Unbiased Piece
May 4, 1970 11:47 p.m. "Kent Protesting Turns Deadly" BREAKING NEWS: Today four college students were killed and nine were injured at Kent University. The students were participating in a protest, that had begun on Friday the 1st, against the Vietnam War when the Ohio National Guard opened fire. The National Guard was called in when the protesters sent the ROTC building up in flames. There was an attempt to prevent any protests from occurring today due to the disasters that had been taking place in the past three days, but the college students appeared in the green anyways. As it became clear the crowd had no intention of dispersing the National Guard began advancing on the student protesters. At 12:24 pm, eyewitnesses stated Sergeant Myron Pryor opened fire, leading other soldiers to begin shooting at the unarmed crowd. 29 of the 77 guardsmen fired their weapons and the reason behind this shooting is still being investigated. Of the four who died two took part in the protest, the other two were passing to go to class. The President’s Commission on Campus Unrest has reported that the shooting had been “unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable” but little action to remedy this situation has taken place. |
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Opinionated Piece
March 27, 1969 “The Truth Revealed: A Massacre of the Innocent” Last year United States soldiers committed an unforgivable crime. On March 16, 1968 our troops went into the small village of My Lai and brutally murdered all the villagers - villagers who were unarmed women, children, and old men. The soldiers, called the Charlie Company, entered the village believing its citizens were housing Viet Cong guerrillas, however instead of finding communists rebels, the Charlie Company walked in on a peaceful village. The U.S. soldiers, soldiers who were supposed to represent freedom and democracy, tortured these civilians before executing them with automatic weapons. 504 innocent human beings: fifty were 3 or younger, 69 between the ages of 4 and 7, 27 between their 70s and 80s - none were men capable of fighting. Following this horrible atrocity high ranking officials covered up this act from the American public for over a year, until now. Thanks to Seymour Hersh, an investigative journalist, justice will be received for the crimes committed against the innocent victims. According to Hersh, Ron Ridenhour, a helicopter gunner from another unit, heard of the My Lai massacre and wrote letters to not only President Nixon but also the Pentagon, the State Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and various congressmen. Nothing was done. Ridenhour had been ignored by these officials and it was not until his interview with Hersh that these events came into the light. Hopefully, with public pressure, the U.S. government will actually follow the principles and beliefs it was founded on, and the Charlie Company will face justice. |