Groups of protesters huddled together on the Capitol steps, trying to keep warm against the cold evening but were more concerned with amplifying their irate chants against the state government and Gov. Rick Snyder in particular.

Shouts of "Drink the water, Snyder!" and "Flint! Flint! Flint!" could be heard among the hundreds of demonstrators around the Capitol grounds, a reference to the ongoing Flint water crisis. As the governor began his State of the State Address, the protesters moved to the side of the steps, facing towards the upper level of the building where the legislative chamber is located.

The crowd was a mix of students and residents from the surrounding community. Members of Spartan Sierra Club were one of several student groups present.

"We think it's a travesty that people are out in Flint not getting clean water, politicians know about it and it's still being perpetuated," said anthropology sophomore and president of the Spartan Sierra Club Joe Kahn.

Other students included interdisciplinary studies in social science senior Ricardo Vasquez, a resident of Flint who currently commutes to MSU and has been directly impacted by Flint's tainted water.

Vasquez's appearance at Tuesday's protest was his first act of political activism, a debut he said arose from his passion for this issue and his family's active involvement in politics. Like many other residents of Flint, Vasquez has had to work around the unsanitary water by changing his showering routine and drinking from water bottles.

His cousin, Dan Reyes, is the current president of the Local 599 Flint chapter of the United Auto Workers Union, or UAW, which was out in force leading chants and bearing signs. Reyes worked in the GM engine plant in Flint, the same building that stopped using Flint's water due to corrosion concerns in October. 

Seeing the laggard response from government officials, the UAW began coordinating statewide to bring out as many of their members as possible to Lansing. Groups that had members in attendance included the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, or ASME, and the labor union American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, or AFL-CIO.

Snyder has become the poster boy for outrage because of his appointment of emergency managers to the city of Flint since 2013. The second emergency manager, Darnell Earley, made the final call for Flint to switch its water source from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the Flint River on April 25, 2014.

Beyond mismanagement on the part of the state government, members of the protesting crowd were particularly angered over the lack of accountability and misinformation spread by local and state officials about the safety of Flint's water. For close to a year residents were told that pollution in the city's water fell within Centers for Disease Control and Prevention limits, which turned out to be untrue after an independent study was conducted by researchers from Virginia Tech University.