Kent State Truth Tribunal: Facebook politics
http://www.examiner.com/x-40953-Political-Media-Examiner~y2010m5d2-Kent-State-Truth-Tribunal-Facebook-politics
May 2, 2010
William Skordelis
Tuesday, May 4th, marks the 40th anniversary of the Kent State
Massacre, where four students were killed and nine others injured by
Ohio National Guardsmen. Tuesday also marks the fourth and final day
of the Kent State Truth Tribunal, four days of meeting and recording
on film eyewitness accounts of those who were there on that pivotal
day in American history.
The Kent State Truth Tribunal was spearheaded by Laurel Krause,
younger sister of Allison Krause, one of the four unarmed students
who lost their lives. The Kent State Truth Tribunal is being held in
honor of Allison Krause's memory along with the others whose lives
were lost or affected by the events that took place on Monday, May
4th, 1970. It is an exercise in finding and documenting the truth and
establishing a "clear and accurate historical record from the
collective voices of Kent State."
The Ohio National Guard never released the findings in its own
internal investigation, and President Nixon and other politicians at
the time seemed anything but sympathetic to a bunch war protesting
peaceniks. This has always fueled the theory of a government cover-up
to defer blame and hide what really transpired and why.
Emily Kunstler, award winning filmmaker and daughter of civil rights
attorney William Kunstler will be documenting and recording the
eyewitness accounts from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. each of the four days at
the Franklin Square Deli Building in Kent Ohio. The interviews are
being podcast live on Filmmaker Michael Moore's website during the
Four Days in May event. The footage and mementos collected will be
archived and preserved as part of the permanent collection at the
Taniment Library at New York University.
The Kent State Truth Tribunal is truly a grassroots effort, that was
started by Krause which promoted through the social networking site
Facebook. Lacking the big corporate funding of the fake grassroots
efforts we saw blossom last year over the health care debate, the
Kent State Truth Tribunal is collecting donations via Facebook
Causes. If Facebook and Twitter, cell phone pictures and the internet
in general, had existed in 1970, there would probably be no need for
an event such as the Kent State Truth Tribunal, because everyone
involved would have posted their own personal accounts, and photos
immediately after the terrible incident took place. The truth would
have been right there for all to see.
Instead we're left with the official findings of the Scranton
Commission which released its report in September of 1970. It
concluded that the shootings at Kent State were unjustified.
Even if the guardsmen faced danger, it was not a danger that called
for lethal force. The 61 shots by 28 guardsmen certainly cannot be
justified. Apparently, no order to fire was given, and there was
inadequate fire control discipline on Blanket Hill. The Kent State
tragedy must mark the last time that, as a matter of course, loaded
rifles are issued to guardsmen confronting student demonstrators.
40 years later, because of Krause's efforts and everyone else
involved in the Kent State Truth Tribunal, we may have a more
complete picture, and when it comes to the truth, even 40 years later
is better than never.
--
Sources: Kent State Truth Tribunal.org, Wikipedia - Kent State
shootings, Wikipedia - Scranton Commission, Michael Moore.com, Facebook Causes
.
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