“For What It’s
Worth”
Fortnightly
March 8, 2023
Johnny Hilton
Springtime on the USC campus in Columbia,
SC is a beautiful thing, almost idyllic, flowers blooming by the reflection
pool, lovers walking hand in hand, small groups sitting on the ground in the Horseshoe,
dreams of what the summer might bring.
In the spring of 1970, I was finishing my third year at the University
of South Carolina. This spring seemed a
little different than the previous two, however. There was a different ambiance in the
air. Hair lengths in the Frat house were
getting a little longer. Sgt. Peppers was playing on the second floor
even though Jerry Butler was still going strong on the juke box in the lounge. Things
seemed to be changing. Could it be that
Robert Zimmerman’s anthem of 1963 was finally coming to pass on fraternity row
in the sleepy south?
We had just come out of one of the most
dynamic decades ever, “The Sixties,” a time of significant cultural and social
change. The Civil Rights Movement was
bringing about changes in our laws including the Civil Rights Act of 1964
dealing with racial equality. The Civil
Rights Movement changed the way individuals of different ethnicities interacted
with each other. In addition, the
“Hippie-Counter Culture” came into full bloom during the decade. In 1967, the “Summer of Love” brought 100,000
“Flower Children” to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. In August of 1969, a music festival was held
on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm forty miles southwest of Woodstock, NY. It was billed as “an Aquarian Exposition: 3
days of Peace and Music” and attracted more than 400,000. Woodstock, as it came to be known, is regarded
today as a “pivotal moment in popular music history and as a defining event for
the counterculture generation.” The
counterculture has been defined as an “anti-establishment cultural phenomenon
that developed in the 1960’s.” The
movement grew as the civil rights movements grew and with the “intensification
of the Vietnam War.” Oh yes, let us not
forget about the war in Vietnam as it certainly was a major catalyst in the
changes that took place in the sixties and in the events of the Spring of 1970 in
Columbia, about which you shall hear more shortly.
Following their defeat in 1954 the French
withdrew from Indochina. After the Viet
Minh took control of North Vietnam, the U.S began its financial and military
support of South Vietnam. Under President
John Kennedy U.S. involvement grew from less than a thousand “advisors” in 1959
to 23,000 troops by early 1964. The Gulf
of Tonkin resolution in August of 1964 allowed President Johnson to drastically
increase the number of troops to 184,000.
As the war continued, the number of US troops engaged continued to grow
to 500,000 in 1968. Despite General William
Westmoreland’s predictions of victory and that “the end is coming into view,”
that proved not to be the case.
The TET offensive by the North Vietnamese
in January of 1968, in which 85,000 North Vietnamese troops conducted offensive
attacks in over 100 cities in the south, brought about a turn in public opinion
and support of the war by many Americans.
Richard Nixon was inaugurated in January of 1969 and soon implemented a
policy known as “Vietnamization” in which he promised to transfer responsibility
for a conclusion of the war to the South Vietnamese troops and to begin U.S.
troop withdrawals. In November of 1969,
when the news broke of the “My Lai Massacre” in which American troops reportedly
killed hundreds of South Vietnamese villagers, opposition to the war increased significantly
particularly among young people across America. The student protests, sit-ins and demonstrations that had been
happening at Ivy League and West Coast colleges saw an increase at this time.
The University of South Carolina and most other southern universities had
remained quiet thus far but that was about to change. On December 1, 1969, the draft lottery,
the first since WWII, was initiated which eliminated many deferments for
military service for students and teachers.
On April 29, 1970, U.S. and South Vietnamese troops crossed the eastern
border of Cambodia in order to confront North Vietnamese troops that were using
eastern Cambodia as a staging area for attacks across the border into South
Vietnam.
Let
us digress for a moment and revisit this notion that the Sixties were a time of
“significant cultural and social change.”
As we know not everyone likes change or new ideas and there was often
much opposition to some of the changes that are associated with the decade of
the sixties. Not everyone in America
felt that the civil rights movement was a step in the right direction. Civil rights marchers and peaceful protestors
were often met with opposition in many different forms which might be verbal or
could be fire-hoses and police dogs. Not
everyone in America felt that Flower Children and Hippies touting peace, love
and freedom were sharing a message consistent with the “American Way”. Moreover, some felt that the Counterculture
was a “Pinko conspiracy” and a threat to the very foundations of
capitalism. Lastly and perhaps most
importantly, the differing, opposing, and changing positions on the wisdom of
our involvement in Vietnam are well documented and well known.
