The unrest didn’t start with Kent State. In 1967 American’s were getting tired of the endless war in VN. The Spring Offensive in ’67 put a half million people on the streets of NYC to protest the war. Equal numbers were participating in DC, Chicago, Phila and across the country. The NYC demonstration birthed the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. These men and women who served organized their fellow vets where ever they could be found, the unemployment lines, college campuses. They formed coalitions with other organizations like the Panthers and Quakers, progressive Jews and Catholic Workers. Little coverage was given to them when thousands turned up in sleepy little Glassboro NJ to protest the summit between LBJ and Kosygin. We have to consider just how angry these returning vets were. Some did two tours before their 21st birthday and returned to the states to face unemployment or underemployment. Jim Crow was alive and well at VFWs across America.
