On May 4th, 1970, 13 unarmed Kent State University students were shot by the National Guard. Students were protesting the Vietnam war. 4 students were killed & 9 were injured.

Psychologists interviewed a woman in Kentucky whose sons were on campus. Her responses shocked them.

The exchange was published by philosopher Herbert Marcuse in his book "Counter-Revolution and Revolt" to reveal the violent tendencies of White America. I present this shocking exchange in this thread to draw parallels with the inexplicable support for police brutality today.

"Mother: Anyone who appears on the streets of a city like Kent with long hair, dirty clothes or barefooted deserves to be shot.

Researcher: Have I your permission to quote that?

Mother: You sure do. It would've been better if the Guard had shot whole lot of them that morning.

Researcher: But you had three sons there.

Mother: If they didn't do what the Guards told them, they should have been mowed down.

Professor of Psychology (listening in): Is long hair a justification for shooting someone?

Mother: Yes. We have got to clean up this nation. And we'll start with the long-hairs.

Professor: Would you permit one of your sons to be shot simply because he went barefooted?

Mother: Yes.

Professor: Where do you get such ideas?

Mother: I teach at the local high school.

Professor: You mean you are teaching your students such things?

Mother: Yes. I teach them the truth. That the lazy, the dirty, the ones you see walking the streets and doing nothing ought all to be shot."

The vile views presented by this woman are no doubt shocking. But what was truly scary is that such views have a resonance in the state structure of a Super Power. Not only is this sentiment mobilized to exercise violence against ethnic minorities, but is also used to justify

wars in foreign lands.

Such views created immense suffering for Black & Brown communities in the US & poor nations who challenged Empire

Its time to reject the entire physical, economic & psychic infrastructure of US Empire that devalues human lives & justifies state violence.

Much like how this woman was more shocked by long hair than the violence committed by the American Empire in Vietnam, today's liberals are more shocked by riots rather than perpetual police brutality. They are more shocked about looting by poor people than by corporate theft of

billions of dollars. The invisibility of Black and Brown suffering is part of the ideological distortion produced by Empire. This absence from the field of visibility marks the experience of millions of ordinary people who have suffered at the hands of the US state. This is why

the world is cheering on protesters in the US today. They are affirming their existence against an entire history of ghettoization, marginalization & repression imposed by the US Empire.

More power to the resistance. The future of humanity is connected to this heroic struggle.