Mary Homer, Oral History

Recorded: May 2, 1990
Transcribed by Rhonda Rinehart

[Reading from prepared paper]:

I am Mary Homer. I'm a Kent resident, I am age 33. I was at Davey Junior High, in Kent, when the shootings took place. I remember being told that there were shootings on campus. And a fellow student started screaming as her mom and dad were on campus. School was closed immediately, and we were herded on buses. A very large man with a baseball bat came on board our bus to protect us, as everyone had the immediate fear of the unknown. We did not know then how many were shot nor who was shot. The bus dropped us off on our corners and waited 'til every student was inside our houses. We were all told to stay indoors. As my house was not very far from the University Plaza--the National Guard location--and also not very far from the mayor's house, the National Guard went on our street for several days in a row. That day, the mayor had received a bomb threat, as had our school. I believe the general feeling of all my neighbors and relatives was that we were all in imminent danger, especially after ROTC Building was burned and the rioting causing damage to downtown businesses took place. It seemed then, it was--I'm sorry--it seemed then that it was "us versus them" dichotomy. I remember the helicopter searchlights going over our house time and again those frightening nights. Many felt the students deserved to be shot; moreover, police action was considered to be justified. In the paranoia of those precarious days, no one could see a peaceful resolution: Cambodia was crazy. Nixon was crazy. The students thought everything was crazy. In turn, the [University] Administration, the governor, and the police thought that the students were crazy and uncontrollable. Kent lost a lot then, and it will never be the same. This Midwestern town lost its innocence as the violent reactions culminated in needless deaths and injuries. I remember the National Guard clearly and what that represented. I wish I couldn't.

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