While the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, has recently been discussed by various news outlets, this tragedy certainly isn’t anything new. According to ABC News, in April of 2014 Flint began getting its water from the Flint River instead of Detroit. The goal of the switch was an initiative to save money. However, residents immediately noticed a change in the water, complaining about its color, taste and smell. In addition to complaints about the water quality were reports of rashes and hair loss, along with other health problems.
On two occasions in 2015 Flint officials said the water had been tested and was safe for residents to use and drink, yet in September of that same year, a group of doctors led by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha found high levels of lead in the blood of children and urged Flint officials to stop using the Flint River. On Jan. 5, 2016, Gov. Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency in Flint.
Snyder took to his Twitter account where he said, “Political statements and finger pointing from political candidates only distract from solving the Flint water crisis.” This is an oddly convenient remark for Snyder considering that on Dec. 29 Dan Wyant, director of the Department of Environmental Quality resigned.
It is not name calling, Mr. Snyder, when you are responsible, at least in part, to a gross injustice committed against such a helpless group of people, the very same people who you are supposed to protect. It is not name calling when, for two years, people have suffered from a poisonous water supply.
While greed is inarguably a pertinent factor in the Flint water crisis, race is as well. Famous filmmaker Michael Moore called for a rally in his hometown of Flint, Michigan, where he called for the arrest of Gov. Snyder. “Let’s call this what it is. It’s not just a water crisis. It’s a racial crisis. It’s a poverty crisis. It is a crisis created by the Republican governor and visited upon a city that is majority black and majority poor.”
According to the State of Working America, African-Americans have the highest poverty rate, and 45.8 percent of black children below the age of six live in poverty, compared to 14.5 percent of white children.
NBC reported that 10 people recently died due to a direct correlation with the water crisis and dozens more are ill with Legionnaires disease.
Yes, the Flint water crisis could happen anywhere. At any given time our politicians could decide to cheapen costs and poison our water supply, but the likelihood of that happening is very slim. Why? Because we matter.
Sadly the Flint and Michigan politicians and administrators did not deem this group of people as worthy of a clean water supply. This ordeal would not have gone on for two years if the predominant victims were white or affluent citizens. And the decision to knowingly use contaminated water would certainly never have been made if the predominant victims were white, affluent citizens.
The actions of the politicians in Flint are a direct representation of the way the poor are regarded in the eyes of our government. For two years, people have been drinking lead-contaminated water, believing that the system would take care of them and it failed them as it does in so many other ways. Serious actions need to be taken against all parties involved in this disgusting display of injustice. People should be fired, and people should be prosecuted.
