GVSU students hold vigil for Demartravion Reed

Allendale, MI – The Sultry Xi Nu chapter of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority organized a vigil on the evening of Monday, September 22, at Grand Valley State University to honor the life of Demartravion “Trey” Reed, a young Black man who was found deceased on the campus of Delta State University in Mississippi last Monday. The rally was organized in partnership with the GVSU Pan-Hellenic Council and the Progressive Student Union.

Approximately 150 students came together holding signs and candles, forming a large circle beneath the GVSU Allendale campus clock tower. Through the course of the vigil, students stood before the crowd and gave their thoughts, positive and negative, on the position of the Black student community at GVSU and the country at large.

Many students commented on the power of the people on display at the vigil, and the unity present between white and Black students. Others spoke on how they felt endangered by the recent increase in white supremacist hate speech and violence around the country. One Black student walked up to the front of crowd, and declared that Trey Reed had not died by suicide, but was lynched.

Julia Haynes, the Sultry Xi Nu chapter president and community service coordinator, commented on the vigil, “The vigil for Trey Reed was about more than mourning to me, it was about community. People came together and shared their stories, whether painful or uplifting, and in doing so, we honored Trey’s life.”

Haynes continued, “The vigil created a space of support, reflection and solidarity, reminding us of the power of standing together in moments of grief and injustice.”

There was a wide variety of student organizations at the vigil. Representatives of many Black fraternities and sororities spoke, as well as members of various Black cultural and community service organizations. There were also comments of solidarity by members of the Progressive Student Union and the GVSU Skateboarding Club. Unity of the Black student community and broad unity of the multinational student body were prevalent themes.

The racist and reactionary rhetoric of people like President Donald Trump has given rise to more threats against Black people in the United States. Many historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) throughout the Black Belt South have faced threats of violence in recent weeks.

To the students at GVSU, the death of Trey Reed is a tragic part of that recent rise in racism and violence, but the unity of the Black student body and the solidarity of GVSU students at large shows that the true power to challenge these attacks remains in the hands of the people.

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