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Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Jackson State University Murders of 1970 and the Kent State University killings of 1970

https://blackamericaweb.com/2018/05/14/little-known-black-history-fact-jackson-state-murders/

The Kent State University incident from 1970 (May 4th) got more press, and still gets more press than, the Jackson State killings that happened days later involving Black college students. Kent State involved the National Guard being called in to disrupt student unrest on campus over the Vietnam War, and ended in the killings of 4 unarmed students instead by the Guard.

See the famous photo below.


.Kent State massacre.jpg


The Jackson State killings (May 14th, 1970) sounded a lot like the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970, but it happened 10 days later at a predominantly black college in the South. Except this time it was the police who fired on the students. And the incident was not about the Vietnam War. City and State police were called in due to reports of Whites who'd strolled through campus had been pelted with rocks. A lot more scenarios erupted which fueled the cops to shoot. They fired for about 30 seconds on a group of students , killing two and wounding 12 others.. 

Rocks versus bullets? Umm. 

To this day this incident is widely ignored.

Hazard a guess as to why?

The reasons for the killings were as thin as tissue paper including authorities saying that a sniper perched on a high building had shot at the police. 

No one was ever brought up on charges though a special commission called the use of force "an unreasonable and unjustified overreaction."

Image result for jackson state killings 1970


Image result for jackson state killings 1970

Phillip GibBs and James Earl Green, the two murdered students


Listen to an NPR segment on this intentionally overlooked massacre;

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126426361

The more things change, the more they stay the same.


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