Is East Lansing Still Behaving Like a Sundown Town?

2 hours ago

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A history of racial exclusion, repeated police use-of-force controversies and new data on racial disparities revive an old question.

Downtown East Lansing after dark. The city’s history, recent police use-of-force controversies and racial disparities have renewed questions about how Black residents and visitors experience the community at night. Photo via Pexels

For generations, the term “sundown town” described American communities that intentionally excluded Black people and other racial minorities. In some places, signs or ordinances made the rule explicit. In others, housing discrimination, intimidation, violence, policing practices and local custom communicated who was welcome and who was expected to leave. Historian James W. Loewen’s research has shown that many such communities existed outside the South, including throughout the Midwest.

East Lansing appears in the History and Social Justice database inspired by Loewen’s research. The database classifies East Lansing’s historical sundown status as “probable” and identifies Black people as the group historically excluded. It also notes that researchers have not identified an explicit East Lansing sundown ordinance or sign. The database cites accounts indicating that Black Michigan State students were once unable to live on campus or nearby and includes a passage attributed to Malcolm X describing Black people as not being allowed in East Lansing after dark during the 1930s.

That history does not by itself establish that East Lansing functions as a sundown town today. The city is home to Black residents, students, employees and businesses, and there is no present law requiring Black people to leave after dark. Still, the historical record provides important context for a question that has repeatedly surfaced among Black residents and local officials. That question has become harder to ignore as controversies involving East Lansing police have accumulated over several years.

The Question Did Not Begin With Isaiah Kirby

East Lansing and Michigan State University have changed dramatically over the decades, but historians have documented a legacy of racial exclusion that remains part of the city’s history. Photo Credit: Courtesy Library of Congress

In February 2021, then East Lansing school board treasurer Kath Edsall publicly described East Lansing as a sundown town during discussions about racial disparities in policing. Edsall said Black people in the community had viewed the city that way since she arrived in 1978. Her remarks followed the release of four years of East Lansing Police Department data showing officers used force against 184 Black people and 179 white people between 2017 and 2020. That disparity drew particular attention because East Lansing’s population at the time was overwhelmingly white.

The same reporting showed concerns extending beyond use of force. ELPD data indicated racial disparities in arrests and police stops, while city officials and members of a committee studying independent police oversight debated what those disparities meant. Some members argued the data already demonstrated a problem and that the city needed to focus less on establishing whether disparities existed and more on understanding why. City officials supported additional outside analysis before drawing broader conclusions about racial bias.

That distinction remains important today. A racial disparity does not by itself establish that every officer acted because of racial bias or that every use of force was improper. It does, however, create a legitimate statistical question when the disparity remains large across repeated years and different types of police encounters. The more persistent the pattern becomes, the more important independent analysis, transparency and case-by-case review become.

The Numbers Have Become More Difficult to Dismiss

A draft analysis presented to the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission in September 2026 has intensified those concerns. Adrian College professor Cedrick Heraux reviewed ELPD use-of-force data and reported that police used force in 198 incidents involving 274 people during 2025, an increase of more than 50 percent in incidents compared with 2024. His analysis separated force into levels ranging from physical control techniques to less-lethal weapons and firearms. The report found that racial differences remained even after factors such as resistance, behavior and alleged offense type were considered.

Heraux reported that Black subjects were 173 percent more likely than white subjects to experience a more severe level of force after the model accounted for the other factors analyzed. He also found increased force across all three categories studied, although the largest increase occurred among the least severe encounters. The finding does not prove the motivation of any individual officer or determine whether a particular use of force was lawful. It does provide evidence that race remained statistically associated with the severity of force even after other variables were considered.

The comparison with East Lansing’s resident population is striking, although it must be interpreted carefully. Current Census Bureau estimates show East Lansing is approximately 8 percent Black alone and 72.9 percent white alone. A resident-population percentage is not a perfect comparison for police encounters because East Lansing attracts Michigan State University students, employees, visitors and nightlife patrons who may live elsewhere. Even with that limitation, the size and persistence of the racial gap has been substantial enough to remain a central subject of the city’s police oversight work.

