Peace Pilgrimage Ends in Mystery

On the 55th Jackson State Massacre of Student Protesters

Last month in April and May 2025, on a memorial trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, “Flowers” was dispatched to represent the peaceful, healing spirit of my sister Allison Krause. Allison was one of the four students killed on May 4, 1970 in the Kent State massacre as she protested against President Richard Nixon’s Vietnam war and Cambodian invasion.

Allison’s legacy is peace and flowers. Fifty-five years ago in 1970, the day before Allison was killed by an Ohio National Guardsman’s bullet, she said “What’s the matter with peace? Flowers are better than bullets.” It’s written on her gravestone.

Fast forward 35 years, “Flowers” arrived at the Allison Center for Peace. She came as a gift from a past neighbor, now considered family, who named one of her children for Allison. Flowers, her gift, was sent as a “missing you” memento and to honor Allison’s peaceful legacy of flowers.

In March 2025 I made plans to travel to Vietnam and Cambodia for the upcoming 50th/55th anniversaries, booking my accommodations and buying my tickets for a trip of a lifetime. Then I was advised by concerned colleagues raising objections, cautioning against travel outside U.S. borders in these crazy, inflamed times. So I re-assessed. With safety in mind and a lifelong history of Kent State-inflicted harassment spurred by my family’s insistence on truth about Allison’s killing, I reluctantly canceled my April/May 2025 plans.

Taking a path of peace for the 50th anniversary of the end of the American war in Vietnam and then onto Cambodia for the 55th Kent State, I sent Flowers, now a hand-decorated sacred memento, in my stead.

Over the last month on my Substack I’ve written about Flowers’ sacred pilgrimage. Flowers’ Southeast Asia journey begins at the 50th in HCMC/Saigon, to the Kent State 55th at Siem Reap/Angkor Wat, then to Hoi An near My Son, concluding in Hanoi. Follow Flowers’ pilgrimage and more at Laurel's Peace on the Mendocino Coast.

The disappointingly sad news is Flowers hasn’t returned home to the Allison Center for Peace and her current whereabouts remain a mystery. Whether Flowers was lost, stolen or forgotten, we may never know. In a cafe near St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, Flowers simply disappeared — went missing. One minute here, the next Flowers was gone.

Even though Flowers is a mythic relic, a metaphor yet also a cherished memento, the news of losing her — of her not coming back to the Allison Center for Peace — struck deeply in layers of resonance and loss. Nevertheless, Flowers is in peace somewhere in Hanoi and, stateside, in our hearts.

When Flowers completed her pilgrimage before the Queen of Peace, in front of St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, she heard, “you are home” and learned the significance of the cathedral before her, Christmas 1972, Nixon’s B-52’s and peace in Hanoi.

“The cathedral's location has a significant historical backdrop, as it was built on the site of the demolished Bao Thien Pagoda, a 12th-century temple constructed by the Ly Dynasty and formerly a vital place of worship for the local populace. This decision by the French to replace the pagoda highlighted their influence and architectural ambitions in Hanoi during their colonial tenure.”

“Saint Joseph's Cathedral was consecrated on Christmas Day, 1886, and features a neo-Gothic architectural style, mirroring the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.” …

“In front of the cathedral stands the Regina Pacis -- the Queen of Peace -- statue of the Virgin Mary, adding to its spiritual and architectural significance.”

Flowers had heard about Christmas in Hanoi 1972. St. Joseph’s and the Queen of Peace barely survived unscathed from President Nixon’s Christmas Bombings AKA Linebacker II, sending American B-52’s to target and slaughter Vietnamese citizens in their Hanoi homes, not far from here.

During the December 1972 bombings in and around Hanoi, the U.S. “dropped some 20,000 tones of ordnance in 11 days. More than 1,600 civilians died in the attack Rebecca Kesby of the BBC wrote:

"The biggest ever bombing campaign by U.S. B-52 aircraft took place over Christmas in 1972....Some claim the assault may have helped bring about the deal signed a month later that led to an end to U.S. involvement in the war. Operation Linebacker II was President Richard Nixon's attempt to hasten the end of the Vietnam War, as the growing strength of the Viet Cong caused heavy casualties among U.S. ground troops. The capture and torture of downed airmen in the north, regularly paraded on television, was also an embarrassment for Washington. Nixon was under pressure to bring the troops home. At the same time, long-running negotiations in Paris between the warring parties had broken down.” [Source: Rebecca Kesby, BBC, December 24, 2012]

On her journey Flowers observed war artifacts and left-behind wreckages in Hanoi memorializing the American war in Vietnam. Flowers was struck by the resistance and the resilience of the people of Hanoi, especially their ability to forgive and find loving, peace since overcoming the devastating destruction of Hanoi 1972 around Christmas.

