Kent State Shooting, Ohio

My husband was on the faculty. And he and the dean of students had gone to lunch that day. And they watch for a while the students and the you know, the National Guardsmen went back and forth, back and forth, and they figured, well, nothing's going to happen.

So then they went into the to have lunch and then all hell broke loose because, you know, the Guardsmen had fired on and shot the kids. And so they went outside to take a look and, oh, my God, you know, and the dean of students was running to a phone booth and making all his calls. And my husband went back to his office.

I had brought the kids home for lunch and I took them back to school. And I heard there was some stuff going on. So I went to the parking lot that was closest to where all that action was. And I dropped the kids off. But I stayed in that parking lot to see what was going to happen. I figured if anything happened, I would get the kids and I'd take them home. But the only thing I heard I was listening to the radio and it said that that there were some problems there.

And then I saw the sheriff’s car go around the corner with the sirens going, and but everything else was kind of quiet. So I thought, well, maybe it’s it’s OK. So I went home and then not long after that, one of my neighbors had brought my children home and dropped them off and said, you know, they're closing the university school and all of that stuff. So then they closed the university period. And they had some the National Guards come in and they had the tanks in there. And I mean, it was just overkill for that.

To finish up the semester, because I think that happened in May and to finish up, my husband had a bunch of doctoral students. And so they met in our house so they could finish up their, you know, their quarter or their semester. And it was it took a while for some of that, you know, to calm down.

Fecha: May 13, 2022
Zona: California, US
Interviewer: Evan Kodani
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum