Monthly Archive for May, 2007

This past Friday I attended the commemoration of the Kent State shootings 37 years ago. A major reason for going was to hear Cindy Sheehan speak. I may have mentioned her a few times on here… I remember the first time I read about Cindy and the rally we had for her shortly after. Little did I know we would meet her, talk about being speechless!

It was very surreal, in addition to the rest of the day’s context. She’s a quiet woman, seemingly tired from years of fighting the Bush Co. war machine, meeting so many people, etc. But when your son is killed in an illegal war based on lies what else do you do but devote your life to stopping the Administration that killed him?

Of course it was ironic that the group I was traveling with was harassed by the police before we even left Columbus. We were parked in a Tim Horton’s parking lot (ironic, yes?) and two cops decided to be jacka$$es and interrogate one of us (for making a shooting gesture with her hand, she was talking about Kent State), park us in, write down the plate number, etc. There’s more to the story but they don’t deserve any more space on my site.

The police harassment in the morning— hearing the words of a mother who lost her son to the greed of Big Oil and American Empire— and of course remembering the 4 students killed at Kent State all combined to form one big reminder of the Police State that we’re living in.

A rising police state is only part of the 2+2 equation, however. I have a new bumper sticker that says “Wake Up and Smell the Fascism.” People like to give me a hard time about it, I think because they don’t actually know what fascism is and therefore can’t see it staring them right in the face. Our educational system has assigned a negative connotation to the word, but when asked for specific reasons why fascism is bad, people are hard-pressed to give an answer. They get red in the face, wave their flags, and get extremely defensive at the mere suggestion that the United States is now a Fascist country. “Doublethink” it’s called. Works out pretty well for the government, wouldn’t you say?

I’ll conclude with the text of Sheehan’s speech, and a link to my photos from the day.

First of all, I would just like to say that I am not only in favor of impeaching George Bush and Dick Cheney, but of trying them for war crimes and locking them both up in Guantanamo for the rest of their lives! I also agree with Tom (Hayden) that an “anti-war” movement is basically a self-destructive movement, because when our objectives are achieved, the movement is over. That is why we must call ourselves a “peace” movement so our movement will never end. There will always be a need for people who commit their lives to peace as strenuously as they commit their lives to the anti-war movement.

I can’t begin to tell you how honored I am to have been invited here to speak on this historic occasion with the other speakers who have also felt the sting of war and the pain of loss and lingering regrets. I am indescribably moved to be adopted into the Kent State family and invite you all down to Camp Casey in Crawford this August to join our family!

Before the program started I took the chance to climb the hill and spend time at the places where Allison Krauss, Jeff Miller, Bill Schroeder and Sandy Scheuer each fell and I would like to share some thoughts that I had up there with you.

My first thought was of the randomness of violence. The four students who were killed that day just happened to occupy the same space as a National Guard bullet at the same time. Unlike those wounded, some pretty badly, those that perished that awful day were struck by the bullets in vitally important parts of their bodies. The places where the four fell, never to get up again, are marked in memoriam to the stupidity and permanence of violence. One day, I hope to travel to Sadr City, Baghdad to see and stand in the spot where my son, Casey’s, brain collided with an insurgent’s bullet, taking his life by the same shapeless and dark entity that stole the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, on the same day: April 04.
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