PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (WCAX) – SUNY Plattsburgh held an annual commemoration of student shootings decades ago at Kent State and Jackson State which both have anniversaries in May.
Since 1971, SUNY Plattsburgh has held a ceremony to remember the six students slain by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State and Jackson State in 1970, one of the only schools in the country to hold an annual commemoration.
Friday’s observance included a brief speech followed by a rendition of “Amazing Grace” performed by SUNY grad student Grace Ewing. “It’s important to not ignore what happened but to commemorate. And I am grateful that I go to a school that does choose to commemorate that day and remember those lives that were lost,” Ewing said.
Tom Dietz, an undergrad at Kent State in 1970, has been attending the SUNY commemorations for almost 30 years. “I think the real lesson is we always have to continue to learn,” he said.
Dietz was an environmental activist protesting the Vietnam War and even spoke at an event three days prior to the massacre on May 4. “We had our teach-in plan for May 6. April 22nd was the first Earth Day but there were events long after that, and of course because the shootings occurred on May 4th, we never had the teach-in on May 6,” Dietz said.
He says he remembers the immediate reaction from Americans and top government officials. “A lot of politicians fanning the flames — somehow thought the students had brought it upon themselves. Couldn’t be further from the truth,” Dietz said.
Now, 54 years later, he says the message of nonviolent protest is as applicable as ever. “There is a need to keep moving, forward to be courageous and to try to effect change because the changes we were trying to bring about effect people all over the world,” he said.