LANSING, Mich. — Vigils were held and memorials were created in the wake of Monday night’s tragedy, helping Michigan State students mourn the lives lost and the victims injured and impacted.
On Wednesday afternoon, they continued to mourn. But this time, they were on the steps of the capitol building, rallying for change.
“I wasn’t planning on speaking for too long, but I am so angry, just as so many of us are,” said Maya Manuel at the podium. “We are so angry. I don’t know how to help. I don’t know how to help, OK. I am just scared.”
Manuel, who organized the rally with a post on social media, invited all current Michigan State students to sit on the steps as she spoke and asked lawmakers to stand and look at them.
“When we have to run fight or hide, we don’t know where to run fight or hide,” says MSU student & organizer Maya Manuel.
— Lauren Edwards (@LaurenEdwardsTV) February 15, 2023
She organized the rally happening now on the Capitol steps, days after Monday nights tragedy. // @FOX17 pic.twitter.com/GPPCe62ISS
“When we have to run, fight, and hide, we don’t know where to run, fight, and hide. Sometimes we can’t,” Manuel said. “I’m just tired. I really am. I really am. So, right now, I hope you guys are taking in this message. Look at your peers. Look at the people next to you. This could be anyone at any time at any day.”
Manuel told the crowd that when she created the event, she expected only 20 people to show up. However, dozens of students, alum, supporters, and people from the community rallied on the lawn in front of the Capitol building, including a few lawmakers.
“As elected leaders, above all, the number one responsibility is to protect your citizens,” said Rep. Elissa Slotkin. “Protect your citizens from harm, right. We can talk about every other issue after that, but if people can’t live, then elected officials are not doing their job, and the number one killer of young people under 21 is gun violence. So, you either decide that you give a crap about children and you’re going to do something about what is killing them, or you cannot say you care about children”
“If you will not come to the table to negotiate you will be out of office a year from now.”
— Lauren Edwards (@LaurenEdwardsTV) February 15, 2023
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, speaking to Dems and Republicans, on the Capitol steps at a gun reform rally, two days after the tragedy at Michigan State University. // @FOX17 pic.twitter.com/uyiVK5h10B
State Senator Mallory McMorrow also attended the rally. She and others listened as dozens of students shared stories of where they were Monday night, and how the shooting has impacted them since.
“One of the previous students is right: you don’t know until you’ve been through it,” McMorrow said in an interview with FOX 17. “I didn’t expect to be as emotional as I am today, having lost somebody that I grew up with in Virginia Tech, and just feeling it over and over and over again.”
Afterwards McMorrow returned inside the Capitol building where the House of Representatives held a moment of silence for the three lives lost and the five victims in the hospital. Lawmakers invited the crowd to attend, which many promptly did.
“There’s nothing more important right now than hearing these kids and seeing them,” McMorrow said. “And making sure that they know that we see them and we hear them and we’re committed to getting something done.”
