Richard Del Connor
On May 4, 1970 the Ohio National Guard fired bullets into college students in a non-violent demonstration at Kent State University. They were protesting the Vietnam War and Cambodia Campaign of illegal bombing by the United States Government and Military Industrial Complex. We were bombing huge areas of another country because they wanted a different type of government than the USA had. 3.1 million Americans were shipped to Vietnam to kill people of all ages. BAD GUYS:130,000 North Vietnamese CIVILIANS killed849,018 North Vietnamese MILITARY killed250,000 North Vietnamese MISSING IN ACTION600,000 North Vietnamese MILITARY WOUNDED 1,000 Chinese KILLED4,200 Chinese WOUNDED TOTALS of "Bad Guys": NORTH VIETNAMESE: 1,100,00 KILLED / MISSING. 604,000 WOUNDED GOOD GUYS: 300,000 South Vietnamese CIVILIANS killed 300,000 South Vietnamese MILITARY killed1,170,000 South Vietnamese MILITARY wounded 58,000 United States MILITARY killed303,000 United States MILITARY wounded 15,000 Laos MILITARY killed 5,000 South Korea KILLED 10,000 South Korea WOUNDED 521 Australia KILLED 3,100 Australia WOUNDED 351 Thailand KILLED 37 New Zealand KILLED TOTALS "Good Guys": USA and ALLIES: 300,000 KILLED 1,300,000 WOUNDED 1,000,000 CAPTURED TOTAL HUMANS KILLED for USA Government goals: 1,300,000 On May 4, 2018 I was the "Featured Poet" of the North Hollywood monthly poetry performances at a small theater. As I prepared for my 25-minute show I realized this was the anniversary of the "Kent State Massacre" of college students protesting the Vietnam War. I was 16 years old on May 4, 1970 and had participated in antiwar marches and as a young hippie was part of the flower power counterculture. So I decided to dedicate my "Featured Poet Show" of "Richard Del Connor Philosopher Poet" as "Kent State Murder Day." I organized my existing poetry that I’d written in the last couple years criticizing the Military Industrial Complex, USA Politics, and printed my handwritten lyrics and poetry into a libretto that I printed up for my performance audience. This book contains these poems and copies of the original handwritten libretto. I was homeless at that time and performing more than once per week in various open-mics, poetry readings and book fairs as, "Richard Del Connor Philosopher Poet." I would like to keep this "Kent State Massacre" alive as a reminder to future generations as part of my own antiwar activities. I hope you find this inspiring. In 2021 I spent the year in cancer surgery, chemotherapy, and cobalt radiation treatment. I wasn’t sure how long I would live and created the AMERICAN ZEN PEACE FOUNDATION to continue my antiwar writings, websites, and my music albums and books.Let’s "End All Wars™" War can only be stopped by the common people, convicts, and vengeful killers. The Government makes money off every war everywhere. I believe that ALL WARS are bad and created by bad politicians. It’s up to you. I’m doing more than anyone I know.
