EAST LANSING, Mich. — Students at an East Lansing, Michigan, high school walked out of class Wednesday in honor of the victims of the mass shooting in Buffalo.
Ten people were killed and three people injured in the shooting at a local grocery store on Saturday. The gunman was taken into custody and is currently being held.
The students staged a peaceful protest and walked out to honor those killed.
The demonstration was organized by the students, who belong to the Black Student Union at East Lansing High School.
The students shared how the shooting affected them and their need to do something in their own community.
"It's just a hard thing to live with every day not knowing whether or not you're safe. You know even just walking down the street or jogging down the street like Ahmad Aubrey was or driving in your car like so many of us have or you know going to a grocery store and starting to feel not safe and it was hard thinking about how that could have been us ... my friends, my family ... it could have happened," says Kyrah Bey, a sophmore at the school.
"At first I was really scared. I felt sad for families, for the victims, and I felt angry because I thought we made progress, but people are still out there thinking these harmful things and people are still doing harmful things like what just happened. And I didn't know what to do but obviously I figured it out."
Added Tyrah Daniel, a junior: "Today I wanted to inform the students and just sit here in remembrance of silence of the members that were lost in Buffalo. The purpose was to spread the word and let people know that this does happen. Just because it doesn't happen every day and not to you, it does happen even in your on communities."
Police say the gunman had planned to kill Black people and traveled to Buffalo for that reason.