Protest and Vigil Focus on Gun Violence, Perennial Trauma

Their names were painted on The Rock and spoken aloud: Arielle Anderson, a sparkling aspiring pre-med. Brian Fraser, the gregarious president of his fraternity. Alexandria Verner, a beacon of light and love. All killed by a gunman Monday night on the Grand River Avenue side of Michigan State University’s campus.

Five others’ names were not mentioned, but these five individuals were held up repeatedly in prayer and in hope. These are the five MSU students still in critical care at Sparrow Hospital after being shot in the chest, in the head – wounded in ways from which their bodies may never recover.

For thousands of their brother and sister Spartans left behind, there are deep psychological and spiritual scars. Many tell of having called their families Monday night, just in case that was going to be the last chance to express love and gratitude. 

By Thursday, many had moved on to expressions of profound grief and calls to action.

At a protest at the Michigan Capitol on Thursday at noon, some of those left behind called on lawmakers to take real action on guns.

“We have lost too much, and it’s only getting worse,” said Maya Manuel, an MSU junior who organized the protest. 

This is a generation raised on active-shooter training. So, after several speakers addressed the crowd, students lined the walkway to the Capitol steps with their legs crossed, the position they were trained in grade school to use if someone invaded their school looking to kill. 

Among speakers was State Representative Ranjeev Puri. Puri drew national attention following the shooting when he released a statement saying “F*** your thoughts and prayers.” He said he wanted legislation to address gun violence, not just more expressions of grief.

“All it took was five words for the other side to take the attention away from the innocent lives that were stolen from us, to criticize the five words that were spoken,” Puri said.

MSU junior Katie Sundeen shared several stories of brushes with gun violence that she or her loved ones have experienced. 

Sundeen said less than a week before Monday’s shooting in East Lansing, she spent an hour wondering if her mother would return from her job at Okemos High School after the school went into a lockdown for what turned out to be a hoax. 

“My mother is an administrator at Okemos and all she said was ‘I’m safe, that’s all I can say right now,’” Sundeen said. “I immediately thought the worst.”

State representative Julie Brixie, whose district includes MSU’s campus, said the shooting hit her hard.

“MSU has been the heart and soul of my community,” she said. “Like so many others here in the region, I came here to go to MSU and I never left.”

Brixie said after she was elected in 2018, she was hopeful she could help pass legislation that would make it more difficult for dangerous people to obtain guns. She mentioned bipartisan legislation that passed in Florida after the Parkland shooting as evidence this could be done. 

But, Brixie told the crowd, she has been unable to gain the same bipartisan support for her bill in Michigan. 

Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who represents East Lansing and Oxford in Congress, said that Republicans are unwilling to negotiate legislation that will further restrict access to weapons. She said she was “furious” to be protesting gun violence again after the Oxford shooting last year. 

“As elected leaders, above all,” Slotkin said, “the number one responsibility is to protect your citizens.”

State Senator Mallory McMorrow teared up as she shared how she was impacted by the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. 

“When I was in college, the older brother of one of my best friends was killed in the Virginia Tech shooting,” she said. “The fact that I can call people now, that I can talk to kids here, and confidently say that I know what you’ve been through, [that] is not ok.” 

“This should not be a shared, lived experience.”

Six hours later, thousands of people came to The Rock to mourn, retaking a campus that was locked down in terror Monday night.

Before the vigil began and a series of speakers and singers took the stage in front of the Depression-era Auditorium building, those gathered kneeled for several minutes, facing the MSU Rock. Attendees continued to stream in.

Starting at about 6:10 p.m., with a cold wind blowing and an enormous crowd assembled, state and university leaders delivered remarks on the auditorium’s steps. 

An introductory message came from the Rev. Curt Dwyer, the President of the MSU Religious Advisors Association. Dwyer spoke of the coming return to normalcy, while also acknowledging the profound loss felt by the community. Like many of the other speakers, he urged those present to change their lives in meaningful ways.

“As we honor those we remember tonight in this time,” he said, “we also remember them by what we do in the time ahead. In this time of weeping and mourning, we also remember that we honor them when it comes time to return to the classroom or the lab or the office.

“The students that we remember tonight came to MSU to learn more about this world in the hope that they might make it a better place. And we honor them and their legacy by continuing to do ourselves what they came to do, learning and exploring this good creation, and working and serving in whatever we can to make this world a better place.” 

While the great majority of the crowd were MSU undergraduates – the populace targeted by the gunman on Monday night – most of the program seemed directed at an older crowd. Performers delivered two songs known better to older generations, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “Amazing Grace.” 

But when a speaker said, with sadness, “Go Green,” those in the audience responded in force with equal pain, “Go White.”

When she took the stage, Governor Gretchen Whitmer seemed to struggle, tearing up and delivering remarks that were shared earlier in the day on a video from her Twitter feed. These focused on gun control.

Rema Vassar, chair of the MSU Board of Trustees, and Teresa K. Woodruff, MSU’s interim president, spoke of love and transformation, using the slogan “Spartan’s Will.” 

Then MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo took the stage. The students in the crowd reacted visibly, seeming to know that Izzo would speak to them. 

The longtime men’s basketball coach urged them to be real, admitting to wearing his own emotions on his sleeve, not hiding the pain he shared with them.

“To the families of those who were senselessly taken from us, words seem so hollow right now,” he said. “To the individuals currently fighting for their lives and their families, we’re praying for you.”

“I’m also a father of two Spartans of my own,” Izzo continued. “I can’t begin to imagine what all of you are going through. But I know that we as a campus community can offer support to you and to each other. Look around. Look next to you. Shake somebody’s hand. Introduce yourself to somebody you don’t know. That’s who we are. That’s who we need to be more often.”

“Let me close with a challenge,” he said. “Let’s all do a better job taking care of one another. Through no fault of our own, but COVID has left us to all feel a little more separated from one another. It drives me crazy. We need each other. For 40 years, I have always believed that, at Michigan State, we are at our own strongest when we’re together.”

The vigil’s program included two student speakers – Hannah Jeffery, president of the Council of Graduate Students, and Jo Kovach, president of the Associated Students of Michigan State University (MSU’s undergraduate government) – and it ended with their remarks. Both were visibly upset.

“To my fellow students, my wonderful, amazing Spartans, it is OK to not be okay right now,” said Kovach. “No matter where you were or what you were doing, you are completely valid in feeling whatever it is that you are feeling in this moment and whatever you are going to feel in the foreseeable future.”

“This is our home,” Kovach continued, “and we went through the unimaginable. We lost three beautiful souls who we attend classes with, are friends with, are in clubs with. Their absence on this campus and in this world will forever be felt.”