 | | Cindy Sheehan |
Kent State 37 Years Later
Cindy
Sheehan
This is the keynote address
Cindy gave on May 04, 2007, at the commemoration of the Kent State
Massacre.
First of ail, 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 memorium 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.
This same entity took the
lives of the young people here thirty-seven years ago, and at: Jackson State a
few days later, Virginia Tech, Columbine High School, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan
and the myriad of South American countries that the USA has violently intruded
in over the years. This thing, this force is hatred fueled by ignorance; hatred
exploited by the corporate war machine and hatred perpetuated by the corporate
prostitutes that run our government. Hatred that is systemic and endemic in our
society because we don’t see the other side as human—or we see our “enemies” as
less human than ourselves. Kent State is not the first place that bottles,
sticks, and rocks have been met with bullets and tear gas---it happens still
notably to our Palestinian brothers and sisters and before in Northern Ireland
among other places where people are oppressed.
I am sure when the students
at Kent
State were met with the
Ohio National Guard many years ago they only saw riot gear and the faces of “the
man.” I just hung up the phone with a Vietnam combat veteran who at the time had just
returned from a tour of duty in ‘Nam. He recalled being ashamed and
disgusted that he wore the same uniform as the National Guard who slaughtered
the students. Soldiers do have hearts and souls and especially during the
Vietnam quagmire many of them
understood that their government was as Martin Luther King Jr had said three
years and one month before the slaughter here: “the biggest perpetrator of
violence.”
I am also equally sure that
the National Guard troops did not see the students who were their age, their
color, their nationality, as their brothers and sisters. Being so far away they
could not look in the eyes of the young people they were about to murder and see
the heart-light there that matched their own.
Just as in My Lai, Haditha, Fallujah, etc, no one was ever punished
for the crimes against humanity that were perpetrated here on this sacred ground
thirty-seven years ago today. If there is one lesson we failed to learn in 1970
that we must learn today, it’s that wearing a uniform, badge, or a five-thousand
dollar suit does not give a person the right or authority to kill another human
being.
1970 was a very turbulent
time for this nation and our world, but people, especially you young people, you
need to realize that in this age of corporate control of the media and the
corporate fascism that rules America, it is more urgent than ever that we put
warm bodies on the streets to stop BushCo and the war
machine.
I was 12 years old
thirty-seven years ago today. I was aware of the news, but I was probably more
concerned about my softball batting average and eagerly awaiting the end of
another boring school year. Little did I know, suspect or even fear that I would
give birth to a wonderful baby boy named Casey in nine years and 25 days. If I
thought about it, I would hope that my children would grow up in a country that
rejected war and violence---but not only did I not think of those things, I
didn’t plan for a future without war or violence. This is why it is so urgent to
do it now for your children and my own unborn grandchildren that are already so
precious to me.
I was honored with the
opportunity to stand vigil in the spot where Allison Krauss fell. I thought of
her mother and the pain she felt when she heard the news and her pain every day
since May 04, 1970. I thought of another life uselessly, tragically, violently,
randomly and stupidly cut short. I thought of the hundreds of thousands of
innocent Iraqis who do not have memorials to their Bush wasted lives. I renewed
my vow to work for peace for Allison for the rest of my life. Because in the
great tradition of Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, St. Joan of Arc, Rachel Corrie
and Marla Rudzicka, Allison stood her ground against injustice and for her
sacrifice we will all be richer.
Before we can purge our
country of the hatred that is fed by greed, we must purge our own hearts of the
hatred that is fueled by bitterness. Let’s stand peacefully, yet firmly and
fearlessly in the face of the war machine that devours our children with their
blood soaked hatred.
One speaker before me said
that Jesus never started a war. Well Jesus never started a religion either, no
matter what the Catholics or Baptists think; but what Jesus did start was a
non-violent revolution that has been bastardized by the religious right. Gandhi
said: “I like your Christ, but not your Christians, they are nothing like your
Christ!” It was proved here and elsewhere during the Vietnam anti-war
movement that we cannot fight wars using their tactics or methods: we don’t have
the firepower that they do and we have no soldiers or generals. Our country
fights wars against drugs, poverty and terror and our struggle is technically a
war against war but we are humans as are the people we allow our government to
kill in our names using our tax money. We need to forge a non-violent revolution
for peace and struggle to see the heart-lights in the eyes of our enemies so
eventually we will prevail.
Buddhists have a saying
that people die twice: once when there bodies die and once when the last person
who remembers them dies. We must not allow our nation to forget the sacrifices
of Casey and Augie (Shroeder, KIA 08/03/06, whose mom, Rosemary Palmer spoke)
and the lessons of Iraq and the criminal Bush regime as
we apparently forgot the lessons of Kent State, Vietnam, and the criminal Nixon
regime. However as long as there is one
of us still standing, shining our heart-lights and working for peace: Allison,
Jeff, Bill, Sandy, Augie and Casey will live forever!
Cindy Sheehan is the
mother of Spc. Casey Sheehan who was killed in Bush's war of terror on
04/04/04.
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