So let us now return to the spring of
1970. As previously noted, on April 29,
1970, U.S. and South Vietnamese troops crossed the border and entered
Cambodia. Many in the US felt this was contrary
to Nixon’s promise to bring an end to American involvement and was in fact an
escalation of the war. College students
on many campuses reacted immediately, erupting with protests to show their opposition
in what Time Magazine called “a nation-wide student strike”.
One such campus was Kent State University
in Kent, Ohio whose students had already been actively protesting the war for
several years. When the announcement was
made by the Nixon administration regarding the “Cambodian Incursion” a new wave
of protests began. On Friday, May 1, a peaceful
demonstration of about 500 Kent State students was held on a grassy knoll in
the center of campus known as the commons.
As the students left the demonstration area there was visible and
widespread anger regarding the recent war developments. It was announced that another rally would be held
on Monday, May 4.
That weekend was marred with several
skirmishes between young people, the police and National Guard. Friday night some windows were broken
downtown. The mayor declared a state of
emergency and closed all the bars which further increased tensions. Tear gas was used to disperse the crowd. Things became increasingly tense on Saturday
as there were rumors that the ROTC building was in danger of being
vandalized. The Governor called out the
National Guard which didn’t arrive until 10pm by which time the ROTC building
was on fire. Tear gas was used to
disperse the crowd. On Sunday evening
there was a rally on campus which then moved downtown. The Guard used tear gas and bayonets to break
up the crowd. Several students received
minor injuries from being bayoneted.
On Monday, May 4, as previously
announced, a peace rally was held on campus with approximately 2,000 students
gathering on the commons. Around noon
the National Guard ordered the crowd to disperse using a bullhorn but the crowd
did not respond. Tear gas canisters were
then fired at the crowd but their trajectory was short only resulting in the
demonstrators moving back slightly. The
Guard then advanced toward the crowd. Some students threw rocks at the guard. The crowd of students dispersed somewhat with
several groups moving away in different directions from the advancing
guard. Tear gas was fired in different
directions at the different groups of students.
Some members of Troop G were ordered to kneel and aim their weapons
toward a group of students gathered in a nearby parking lot but none of the
guardsmen fired at that time while aiming at the students. An officer did fire a handgun into the air. The Guard began moving back in the direction
from which they had originally come.
Protestors began following the Guard as they retraced their steps.
At 12:24pm a sergeant turned and fired his
45 caliber pistol at the crowd of students.
Several Guardsmen also turned and began firing at the students. At least 29 of the 77 Guardsmen fired 67
rounds which lasted about 13 seconds. When
the firing started, many students ran and some dropped to the ground. Many students at first believed they were
firing blanks. Four students were killed
and nine others were wounded. Those
killed were standing between 265 and 390 feet away from the guardsmen. Those wounded ranged from 71 to 750 feet
away. This was the first time a student
was killed in any anti-war gathering in the United States.
The shootings caused huge anger and uproar at
college campuses nationwide. More than 4
million students participated in demonstrations, walk-outs and strikes at
hundreds of campuses across the country causing hundreds of campuses to be shut
down. Public opinion across America regarding
the war in Vietnam was significantly affected as a result of the shootings and
the student strikes.
Meanwhile
back at the ranch…..
On
Tuesday, May 5, the USC Annual Awards Day was being held on the Horseshoe to honor
alumni, faculty and student excellence and to mark the transition from one
student body president to his successor.
A group of about 300 students carrying four crosses with the names of
those killed at Kent State marched from the Russell House student center to the
Horseshoe, walking around the Horseshoe and then being seated behind the speaker’s
platform. Both the outgoing and incoming
student body presidents acknowledged the presence of the demonstrators in a
positive way. Among the demonstrators
were members of a group known as “The Student Emergency Coalition for Academic
Freedom.”(more about this group later).
There were no incidents as the demonstrators sat quietly during the
awards ceremony.
