Wounded Knee ’73 and Kent State survivors find common ground

On May 4, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine Kent State students. The impact of the shootings was dramatic. The event triggered a nationwide student strike that forced hundreds of colleges and universities to close. (Photo Courtesy Kent State)

In early May, 2023, Cheyenne River Lakota elders Madonna Thunder Hawk and Marcella Gilbert traveled to Kent State University (KSU) in Ohio at the invitation of students who planned a memorial observance for the Kent State killings of May 4, 1970, sometimes called the Kent State Massacre. On that date, National Guardsmen fired on a peaceful anti-war protest staged on the KSU campus during a noon class change break. Four students were killed.
Historians agree that the Kent State Shootings have enduring national significance for numerous reasons, including the fact that the event stands as an emblem of the student movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s.
A number of survivors and observers of the KSU 1970 Massacre attended this year’s memorial planned by the KSU Chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Gilbert says she observed an “instant camaraderie” between Thunder Hawk and the KSU survivors based on their shared experience of being fired upon by the U.S. government.
In 1970, Thunder Hawk was 30 years old and one of the original members of the American Indian Movement (AIM). She vividly remembers when she first heard about the fatal Kent State incident. “It was shocking,” she said. “I thought immediately, ‘You mean (the white military establishment) will shoot and kill their own young people? It’s open season for us (in AIM) if they will shoot and kill their own.’ Our awareness (of the risk we were taking) went up 100%.” Three years later Thunder Hawk served as an AIM medic at the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee. Two AIM activists were killed at Wounded Knee ’73 and one disappeared, never to be found. Gilbert says Thunder Hawk and the Kent State survivors “shared war stories,” became “instant friends,” and seemed to “rejuvenate” one another. This year’s memorial observance of the KSU shootings included a luncheon, an evening meeting where Thunder Hawk and Gilbert were featured speakers, a visit to the May 4 Museum on the KSU campus, and a memorial walk to the exact places on the campus where each of the four students fell after being shot. Gilbert said she was very glad she was able to attend this year’s event at KSU “to learn about this history.” She was a child in 1970 and said that until now she did not really know very much about the KSU May 4, 1970, events. “This is important history our society refuses to acknowledge. I learned a lot. …” At the May 3 evening meeting both Thunder Hawk and Gilbert spoke then responded to questions from the audience. Gilbert responded to a question about what it was like for her to grow up in the movement for justice for Native Americans. “It was amazing! It was awesome!” she said. Gilbert attended a “Survival School” for Indigenous youth where she says she learned she was “part of something special and different (referring to the movement for Native American justice).” She learned that she does not have to fit into the negative stereotypes of Native Americans such, as the “dirty drunk Indian.” She continued, “(At the Survival School) our spirituality was revitalized. Everything started with a prayer in the Lakota way… At Survival School students were expected to be thinkers and doers. Adults guided us but didn’t tell us what to think.” Gilbert says that as a younger person she and her peers often prompted one another with the question, “What did you do for your people today?” She says her experience at Survival School empowered her “beyond Survival School” (that is, for her lifetime). She eventually earned a master’s degree in nutrition and is now an active advocate for food sovereignty for Indigenous people. In their May 3 remarks, Thunder Hawk and Gilbert also mentioned issues such as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), and prison reform, noting “strength comes from women in the community.” Thunder Hawk spoke extensively of her experiences with AIM at the occupations of Mt. Rushmore, Alcatraz Island, and Wounded Knee. She reminded the audience, “A strong core group is all you need (to create change).” She also noted, “When young people are on the move, change happens. … Everybody has a responsibility (to make positive change), no matter your age.” She also shared a valuable lesson she learned from the occupation of Alcatraz Island. She says that while occupying the island, AIM members received supplies and support from Black Panther
groups, farm worker groups and “hippies.” This taught her the value of allies. Thunder Hawk noted that during her most active times with AIM, the male-dominated mainstream press focused on the “men with guns” in the movement. The image of men with guns “met worldwide media standards…. At the press conferences you only saw
men.” The women of the movement used this to their advantage. “We were invisible,” Thunder Hawk says, “so we organized and made everything happen because we were not in the spotlight. We had the say-so.” Thunder Hawk says she hopes to return to KSU someday. “I felt reluctant to leave. I was honored to be there.” According to the KSU website (www.kent.edu/may-4- 1970), the tragic events of May 4, 1970, had a profound impact on
Kent State University, the nation, and the world. Since then, KSU has honored the memories of the four students killed at the massacre, Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Schroeder, with programs of study that seek to prevent violence and promote democratic values from public service to civil discourse. In 1971, the Center for Peaceful Change, since renamed the School of Peace and Conflict Studies, was established at KSU to generate research, teaching and community outreach focused on nonviolent conflict resolution. The May 4 Resource
Center, established in 1973 in the library, houses materials documenting May 4 and serves as a public reading room and memorial. The May 4 augmented reality experience, online at: www.kent.edu/may4visitorscenter/
online-exhibits, is designed to engage users as they journey through the events of May 4, 1970, and reflect on its meaning for today. Users can view multiple perspectives of the Kent State shootings through the lens of augmented reality using historical imagery, audio and related experiences that highlight past and current humanitarian struggles. Users unable to visit the campus can explore those same audio and visual materials from any location using the application’s 360 images of the Kent Campus. All users can see and hear about the context leading up to May 4, 1970, events on the day of the shootings, yearly commemorations, and questions that promote voices for change. At www.kent.edu/ehhs/ making-meaning-may-4, educators have access to curriculum materials
that engage students with the facts of the KSU shootings and the relation with movements for justice today.

The post Wounded Knee ’73 and Kent State survivors find common ground first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

Visit Original Source