The Kent State Shootings: A True American Tragedy

Copyrighted in 2009, ten years after the horrific massacre at Columbine High School, Columbine by Dave Cullen strives to delve deeper into the mystery of that April shooting. Cullen was introduced to Columbine when he entered the scene as a journalist, but didn’t finish his research until nearly nine years later with the publishing of his book (Cullen xiv). However, Columbine was well worth the wait, landing him an Edgar Award, Goodreads Choice Award, Barnes and Noble Discover Awards, and the Top Education Book of 2009 by the American School Board Journal (Cullen 1). Calling the coverage of Columbine a “great media blunder,” Cullen recognizes his role in among the “guilty parties” of the press (Columbine xiv). This lead to a wealth of myths

The shootings that occurred at Kent State University, Ohio, on May 4, 1970 have been a dark spot in American history for almost 36 years. It is a day remembered by many names, THE KENT STATE SHOOTINGS, MAY 4 or the KENT STATE MASSACRE. Four students were killed and nine were wounded, all of America suffered.

Another event that eroded support in the war and US Government occured during a protest at Kent State University. During a protest on May 4, 1970, twenty-nine National Guardsmen gathered at the university to oversee a Vietnam War protest. In the midst of the protest, the National Guardsmen fired into the crowd of protesters killing four people in the process (Gordon Page 35). This event sparked an enormous uprising from the public and “the event triggered a nationwide student strike that forced hundreds of colleges and universities to close” (Lewis). This strike had a huge social impact and through the constant strikes and protests that followed the shootings caused the US Government to lose the trust, respect, and support of many American citizens (Gordon Page 35). The Kent State shootings were also able to reach the international stage through the abundance of news broadcasts and songs following the shooting. Ohio, a famous song by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, focuses heavily on the Vietnam War and the Kent State shootings with lyrics stating, “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming. We're finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming. Four dead in Ohio” (Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young) as a direct reference to the Kent State tragedy. “A tin soldier is a toy soldier, mindlessly controlled by its owner” (Songfacts Staff). Neil Young was implying with these lyrics that the National Guard was mindlessly following orders from Nixon. This song became wildly popular and is

April 20, 1999, is a day of remembrance for many people. The Columbine massacre had an effect not only on the Littleton, Colorado community but also on the entire country. In the book Columbine by Dave Cullen, the author tells the story of the tragedy that started with Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The book begins with an introduction into both Eric and Dylan's thoughts, actions, and reasoning behind their plan to attack their high school. Throughout the book the author points out how the media gave a different view for the motives of the attack which caused false accusations towards the killers. This book tells the truth told from survivors and evidence, but the honest truth behind the attack went to the grave with Eric and

On April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho, a 23-year-old college student, shocked the nation when he perpetrated the deadliest shooting massacre in U.S. history. The violent rampage took place on the Virginia Tech University campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, where Cho was a senior majoring in English. Before turning the gun on himself and delivering a fatal gunshot to the head, Cho murdered more than 30 of his classmates and University faculty; numerous others were injured. In a strange twist, several days after the tragedy, a package determined to have been mailed by Cho during the shooting spree was received at NBC News in New York. The package contained photos of Cho posing with guns, as well as video clips and various pages of Cho’s writing.

On May 4, 1970 at approximately 12:24 PM members of the Ohio National Guard shot at and killed several unarmed Kent State University students. These students were protesting President Nixon’s decision to invade Cambodia. While some of the students who were shot at were actively protesting at the time of the shooting, others were simply walking by or casually observing the protest from a distance. How could an appalling incident like this occur? What possessed the members of the Ohio National Guard to shoot at unarmed students?

As journalists, we cover shootings all the time. I think I speak for all us when I say that none of the shootings have affected us as much as the WDBJ shooting. I'm sure I wasn't the only reporter or photographer who thought, "That could have been me.”

There are many differences and similarities between the Boston Massacre and the Kent State shooting.

