A repeated boom echoed down Farm Lane as four men passionately beat against a drum in unison and sang traditional American Indian songs with a large crowd following closely behind.
Indigenous People's Day is a time when MSU students and alumni acknowledge the plight of their American Indian ancestors instead of the presence of Christopher Columbus on North American land.
"We can't celebrate a murderer such as Columbus as a hero," Culturas de las Razas Unidas and Movimiento Estudiantil Xicano de Aztlan member Isaias Delgadillo said.
The students lit candles and listened to speeches to respect incidents occurring after Columbus' arrival in 1492, including the Indian Removal Act, which led to the removal of Cherokee people from their homelands during the Trail of Tears.
MSU College of Law student Bryan Newland, a former co-chairman for North American Indigenous Student Organization and a member of the Bay Mills Indian Community, said it's important to move forward.
Students from NAISO, CRU, MEXA, Black Student Alliance, Asian Pacific American Student Organization, the Alliance of Lesbian, Bi, Gay, Transgender and Straight Ally Students, and others were present to support the event. More than 100 students attended, some wearing T-shirts reading "Wanted, Christopher Columbus."
Some students talked about how they were taught conflicting things in school, versus at home.
"I wasn't given the truth," arts and letters freshman Kateri Menominee of the Bay Mills tribe said. "I was told he was a hero, and when I was opposed to it, they told me to go to the principal's office."
She said Indigenous People's Day is a way of honoring ancestors positively
"Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Looking Glass - they were all trying to help people," Menominee said.
"They talked about how the land was not the white man's land to own, but that it was for all the people to freely walk upon."
Jose Villagran, a MEXA co-chairman, said he was upset that his culture was taken from him by Spanish conquistadors.
"I really wont ever know what tribe I came from," he said. "It's something that burns inside of me."
