NEW FEATURE: A Photo and a Thousand Words- Kent State

Happy New Year to you all, and welcome back. Our first post of 2009 is also the first of some new features we will be introducing over the following weeks, along with some contributions from new members of the Blog Journalists. The inspiration for this feature came from a book on 'photographs that changed the world,' combined with a desire to present history from a photojournalistic context. Marshall McLuhan said that the medium is the message, and in this case the medium is photography, and the message is its impact on society and culture. A still image, if taken at the right moment from the right angle, can convey so much meaning; more so, in fact, than any video or thousand words. It has been argued to me that it's not the photos themselves that change the world, but rather the actors in them. Perhaps in the most literal sense this is correct, but by capturing an important moment in time, the image and its meaning are able to transcend time and space, and reach an infinite number of people. The first instalment features a stirring photograph of shock and anguish at one of the darkest days in American history.

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4 May 1970- Kent State University, Ohio -John Paul Filo


Kent State student John Filo's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph depicts a distraught Mary Ann Vecchio as she kneels over the fallen body of Jeffrey Miller. Miller had been fatally shot by the National Guard on campus at Kent State University while protesting the American invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. In all, four students were killed and nine wounded when the National Guard opened fire on the unarmed students, who were rallying and throwing rocks and returning tear gas canisters at the guardsmen. Of the four dead, only two were actually involved in the protest: Jeffrey Miller and Allison Krause. Sandra Scheuer and William Knox Schroeder were simply caught in the cross-fire while walking between classes. Miller was the closest of the four to the guardsmen, at approximately 265ft away.



Student unrest, in the United States and around the world, had been gaining strength since the spring of 1968. Largely directed at American involvement in Vietnam, but also at American imperialism, racism, environmentalism, and a general disregard for the status quo, students everywhere were gaining a sense of right and wrong and self-determination. Richard Nixon was elected President in 1968 with the promise to end the war, but by 1969 had instituted a draft lottery into the military, and on 30 April 1970 he announced that American forces would enter into Cambodia as part of their offensive against Vietnam. In the four days following this announcement and leading up to the shootings there were many instances of student demonstrations, which resulted in vandalism and looting in Kent. The demonstrations led to violent clashes between police and students, and Kent's mayor called in the National Guard in an attempt to restore order.



This led up to the fateful conflict on May 4th. A campus protest was scheduled for noon of that day, and went ahead despite attempts by the university administration to break it up. Two-thousand students showed up, and were met with orders to disperse from the National Guard. After some time spent marching around and throwing rocks and tear gas back and forth, the guardsmen opened fire, spraying 67 bullets in 13 seconds, murdering four young Americans. In reaction to the shootings, hundreds of schools across the country were closed while eight million students went on strike in protest. Nixon himself was even squirreled away at Camp David for a few days afterwards for fear of his personal safety.




The incident became a symbol of authoritarianism and the state's disregard for its citizens. The protesters and draft-dodgers were decried as un-American and communists, simply for expressing their displeasure with a war with which they did not agree. While looting and vandalism cannot be condoned, these actions are no way worthy of a death sentence, and for what amounts to a government agency of the United States of America firing indiscriminately on unarmed citizens is utterly deplorable. Protests and opposition to the war would continue until the removal of the last American troops in 1975. Because of student actions and events surrounding this turbulent time period, America and the world was altered forever.



The photograph itself depicts Mary Ann Vecchio, herself a fourteen-year-old runaway from Florida and not a Kent State student, crying out over the body of twenty-year-old Jeffrey Miller. Miller lies face down on the pavement where he fell, after a bullet pierced his skull. The others in the photograph do not seem yet to grasp the severity of the situation. It was taken by photojournalism student John Filo, and won the 1971 Pulitzer-Prize. Its publishing in newspapers across the country furthered the anger directed at the administration, and it was seen around the world. Coverage of the incident led to further disillusionment with the United States and its 'ideal' democracy.



The photograph itself has been the centre of some controversy, after manipulated versions of it were found in Life Magazine and other publications. An anonymous editor in the 1970s had removed the pole from above Vecchio's head (left). Life responded that it was an honest and unintentional mistake, and one that had been made by other publications before. At the time they were unaware that the photo had been altered, and were simply using the photograph that they had in stock. It led to some debate about the use of manipulated images in journalism, which is something Life has denied doing and condemned.



This picture remains as a stark reminder of the power of ideas, and the results of panic and trigger-happy law enforcement with a disregard for human life. Some of the guardsmen claim they believed they were being shot at and feared for their lives, but randomly shooting bullets at unarmed people who are hundreds of feet away is not a reasonable response. There was apparently no order to fire, and the guardsmen were acting on their own. Nixon's investigative President's Commission on Campus Unrest criticized both the protesters and guardsmen, but this effectively misses the point, as demonstrations against unpopular decisions should be an integral part of a healthy democracy, rather than something to be violently oppressed by the leadership. The tragedy at Kent State is a reminder of what we cannot become, and marks one of the darkest days in American history.


RM

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A Photo and a Thousand Words will be a continuing series and appear periodically throughout the coming months.