How safe do you feel when you attend school everyday? Many students and faculty don’t really think too much about school being a dangerous place; however, after a couple of school shootings had taken place their minds and thoughts may have changed completely. On April 16, 2007, in the town of Blacksburg Virginia, a college student who attended Virginia Tech, opened gunfire to his fellow classmates. This shooting has been considered to be the biggest massacre in all of American history. There are many things to be discussed in this major tragedy. Some of them include the events leading up to the shooting, the timeline that the shootings occurred, the causes, and the significance in this particular shooting. The Virginia Tech is only

Rampage-style school shootings are rare and tragic events. Although measures of prevention have become more advanced, school shootings have increased in frequency over the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Here in the United States, they have become especially prevalent, with 63 shootings just this year (Acevedo). The aftermath of rampage shootings leaves gaping holes and questions in communities. People try to heal and seek closure at their own pace, but the biggest question most are left with is “why”? In Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings, Katherine S. Newman seeks to answer this question. She lays out her research and methodology for studying rampage shootings and comes to the conclusion that shootings are not spontaneous, but rather the build up of psychological issues and negative sociological situations within a student’s community that causes them to seek to regain power over their own lives through a rampage shooting. The story Rampage builds out of the narratives of shooters and their victims along with national data and trends is important because it highlights the places that our societies fail in providing a safety net for deviant students and their peers.

In the United States of America the right to bear arms gave birth to a phenomenon called the “gun culture,” the term coined in 1970 by a historian Richard Hofstadter, which describes America’s heritage and affection for weapons(1). Not only did gun culture become an inseparable part of American democracy, but also it is considered to be synonymous with independence and freedom, the most important values for American society. Even though the crime rate and murder rate in the U.S. is higher than in any other developed country, U.S. citizens oppose every attempt made to pass gun control legislation(2). However, it may sound like a paradox, but the crime level in the most liberal states, when it comes to gun ownership, is the lowest in the

"I'm angry someone would do this to us. There are lives ruined, families ruined, and our whole school year is ruined" (Brackely 1). Casey Brackely, once a student that attended Columbine High School, remembers the tragedy of the horrific Columbine shooting that killed and injured many students. Mass shootings in the United States have been on the rise since the 1980’s, especially in the last decade. These shooters motives and profiles are almost all terrifyingly alike. Many of these shooters try to imitate and parallel the tragic shooting of the Columbine High School in 1999. These shootings have made peaceful organizations, such as an elementary school; become a place of violence and death. Currently, in the United States, an epidemic of

     “That could never happen in my school.” This is one of the first thoughts that goes through a students mind when they hear about a school shooting. The fact is though, it can. School shootings can happen at any school at any time. Lack of security is only a small part of the problem. The major issue lies in the low morality of students and warning signs overlooked by administration.

The school shootings at Westside Middle School were orchestrated by two juveniles. On Monday, March 30, 1998 two boys ambushed students and teachers outside Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Andrew Golden a youth of 11 years and Mitchell Johnson who was 13 years old were responsible for this hideous tragedy. Apparently, Mitchell Johnson hid in the woods while Andrew set off the fire alarm causing the students and teachers to run out of the building. Armed with three stolen rifles and four handguns, the documentary explained that the two youth flushed kids and teachers out of the school by means of a false fire alarm then opened up on them. When they stopped shooting, four students and a teacher lay dead and 10 students were

Over the past couple of decades, school shooting have seemed to occur often-- continuously shocking the nation and reminding everyone that no community is exempt from such horror. One main contributor of this hysteria is found within the media. At the catalyst of this hysteria, lies the horrific Columbine shooting in 1999. Since then, school shootings have received ample coverage-- some argue that this has romanticized school shootings, others argue that is has provided condemning coverage of the often insane perpetrators. In the first year after the Columbine shooting, over 10,000 articles were written about the event, likely setting the stage for the nationwide desire for constant coverage of such events (Elsass et al, p. 445-446).