Secondhand Sun

Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio

Gotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know

User kainah at Boomantribune has a diary up about the Kent State shootings - part of a series. What really leaped out at me was the discussion in the comments about how the relatives of people who struggle for justice so often despise us for working against the social order.

Kainah said:

[My mother] told me that afternoon that "they must have deserved it." Since I'd been organizing demonstrations on my campus for months, I figured that meant she'd be OK if they killed me. To say the least, it took a long, long time for us to get over this. And, obviously, I've never forgotten it.

Damnit Janet said:

My grandmother after hearing that my brother and I marched in DC 9/24 told me that she believes Bush has the right to have protesters shot in the head, in public.

She even said that I added to the misery of the people in the Gulf States because instead of using the money to help them, I wasted it on getting to DC. She said people like me were sick because we can't see how great Bush is. That we blame him for everything, even the weather.

She prays every day that Bush will destroy all of G-d's enemies.

Even though I know and understand all the reasons why, it's hard. It's hard knowing that if it was the government against me, my family wouldn't, couldn't side with me. No one has enough faith in their family members to stand against the all-knowing and all-powerful American Government. And if they do, well then, they're considered to bit just a bit off their rocker, aren't they?

Should've been done long ago

That's what our families think of us, how much they value us. A bitter pill.

More later, perhaps...