Forty-eight years ago today, Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Knox Schroeder were killed on the campus of Kent State University by members of the Ohio National Guard. Two were protesting against the U.S. bombing of Cambodia, while two others were nearby walking to class. As for me, on that Monday, I was nowhere near a university campus. I was only 15, and in Brooklyn attending Isaac Bildersee Junior High School.

My memories of how my school reacted to these deaths are hazy. I do remember students leaving the school and protesting outside in the days after, but not my part in them or how the administration reacted to those walkouts. I do, however, recall that Joseph Monserrat, president of the Board of Education, gave a speech a few days later urging calm, a transcript of which was posted on a bulletin board … and which for some reason … I took.

I dug it out of my files this morning and reread that statement, which I found depressing, and for more than just the usual reasons. Because unfortunately, the sentiments it expressed are as relevant as ever.

As you’ll see on the bottom of the second page, Monserrat, speaking on behalf of the New York City Board of Education, said—

Yours has been the generation that has never known a day of peace. Your lives so far have been lived in a settling of violence and it may be that some of you have begun to accept violence as a “normal” way for men to live in our country and to resolve our differences. It is NOT!

The same thing could be said of students today. And that’s sad.