1970 PSU Riot in Aftermath of Kent State Shootings

[BroadwayVik]

Students Massacred by Ohio National Guard o MAY 4, 1970

Allison B. Krause; age 19; fatal left chest wound; died later that day;
Jeffrey Glenn Miller; age 20; shot through the mouth; killed instantly;
William Knox Schroeder; age 19; atal chest wound; died almost an hour later in a hospital while undergoing surgery;
Sandra Lee Scheuer; age 20; fatal neck wound; died a few minutes later from loss of blood.

Related Video: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-05-03-kent-state_N.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MAY 11, 1970 o Kent State had come home to Portland State.

In the aftermath of the Kent State shootings, college campuses around the country became a focal point of the national rage. For a number of days, a peaceful encampment on the PSU campus grounds was the center of a student protest activity. City officials decided to remove the students and the symbol of their protest. Pent up rage over the Kent State killings turned the short but violent riot bloody as police and students clashed on the campus and on the streets of Portland.

Related Videos: http://www.kgw.com/video/archive/PSU_riot_downtow_portland_1970-99816629.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (too brief)
http://www.kgw.com/video/raw/Archive-Video-PSU-1970-protesters-raw-93435274.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is the fire in PSU's belly. This is the ferocity that PSU actually has. This is PSU's true fighting spirit. A film needs to be made about this event to remind Vikings of their true identity.

 

[BroadwayVik]

Michael Winship piece dated May 2, 2015 on the 45th Anniversary of the four student deaths at Kent State.

http://billmoyers.com/2015/05/02/kent-state-frisbee-revolution/

 

[pdxfan]

A film WAS made of PSU's demonstrations, barricades, Portland's new and only SWAT team in action, and all. You can get it at the library. I was there.

 

[BroadwayVik]

Yes! I saw it. I borrowed it directly from the PSU Library. I was amazed I was able to do so. The Seventh Day lasted only about, what, one-half hour, but it had a lot of quality film work in it.



Here is a related VG article from 2012: http://orhistory.com/archives/391

What I propose is a modern film project re-editing the archival photographs and footage, in fact, all available materials, to give it greater impact for a modern audience. What a great proposal for a student of film within the College of the Arts at PSU.



Preferably, I'd love to see a Ken Burns quality documentary to upgrade The Seventh Day. Barring that, it would be great to see the subject depicted on the PBS show The Oregon Experience.

 

[pdxfan]

Great ideas, Broadway!

 

[forestgreen]

Past Tense Oregon: 45 years ago, bloody anti-Vietnam melee broke out at PSU

http://www.oregonlive.com/history/2015/05/past_tense_oregon_45_years_ago.html#incart_2box_" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As mid-May approached in 1970, tensions were heating up on the Portland State University campus.

The deaths of four students at Kent State University, shot by Ohio National Guardsman during protests on that campus on May 4, had become a rallying cry for those opposed to the Vietnam war all over the nation. And PSU was no different.

Anti-war marches had been taking place in Portland even before Kent State and afterward, students decided they would go "on strike" to show their anger and their displeasure over the shootings, the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and the invasion of Cambodia. PSU was just one of hundreds of campuses in the United States where students took similar actions.

At PSU, students set up barricades in the South Park Blocks, classes were cancelled and demands were made.

After several days, talks began between students and administrators. Part of the concern over the barricades stemmed from the fact that in 1970, many of the walkways now on campus were then still streets, open to vehicle traffic. The barricades were disrupting that traffic, which was one of the reasons Portland police took at interest.

Finally, after several discussions, students began taking down the barricades on Monday, May 11, and things seemed to be going well until police demanded they also remove a "first aid" tent that had been set up.

Students claimed they had a city permit for the tent and refused to follow police orders. Hundreds reportedly stayed near the tent and linked arms.

That's when the police bureau's Tactical Operations Platoon took action and violence shattered the evening.

The next day, The Oregonian reported the following:

"Protesters hurt in Park Blocks Clash"

Bloody Battle

Shocks Crowd;

Six Arrested

A story built on the observations of six reporters and photographers on the scene appeared on the front page of The Oregonian the next morning, along with a photo of police advancing on the group.

It described how officers had demanded that the students clear the area and while most did, about 150 refused.

When the students held their ground, the "platoon" moved in with riot sticks and began clubbing students, who fought back with rocks.

