 partly as a result of his pledge to end the Vietnam War. A group of angry students. Investigating Killing Of 2 Negroes in Jackson: Two Negro Students Are Killed In Clash With Police in Jackson", https://www.stltoday.com/news/national/sins-of-our-past-apologies-for-1970-jackson-st-shootings/article_49a0e473-1c02-5c24-833b-06f3dae1c2a8.html, Chronology with photos by Jackson University, "Lynch Street: The May 1970 Slayings at Jackson State College" by Tim Spofford, The Jackson State tragedy (Internet Archive; originally hosted at JSU.edu), 40 Years Ago: Police Kill Two Students at Jackson State in Mississippi, Program about the Jackson State Killings, Jackson, Mississippi from the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, Jackson State University Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Liberty Point International Middle School, Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, "'No Way to Prevent This', Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens", List of school shootings in the United States by death toll, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jackson_State_killings&oldid=1161980130, Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, African Americans shot dead by law enforcement officers in the United States, University and college killings in the United States, History of law enforcement in the United States, University and college shootings in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, This page was last edited on 26 June 2023, at 07:17. Tensions rose higher when a rumor spread around campus that Charles Evers -- a local politician, civil rights leader and the brother of slain activist Medgar Evers -- and his wife had been killed, according to Lynch Street: The May 1970 Slayings at Jackson State College. SUNY Plattsburgh commemorates 53rd anniversary of Kent State, Jackson State shootings The rock throwing was later attributed by witnesses to a group of non- students. For us to even be acknowledged, it had to happen at Kent State first." Community. The rumor was believable because in 1963, Charles younger brother, Medgar, was assassinated by Klan member Byron De La Beckwith in Jackson. Verdon Gorge - Wikipedia As the late historian Howard Zinn pointed out about the Jackson State shootings on Democracy Now! in 2009: Its a common thing for [U.S.] history to ignore the things that happen to Black people., How the National Guard was used to kill college students. In 1971, the state of Ohio held a grand jury regarding the Kent State shootings and issued a report exonerating the National Guard. May 4, 1970: Kent State at 50 - The University of Chicago Divinity School It was this campus the state attacked when, motivated by racial animus and a sense of white impunity, state troopers and local police opened fire on a crowd that was neither protesting nor rioting.. Then, law enforcement officers stopped his vehicle and prevented him from entering. At this point, the crowd numbered 75 to 100 people. City and state officials also made up anti-communist lies about outside agitators coming into town to start trouble.. See where the bullets were fired at Kent State's students, and the parking spaces where four of them died. For similar motives, these doves used the murders at Kent State for their own political ends. Apr 26, 2021 PHOTO PROVIDEDA plaque in front of the Kehoe Administration building on the SUNY Plattsburgh campus recognizes the victims of the Kent State and Jackson State shootings. At Jackson, a street was renamed for a post-Civil War black statesman. The officers deployed into a line facing the students. Every time you look up Jackson State or like anything within relation to it, that [history] always comes up, Brent said. On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University, Ohio National Guardsmen fire tear gas and pursue student antiwar protestors up a steep rise on the campus known as Blanket Hill. One person was injured on Wednesday night after exchanging gunfire with Ionia County Sheriff deputies. The. 2023 www.delawareonline.com. In the immediate aftermath of the Jackson State killings, there were no arrests. [5] The students said that they had not provoked the officers. On the first day of Black History Month, more than a dozen historically Black colleges and universities across the country received bomb threats, inserting a wave of hate into a time meant for reflection and celebration. And to open fire on me, and I didnt know what I had done? Id visited friends and had walked by this dorm almost every day during my time at Jackson State. The Kent State event had first captured national attention. Advancing to within 50 to 100 feet (15 to 30 m) of the crowd, officers at roughly 12:05a.m opened fire on the dormitory. Side-by-side photos show a portion of Jackson State University's Alexander Hall. Since the beginning of 2022, the total number of bomb threats directed at HBCUs in the U.S. surpassed 50 and the FBI is pursuing the wave as a hate crime investigation. I said earlier that a male couldnt go inside the rooms or elevators of Alexander. Certainly, these murders are as vicious as the murders at Kent State. The shooters claimed that there was a sniper in the dorm, but investigators found "insufficient evidence" of that claim. Two local television news reporters present at the shooting agreed that a shot was fired, but were uncertain of the direction. Jackson firefighters dispatched to the blaze met a hostile crowd that harangued them as they worked to contain the fire. In just 13 seconds,. The night of the shooting, verbal exchanges escalated to physical violence. No officers were charged in their deaths, with a Hinds County grand jury calling the shootings justified.. As book bans and legislation pile up, a Louisiana trans teen describes the mental toll its taking on him and highlights the importance of support systems. Grottos, underground galleries and caving: discover the astonishing geology of Provence-Alpes-Cte d'Azur's nature reserves, among France's Peoples, shut the campus down. May 4, 1970: Kent State at 50 Reflections on the 1970 Shootings at Kent State University and Jackson State College By Barbara Child & Gordon Gibson | May 4, 2020 Ed. Soldiers with guns were on the ground and helicopters were in the sky. Twelve other Jackson State students were struck by gunfire, including at least one who was sitting in the dormitory lobby at the time of the shooting. November > We have continued publishing articles on workers.org, along with a weekly PDF of what would have been the printed version. KANSAS CITY, Mo. [4] An FBI search for evidence of sniper fire found none. On the first day, we visited the historic Council of Federated Organizations Civil Rights Education Center on the campus of Jackson State. Many people are familiar with the National Guard shooting of students and protesters at Ohios Kent State University in 1970, which left four dead and nine injured, but they are less aware of the shootings at Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss., just 11 days later. It was just a chilling night because Im waiting for the news report of what was going on, what happened and listening for the casualties.. Jackson State killings - Wikipedia Thats when the shooting started, Frazier said. C. Liegh McInnis, who teaches creative writing and world literature at Jackson State, says the story of the shooting is integrated into the curriculum of several liberal arts departments. [citation needed] . Today, Sen. Frazier represents the Jackson area and has been a state lawmaker since the 1980s, a path that was paved on the night his classmates were the target of police violence.
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