Remember the students
who died at Jackson State-
..
By 0 Danie
On May 4, the eyes of the
nation were fired on Kent State
University where a major obser
vance w held to mark the 20th
anniversary of the tragedy hich
occurred on that campus in 1970.
Four Kent State University
students were killed when Ohio
National Guard troops fired on
unarmed demonstrators. The na
tion was stunned. The tragedy
seemed all the more shocking
since the four students who were
killed were white
From the bloody demonstra
tio in Chicago in 1968 to the
brutal slaughter of these four stu
dents at Kent S tate, the
American State, with Richard
Nixon at its helm, was sending a
message that not even white kids
were permitted to challenge the
American power structure.
Death and brutality were not
strangers to African Americans
however. Black people who
rebelled against· slavery,
segregation and racism have al
ways been faced with violence
and death.
Murdering Black freedom
fighters in America is com
mmonplace. It is little wonder,
therefore, that there is almost no
mention of the Black resistance
to the Vietnam War, and the fact
that on May 15, 1970 two Black
students were killed at Jackson
State University in Jackson, Mis
sissippi and nine others were
wounded. The police fired into a
group of Back anti-war and civil
rights demonstrators without
provocation,
THE JACKSO State
protests were a part of a wider
Black anti-war resistance move
ment which linked opposition to
the Vietnam War to the ques
tions of civil-rights and human
rights for Africans in America.
In his "Beyond Vietnam"
speech on April 4, 1967 Martin
Luther King had not only ex-
Thi Week ln
Black HI tory
ay 20-26
MAY 20, 1940 - ew York
the first state to prohibit dis
crimination in union member
ship. 1746 _ Toussaint
L' Ouverture, revolutionary
leader of Haiti, was born.
MAY 21, 1965 _ artln
Lu er in led first Selma to
Montogmery march. 1833 -
Blac students enroll in all
opening classes a Oberlin Col
lege, Ohio. 1904 _ T 0
• Ft· Waller, Jazz Pianist,
Composer, was born.
MAY 22, 1927 _ C I Bur
ton to e was bom. 1786 _
Art ur T pp n, abolitionist,
was born. 1941 _ aul Win-
field, actor, was born,
MAY 23, 1856 _ J.ohn
Bro D attacked pro-slavery
men at Pottawatomie, Kansas.
1921 _ The Black musical,
Shuffle Along, opened in New
York City.
MAY 24, 1780 - ·Pennsyl
vania became the first state to
abolish slavery. 1854 _. Lin
. coln University, the first Blac
college, founded as Ashmum In
stitute in Chester County, Pa.
MAY 25, 1951 _ Last all
Black army unit deactivated.
1878 - Bill "BoJangle "
Robinson, "King of Tap Dan
cers", was born.
MAY 26, 1948 _ Ip
Bunche made acting U.N ..
mediator in Palestine. 1961 -
Freedom Ride Coordinating
Committee was established in
Atlanta, Ga. �
pressed his fervent opposition to
the war, he also indicted the
American system for its lack of
concern for human rights.
Kwame Ture (Stokely Car
michael) Imam Jamiel Alamien
(H. Rap Brown) and other
leaders of SNCC openly called
for African Americans not to
join the armed forces or support
the war. "Hell no we won't go,"
was their battle cry.
The movie" 0 Vietnamese
Ever Called Me Nigger" featur
ing Muhammad Ali also pointed
ly raised the question as to why
the· oppressed sons and
daughters of Africa in America
ought to be fighting in a distant
land against another oppressed
people of color.
No doubt all of these influen
ces permeated the conciousness
of African American students
across America who had to ask
themselves why they as young
Black people should fight for
"freedom" abroad when Black
people were being victimized by
racism at home.
MANY AFRICAN students
were also keenly aware that
, Black people were dispropor
tionately bearing the brunt of the
casualties in America's immoral
war against the Vietnamese
people. Though Black people
.. l
were only 10% of the population
more than 30% of the battlefield
casualities were African
Americans. And when Blacks
were killed in combat the
families of the deceased soldiers
often d to suffer the indignity
of b�ing their love ones in
segregated cemeteries.