The USC Student Senate voted on Wednesday,
May 6, to hold a voluntary student strike and boycott of classes to be held on
Thursday and Friday. The reasons given
for the strike were the Kent State killings, Solicitor John Foard’s threats
against USC faculty perceived by some as infringement upon academic freedom (more
about this later as well) and non-students being banned from entering the
Russell House. The Student Emergency
Coalition announced on Wednesday that a rally would be held on Thursday on the
Horseshoe at noon and that a sit-in would be held at the Russell House later
that day.
Those of us walking from the Kappa Sig
house to class on Thursday morning discovered that student attendance in class was
down that day. When we returned back to
the house there was some discussion among those present in the lounge about the
call for the boycott of classes and the rally to be held on the Horseshoe that
day. Thus far, those of us in the fraternity had
not participated in any anti-war protests although there was significant concern
about the war in Vietnam. Since the
shootings on Monday, there was a lot of talk and dismay in the frat house about
the students killed at Kent State. There
was also talk that maybe some of us might drop by the announced protest events
and see what was going on later that day.
At midday on Thursday a crowd estimated to
be between 1,000 to1,500 gathered on the Horseshoe in support of the student
strike. It was suggested by some in the
crowd that the flag be lowered to half staff in memory of the students killed
at Kent State. There was some
disagreement from some members of the student government, but a vote was taken
among all those in attendance which was overwhelmingly in favor of lowering the
flag, so it was lowered. At the
conclusion of the rally, most of the students left the Horseshoe and gathered
at the Russell House.
We heard there was going to be a sit-in at
the Russell House, so two of us walked over from the fraternity house to see
what was going on. There was a huge
crowd of students gathered all around the Russell House. Initially, we stood out on the lawn and later
climbed up and stood on the narrow wall of the ramp leading into the front
entrance of the Russell House. Many
students were walking up the ramp and going inside.
By mid-afternoon an estimated 500 students
had entered the Russell House. Shortly
thereafter, University officials announced that the Russell House was closing
and that everyone should exit the building.
The general response from the crowd inside was they were not
leaving. It was then announced that
those refusing to leave the building would be subject to disciplinary action or
possible arrest. In a few minutes, those
inside were told that the SC Highway Patrol had been called and were on the way. By this time the crowd outside the Russell
House had grown to nearly 2,000.
When told they would be arrested most of
the students inside the building began to leave. The Highway patrol and J. Pete Strom, Chief
of S.L.E.D., arrived around 5:00 slowly pulling the police cars through the
crowd blocking Green Street. There were
mixed feelings being expressed by the huge crowd of students in Green Street
and those on the ramp leading into the Russell house. Some students were cheering the arrival of
the police while others tried to block the police from going up the ramp and
entering the building.
My fraternity brother and I were still
standing on the wall of the ramp when the police started moving up the ramp to
enter the building. Just as they were
about to reach us we jumped down off the wall to the ground. There was a guy standing beside us on the wall
who didn’t jump. As we reached the
ground, and started to move away, we turned around to see the guy that had been
standing next to us being hit in the head by a highway patrolman wielding a
night stick. He fell to the ground with
his head bleeding. Some students
standing next to where he fell offered assistance. We decided to move a little farther back.
By the time the police started entering the
building the number inside the Russell House was down to about 75. Once the police were inside there were 36
students left sitting in a circle on the floor of the main lobby holding
hands. The students were told by Chief
Strom they would be arrested if they did not exit the building. The students responded that they wanted to be
arrested. One of those arrested later
shared her feelings that “being arrested was our only option to maintain our
rights.” Since there was such a huge
crowd still in front of the Russell House those arrested were taken out the
kitchen entrance and placed on a Department of Corrections bus.
When students in front of the building
learned the arrested students were being taken out the back, hundreds rushed to
the rear of the building with about 150 sitting down in the street in front of
the bus. The students sitting in front
of the bus were asked several times to move but would not. A little before 6:00
a call was made requesting backup from the National Guard. A few minutes later three National Guard
buses pulled up on Bull Street not far from the parking lot where the
Corrections bus was parked. Finally at
about 6:30, with highway patrolmen walking in front of the bus moving students
out of the way, the bus began heading slowly down Bull Street and eventually to
the S.C. Detentions and Evaluation Center.
Those refusing to leave the Russell House were charged with trespassing
and interference with the normal operation of a university building.
