, Columnist
The Slow Fade of the Angry White Male
A half-century scream is coming to a close.
Center of attention.
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You can argue about when the contemporary era of white male reaction in American politics began. But surely May 8, 1970, four days after National Guardsmen opened fire on students at Kent State University, deserves a hearing.
On that day, a student protest in Manhattan against the shootings in Ohio was met by a counteroffensive -- the "Hard Hat Riot." Dozens of construction workers organized, marched and clobbered the protesters, kicking them and beating them with hard hats in what the New York Times described as a "wild noontime melee."