The story described the climax, which took place about 6 p.m., as follows:

"Then the TOP Squad moved in...and formed a wedge. Protest leaders formed a circle – three and four persons deep – to face police.

"Lt. Brouillette gave the order to disperse. About 100 persons refused. He then ordered the TOP Squad to "Charge." Within moments, the first ten heads were bloodied."

Before the confrontation was over, 31 protesters and four officers were injured, though none critically. Several were taken to local hospitals.

The next day, a group of about 3,500 people marched on City Hall to protest the police action and make demands on then-Mayor Terry Schrunk. In addition, about 600 faculty members at the university passed a resolution condemning the police action.

The story again received front-page play, a large photo and a prominent headline in the following day's edition of The Oregonian. But interestingly, one other story was played higher on the page. It was a story by the Associated Press datelined Saigon. The headline was:

"First American Troops Withdrawn From Cambodia"

The incident was the subject of a story in 2010 by Melissa Steineger in the Portland State Magazine. Several more photos accompany her story.

The protest and police action were also the subject of a dissertation by Dory Hylton, a student in the 1990s at the University of Oregon.

In her research, Hylton found that a Multnomah County grand jury found evidence that the police used excessive force, but no officers were charged and "in the end, the case was closed."

 

[BroadwayVik]

There's something happening here

What it is ain't exactly clear

There's a man with a gun over there

Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn

Nobody's right if everybody's wrong

Young people speaking their minds

Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down

What a field-day for the heat

A thousand people in the street

Singing songs and carrying signs

Mostly say, hooray for our side

It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down

Paranoia strikes deep

Into your life it will creep

It starts when you're always afraid

You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down

Stop, hey, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down

Stop, now, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down

Stop, children, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down

 

[martymoose]

I was always partial to Ohio by CSN&Y with regards to a song about Kent State.

 

[BroadwayVik]

For What It's Worth -- More about Portland State the week after.

Ohio - Crosby, Stills Nash & Young

Tin soldiers and Nixon's comin'
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin'
Four dead in Ohio

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?

Na na-na-na, na-na na-na
Na na-na-na, na-na na
Na na-na-na, na-na na-na
Na na-na-na, na-na na

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?

 

[BroadwayVik]

Kent State- The Wounded - May 4, 1970
(approximate distance from the National Guard):

Dean R. Kahler; 300 ft (91 m);
Permanently paralyzed from the chest down, back wound fracturing the vertebrae

Joseph Lewis, Jr.; 71 ft (22 m);
Hit twice in the right abdomen and left lower leg

Donald Scott MacKenzie; 750 ft (230 m);
Neck wound

John R. Cleary; 110 ft (34 m);
Upper left chest wound

Thomas Mark Grace; 225 ft (69 m);
Struck in left ankle

Alan Michael Canfora; 225 ft (69 m);
Hit in right wrist

Douglas Alan Wrentmore; 329 ft (100 m);
Hit in right knee

Robert Follis Stamps; 495 ft (151 m);
Hit in right buttock

James Dennis Russell; 375 ft (114 m);
Hit in right thigh from a bullet and in the right forehead by birdshot, both wounds minor

 

[BroadwayVik]

Would it be good for Portland State and Kent State to establish official university relations?

The same

May 11, 1970 ~ Portland State Strike

The 7th Day

May 4, 1970 ~ Day of Campus Murders at Kent State in Ohio

 

[BroadwayVik]

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4dlCQ1uiN0

 

[BroadwayVik]

The Kent State shootings (also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre) were the shootings of unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, by members of the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970. Twenty-nine guardsmen fired approximately 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom (Dean R. Kahler) suffered permanent paralysis.

Some of the students who were shot had been protesting the Cambodian Campaign, which President Richard Nixon announced during a television address on April 30. Other students who were shot had been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance.

There was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of 4 million students, and the event further affected public opinion, at an already socially contentious time, over the role of the United States in the Vietnam War.

The nature of the draft changed in December 1969, with the first draft lottery since World War II. This eliminated deferments allowed in the prior draft process, affecting many college students and teachers.

The war had appeared to be winding down in 1969, so the new invasion of Cambodia angered those who believed it only exacerbated the conflict. Across the U.S., campuses erupted in protests in what Time called "a nation-wide student strike", setting the stage for the events of early May 1970.