In Wetumpka, Alabama for
instan , the Black community
erupt d in anger when an
African American soldier was
refus� burial rights in a "white"
cemetery. Word of these kinds of
indiq ties fed the Black opposi
tion to the war and America.
Th students at Jackson State
took a stand against the war in
Vietnam and the oppression of
Black people in America and
people of color in Vietnam and
the world In so doing they stood
valiantly in the finest tradition of
African American resistance to
oppression.
As they. demonstrated on the
evening of May 14 and into the .
early morning of may 15, they
were raced by a police forcce
which as accustomed to harass
ing Bl c students and the Black
community.
On �s tragic night the police
were ermined to put the nig-
gers in their place. Two stu-
dents died and nine were
Save the chil ren:
The greatest c all ng.e
By Benjamin F. Chuvi ,Jr.
The National Center for
Children in Poverty based in
New York City has released a
chilling. controversial and
challenging report on the
poverty of children under the
'age of six in the United States.
According to the latest
federal government population
data. there has been a slight
decline in recent years of tho e
living in poverty when the en
tire population is used as th
basis of analysis. But. shock
ingly, for children under the
age of six. the poverty rate is
now increa ing.
The future of any nation i
dependent upon it ability to
care for. nurture and to en
hance the development of its
children. This n tion h it
prioritie misplaced. Not only
are the rich geut ng richer and
the poor getting poorer, but,
also tragically the younge t of.
th nation are having their fu
tures de troyed.
I n particular. African
American, Hispanic
American.Asian American and
ative American children
under IX are in a situation
wher they are twice as likely
to be living in poverty than
children·
I ' tru
even hen both p rent are
pre. enl. _ There h ve been
counll ss prior st die that
have i inuated th t the ab-
ence 0 one of the. arents in
racial a d thnic Iarn lies is the
major c ntributing fa tor to th
irnpove i hment f the e
familie I
The ignificance f the re-
earch y the atio al Center
for Chi rcn in Pove ty i that
it prov des the firs national
tatisti I profile 0 children
ix living in poverty.
ding of th s report
Slated. "Early child ood ex
perienc contribut on poor
childre's rate 0 school
failures dropout. del nquency,
early c ildbearing nd adult
poverty"
The report enti led. tI A
Statisti al Profile of Our
Poorest Young
found t at nearly on
four chi dren under
nation i poor. Ho
United tares affor to have
one-for h of a'lI hildren,
r gardl of race, om after
19 4 to ive in abject overty?
Ron
Daniel
VAN AGE
POINT
wounded
TO THEIR credit, those who
gathered at Kent State on May
4th did pay tribute to the students
who died at Jac on State. How
ever, May 15, will pass with little
more than a whisper about th
heroic stand of the students at
Jackson State. That a wh Ie na
tion could turn its ttention to
Kent State on May 4 and over
look Jackson tate of M y 15,
says something pro ound ut
America; a Black lif is not as
precious as a white li .
Racism is still ed
in the very fabric of
culture and society.
America may have amnesia,
but our duty to ourselves
demands that we African
Americans remember the stu
dents who died at Jackson State,
May 15, 1970.
Ron Daniels serves as Presi
dent � the Institute or Com
munity Organizat 'on and
Development in Yo ngstown,
Ohio. �e may be c tactei; at
(216) 746-5747.
Wc mu t
19 4 w the year th t this na
tion re-elected Ronald Reagan
as Pres dent.
Rat r than directing a w r
on poverty or drug t the
Reagan Admini tration went to
war on Gren da, Nicaragua, El
Salvador and Angola. Now our
children are reaping the
whirlwind of ten years of
misplaced Re ubli n .
prioriti�s and policie . .
this report expo e i that to
have a job will pre nt you
from living in pover . Th
.stud detailed exa les of
both parents working and yet
their children are sti I being
consigned to living be ath th
poverty level.
Whil the report id not
point finger at anyo in par
ticular. we fe I lhat w have a
re pon ibility to dern nd that
federal. tate and m nicipal
government do ub ntially
more 10 meet thi chall nge.
Our children are ou futur.
Judith Jone , who i t direc-
tor of the ational
Children in Poverty,
P 6
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