I remember the day well. On Monday, May 4, 1970, my friend picked me up as he had over the previous five weeks to travel from our homes in San Jose, California, up the peninsula to Buchser High School in Santa Clara, where we were completing our student teaching practicum as the final step in earning our California Secondary Teaching Certification.In California at the time, students who intended to enter the field of education were required to pass four years of undergraduate studies while declaring a major and a minor concentration. We then needed to complete a fifth year in which we enrolled in educational studies courses. Related The Minnesota political assassinations show that the right is increasingly a violent threat The inflammatory language from Trump and his followers has proven a fertile ground for violence. For our student teaching experience, we first observed our cooperating teachers in two courses, one connected with our major and the other with our minor. Following this, we were to teach the classes on our own with the supervision of our cooperating teachers. Dive deeper every day Join our newsletter for thought-provoking commentary that goes beyond the surface of LGBTQ+ issues Subscribe to our Newsletter today My friend first observed and then taught a chemistry course and a math class.Aligning with my fields of study, I taught a Senior American Problems class (my major field was sociology) and a first-year choir class (music was my minor).That day in Senior American Problems, I had students discuss the issues on which they were to write their final papers.These included the consequences of resisting the military draft; the ways in which the current restrictions on abortion in the United States limited options for women; reasons why the United States should never have committed troops in Vietnam; why the age of consent for drinking alcohol was unfair to young people; the double stands parents have for their daughters versus their sons in dating on the topic of curfews; and others.In chorus, we rehearsed the song, Autumn Leaves, that students were to perform in the upcoming concert (I know, it was weird to sing about falling leaves toward the end of Spring, but, hey, I had no choice). When I returned to my apartment that evening, I turned on the small television and, to my shock, I watched news footage of a shooting by Ohio National Guard officers that targeted a large group of anti-Vietnam protestors on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio. Members of the National Guard opened fire on unarmed students who were opposing the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia by US military forces, as announced by President Richard Nixon in an April 30 television address that year. They were also protesting the presence of the National Guard on their campus.Twenty-eight National Guard soldiers fired approximately 67 rounds over 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine more. One of the wounded students suffered permanent paralysis.StudentsAllison Krause, 19,Jeffrey Miller, 20, andSandra Lee Scheuer, 20, died on the scene, whileWilliam Schroeder, 19, died later atRobinson Memorial Hospital. Krause and Miller were part of the protest, while Scheuer and Schroeder were merely observing the events on a break between classes from hundreds of feet away. James Rhodes, Ohios Republican governor at the time, made the decision to deploy the Ohio National Guard to Kent State University. Kent Mayor Leroy Satrom made the initial request for the National Guard after he declared a state of emergency following a bar fight among students that escalated into rioting on the streets.As an undergraduate student at San Jos State University and through my final fifth educational studies year, I was a member of the Students for a Democratic Society to oppose the war. I helped organize demonstrations, attended and led study groups and sit-ins, and worked to improve conditions in student off-campus housing. I also joined in activities to challenge racism on campus. Though I became involved in my Young Democrats group in High School in 1964 and was elected secretary of our group, named after then-Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, my deep political education took off in college.Looking back, I remember much more about what I learned outside the classroom than in my courses, for those were truly exciting and terrifying times of war, riots, and political assassinations.While we lauded President Lyndon B. Johnson on his courageous leadership in the realm of his domestic policies, especially in his active and enthusiastic support for the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, we saw how his military ventures had torn apart the country. Our governor at the time, Ronald Reagan (R),closed our campus for a few days to all non-essential workers over our peaceful demonstrations against the U.S. invasion of Vietnam.Following the Kent State massacre, Reagan closed all 28 UC and Cal State campuses for four days. His stated purpose of this closure was for a period to pause long enough to take inventory.While running for governor of California in 1966, Reagan ran on a tough-guy, testosterone-fueled campaign, which included a promise (threat) to crack down on campus protests.The day following the Kent State massacre, I asked my supervising teacher of my choir class if I could simply sit and observe for the day. I told him I had suffered from a long and sleepless night. He seemed to understand and consented. Since I was the sole teacher of my Senior American Problems class (my supervising teacher was nowhere to be seen throughout my entire practicum), I decided to conduct a facilitated listening session with students, which I had done previously on other occasions.As I walked into the classroom, students intuitively read my emotions of deep sadness and intense outrage. I asked the 30 or so students to circle the chairs for an open discussion regarding the events of the previous day in Kent, Ohio.A few of the young women began to cry softly while attempting to remain composed. At that point, I said that I would facilitate an honest discussion, which, in no way, would affect students grades. The young women who had been suppressing their tears began to let them out further. I then reiterated our class guidelines regarding respect for ideas, taking turns, not interrupting when others are speaking, not attacking or blaming, and using I statements and not speaking for others.The class seemed mixed on their views over whether the United States should have entered the struggle in the first place. The first week that I took over the class, I introduced students to the history of Vietnam and colonialism over the territory during the 20thcentury.While we had often discussed US involvement in Vietnam, the event of the previous day truly highlighted some of the essential ways that the war affected us all. While some students respectfully and very cogently disagreed about US involvement, virtually all expressed their feelings about the students murdered by Ohio National Guard soldiers.Many students expressed outrage, sadness, and both fear of and contempt for the National Guard. Others, though, blamed the students for bringing the violence upon themselves. One student said that if they had not been drunk and had not fought at the bar, all the students would still be alive today.A few students disagreed and said that the National Guard had no right to enter their campus with loaded weapons. The vast majority supported that position. Just less than two weeks after the massacre, police opened fire outside a campus dormitory at Jackson State College (now University) in Jackson, Mississippi, killing two students and injuring twelve.And this brings us to the present, just after the Trump administration called the National Guard and the US Marines to intervene in largely peaceful demonstrations protesting ICE agents for randomly rounding up undocumented workers in southern California against the wishes and orders of Governor Gavin Newsom (D) and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D).As Newsom and Bass have stated several times, when protests turn violent, local Los Angeles police forces are well-trained with sufficient resources and staff to handle it. While a recent US district court judge declared that the Trump administrations control of the California National Guard was illegal, the Ninth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals placed a temporary stay on that order.But no matter how the case is ultimately decided, basic critical questions must be addressed.Should the executive branch have the authority to control any states National Guard without the expressed consent of governors or other elected state officials, except in cases where states refuse to follow federal laws such as civil and voting rights legislation or court rulings, or when there is a clear indication of foreign invasion? Do National Guard soldiers have sufficient training and experience to manage domestic disturbances in a safe and responsible manner? Obviously, the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970, did not.Kristi Noem, Trumps Secretary of Homeland Security, finally told the truth about the actual reasons the administration sent the National Guard to Los Angeles. It wasnt for riot control. It wasnt to maintain peace in the streets. It wasnt really even to protect property. And it wasnt about helping round up undocumented criminal elements and gangs.At a press conference in Los Angeles on June 12, 2025, Noem stated: We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into this city. So, all pretense is now off since the real reason Trump, Patel, and Noem sent the National Guard and the U.S. Marines into Los Angeles was to punish blue state governors and mayors for not adhering to the draconian MAGA agenda of cruelty, abuse, and contempt for anyone who is different and anyone who actually lives up to their oaths of office to protect and defend the Constitutions of the United States of America.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.