KENT, Ohio -- "Well, he got his wish. He wanted to disappear!"
That's what somebody calling themselves thinblueline posted on a Website about James Russell, a former Kent State University student who was shot May 4, 1970 on the campus during Vietnam War protests. Four died and nine, including Russell, survived wounds from Ohio National Guard gunfire. Russell passed away June 23 in Oregon, but was memorialized at KSU this weekend after classes ended Friday evening. He was a witness during several years of legal proceedings that followed the shootings and was an anti-war activist until the end of his life. [Note: The picture above is from Kent State's files, and was taken the day of the shootings.]
Videos of some of Russell's remarks over the years were played at the memorial ceremony and he said in one:
"I discovered the legal system is not the justice system. It's weird, every time I come here I'm back in 1970."
Thinblueline was full of hate in a comment posted on the Web site of the Kent-Ravenna Record Courier, whose reporter Matthew Fredmonsky covered the ceremony for James Russell. Thinblueline said:
"Blood brother my ass. He wouldn't have been injured if he would have obeyed the law and left the campus when ordered."
Another commenter called DoWhatIsRight was equally scornful.
"I am sick and tired of these troublemakers being treated as some big shot. In my opinion, they went looking for trouble and found it. The true facts of this act was in the Portage County Grand Jury's investigation. The one that the Federal government destroyed."
There are plenty of archival law enforcement records available about the shootings, including these 78 pages of Ohio Highway Patrol reports. The reports include interviews of witnesses at Kent State on the day the National Guard opened fire.
