You make it sound like the NYC "Democrats" - who were in fact probably 99% Irish immigrants (including my gg-grandfather) - rioted against blacks. While many were victims, the real targets were gov't officials and any civilians who had anything to do with the draft or supporting same.
You are also sadly mistaken with regard to the Kent State "demonstrators" as you call them. From Robert Bork's
Slouching Towards Gomorrah [emphasis mine]:
"On May 2, a crowd of about 800 assembled on campus, disrupted a dance in a university hall, smashed the windows of the ROTC building, and threw lighted railroad flares inside. The building burned to the ground."
"From May 1 to May 4 there were, in addition, riots in the town's main street, looting, the intimidation of passing motorists, stoning of police, directions to local merchants to put antiwar posters in their windows or have their stores thrashed, and miscellaneous acts of arson. All of this occurred before the shooting."
"On May 4, a Monday, about a thousand students gathered on campus. Guardsmen arrived and, probably unwisely, ordered the crowd to disperse. The order was predictably ignored. The Guard fired tear gas canisters into the crowd. The Guard, consisting of a hundred men surrounded by rioters shouting obscenities and chanting "Kill, kill, kill," were under a constant barrage of rocks, chunks of concrete and cinderblock, and canisters. Fifty-eight Guardsmen were injured by thrown objects. Several of them were knocked to the ground. They had little tear gas left, and the gas had, in any event, been made ineffective by the wind. The Guardsmen retreated up the hill, appearing frightened, and then some of them suddenly turned and fired for thirteen seconds. The firing was apparently spontaneous rather than ordered."
"Demonstrators" my @ss.
The Democrats did indeed target Blacks. Most of the innocent victims were Blacks.
The, as you confirmed, unordered firing upon the demonstrators spread the Anti-war activities across the entire nation to colleges which had been relatively peaceful. It was the event which irrevocably turned the majority of the nation against the Vietnam War.
Disturbances on Friday night had nothing to do with the demonstration earlier that day which had ended peacefully around one. Drunks leaving a bar began throwing things and raising hell. The crowd was composed of bikers, transients and students and had no political aspect.
The Mayor’s decision to close the bars early caused the crowd in the streets to grow. The unrest continued over the weekend but was essentially non-political. Closing the bars pissed off many students most of whom did not give a crap about the war.
The shootings on Monday killed four students two of whom were not involved in any demonstrations but merely were walking to class and were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
There is evidence indicating that pistol shots were fired before the Guardsmen opened fire perhaps provoking it. And it is known that an FBI informant, who had infiltrated an anti-war group there, was armed with a pistol at the demonstrations.