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Remembering the ‘other’ university shooting

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May 4 of this year marked the 50th anniversary of the National Guard killing four students and injuring nine others at Ohio’s Kent State University.

The incident, which happened just weeks after I was born, is commemorated each year with solemn observances and multiple media retellings. We usually hear firsthand accounts from people who were there.

I was familiar with the “Kent State Massacre” long before I understood its antecedent (i.e., the Vietnam War). That’s not surprising given that the victims were white. That fact all but ensures that this story will be told and re-told in perpetuity. 

By contrast, I didn’t learn about the police shooting of students at Mississippi’s Jackson State University, known then as Jackson State College, until I was in college myself.

The disproportionality in media coverage of tragic events is one of the many confounding aspects of racial inequality in America. Whether it’s the wall-to-wall reporting of missing white youth as opposed to African American youth, health disparities in Black communities or other phenomena, media coverage (which is a major component of what becomes the historical record) lags far behind when it comes to our issues.

The exception, of course, is the saturation of the news cycle vis-à-vis crimes that African Americans commit — or are alleged to have committed. 

Journalist Tim Spofford wrote the only book about the Jackson State incident. Called “Lynch Street: The May 1970 Slayings at Jackson State College,” the book was released in 1988 and offers insight into the context and precipitating factors that led to the shooting. The two main factors that fueled the deadly confrontation were the escalation of the Vietnam War and the long-simmering racial tensions in Mississippi. (Incidentally, Lynch Street was named after John R. Lynch, who had been a Black congressman during Reconstruction.)

Regarding the first issue, President Richard Nixon had expanded the war into nearby Cambodia, which was a neutral country (i.e., it didn’t choose sides during the Vietnam conflict). On the evening prior to the shooting, students had threatened to burn down the campus’ ROTC building.

Regarding the second issue, Mississippi was (and remains) one of the nation’s hotbeds of racism. This includes the notorious white supremacist attitude that pervaded law enforcement ranks. 

The Jackson State incident occurred just after midnight on May 15, mere days after the one at Kent State, but it receives far less coverage (then and now). The shooting victims at Jackson State, which is an HBCU, are Black. That fact all but ensures that this story will not be as well known. 

Roughly 100 Black students had gathered on Lynch Street, which bisects the Jackson State campus, on May 14. The group reportedly threw rocks at white motorists who were driving down Lynch Street, which was frequently a site of racial unrest. By late evening, the students had started fires and overturned cars following a false rumor about the death of Charles Evers, a civil rights leader and brother of Medgar Evers.

Firefighters arrived at the scene, followed a short time later by at least 75 police units from the city and the Mississippi Highway Patrol. The firefighters left the scene shortly before midnight, leading the police to disperse the crowd that had collected in front of Alexander Hall — a women’s dormitory.

Shortly after midnight, police officers opened fire on the residence hall, claiming that they were being fired upon by a sniper from the building. (After an investigation, the FBI found no evidence of a shooter.) 

Students said they had done nothing to provoke the officers. The gunfire lasted for roughly 30 seconds, and more than 460 shots were fired by a reported 40 state highway patrolmen. The students scattered and several people were trampled and/or cut due to the falling glass.

All the windows on the side of the building facing Lynch Street were shattered. Visitors to the campus can still see bullet holes in the façade of Alexander Hall.

When the smoke cleared, witnesses found that two young people had been shot to death. One victim was Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, age 21, who was a junior at Jackson State. The other victim was James Earl Green, age 17, who was a senior at a local high school.

No official was ever prosecuted — or even arrested — following the shootings at Jackson State.

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