Don’t forget, the students burned the ROTC building, which was probably considered government property. After the sit-in, the demonstrations and the burning, the Mayor had reached out to Governor Rhodes to send in the National Guard. No order was ever given to “Fire.” They were to stand down. The early story was that 1 or 2 of the Guardsmen became excited and decided to open fire. I had even heard that the Guardsmen’s weapons were to be loaded with rubber bullets. When we saw dead kids laying about, we knew they weren’t rubber bullets.
Not making excuses or even giving reasons, but things just got out of hand and communications broke down. It was a tragedy that should not have happened. When you look at the riots of 2020 and what the police had to tolerate and then look back to 1970, you wonder if we learned anything. If you don’t shoot, the police become the victims and are ordered to take the embarrassment while the punks threw anything and everything in their faces and got in their faces shouting profanities and being spit on.
Do you have any idea how hard it is for a man or a woman carrying a badge who has to stand there and take it? I would sooner lay down my weapon and go home. Let the dorks burn down the cities. The Mayors and the Governors didn’t care and they had very little regard for their law enforcement’s safety and credibility. In my opinion, they should have been able to do the job they were hired for. The protesters were very lucky that the Mayors didn’t tell the police to enforce the laws of the state and country. Otherwise, a lot more young bodies would have been laying about. All hell would have broke out and nothing except pure havoc would have prevailed.