The 2025 Welcome Weekend Arrests

*Downtown East Lansing remains a central focus of debates over policing, nightlife and public safety. Photo via Pixels*

Public attention intensified during Michigan State University’s Welcome Weekend in August 2025. Lonnie Smith and Mason Woods, two young Black men, were pepper-sprayed and arrested by East Lansing police outside Dave’s Hot Chicken. Initial descriptions of the incident characterized the men as being involved in a fight. Later surveillance footage and accounts presented publicly raised questions about whether Smith had instead been attempting to de-escalate an altercation involving Woods and another person.

The encounter became part of a larger debate over policing in downtown East Lansing during busy weekends. Critics, including members of the police oversight commission and relatives of the men, questioned whether pepper spray was necessary and whether officers provided sufficient warning or attempted meaningful de-escalation. Police leadership defended officers’ response amid what officials described as difficult and chaotic public-safety conditions downtown. The disagreement illustrates why short cellphone clips, police narratives, surveillance footage and complete body-camera evidence must all be examined when determining what occurred.

The Smith and Woods case also became relevant again one year later. At an August 2026 oversight commission meeting, Nadia Sellers, Smith’s mother, appeared alongside the mother of another young Black person whose arrest had generated controversy. Sellers told commissioners that subsequent incidents continued to traumatize her son and renewed her demand for leadership changes and additional de-escalation training. Her comments reflected a broader concern that these encounters were being experienced by families not as isolated events, but as part of a continuing pattern.

The Killing of Isaiah Christopher Kirby

On April 15, 2026, East Lansing police shot and killed 21-year-old Michigan State University senior Isaiah Christopher Kirby after officers responded to a reported stabbing. The City of East Lansing identified Kirby as the person suspected in the stabbing and said Michigan State Police became the lead agency investigating the officer-involved shooting. The stabbing victim survived and was later released from the hospital, according to the city. Kirby’s death quickly became another focal point in the debate over ELPD’s use of force.

Courtesy Photo: Isaiah Christopher Kirby, 21, was shot and killed by East Lansing police on April 15, 2026. His family and attorney have questioned the level of deadly force used and have called for independent review of the shooting.

Kirby’s family and attorney Teresa A. Caine Bingman have disputed whether the level of deadly force used was justified. In a statement published by The Chronicle News, Bingman said the family believed the city’s initial video presentation was selectively edited and failed to provide enough uninterrupted footage for the public to independently evaluate the shooting. She also questioned the number of shots fired and whether officers could have used other tactics. Those assertions represent the family attorney’s account and should remain clearly distinguished from the final conclusions of investigators or prosecutors.

After later viewing additional video, Bingman issued another statement alleging that officers fired more than 20 rounds and continued shooting after Kirby had fallen. She argued that what the family saw did not demonstrate that the level of deadly force was necessary. Those claims remain part of the family’s legal and public challenge to the shooting, rather than an independent finding by The Chronicle. The case therefore belongs in this story as an unresolved and highly consequential use-of-force controversy, not as a settled determination of misconduct.

Myana Collins and the August 2026 Arrest

Another confrontation brought East Lansing policing back into the spotlight in August 2026. Video circulated online showing 20-year-old Myana Collins, a Black woman, being restrained outside Harper’s Restaurant and Brew Pub during the early morning hours of Aug. 2. In the video, Collins appears face down, handcuffed and restrained at the legs while an officer strikes her multiple times in the back and arm. ELPD responded by saying that the circulating video did not show the entire encounter.

The incident quickly reached the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission and Human Rights Commission. Collins’ family said she was later taken from jail to a hospital for a CT scan because of concern about a possible head injury, while community members renewed calls for changes to use-of-force and de-escalation policies. One officer was placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation. Collins was not charged by ELPD at the time described in the August reporting.

