Americans of a certain age may be shocked to realize that the Kent State University shootings happened 54 years ago next month, on May 4, 1970. On that day, in the midst of violent campus protests, National Guardsmen killed four students, igniting a firestorm in a country that was already a powder keg.
The story has become the stuff of legends, with some saying that the National Guard acted accordingly and others insisting that the shootings were unprovoked violence of the highest order. Or perhaps it was all just a terrible accident. The various sides will never agree on this, and, at any rate, much of the history is mired in agendas, disinformation, and the fog of war.
What's not a matter of dispute is that student protesters at Kent State and elsewhere provoked police and other authorities, and many of them didn't believe that there would be consequences for their actions.
While most protesters at Kent State were peaceful, a radical fringe element was embedded in the movement These activists, among other things, burned down the ROTC building on campus, cut a fire hose, and destroyed downtown Kent storefronts. Merchants reported that their businesses were threatened with firebombing unless they displayed anti-war propaganda.
According to the President's Commission on Campus Unrest report, "Information developed by an FBI investigation of the ROTC building fire indicates that, of those who participated actively, a significant portion weren't Kent State students. There is also evidence to suggest that the burning was planned beforehand: railroad flares, a machete, and ice picks are not customarily carried to peaceful rallies."
"Mostly peaceful rallies," that is.
These kinds of protests are peaceful until they are not.
Campuses across the nation are now hotbeds of antisemitism as administrators wring their hands, trying to appease the Jew-haters and Hamas supporters. It's almost inevitable that this will all end in violence. Yet the Left seems nostalgic about the 1960s protest movement, waxing poetic about all the wonderful progress that was made while ignoring the tremendous pain, suffering, and violence that resulted. Police and universities have thus far used a great deal of restraint in dealing with the agitators—perhaps too much restraint. Now, one of two things will happen: The protesters will get bored and go home for summer break, or things will come to a head, ending in mass arrests, forced removal of the encampment, and, God forbid, possible violence.
All while the aging hippies who recall the 1960s protest movement relive their glory days.
Serge Schmemann, who was a Columbia freshman in 1968, reminisced in the New York Times this week about the value of student protests, saying that they are "are at their core an extension of education by other means, to paraphrase Carl von Clausewitz’s famous definition of war."
"The hallowed notion of a university as a bastion of discourse and learning does not and cannot exclude participation in contemporary debates, which is what students are being prepared to lead," he added. God, help us.
Perhaps Mr. Schmemann is unaware that universities have not been bastions of discourse and learning for decades, or that the students spewing antisemitic tropes on campus are mostly ignorant stooges parroting their professors' talking points.
It's time for Columbia and other universities to restore law and order, send the terror supporters home, and return to the task of educating students rather than indoctrinating them. If Donald Trump is reelected in November, one of his first areas of focus should be reforming higher education. Restore true free speech, crack down on the anarchists and fascists, and impart knowledge that will be useful and benefit society. Root out DEI at its core and ensure an ideological balance among professors so that students don't have to learn in a radical echo chamber.
That's what we're up against this election. Will law and order rule, or will we continue to spiral toward anarchy and violence? Every day here at PJ Media we fight tirelessly to bring you the truth and to oppose the forces aligned against our amazing country. You can help us get the word out for as little as $2/month by becoming a VIP member. You'll instantly become part of our astute and clever comments community and get an ad-free experience. Use the promo code SAVEAMERICA for 50% off an annual VIP membership. With your help, we've got this.
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