Paul Keane: Vermont hate crime hits home for man paralyzed at Kent State

My friend Dean Kahler and I have been communicating about Hisham Awartani, the 20-year-old Palestinian student paralyzed in a shooting in Burlington, Vermont recently.

I live in Vermont and am deeply disturbed by what seems like a hate crime. Two of Hisham’s friends, also 20, and one a Trinity College student, also were shot, as all three walked on Prospect Street in Burlington the Saturday after Thanksgiving. They were chatting in Arabic and wearing the white and black checkered scarves typical of Palestinians as 48-year-old Jason Eaton allegedly turned on his porch and shot all three of them. Eaton pleaded not guilty. The U.S. Department of Justice, and state law enforcement agencies, were investigating whether the shooting was a hate crime.

Dean Kahler is the student paralyzed when the 22 National Guardsmen wheeled around near Kent State University’s famous Pagoda, knelt, and aimed their rifles, shooting into a crowd of student protesters.

The bullets killed four students, two girls and two boys, all either 20 or 19, and wounded nine other students. Dean is classified as a “T-9 paraplegic”, meaning he only has feeling as far down as the 9th thoracic vertebra in his back.

“The bullet shattered, T-9,10,&11. It is in my chest in void where the lower lobe of my left lung was…very clear in any and all chest x-rays,” Dean tells me.

Dean has been in a wheelchair for all those 53 years.

Hisham was the most seriously wounded of the three Palestinian students walking in Burlington.  A bullet is lodged in his spine. The wound is similar to that suffered by Dean at Kent State 53 years before.

“I hope he has a good family to support to guide him through these difficult early days of his disability. Along with friends and his immediate community,” Dean texted me.

We can hope advances in physical therapy and brain implant technology will make Hisham’s recovery trajectory different from Dean’s own.

“I wish him well. Those, plus psychological help,” Dean said. “Early encouragement and lifestyle information. I didn’t get that until I was sitting up, until late August.”

I asked what he meant by “lifestyle.” Dean replied that those who suffer paralysis must learn about “sex, bathroom routines, dressing, nutrition, hydration, adjusting to the time it takes to do things to get going each day. To name a few. Inspecting one’s skin at least twice daily. Checking skin for red hot spots.”

Then I recalled what Dean told me in 1973 when we went to the White House to lobby for a federal grand jury investigation of the Kent State shootings. We shared a hotel room and Dean told me he had to check his torso and legs every day with a mirror to make sure there were no cuts. He could exacerbate a cut and create a pressure wound or sore without knowing it because he can’t feel anything from his 9th thoracic vertebra to his toes.

At one point Dean’s wheelchair got stuck between the toilet and sink and he couldn’t get into the bathtub. He asked my help in lifting him into the tub. I am ashamed to admit I was terrified when I saw the scar across his chest from the surgery to save his life. It looked like he had been struck by lightning.

Dean is now 73. He completed three marathons in his wheelchair. He competes in 5k, 10k, and half marathons yearly. Sometimes he is the only disabled entry in the race. He has been an Ohio county commissioner and a public school teacher.  Dean lobbied for the Americans with Disabilities Act in his wheelchair. The architectural traps and dead ends for the disabled he encountered in 1973 are now illegal in 2023.

Dean told me he wishes Hisham well. And he didn’t just leave it at that. He told me what the world needs to know about paralyzed people to help that wish come true. No euphemisms, just plain talk.

Paul Keane is a Connecticut native, a retired Vermont teacher and a graduate of Kent State and Yale Divinity School. He was attending Kent State in May 1970.