Outside Gov. Rick Snyder’s private Ann Arbor apartment Wednesday evening, protesters gathered to beat the drum for the embattled Michigan governor’s resignation over his handling of the ongoing water crisis in Flint. Each Wednesday since January, activists have gathered in front of Snyder’s Main Street apartment to call for his resignation.
With passing cars honking in support, the activists — numbering between 30 and 40 — collected signatures from passersby for a petition to recall Snyder from office while chanting condemnations of the state’s handling of the crisis.
“Ricky, Ricky, you can’t hide, we can see your dirty side!” the crowd chanted. “Snyder lied; people died!”
Flint resident Adam Murphy, a father of five, said he joined the protest to bring attention and additional aid to the emergency, describing the current response as inadequate. Murphy said his family’s water is still unsafe, so he must travel out of town to relatives’ homes to shower.
Murphy also said the contaminated water has taken a toll on his and his family’s health, forcing him to leave his job as a millwright.
“My son was born with lead in his blood … my 8-year old son’s got teeth coming in with holes in them,” Murphy said. “We need relief; we need environmental doctors doing evaluations on us.”
Ann Arbor resident Jan BenDor — one of the protest’s organizers — said she intends to continue to organize protests until Snyder leaves office and the state.
“We want to get Snyder out of Michigan,” BenDor said. “He can go to China … where he’s taken all our jobs from the computer business; he can go live with the Koch brothers, his mentors,” BenDor said.