Do you know their names?

Every time I hear the Guess Who song "Share The Land," I think of May 4, 1970.

That's 44 years ago today.

Yes, I know their names.

Allison Krause. Sandy Lee Scheuer. Jeffrey Miller. Bill Schroeder.

 

I didn't recall their names. Thank you.

I wasn't alive yet on that day, but I spent much of my youth immersed in studying the history and culture of that time, which resonates with me greatly. And I have a sense-- as much of a sense, I guess, as one can have without having actually lived through it-- of the terrible import of that day, and how it so affected the young people of America.

I thought about it all earlier today, while listening to CSN sing "Ohio."

 

This is the picture that will be in my mind forever whenever I think about that day.
I was only 10 but my mom was an activist and all her friends got together to talk about it.
I wore a black armband to school the next day and the teacher asked me why.
They were used to me being a little precocious for a ten year old but she wasn't ready for me to start talking about kids getting shot.

 

And somehow all that seems eclipsed by the giant sucking chest wound that is/was the GWoT.

 

I was 15, and I was an activist. I'm a little stunned to hear you're five years younger.

Okay, in May 1970, I was technically still 14.

The great 1969 black armband case, about the 1st Amendment rights of high school students: Tinker v. Des Moines School District.

My friends and I used to cite that case constantly, vs. our high school administration.

Nowadays, I know one of the Tinker family (though not John or Mary Beth).

 

I was two at the time, so I don't have direct memories of the incident, but as I grew up, it was certainly part of the mix of information seeped into my head. The 70s were a dirty time. The pipe dream of peace and love was over and this was a big part of the reason why.

 

...

 

No, no, I'm not demanding that y'all memorize the names. The title of the thread is a line from the song. It hits me in the gut every time I hear it.

(And it's not at all what the songwriter had in mind. The next line is "Can you play their games?")

 

I do not know their names; but I do remember the event. I usually think of CSN&Y "Ohio" in regards to it.

 

I was a few weeks old, and across the ocean, but I grew up aware of it. Interesting to think that Kent State is closer in time to WW2 than we are to the end of the Reagan administration

 

hahaha I didn't know their names

 

Glad you think that students killed by soldiers is so funny.

hahahahaha you're an idiot.

 

This.
Seriously @jullymayr WTF?

 

Thanks Baraka.
That was a great speech and well worth the read.

We can't afford to forget.

 

Kent State, and that fucking atrocity, peppers my conversation somewhat frequently. I actually cite it outloud when in context, lest we forget. I mean, our own government turned on its own citizens. That is a stunning and horrible event to remember, and to talk about.

Be afraid, but stand tall anyway when needed!