For students at Kent State, the university has always provided the history behind the shootings on May 4, 1970, that resulted in the death of four students.
But on Thursday, a comment by a Republican Party official in northern Michigan calling for “another Kent State” against protesters in California stirred up university students and officials in Kent.
“They make sure we remember it because we don’t want things like that to happen again,” said Grant Jevstachi, a 22-year-old fashion merchandising major at Kent State. “It was shocking to see.”
Dan Adamini, the former chair and current secretary of the Marquette County Republican Party, suggested a violent response to protesters in Berkeley, Calif., calling for a repeat of the incident in 1970 when members of the Ohio National Guard shot and killed four Kent State students during a protest on campus over the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. Nine other students were wounded, including one who was left paralyzed.
“I’m thinking another Kent State might be the only solution protest stopped after only one death. They do it because they know there are no consequences yet,” Adamini posted on his Facebook page Thursday.
Adamini also tweeted on the same day: “Violent protesters who shut down free speech? Time for another Kent State perhaps. One bullet stops a lot of thuggery.”
The university released a statement Saturday morning condemning Adamini’s comments.
“May 4, 1970, was a watershed moment for the country and especially the Kent State University family. We lost four students that day while nine others were wounded and countless others were changed forever,” the statement says. “This abhorrent post is in poor taste and trivializes a loss of life that still pains the Kent State community today.”
The statement also invited Adamini to visit the May 4 Visitors Center museum “to gain perspective on what happened 47 years ago and apply its meaning to the future.”
Current students like Jevstachi, along with past students, also took offense to Adamini’s comments.
“I alternate frequently between being absolutely incensed and wanting to cry,” said Jennifer McGuigan of Wickliffe, who attended the university in the ’80s. “I thought it was an insensitive comment to make. And then I have to wonder if it wasn’t intentional, to invoke those feelings in people.”
Comments retracted
Adamini quickly retracted his comments on both social media accounts, saying his statement was meant to be a call to stop the violence, not incite it.
“Taking a lot of heat for a very poorly worded tweet yesterday. Sorry folks, the intent was to try to stop the violence, not encourage more,” Adamini tweeted Friday.
His Twitter and Facebook accounts have since been deleted.
Adamini’s comments followed protests at the Berkeley campus Wednesday night, where about 1,500 people peacefully demonstrated against a scheduled speech by right-wing provocateur and Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos. But then, the Associated Press reported, “more than 100 armed individuals clad in ninja-like uniforms” showed up, hurling fireworks, Molotov cocktails and rocks at officers, UC Berkeley Police Chief Margo Bennett said.
Backlash struck Adamini almost instantly, from people related to the university and others around the country.
Brandon Dillon, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, called the comments “sickening, inhuman, and indefensible” in a written statement.
Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @Theresa_Cottom .