By Sept. 18, the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office had declined to authorize felony charges related to the incident and returned the matter to East Lansing’s city attorney for further review and possible charges. ELPD also said it would not yet release body-camera footage because officials believed release could interfere with the continuing legal process. Declining felony charges does not automatically answer the separate question of whether the force complied with police policy or whether administrative discipline is appropriate. Those are distinct legal, administrative and policy questions.

What Makes a Sundown Town?

The History and Social Justice project cautions that a sundown town is not simply a community where a racist incident once occurred. Historically, these places intentionally maintained racial exclusion over time through formal rules, violence, threats, housing policies, law enforcement or deeply established social practices. Many former sundown towns later abandoned explicit exclusion while continuing to struggle with what the project calls second-generation consequences of that history. That distinction matters when evaluating a modern city such as East Lansing.

For East Lansing, the strongest documented traits are not the existence of a modern sundown ordinance or sign. They are the city’s documented history of Black exclusion, longstanding testimony from Black residents, repeated racial disparities in police encounters and recent independent findings concerning the severity of force. Those facts do not automatically prove that East Lansing is presently a sundown town. They do explain why some residents continue to use the term and why the comparison has survived for decades.

The recurring timing and geography of some recent incidents also deserve closer reporting. Several controversial encounters have occurred late at night in East Lansing’s downtown entertainment district, where large numbers of students and visitors gather. Police and downtown businesses have legitimate public-safety concerns involving fights, intoxication, weapons and crowd control, particularly during major MSU weekends. The question for public officials is whether those challenges are being managed consistently and whether Black people are subjected to more severe police responses when comparable behavior and circumstances are taken into account.

Oversight, Transparency and Public Trust

East Lansing created its Independent Police Oversight Commission after years of public debate surrounding policing and racial disparities. The existence of that commission demonstrates that city leaders have acknowledged a need for civilian review, data collection and public discussion. At the same time, commissioners and community members have continued to raise concerns about access to information, investigative authority and the department’s approach to use-of-force policy. These competing developments show a city attempting reform while still confronting deep disagreements over accountability.

Public trust becomes especially difficult to restore when controversial incidents accumulate before earlier cases are fully resolved. Families may interpret each new video through the lens of encounters that came before it, while police officials may argue that each case must be evaluated according to its own facts. Both points matter in responsible reporting. A pattern can deserve examination without assuming that every event within that pattern had the same cause or the same legal outcome.

So, Is East Lansing a Sundown Town Today?

There is substantial evidence supporting the conclusion that East Lansing has a history of racial exclusion. The Loewen-inspired database classifies the city as a probable historical sundown town, and historical accounts describe Black exclusion extending into the twentieth century. Local residents and officials have continued using the term in modern discussions about race and policing. Those are documented facts rather than a conclusion about the city’s present identity.

There is also substantial current evidence of racial disparities in encounters involving East Lansing police. The newest independent analysis found Black subjects more likely to experience severe force even after other factors included in the analysis were controlled for. High-profile cases involving Smith and Woods, Kirby, Collins and others have added individual stories to those statistics. At the same time, investigations and legal reviews have produced different outcomes, and allegations of excessive force should not be treated as established findings unless the evidence supports that conclusion.

The real question may therefore be larger than whether East Lansing qualifies for one label. It is whether a community with a documented history of racial exclusion has sufficiently confronted the ways that history can continue through institutions, perceptions and unequal outcomes. A city can remove discriminatory rules long before it removes the mistrust those rules created. East Lansing now has data, testimony and recent incidents that make that examination unavoidable.

The question beneath the phrase “sundown town” remains painfully simple. Who feels protected in East Lansing after dark, and who feels watched? The answer cannot come from one viral video, one police statement or one statistical report. It will have to come from sustained transparency, complete evidence, independent scrutiny and the experiences of the people who move through the city every day.

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