AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY VIVIDLY TOLD BY MASTER ARTIST/JOURNALIST/STORYTELLER JOHN “DERF” BACKDERF
“Kent State:
Four Dead In Ohio,” by northeast Ohio artist John “Derf” Backderf is essential reading
for every American and 100% relevant to the times of Black Lives Matter, protest
and Trump.
Derf shares
the stories of the four students who were killed by the National Guard on
Kent’s campus on May 4, 1970, during a protest.
I never
thought I’d be much into graphic novels, much less buy one in hardback. But it
works and is worth every penny.
I have a
close connection to Kent State. It’s where I met my soulmate Heidi, nearly 40
years ago.
She lived in
Prentice and her dorm room overlooked the parking lot where four innocent students
met their deaths because of right wing idiots such as Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes and moronic gung-ho Ohio National Guard
leaders.
I was a journalism
student and for four years of my life spent more time at Taylor Hall than my
dorm on the other side of campus.
Taylor is at
the top of the hill overlooking the commons, where heavily armed/poorly trained
guardsman raced towards, taking fire on unarmed students.
It also now
is home to the Kent State May 4 Visitor’s Center, housed exactly where the
Daily Kent Stater newsroom was located for years, including when I was a staff
member.
Derf spent
three years studying the archives at Kent State University and other repositories.
He interviewed witnesses and victims of the shooting.
Far from a long
comic strip about a tragic even in American History, “Kent State: Four Dead In
Ohio” is a fine piece of journalism.
I thought I knew
everything about the shootings (which took place when I was five and my family
lived about 25 miles from Kent.)
I learned all
kinds of behind the scenes plus front and center facts from Derf’s book, including
the intriguing case of Terry Norman, a narc/gun nut/unstable spy who later
served time as a convicted felon for crimes unrelated to the events at Kent.
I laughed at
the insider Kent things (live music at J.B.s, townies, black squirrels anyone?)
sprinkled through the book.
And even
though I was well-aware of the outcome, I wept when the students – so brought
to life by Derf – met their bloody deaths at the hands of ruthless National
Guard, that never should have had high powered military loaded weapons on a
largely peaceful college campus.
I have communicated
with Derf – who also penned an amazing graphic novel on his high school
classmate Jeffrey Dahmer – to share my praise for his gripping, crucial and
essential piece of vivid journalism.
Here’s the Amazon link:
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