Less than three weeks after the terrible killings at Virginia Tech, we pause to remember what happened 37 years ago today at Kent State University. On May 4, 1970, four students were killed, nine others wounded, when National Guard troops opened fire at a noontime rally protesting President Nixon’s announcement a few days earlier that American troops had entered Cambodia.

Now we’re hearing about a new call to reopen the case from one of the students shot in the wrist that day. Alan Canfora told the Associated Press, “We’re not seeking revenge; we’re not seeking punishment for the Guardsmen at this late date.

“All we want is the truth because we seek healing at Kent State for the student victims, as well as the triggermen who were ordered to fire. And healing can only result from the truth, and that’s all we want.”

Photo Credits: Tony Dejak, AP

It seems there may in fact be some new evidence. An audio recording made during the rally and stashed away at Yale University reportedly contains the command to fire just before the gunshots.  Guardsmen had maintained they shot in self defense after an alleged sniper fired first.

Clearly, times have changed since the Nixon Administration, but by how much?  Just what would it take to see more anti-war protests spring up, and how willing would the government be to clamp down on any campus unrest again?  It scares me half to death to think that we seem incapable of learning from our own history. In this case, I pray we have learned — at least a little bit.