“What If You Knew Her and Found Her Dead on the Ground?”

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There are places I’ve been that have brought history home to me in such a powerful way that all I could do was cry. The Vietnam Wall, the Oklahoma City Memorial, and the Flight 93 Memorial are some of them. This morning I added another to the list: Kent State. When I parked I found myself in front of one of the four memorials in the parking lot. They are cordoned-off parking spaces, showing where the four students fell when shot by Ohio National Guardsmen on May 4, 1970. That’ll break your heart before you even step inside the May 4 Memorial at Taylor Hall on the Kent State University campus. While Taylor Hall is still a vital part of the university (communication classes are held there, according to the sign), it’s also the home of the museum that chronicles not only what happened just outside the doors but the brutal divisions in our country that defined the 1960s. The first part of the area (“museum” is sort of a misnomer, given the only two real “artifacts” on display are Alison Krause’s floppy hat and Sandy Scheuer’s freshman beanie) shows the division in a startling, concise way: the “colored entrance” photos, George Wallace’s “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” quote (pitted against a quote from Martin Luther King about human progress being “neither automatic nor inevitable”), old TV sets showing Walter Cronkite broadcasting the news, and, significantly, a photo of neatly-dressed Floyd Crosby and his long-haired, hippie-looking son David (part of the quartet that made sure we never forget Kent State, thanks to their song “Ohio”). Magazines show cover story photos of the march on Selma (where I was earlier this year) and other events that led to protests that were met with violent retaliation. In the middle is the timeline of May 4, complete with a video that ends with “Find the Cross of Freedom,” the song Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young put as the B-side of “Ohio,” closing it over a black screen. After the area showing the headlines and the aftermath, with sides as clearly drawn as they are now for and against a certain former president, you walk outside of Taylor Hall and see the beautiful campus. Of course, in May 1970 it wasn’t beautiful. It was bloody. A paved walkway allows you to completely encircle the grassy area where the students had gathered to protest. Along the way you can listen to an audio report on your phone and/or read signage that talks about Nixon, the draft, and the other things that made things so volatile that day. Amid the serenity of the beautifully-manicured lawn, with only the “liberty bell” monument in the distance, it’s hard to remember where you are. When you get to the parking lot, though, and see those four marked-off areas showing where the four students fell, it’s a completely different story. If you’re ever in the northeastern Ohio area, make a stop to see the May 4 Memorial at Kent State. It will transform you, whether you were alive then or not. PHOTO COLLAGE: *Ohio historical marker (side two) about Kent State *Marked-off area where one of the four students died on May 4, 1970 *Memorial marker in the parking lot *Liberty bell memorial from the top of the hill near Taylor Hall CSNY’s “Ohio”: