LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – As Michigan State University students and families gather for dozens of vigils to remember the lives lost in the school shooting on Feb. 13, some are gathering at the Capitol to seek legislators’ voices and votes to prevent more school shootings.
MSU Junior Maya Manuel who is currently studying Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice and Public Policy, took to Snapchat and sent the following message to campus:
“Organizing a protest at the capital at 12pm on Wednesday the 15th I need your help. Bring your voices, bring your posters. We need change. This is not okay,” Manuel also added, “If you’re serious at all it takes is a screen shot and a share.”
Manuel said that she attends Berkey for classes nearly every day and goes to the union to study after classes – the two locations of the shooting. She also said that she wanted the protest to be a silent protest.
“We’ve sat silent in our classrooms since we have been children. Threatened with these horrors constantly. This is the third shooting this year, the other two I missed by minutes and luckily no one was injured,” Manuel said in an email to Michigan News Source. “This is really a way to sit down and reflect on what this year has brought us, so many shootings have taken place, too many lives are gone and we’ve had enough.”
She also expressed that she hoped that the Legislature would hear the student’s voices.
“These situations can no longer be considered statistics! This is real! I do not personally know the victims but my closest friends have known the victims personally and they are not taking this information in lightly, they are furious, they are tired,” Manuel said in an email to Michigan News Source. “I am student, new to planning all of these things. I just want change, and I am not afraid to speak now.
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What began as a call to action for other MSU students via social media platforms has now gained the attention of numerous lawmakers including Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton Township), U.S. Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin (D-Lansing), and Attorney General Dana Nessel among others.
Legislators will begin speaking at 11 am according to a Facebook post from Manuel, and then she will speak around 12:20 followed by other student and parent speakers on an open mic.
According to Manuel, the protesters will gather outside the Capitol “in a line file cross legged to demonstrate how we sat as children when we first learned about all of this.”
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