Not surprisingly, given the circumstances in South Africa now, earlier today my wife and I were discussing the violence as well as the newly ordered deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). This deployment is now being carried out in several parts of the nation in response to a growing tide of violence, looting, and more general civil turmoil. What, exactly, SANDF personnel are going to do, what kind of orders and assignments will they have, what training might they have had, and how they will carry out their mission all became big questions in our conversation.
As it turns out, improbable as it may seem to some, I actually had first-hand experience (and training) in demonstrations and riot/crowd control efforts and from both sides of the barricades. Through the early part of the 1970s, university student protests against the Vietnam conflict were becoming increasingly routine on many US campuses, and those were in addition to a series of major protest ralli
The Girl in the Kent State Photo Last May, when Mary Ann Vecchio watched the video of George Floyd’s dying moments, she felt herself plummet through time and space to a day almost exactly 50 years earlier. On that afternoon in 1970, the world was just as riveted by an image that showed the life draining out of a young man on the ground, this one a black-and-white still photo. Mary Ann was at the center of that photo, her arms raised in anguish, begging for help. That photo, of her kneeling over the body of Kent State University student Jeffrey Miller, is one of the most important images of the 20th century. Taken by student photographer John Filo, it captures Mary Ann’s raw grief and disbelief at the realization that the nation’s soldiers had just fired at its own children. The Kent State Pietà, as it’s sometimes called, is one of those rare photos that fundamentally changed the way we see ourselves and the world around us..
The girl in the famous Kent State photo and the lifelong burden of being a national symbol Updated: 1 hour ago Published 1 hour ago
In this May 4, 1970 photo, Mary Ann Vecchio cries out as she kneels next to the body of student Jeffrey Miller on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio. National Guardsmen killed four when they fired into a crowd of young demonstrators protesting the U.S. bombing of Cambodia. (AP Photo/John Filo)
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Print article Last May, when Mary Ann Vecchio watched the video of George Floyd’s dying moments, she felt herself plummet through time and space - to a day almost exactly 50 years earlier. On that afternoon in 1970, the world was just as riveted by an image that showed the life draining out of a young man on the ground, this one a black-and-white still photo. Mary Ann was at the center of that photo, her arms raised in anguish, begging for help.
The girl in the Kent State photo and the lifelong burden of being a national symbol
By Patricia McCormick The Washington Post,Updated April 20, 2021, 11:15 a.m.
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Mary Ann Vecchio gestured and screamed as she kneeled by the body of a student lying face down on the campus of Kent State University in 1970. (AP Photo/Valley Daily News, John Filo)JOHN FILO
Last May, when Mary Ann Vecchio watched the video of George Floydâs dying moments, she felt herself plummet through time and space - to a day almost exactly 50 years earlier. On that afternoon in 1970, the world was just as riveted by an image that showed the life draining out of a young man on the ground, this one a black-and-white still photo. Mary Ann was at the center of that photo, her arms raised in anguish, begging for help.
By Published: April 20, 2021 Last May, when Mary Ann Vecchio watched the video of George Floyd s dying moments, she felt herself plummet through time and space to a day almost exactly 50 years earlier. On that afternoon in 1970, the world was just as riveted by an image that showed the life draining out of a young man on the ground, this one a black-and-white still photo. Mary Ann was at the center of that photo, her arms raised in anguish, begging for help.
That photo, of her kneeling over the body of Kent State University student Jeffrey Miller, is one of the most important images of the 20th century. Taken by student photographer John Filo, it captures Mary Ann s raw grief and disbelief at the realization that the nation s soldiers had just fired at its own children. The Kent State Pietà, as it s sometimes called, is one of those rare photos that fundamentally changed the way we see ourselves and the world around us. Like the image of the solitary protester standing in fron