About 56 years ago, four students at Kent State University were shot dead by the Ohio National guard.
I remember it well, as I was at the time a rifleman in 7 RAR and we were patrolling on operation Concrete. The news filtered through to us when we got back to Nui Dat at the end of the operation. The students were protesting the invasion of Cambodia, an event that was happening only 100 Kms to the North West of our location.
Neil Young released "Ohio" shortly after the massacre, and despite the fact that Nixon was re-elected in 1972, the impact of this song, together with publicity about the My Lai Massacre (which was in news at about the same time) began to have a profound effect on public opinion against the war.
Bruce Springsteen has released Streets of Minneapolis which is already having an impact given the extent of its shares on social media.
There has been, and always will be, a visceral reaction across the Pacific to US citizens being shot by uniformed people in their own country.
This incident may represent a turning point in US public opinion.
It's certainly deja vu.
(The words mean "already seen").
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