Julio Fanjul, Oral History

Recorded: May 3, 2000
Interview by Sandra Perlman Halem
Transcribed by Maggie Castellani

Note: This transcript includes geo-references to locations that are discussed in the oral history. Geographical names linked in the transcript will open in a new window or tab that takes you to that location information and map in the Mapping May 4 project. To request a transcript without geo-reference links included, please contact Kent State University Special Collections & Archives.

[Interviewer]: -- the Student Center, Alumni Center. This is Sandra Perlman Halem, on May 3 at 10:30. This is our first interview. Would you please tell us your name and where you were on, in May 1970.

[Julio Fanjul]: My name is Julio Arturo Fanjul. I am a Cuban-American. I was, came here in 1960 to this country. In 1970, in May of 1970, I was a junior in Kent State and I was in the dorm, Moulton Hall, which is on the north of campus. On May 1st, I attended the burying of the Constitution out by the Victory Bell. I must say, this was the first winter, the four-season winter I had ever experienced in my life. And it was pretty warm, so this is a nice spring. And we had been out having fun on Friday night or right up to mid-term week. That night, I went out to a party off campus. Late when I returned, the police were around across from the campus. My dorm had been teargassed and there was a big standoff on the street in front of campus. And it went on for awhile. But that night nobody slept. All of the sheets were full of teargas. The rooms had the stench that teargas leaves.

The next morning we woke up and everybody -- it was all kinds of crazy things. You have to understand. I was trying to become a student in social psychology. I mean, I was always concerned. The reason I came up to Kent State is because I wanted to see what Middle America was like coming from Miami and having had ten years of Cuban influence in Miami. The kind of Middle America kind of was lost and I really wanted to see what Middle America was like. And so for me, this was a great opportunity to see, well to see, I was always curious about mob psychology and mob action. So this was a great opportunity. So, and it was in my backyard for the last year, last quarter, last year, I had been living in this campus and I had -- it was a great opportunity. I could walk everywhere. I didn't have a car. So that Saturday night when the rally was, was called for, I walked around campus with everybody else. And when they were coming back on The Commons, I didn't care. I didn't know what was going to happen. But right before I went over the hill, coming back from the Tri-Towers area, I was one of the last ones to come back, and I heard all of the windows breaking. So I came in and was pretty much within fifty feet of the ROTC building, pretty much watching. If you notice, I'm 6'5" and I was very conscientious in a crowd and mob psychology never worked with me 'cause I could never lose my identity in a crowd. But it was a wild evening. There's always been in the law that I saw that night the important part is that nobody ever knew how the building burned. And there's always been questions how the building burned. And there's now I read about conspiracies that the building was burned by people from the government. They wanted to create this. Well, in essence, that's not what happened. After the first attempt at burning the building, by then, mostly there was a parking lot to the Common's side, and little by little the cars that had been parked there had been moved by their owners. At this point in time, all there was was a motorcycle left. Somebody -- and the kids that were trying to burn the building were frustrated -- so somebody from the crowd yelled, "Hey, why don't you dip the rag in the gas tank of the motorcycle." And one of the kids took a stick, dipped the rag and put it on the stick, lit it on fire and that's how the building caught on fire. Everybody kind of backed up after the building got going real tough, went over to where the shed got burned in the back. And at some point in time, they were sitting there on the side of the hill watching the building burn. As the police started coming down the road -- that now is covered by where the building is, that new building -- as they came down, people got nervous about being blocked in because the fences of the tennis courts were up. And all of a sudden a human chain just formed and that fence just like toppled over and the kids spilled out. At that point in time, everybody was saying, "Let's go downtown! Let's go downtown! Trash downtown!" So the crowd went walking that way, of course, wanting to see what was going on there. I know I would walk as far as the north end of the campus. I wasn't going to go any further. Right at the time, the National Guard arrived, a troop coming on Main Street going towards, heading towards the downtown area. And they passed the kids. And they kept on going. And all of a sudden the students just said, "Hey, they're not stopping." So they started throwing rocks and it was kind of like a shooting gallery, so to speak, at least with rocks anyway, the shooting gallery started up. So that's my recollection of that day.

Sunday was a fairly quiet day and a strong day of reflection. A lot of people crying and upset at what had happened the night before. Others more upset that the police had come on campus the Friday night. And I think that's what the call was on Saturday night. That night I call home and I talk to my mother who thought it was another college around where I was. But my sense, my sense of my living history just indicated that there was no positive outcome that was going to happen on Monday. So I talked to my father and I said, "Look Dad, I don't know if you've been reading the news. But things are really bad here and even if nothing happens this is not a climate where I want to continue to study." So, he said, "Well, I'll send some money to Western Union. Go pick it up."

[Interviewer]: On Monday?