On Friday, May 8, there was a rally at the
Horseshoe of 400 students who then marched down to the Statehouse steps to
protest the arrest of the students the day before and to support their
reinstatement to the University and that their trespass charges be
dropped. The doors of the Statehouse
were locked and about 50 highway patrolmen in riot gear came to the Statehouse
shortly after the students arrived.
Students stayed on the steps about an hour and then returned to
campus. The University Board of Trustees
announced on Friday that hearings would begin on Monday for those arrested on
Thursday at the Russell House. Things
were quiet on the campus over the weekend.
Let us again digress here for a moment and
get a little background on some issues that contributed to the unrest of some
students at USC in addition to the War in Vietnam and the Kent State shootings. As suggested earlier, things on the USC
campus were quiet compared to many other universities around the country but
there were issues that were of concern to some students.
One of these issues was the court-ordered
closing of the UFO, a coffeehouse located on Main Street in Columbia frequented
by hippies, antiwar-activists, and service men from Fort Jackson. On January 15, 1970, the UFO was ordered
closed. The Solicitors office indicated the
“corruption of juveniles as one of the major points” of the indictment. There were several rallies held previously in
Columbia protesting the closing of the coffeehouse, the largest of which
attracted 500 attendees. Then on April
28, three of the “officers” of the UFO were sentenced to 6 years in jail for
operating a public nuisance.
After the trial Solicitor John Foard went on
a campaign against the college professors who testified in defense of the UFO
saying based on their testimony, "there are professors who don't belong at
the University.” This prompted many students to become concerned with the
protection of academic freedom at USC.
A third issue that was of concern to many
was only allowing USC students to enter the Russell House in an effort to keep
“anti-establishment activists” out.
Plain clothes policemen were placed in the Russell House and were
arresting non-students often in what was perceived by some as being in a
“heavy-handed way.” The Student
Emergency Coalition for Academic Freedom, the organization that called for the
sit-in at the Russell House, was organized in response to these concerns.
Let us now return to our time line…...
On Monday, May 11, there was a rally of
three hundred or so students during the mid-afternoon on the Horseshoe. The purpose of the rally was to show support
for dropping the charges and reinstating the students arrested for trespass at
the Russell House sit-in. The students
then marched over to the Administration Building where a meeting of the Board
of Trustees was taking place upstairs. Upon
arriving at the Administration Building a small group of students tried to
enter the building. Student marshalls and
campus police would not let them inside.
However, the protestors were persistent and around 4:00 the student marshalls
and campus police stepped aside and the protestors went into the lobby area. Unfortunately, there were a handful of
students that began throwing papers on the floor and ransacking offices. By this time a huge crowd of students, mostly
curious onlookers, had assembled outside the building as word had spread
quickly across campus that students were “taking over” the Administration Building. We heard about it at the Kappa Sig house so a
couple of us walked over to see what was going on.
Around
4:15 Highway Patrolmen and SLED agents assembled in the parking lot behind the
building. A small group of students started throwing
rocks at the Highway Patrolmen ultimately making the situation significantly
worse. The Highway Patrolmen and SLED
agents entered the building from the rear door and went upstairs where the
Board of Trustees were still meeting discussing action to be taken regarding
those arrested at the sit-in on Thursday.
The crowd of students around the
administration building and Horseshoe continued to grow to an estimated 3,000
by 6:00. Soon word spread among the
crowd that the National Guard was on the way.
When the Guard arrived they formed a line across the Horseshoe on the
Sumter Street end along with a contingent of Highway Patrolmen. They began moving toward the Administration
Building with bayonets fixed on the rifles of the guardsmen as they marched
forward. After advancing a hundred yards or so their pace quickened and they charged
forward. Students on the Horseshoe all
ran away from the charging guardsmen, resulting in a very large group clustered
on the east end of the Horseshoe in front of McKissick Library. The Guard halted their advance and then began
using tear gas to disperse the crowd.
The crowd split into several different groups running in different
directions.
