Dressed in green and white, students left class to walk from Berkey Hall to the Spartan Statue Wednesday, April 12, to honor victims of gun violence and to push for gun violence prevention legislation. The protest took place just short of two months after a mass shooting on Michigan State’s campus.
Before beginning their walk, the crowd of students took a moment of silence outside the front doors of Berkey Hall, where two students were shot and killed in the Feb. 13 shooting. On the walk to the Spartan Statue, the group chanted names of the three MSU victims along with several other victims of gun violence.
Psychology junior and co-organizer Maya Manuel said the event felt like an opportunity to channel her grief into action.
Manuel, who grew up in downtown Lansing, said she has had several people she knows die and experience gun-based violence.
“This is something that was important to me on a deeper level than just what happened on February 13,” Manuel said. “We just want to offer students opportunities to do as they wish and walk with us and really take the opportunity to have their voices be heard and share the names of those who have been lost to gun violence one last time.”
As gun violence prevention bills make their way through the Michigan congress, Manuel said she hoped the walkout would serve as the final pressure to get gun legislation passed into law. She said she also hopes the government introduces mental health-related bills too.
“This whole thing is not just one fix, it’s a stitching process,” Manuel said. “In doing so, it takes a lot of work. But it also takes a lot of motivation and momentum to continue to do those things.”
Business sophomore Ariya Kenny said the walkout was empowering and moving. Kenny was on-campus during the Feb. 13 shooting and attended a high school that neighbors Oxford High School, where a shooting occurred in November 2021.
“I was here on the day of the shooting and that kind of just put me over the edge and I just can't believe it's still happening,” Kenny said. “I mean, Nashville just happened again and nobody's doing anything. So I wanted to do what I could.”
Sitting around the Spartan Statue, Manuel and other students spoke about how students can help push for gun legislation including voting and contacting representatives. For Manuel, she said the most important thing is to continue using her voice to fight for change.
“Oxford students push for (gun regulation) bills to be pushed out for 14, 15 months and it didn't happen until it hit too close to home,” Manuel said. “So how do we make it close to home for the legislators that just don't understand? We use our voices, we share our stories and we put them in our shoes for just one moment.”
