On April 2, nearly 150 students were killed and 79 more were injured in Kenya due to an attack by al-Shabaab. The ambush occurred in Garissa University College in the northeastern region of Kenya.

Non-Muslim students were the target of the attack under a forced siege during the early morning. President Kenyatta has described al-Shabaab as an “existential threat” and have promised to “fight terrorism to the end” in Kenya.

Here at MSU, we have Kenyan students who are personally affected by this massacre and are grieving. Other students are also in pain and in awe at the fact that such a heinous activity can occur to students just like them in Africa.

However, currently on the MSU campus there has been silence about the innocent lives that were slaughtered in the name of vengeance. African lives are just as important and should be discussed and acknowledged within the walls of our university.

So, earlier this week, we invited students, faculty, staff and the Lansing Kenyan Association to express their mourning and provide further commentary at a vigil at the rock on Farm Lane. It is integral as university students that we continue to speak about issues of utmost importance not only in America, but in the world.

Several campus organizations and departments are working together to illuminate this issue. #147IsNotJustANumber is a hashtag created by a Kenyan woman named Ory Okolloh based on the original estimated death count, and it has spread throughout the social media.

MSU has joined this global conversation.

We, like the rest of the world who are engaging in social activism on campus and in various global communities, believe that #147IsNotJustANumber — but human beings who had dreams and aspiration just like you and me ... and their lives matter.

This letter was collaboratively written by student leaders of the African Student Union, African Student Leadership Association, Black Student Alliance, African American and African Studies Program, and the Sankofa Graduate Student Union.