From an eye witness and historical account: “In just one night, more than 2,000 homes were destroyed around Kham Thien, a busy shopping street in Hanoi. About 280 people were killed and at least as many again injured.”

“There were a few houses still standing, but most of it was just rubble, flattened on the ground - or even just a big hole. Houses were just gone, it was horrible. I remember seeing people just standing there looking at it - but there was nothing there. Everything was just gone."

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In the City for Peace, Hanoi’s Old Quarter on a perch of supreme grace, Flowers remains with the Queen of Peace before St. Joseph’s Cathedral and in May 2025 makes it her final resting place.

Bringing Flowers’ pilgrimage to a close, she commemorates the 55th anniversary of the May 1970 student protester extrajudicial executions, hoping to begin to heal the wounds inflicted on a generation of peaceful Americans from the May 1970 Kent State and Jackson State massacres.

The Jackson State massacre occurred just after midnight in the very early morning hours of May 15, 1970. At a peaceful demonstration, students were killed and wounded by Mississippi Highway Patrolmen rifle fire as they rallied for race equality, social justice, environmental protection, women’s rights and to bring an end to the Vietnam war, President Nixon’s expansion into Cambodia.

In front of a Jackson State women’s dorm, 40 Highway Patrolmen and additional law enforcement turned the protest into a threatening disturbance. They attacked the students and shot to death Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, a college junior, and James Earl Green, a high school senior, and wounded 12 more students.

Sources share: “Students later claimed that they had not provoked the officers. The gunfire lasted for 30 seconds, with more than 460 shots being fired by a reported 40 state highway patrolmen, who used shotguns from a distance of 30 to 50 feet.”

Fifty-five years after the May 1970 Kent State and Jackson State massacres, we are still uncovering the oppressive and well-resourced FBI schemes led by J. Edgar Hoover against student antiwar protest back then. It was the CIA’s covert program Operation CHAOS and President Nixon’s Huston Plan that targeted what they labeled the New Left, inclusive of student protesters. Legions of undercovers from various intel organizations including cointelpro and the FBI worked their assignments to infiltrate, create false flags, violently harass and surveil antiwar protesters, in the end leading to the massacre of student protesters. After the May 1970 massacres, more teams cleaned up to whitewash, embargo and cover-up truth as they colluded to tamper with the judicial system and all mechanisms to hold the perpetrators — the U.S. government and military — accountable.

Fifty-five years later, their efforts to blame the massacres on the student protesters and cover-up government complicity have evolved into Americans knowing very little truth about the May 1970 Kent State and Jackson State massacres, and if they have learned anything, it is most likely propaganda. The massacres were essentially firing squads used against antiwar protesters, also denying protesters their first amendment rights to protest and assemble.

These deeply murderous and unconstitutional tactics are still in play. In 2025, those in U.S. power are again taking aim at students who gather together to protest Israel’s genocide and the support of its allies in complicity and collusion, most notably the United States. With protests, hunger strikes and divestment actions ramping up across the nation today … and a current President cheerleading brazen acts, deportations and worse against students on campus who protest genocide, we are at the precipice of U.S. student massacres occurring in 2025.

With a high possibility of student protester massacres on the horizon, please watch an insightful, inspiring 60’s antiwar protest and peace movement documentary from filmmaker Stephen Talbot — An exploration into the forgotten cultural and political dynamics of protest against the Vietnam war, The Movement and the Madman. WATCH Talbot’s interview from a recent visit to Vietnam for the 50th anniversary on Talk with Vietnam.

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On April 30, 1975, despite President Richard Nixon’s student protester massacres created by his deadly attacks on protesters, the first amendment and the peace movement, it still took five more, arduous years for the U.S. Military to finally end the American war in Vietnam.

And 55 years later in 2025, U.S. leadership continues to refuse to accept responsibility or show accountability for the massacre of six unarmed student protesters, wounding of 21, at Kent State and Jackson State in May 1970. With no accountability, no healing and no lessons learned, when will the next U.S. student protester massacre occur?