By Nadia Zaffar – November 18, 2011

Speakers at an NCA panel dissected the coverage of the Kent State shootings of 1970 to present its implications on events today.

“Many people think of the Kent State shootings as our Tiananmen square,” said Gregory Payne (Emerson College).

Four Kent State students were killed after the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a peaceful protest on May 4, 1970. Nine others were wounded as students scattered to find cover.

An image from the brochure created by Barbato on the Kent State shootings

“The coverage of the Kent State shootings did not focus on the myriad of evidence but focused on accounts of eyewitnesses,” said Kristen Hoerl (Butler University). “What the eyewitness accounts focused on was that both the students and the National Guard were suffering. This discourages us from thinking critically about social injustices,” said Hoerl.

And thinking critically, added Payne, is what is crucial. He said there was a need to look closely at the events that led to the Kent State shootings to get the factual details straight.

Carol Wilder (New School University) said there is still a lack of clarity about the movements of National Guardsmen and students. She showed a set of maps depicting the site of the shootings that had factual discrepancies.

Carole Barbato (Kent State), who witnessed the shootings, presented a pictorial history of the events to give “a first-hand view of Kent State.” She is currently in the process of putting together a “May 4 exhibit” to establish the location of the shootings as a historic site.

Linda Moore (Emerson College) summed up the session with the thoughts that even though the Kent State shootings happened 42 years ago a proper representation has important implications for movements such as Occupy Wall Street. The panelists saw a parallel between the grassroots beginnings of Kent State and Occupy Wall Street and the role of youth in both movements.

The piece originally appeared at www.emersonatnca.com here