With agitated drivers honking behind them, students protesting the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative rallied on Grand River Avenue Thursday evening.
Engineering junior Andrew Hoyles helped organize the rally against Proposal 2. Hoyles, along with dozens of other protesters, hopes that spreading awareness about the issue will gain support for the cause.
"We are doing a vocal demonstration to show our opposition to Proposal 2," Hoyles said as he helped stretch out a banner.
"People who don't know about Proposal 2 will know when they see and hear us in the streets."
Proposal 2 is part of the MCRI and will hit the ballot this November.
If passed, the proposal would amend the state constitution to prohibit state and local governments from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment, to any individual or group based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.
Thursday's rally, which started on the banks of the Red Cedar River, was a small part of a larger operation organized by Defend Affirmative Action Michigan.
"We have been doing a lot of other events. We have been doing a lot of fliering," Hoyles said.
"This is to show students that affirmative action will affect their lives."
Heavily outnumbered, the Young Americans for Freedom, or YAF, also attended the rally to show its support for MCRI.
The conservative student organization supports Proposal 2, calling affirmative action racist.
YAF chairman Kyle Bristow said that affirmative action is an issue of right and wrong.
"We feel that it is important to show that all of MSU does not support the racist affirmative action," said Bristow, an international relations sophomore.
"A quote from Martin Luther King Jr. is 'quality of character not color of skin.'"
Bristow pointed to states, such as Washington and California, that have already passed civil rights initiatives and said he is confident it will pass in Michigan.
Although much hostility is directed toward YAF, Bristow said he will not stop supporting his cause.
"There is a lot of hatred against us on their part," Bristow said.
"They shout obscenities at us, but it's good to see them protesting something other than beverages."
Brad Nowitzke, an animal science sophomore, heard about the rally through the Web site Facebook.com.
Nowitzke, who is white, said he's against affirmative action.
"Affirmative action is racist," he said. "It is an insult to people of different skin colors. Because I am a different race doesn't mean that I need help getting into college."
With the proposal hitting the ballot two months from now, it seems the people most affected by last night's protests were those on Grand River Avenue.
Japanese junior Catherine Clark was walking down Grand River Avenue when she saw the protesters in the streets.
"It was really cool," Clark said. "It is good to see people come out and speak their voices."
Staff writer Fredricka Paul contributed to this report.
