Students Organize May 4 Kent State Remembrance Day

05/03/2010 

Cindy Sheehan, who is most known for her anti-war encampment at former-President George W. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, will be the keynote speaker at Kent State Remembrance Day at SUNY Cortland Tuesday, May 4.

Cortland Students for Peace will mark the 40th anniversary of what has become known as the Kent State Massacre with events throughout the day. Most events, unless otherwise noted, will be held on the steps of Corey Union. In the case of rain, the events will be held inside Corey Union. Kent State Remembrance Day events are free and open to the public.

Kent State Remembrance Day events begin at 11 a.m. with art and presentations. A non-violent rally will be held at 11 a.m. Sheehan will speak at 3:30 p.m. and a non-violent march and vigil will follow at 4 p.m.

A student panel discussion will take place in Old Main Brown Auditorium at 6 p.m.

The event will serve as a reminder of the Ohio National Guard’s attack on students at Kent State University in Ohio as they attempted to demonstrate against the wars in Southeast Asia. Four people died on May 4, 1970, at Kent State University. Organizers hope the anniversary will be a call to action to those who wish to support peace instead of war.

Ever since her son, Casey Sheehan, was killed in Iraq in April 2004, Cindy Sheehan has been working to end war. Student organizers said Sheehan will join them as they “reflect on why these students were killed, what those students were standing up for, and on what you, and we, can do together to make peace a reality.”

 One purpose for the event is to call for an end to U.S. wars abroad and to support more legal and peaceful solutions to the conflicts. 

“Forty years ago it took a lot of work for people to realize that killing millions of people in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos was illegal and morally wrong,” said organizer Timothy Rodriguez, Institute for Civic Engagement. “Now we have to realize that it is still wrong in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Palestine, Somalia, Honduras, Colombia and elsewhere.”

Cortland Students for Peace also want to discuss how the incident energized the U.S. peace movement.

“This day is important not only because of the atrocity itself, but because of its profound effect on the peace movement, especially the student movement, which would become one of the largest social movements in U.S. history, and would help bring an end to the wars in Southeast Asia,” the group’s statement said.

Student organizers also want to address the police killings at Jackson State University on May 14, 1970, which left two students dead and many wounded, as well as the police killings in Orangeburg near South Carolina State University on Feb. 8, 1968, that left three students dead and many wounded.

The group says that, for students especially, the money spent on war hits home.

“We now have the largest military budget ever, but can’t seem to find funds for basic social services including a healthy public school system,” said Rodriguez. “Most students, even at state universities, will be in debt for many years, and for only a fraction of the military budget we could be providing more affordable or free education for all.”

Co-sponsors for Kent State Remembrance Day include Cortland Students for Peace, the Philosophy Department, the Center for Ethics Peace and Social Justice and the Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies.

For more information, contact Rodriguez at timothy.rodriguez@cortland.edu.