This scenario of groups of students
forming and then being broken up with tear gas continued all evening and into
the early morning hours of Tuesday. The
Guard began chasing groups of students and as the students ran into their dorms,
tear gas from back packs was shot into the doorways of the dorms. Students began throwing bottles out of their
dorm windows and from the roof down on the guard. The Guard responded by shooting tear gas canisters
up on the roof getting tear gas into the air conditioning system of the
dorms. This caused many students to
leave their dorms, thus increasing the number of students outside running
around the campus. Many students who had to leave their rooms were angry at
being gassed and joined in with the demonstrators throwing rocks and bottles at
the Guardsmen. A student complained “I’d
like nothing better than to go to my room, but the gas has gotten into the
ventilation system. Every time I go back
there, I can’t stand it.”
Over 100 students were treated Monday
night at a temporary aid station set up at the Lutheran Center on Pendleton
Street for tear gas inhalation and other injuries. Around 20 were treated at the USC infirmary
with a smaller number treated at local hospitals. My fraternity brother and I witnessed
a student hit in the head by a tear gas canister causing considerable
bleeding. The tear gas canisters were
being fired by grenade launchers. In
this case, the Guardsmen were not in sight of where we were standing. The canister came over the roof of a building
having been fired from the opposite side.
A total of 600 National Guard troops were deployed to the campus Monday
night. A “State of Emergency” was
declared by the Governor Monday night and an 11pm curfew was imposed which was
pretty much ignored.
It was announced that classes would be
held on Tuesday and that any students in groups of more than 3 would be
arrested. All other activities and meetings on campus
were cancelled. Classes were held on
Tuesday and things were quiet. There was
lots of tear gas lying all around and when a National Guard jeep would drive by
it would stir it up. It was a bizarre, eerie,
and troubling sight to see a National Guard jeep with a soldier manning a
mounted machine gun in the back of the jeep driving up and down Sumter Street
passing by the fraternity house. There
were 75 Guardsmen on campus during the day on Tuesday.
A 9pm-6am curfew was imposed for Tuesday
night. There was a rally Tuesday
afternoon at Valley Park of about 500 students who marched down to the State
House around 6:30pm. The crowd sat on
the Statehouse steps while five students met inside with Governor McNair, requesting
amnesty for those arrested at the Russell House on Thursday. As the rally was ending, those sitting on the
steps were encouraged by several student speakers to go peacefully back to
campus and comply with the curfew.
However, there was more trouble Tuesday night as
many students did not comply with the curfew.
Many, many students were very angry about the presence of the National
Guard on campus and angry about the use of tear gas, which affected thousands
of students who were not at all associated with the protests, rallies, or
sit-ins. This anger brought on a
backlash resulting in many students becoming more involved in the protest
movement. Unfortunately, the backlash
also resulted in lots of rocks and bottles being thrown at law enforcement and
the Guardsmen.
Thinking
back on it now, there were probably a significant percentage of Guardsmen who
were called to the campus who did not relish that assignment. Many probably didn’t like shooting tear gas
at students. There were probably a
number in the Guard who were opposed to the war and had actually joined the Guard
to avoid going to Vietnam. But in that
moment it was hard for many students to think beyond the immediate discomfort,
pain, anger and even fear they were feeling about the National Guard being on campus. It almost felt like we were being attacked by
foreign invaders.
Around 9:00pm, when the curfew went into
effect, there was still a group of 300 or more students gathered outside the
“Honeycomb dorms” near the corner of Main and Blossom Street. Guardsmen numbering around 200 were called to
the scene and immediately began discharging more tear gas. Students on the
street and students inside the dorms were throwing rocks and bottles at the
Guardsmen. A few Guardsmen were picking up
rocks and throwing them back at students.
Bright National Guard searchlights were being flashed up and down the
outside walls of the Honeycombs. Highway
Patrolmen entered the Honeycombs to chase down and arrest students, although
this was later denied by officials of the Highway Patrol. Arrests were made all over the campus that
night. At least 104 students and some
innocent bystanders on the periphery of the campus were arrested. Male students who were arrested that night
had their heads shaved for “sanitary” reasons.
There was more tear gas used that
night so the layer on the ground Wednesday morning was thicker than ever. More tear gas canisters were shot on the roofs
of the Honeycomb dorms as well.
Classes were held on Wednesday and things
were calm during the day for the most part.
