Making Meaning of May 4
Teaching about the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ State Shootings
Educators, engage students with the facts of the Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ State shootings, May 4, 1970, and relation to movements today, including March for Our Lives and Black Lives Matter.
The Ñý¼§Ö±²¥ State Shootings on May 4, 1970, have enduring national significance for
- Broadening the base of public opinion and dissent against the Vietnam War
- Setting legal precedent through the U.S. Supreme Court that public officials can be brought to trial for their actions
- Effecting prompt change in military policy for civil disturbances
- Hastening passage of the Twenty-sixth Amendment to lower the voting age to 18
- Causing the largest student protest and only national student strike in U.S. history
- Achieving national prominence in 1977-78 as a site of student protest to preserve understanding of a watershed event in U.S. history
- Standing as an emblem of the student movement of the 1960s and early 1970s
- Residing on an arc in American history of government authorities confronting protesting citizens with unreasonable deadly force
- Reminding us all of the importance of practicing and preserving the First Amendment
Understand the past, shape the future. Be the change . . .
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Photo: Alan Canfora stands as the emblem of student activism against the Vietnam War in John Filo’s iconic May 4, 1970, photo.