The New York Times reported that Flint, Michigan Mayor Karen Weaver said, “It’s a minority community, it’s a poor community and voices were not being heard. And that’s a part of this problem.”
Weaver said Flint residents had been complaining about the city’s water ever since Flint switched from Detroit’s pricey water system to the Flint River in April 2014. Michigan’s state government was contacted about this issue and has now released more than 200 pages of emails discussing the Flint water crisis, dating all the way back to the month of the switch. And only now, after the state government has failed to guarantee clean water to its residents, has the contaminated water of Flint become a national issue.
It’s easy for elected officials to ignore those who have the least amount of influence and power. It most likely wasn’t in the Michigan government’s best financial interests to help Flint. If the state government was looking for money, there was none to be found there.
It’s all party politics and chasing money.
Flint’s poverty rate is 41.6 percent, and its median income is $24,679, according to the United States Census Bureau. That’s almost three times the national poverty rate and nearly half the national median income. There’s obviously no money for campaigns to be found in Flint, Michigan.
This likely wouldn’t have occurred in a wealthier community. First of all, the corroding pipes that leaked lead into the water supply would have been fixed.
When California suffered a drought in 2015, the state government was quick to impose regulations and sanctions on water. Yet when a town in Michigan has had to deal with contaminated water, it takes almost two years to garner national and even state attention.
Though politicians and celebrities alike are donating water and money to Michigan — shout-out to Cher — the most meaningful help can only come from the Michigan state government. No amount of water or purifiers will suffice. To prevent anything like this from happening again, the city and state governments must change the foundation on which they are being run.
Flint residents couldn’t afford to move when their complaints weren’t being addressed. They couldn’t afford to buy bottled or purified water. They couldn’t afford to do anything except sit and watch their government do nothing.
There’s a basic level of trust between people and their governments. If the people of Flint can’t trust their government to provide them with potable water, then how can they trust that their government has their best interests at heart? Having clean drinking water is a human right. And the residents of Flint were denied that by their own government. Their local and state governments, quite frankly, have failed them.
Michigan officials are going so far as to deny that Flint’s water is undrinkable. L. Brooks Patterson, executive of the neighboring Oakland County, has hinted that Flint’s water problem may not be as severe as the media makes it out to be, the Detroit Free Press reported.
If this same incident had happened in the City of Boston for example, the problem would likely last no longer than a week. Not only does Boston hold more residents, but many people who live in the city hold influence. It matters to the government that some Bostonians will get upset with them. That didn’t seem to be the case in Flint.
Why is this tagged with Islamic State? I was afraid there would be a comparison, which would have been a stretch.
I am the media and communications officer for County Executive Patterson. Unfortunately, a few in the media has “vastly overstated” Mr. Patterson’s comments. The rest of Detroit’s media did not.
Here’s some direct evidence. The Detroit Economic Club which hosted the luncheon, sent out this selected clip of the event by email afterward. It was dealing with a question about Detroit Public Schools, even there, Mr. Patterson is still stating how serious the crisis in Flint is:
http://corporatecontent.biz/clientassets/dec/eblast/2016/0120/dec_big-four-landing.html
Also, the next morning, Paul W. Smith on WJR-AM, who attended the luncheon, interviewed Mr. Patterson. Smith started off with about a minute of dialogue about how astounded he was at the false headlines:
http://www.wjr.com/paulwsmith/ (click on the podcast with Mr. Patterson)
Meanwhile, Carol Cain, who emceed luncheon asked Mr. Patterson ahead of time what he thinks is the greatest regional issue. In a Jan. 9 to Cain, Mr. Patterson wrote: “Unfortunately the Flint water crisis looms as the biggest regional challenge. A whole community has been exposed to lead poisoning. It will be years before the full extent of the damage is known.”
Those are not the words of a regional leader downplaying the crisis.
He was quoted bringing up a radio interview that morning of Bill Ballenger, a pundit and Flint resident. Ballenger was the one who said it was overstated. Mr. Patterson used it to say that some need to dial down the rhetoric so we can continue to listen to the experts to find the long-term solution.