[Julio Fanjul]: On Monday. [Julio's father], " -- and we'll see you." Well, I didn't wake up Monday. Sunday was a terrible night. But that time, all Saturday night, there had been all kinds of problems. But by Sunday night, pretty much the law, the National Guards had command and control of the campus. The helicopters were around. Anytime any students were after hours, they would come in and shine the lights at you and groups would disperse. And I was there, downtown, when the confrontation started. But decided that that was not going to end in anything worthwhile. And I was leaving just as the Guard was sweeping back to come in. I've heard allegations that the students were violent that night. It was a peaceful sit-in on the street.

[Interviewer]: This is Sunday night?

[Julio Fanjul]: This is Sunday night. This is Sunday night. So based on that, I left a friend there, and myself and the woman I was with left. And were able to pass the Guards that were approaching. They pretty much let us pass through. Not everybody was allowed to pass. Went home that day. Stayed in the dorm that night.

Next morning, I had a geology test at eleven and I must say I didn't go. I overslept. And I was about ready. I couldn't go downtown 'cause I figured well I'll go downtown afterwards, after lunch. So, I went down to The Commons. And the crowd was all circling, about 200 students that were sitting there chanting. And most of them were people that I had been with for the last year and a half. So I figured I -- just as I was going to see my roommate, the teargas got started. And I was pushed over, I didn't go over the what would now be the right side of Taylor, I was pushed back on the other side and teargassed where the last big monument was. As I looked up the hill, there was a platoon of officers who teargassed me and those three or four others that were there. So I was able to work my way around Terrace and came back into the parking lot. Just at the time that I come into the parking lot, the police were, I'm sorry, the National Guard were on the other side of that fence that used to be there. And they were in, some were kneeling, some got onto their knees and some pointed at the crowd. But there was no firing. At that point in time, they didn't have any more teargas. All their teargas had been spent. And they decided to move up the hill. As they decided to move up the hill, the students saw it as a form of victory and started chasing them back up. As, I was still in the parking lot, close to it. Or maybe I was even close to the edge of where the grass was of the knoll. As I was looking, I could see that they were all up the hill except the one, what would be the platoon leader, with the .45 and the baton. And as I, I don't know his name was, I don't know which one he was, I just know that he was that. And as he got up to the hill, he turned around, he dropped the baton and the rest is history.

Right after, all I could think about -- and I, and I, and I don't in what sequence, I remember people saying, "Oh, they're just shooting blanks" as I was diving in between two cars. And after that I just ran. I saw one girl whose neck had been split open. And there were a couple guys were taking her into where the ambulance over by Terrace. I ran into the crowd. I had two of the women that I knew at the time came and were asking me, "What was happening?" And as I had dove in between the two cars, I had cut my, one of my finger tips, where one of the bleeder veins were. And I had taken, I had a shirt and a jacket, I had taken my t-shirt and was holding the blood in my, you know, taking it there. So I was telling them, "Oh, a couple of kids, students got shot on the other side." And somebody out of the crowd just jumped in saying, "Oh, you liar!" And all this stuff. [Other person] "Nothing happened." So I grabbed that t-shirt and threw it in her face. At that point in time, my two friends thought I was a little bit, my eyes were a little wild, so they grabbed me and took me away. And by three o'clock that day, I was gone.

[Interviewer]: And you left the campus and did not return?

[Julio Fanjul]: I came back because Peter Bliek was indicted for burning the building. And he didn't do it. And I could, I was one of his testifying. I was one of his witness to his court. I never had to testify but I did come back for that. And I did come back for the first anniversary a little bit after that. And then decided those days, decided that shaped the future of my last thirty years. And I dedicated my last thirty years to try and make change in this country for the better. And that's what I continue to do today. But I'm at a point in time that I think even though there's minute changes in things that I've done in my life that I've helped change, I don't think that much change will ever come up.

[Interviewer]: Go ahead.

[Julio Fanjul]: This is just to give you a little bit of background about who I am. When I was ten in Havana, my father's house was confiscated because he was alleged to be a counter-revolutionary. And I was woken up at the sound, at the crack of the sound of a machine gun. And my mother jumped, it was me and my brother, my mother jumped in between us and said, "Get out! Don't wake up my sons!" And the guy backed down and walked away. Well, I don't have to tell you, I just told you what happened to me in 1970.

[Interviewer]: You left Cuba in -- ?

[Julio Fanjul]: In a week after. We were here. In 19, that was 1960. In 1970, I was, had the good fortune of being a student at Kent State. In 1980, in the civil disturbances, they call it a rebellion! I was working for the city of Miami law enforcement investigating police officers of excessive force and brutality. In 1990, I had just bought my second home in South Dade, and I was on the north. I experienced the north wall of Hurricane Andrew. And it's the year 2000 and I'm back here! But I think with the year 2000 and the future will come, it'll be good. And the turning point will come. And with that, I say good-bye.

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