John Zbornik, Oral History

Recorded: May 4, 1995
Interviewed by Connie Sickels
Transcribed by Lisa Whalen and Kate Medicus 

My name is John Zbornik. I live at [removed for reasons of privacy]. I'm thirty eight years old, married, have one child by the name of Abraham, and another one on the way. I'm a child psy -- child/adolescent psychologist. I work in a school system and in private practice. I was in seventh grade the day of the shooting. And I recall looking at the Plain Dealer in the morning that was on the doorstep. And seeing the very famous picture of the woman who had knelt before Jeffrey Miller's body. And that left a very powerful impression on me. Because, I think it really -- in a seventh grader, just really approaching all kinds of issues such as puberty and sexuality. That this really brought home to me a certain type of -- well I guess I lost my -- somewhat of my innocence that day. Because there was a student, not much older than me, laying on the pavement, that had been shot to death. And I just remember being very disoriented by the whole thing. What did it mean? Somewhat excited about it, somewhat frightened about it, somewhat -- but mostly I -- I just recall disorientation, and the feelings about, "What will happen next?" And the sadness involved. I didn't understand the ramifications, although I did know that it had something to do with the Vietnam war and the students that were protesting.

I come back today -- I'm a graduate of Kent State, to just -- be a part of the ceremony and to listen to the speakers. I got a personal day off today, from the school system. And so, here I am. And I guess there was one major thing that kept bothering me, several -- several -- about a week and a half ago there was a massive bombing in Oklahoma, which took out the Federal Building and a lot of the children my son's age. And I couldn't help but wondering that we've almost -- in a twenty five year period, we've come full circle.

In that, now, as a liberal, and a person who has a lot of liberal political views, I can't help but be amazed at the irony of the situation. That, now it seems as though government is the victim. Whereas, in the past, twenty five years ago, we felt that we were the victim of the government. And I feel, now, twenty five years later, that the emergence of the far right, the paramilitary groups, have almost -- they are -- they are now engaging the government, and attacking it, the way we attacked it twenty five years ago. The anger is there, but the content of the anger is different, I believe. Can you tell I'm a psychologist? And I think that the difference between our protests and the right-wing protests is, number one: ours were somewhat -- had a non-violent streak, although towards the end, with the Weathermen and the Black Panthers and those -- it was descending into a military or a violent situation twenty five years ago. Now, we find that we have the same situation on the right wing, although it's much more homogenous in the sense that, all these guys -- is typically a white male -- who feel like they've been persecuted against. And it's a much more individual thing, whereas ours, we were trying to change things from the perspective of a group. That we -- all of us: blacks, whites, women, whatever, had a certain common philosophy.

And it's just -- I just think it's absolutely nutty and crazy, how things have turned around, to the point where I feel like I'm much more a supporter of the government. To protect the views, and some of the programs to help minorities, such as Affirmative Action, and women and certain welfare programs that I feel are very instrumental in helping children. Working with poor people every day, I know how important that is. And now, those programs are under attack. And I just think it's -- twenty five years -- here I am, and it's gone full circle and it's very strange. Thank you very much.

 

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