A small contingent of Guardsmen
were on campus Wednesday. All activities
on campus were cancelled that day except for classes. There was talk that Jane Fonda was coming to
town to speak at a rally. Wednesday
evening there was a rally at Maxcy Gregg Park at which university faculty
members urged students to refrain from violent activity. Flyers were passed out at the rally saying
there would be another rally on Thursday evening at 7:00 at Maxcy Gregg at which
Jane Fonda would be speaking. The 9:00
curfew was still in effect. Students
left the rally in time to get back to their dorms before 9:00. Faculty members conducted forums for
discussion of student grievances that night in numerous dorms. Wednesday night
was much calmer than the previous two nights.
Classes met on Thursday without incident. There was a lot of buzz all day regarding
Jane Fonda’s visit to USC. Fonda was
invited to Columbia by an organization known as “GI’s United Against the War in
Vietnam.” She was engaged in a “tour” of
sorts, traveling around the country to express her opposition to the war in
Vietnam, attending rallies in cities and towns where military bases were
located. Fonda spoke at the rally in
Maxcy Gregg Park on Thursday evening to a crowd of an estimated 4,000 people
which included several of us from the Kappa Sig house. Her message was “in order to bring about
social change become political and avoid violence.” The rally ended peacefully and there were no
confrontations on campus that night.
On Friday, May 15, Governor McNair
announced that he was relaxing the curfew so that it would only be in effect
from 12:00 midnight to 6:00am. Classes
met on Friday without incident. Many
students left town for the weekend and I’m sure I was one of them. On Saturday the curfew was lifted. National Guardsmen were no longer on
Campus.
So in retrospect….. The usually idyllic
spring, in 1970 anyway, turned into a traumatic mess. The tranquility was interrupted by lots of tear
gas; students arrested for trespass, inciting to riot, conspiracy to destroy
records, and curfew violations; lots of rocks and bottles thrown; name calling,
yelling and cursing; ransacking of the administration building; and heads
cracked with night sticks.
What caused all this? The war in Vietnam, the Hippies of the
Counter Culture, the death of students at Kent State, the UFO trial and
solicitor Foard’s campaign against college professors and possible threats
against academic freedom, plain clothes policemen in the Russell House? University President Tom Jones said the UFO
and the academic freedom issue were significant contributing factors. It seems it was a perfect storm that brought
all these things together. But even as
bad as it was, USC didn’t close like hundreds of other universities did, and no
one was seriously injured. Thanks to faculty members who intervened, Governor
McNair who listened to students from both sides of the controversy (McNair was
a Kappa Sig by the way), and just maybe Jane Fonda who called for political
solutions not violence.
So how did these events affect us in the frat
house? We were in the middle of a
situation unlike any we had ever experienced before. As a result we discussed issues we really
hadn’t talked much about before. There
were varying points of view, of course, about many of the factors that were
contributing to the unusual circumstances we were facing. There weren’t any hippies in the fraternity;
we hadn’t participated in any anti-war rallies, although as mentioned earlier,
none of us were eager to head to Vietnam.
There were mixed feelings regarding the sit-in at the Russell House,
some felt the response by law enforcement was extreme, others not so much. Things took a turn, however, when the
National Guard and the tear gas and the curfew came into our world. Many of us were not happy with the tear gas
and not happy about Guardsmen with rifles and bayonets and jeeps with machine
guns mounted on the back.
The
curfew meant that we were trapped all together in the house. We started talking to each other about
dissent, civil disobedience, and the civil rights movement. We started talking about a legal system that
sometimes didn’t treat everyone the same because of differing backgrounds, differing
points of view or because they looked or dressed differently.
Somehow we began feeling that we were being oppressed by the powers that be and it didn’t feel right. These were topics and feelings that weren’t usually talked about in the fraternity house if you know what I mean. And we kept talking about all this for the remaining days in that spring semester. It was a time of growth in our awareness, understanding, and empathy of what it is like to be treated differently or treated unfairly. Without sounding too dramatic, the last few weeks of that “idyllic” spring was a life changing experience for many of us. And…..Life is good!
“For
What It’s Worth”
Written by Stephen Stills
There's something
happening here
But what it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we
stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look, what's going down?
There's battle lines
being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look, what's going down?
What a field day for
the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and they carrying signs
Mostly say, "Hooray for our side"
It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look, what's going down?
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the man comes and take you away
You better stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look, what's going down?
