With drumming and traditional singing, the North American Indian Student Organization, or NAISO, honored Tuesday the victims of the recent shooting at the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota at the rock on Farm Lane.
During the vigil, students offered their prayers and spoke about the issues facing Native American communities today. Organization members also accepted donations for the victims' families.
"We're holding it because human lives were lost," Ashley Harding said. Harding, a pre-law junior, said the event was important because the shootings not only affected the Native American student community, but Native Americans throughout the United States. "This tragedy affects everyone equally."
The shooting occurred March 21 when Jeff Weise, a student at Red Lake High School, shot and killed 10 people, including himself.
Hospitality business senior Don Lyons led the organization's drum group and helped emcee the event. The group composed a new song just for the event, which Lyons said was in honor of the victims and their families.
He said they wanted to pay respect for those who died and also address the lack of media attention given to the shootings.
"We want to bring the tragedy back into the public eye," he said.
Lyons said he thought the media was not paying as much attention to the event because it happened on an Indian reservation.
"People have it in their heads that Indians are not the same as other people - like their deaths don't matter as much," Lyons said.
No-preference freshman Sarah Slama attended the event.
"I just feel like it is good to honor lives, it was a tragedy and it affects anyone no matter if you're Native American or not, so I felt like coming out and showing my support would be important."
He said that the main focus was mourning for the victims but also raising awareness of the harsh economic conditions that exist on many reservations.
"When most people think of Indians, they think casinos," Lyons said. "On reservations without casinos, it is like a Third World country. They don't have the basic necessities for survival - like (land for agriculture)."
First-year MSU College of Law student Bryan Newland addressed some of these social issues facing reservations during the event.
"Statistics show there is an increase in violence among young Indian men," Newland said.
But Newland said some of the problem rests within the Native American community.
"If you look at the traditions of the Ojibwe people, who are the people in Red Lake, they are very peaceful," Newland said.
He said the event was a way to recognize the struggles of indigenous people.
"It's important to send a message to the people in Red Lake and people all over the world in a similar situation that they're not alone, not forgotten."
State News staff writer Rashad L. Jackson contributed to this report.
