From Noah Schumer:

We woke up bright and early this morning at 8 AM to head from Toledo to Kent, OH, the home of Kent State University. Considering we did not get to our hotel the night before until 1 AM, it was a quiet 2 hour ride. Natalie even said she woke up at one point during the ride and everyone on the bus was asleep except for Carleton.

At Kent State we met with Alan Canfora a survivor of the shootings at Kent State in 1970. Alan showed us the memorial to the events and where the major happenings occurred.

Alan Canfora showing a picture of himself in front of the National Guard on May 4, 1970

The memorial, which was intended to be a 70 x 70 foot plaza was only 7% completed because the university ran out of money. The memorial also did not mention the names of the students who were killed and wounded because the President of the University at the time believed that the events and not the students deserved the memorial. Alan believes that the students were martyrs. There are two separate plaques that bear the names of the victims on other parts of the campus. Two amazing facts that Alan told us were that 3 of the 4 students who were killed were Jewish even though only 5% of the schools population was Jewish. He also told us that nearly half of the people shot that day were merely bystanders and not protesters. Alan took us to the hill from which a dozen national guardsmen opened fire and then down to the parking lot where all 4 students were killed and to the tree that saved his life.

It is clear that the students were hundreds of feet away from the guardsmen. Alan showed us the spot where each student was killed and spoke about each student.

The overall message from our time at Kent State was consistent with the themes of our journey: direct action, the power of the citizen, the importance of learning from history and it also brought up the question that Billy posed to us at the King Center on the first day of the trip, what are you willing to risk your life for? As we were leaving Kent State we listened to the song “Ohio” by Neil Young. It was a nice segue into our visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

We watched a few movies about the history of rock and roll and then walked around the museum on our own. I thought the museum, which was mainly pictures, outfits and guitars lacked some substance. Billy has often played rock songs for us at times when the song has significance to where we are or our current discussion so despite the fact that I felt the museum was weak, being at the birthplace of the term “rock and roll” was worth it. Billy also expressed one of the great things about rock and roll by saying that whenever you feel alone in some way, you can put on an album and realize that there are others who feel the same and fighting the same fight.

So off we go to out hotel in Clarion, PA on our way to New York City.