About Flint’s Water Crisis, the Human Rights Debacle and the Poster of Lies
What is happening in Flint, Michigan right now is systemic genocide, and the victims are people of color and poor people. The city’s population is 60% Black and 42% of the residents live below the poverty line. They are being poisoned with lead-tainted water that is coming out of their faucets, and it is from the willful neglect of those charged with running the city and the governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder.
Long story short (TL:DR): Governor Snyder wanted to save money, so he decided to stop having Detroit water be the supplier for tap water in Flint. Instead, he felt that the very polluted Flint River would be good enough for the residents, in spite of the fact that the water is so full of lead, if you reach into it, you’d pull out a box of number 2 pencils. And probably a scantron attached for good measure. That was in 2014.
First cup is level of lead that is acceptable in water. 2nd cup is cause for concern but still doable. The other cups are some of the levels of lead found in Flint water. Read: This is how toxic Flint’s water really is – Washington Post
Fast forward to now and a state of emergency has been declared in Flint, Michigan. The number of kids with higher than acceptable levels of lead in their blood have spiked, and the unfortunate thing is that lead poisoning stunts development and affects behavior.
The World Health Organization says: “Lead exposure also causes anemia, hypertension, renal impairment, immunotoxicity and toxicity to the reproductive organs. The neurological and behavioral effects of lead are believed to be irreversible.”
And guess what? When researchers at Virginia Tech tested the water from 271 homes in Flint, they said the water was so polluted that it actually met the EPA’s definition of “Toxic waste.” That means the water in Flint is basically radioactive and we should expect fish with 5 eyes and legs. I’ve seen this episode of The Simpsons before.
So, the residents of Flint are being poisoned by their water. WATER. A basic human need. We are 80% water and we NEED IT. This ain’t designer shoes or a smartphone. This is the elixir of life, and people are consuming a version so tainted that it is killing them slowly. IN THE UNITED STATES of AMERICA IN 2016!!!
The pollution isn’t even the invisible kind. Water is supposed to be clear, but what is coming out of the faucets at Flint looks like Apple Juice, and folks say it smells too.
That looks like the color of pee when all you’ve had to drink is coffee all day. THAT water, looks like it might coagulate and become a mutant you can only vanquish if you put a drain under his feet. THAT is the water that the people of Flint have been told to use everyday. They were told it was safe.
I’ve seen people say “but how can people believe it’s safe?” What are their other choices? What are people to do when they’re barely making ends meet? You want them to go buy bottled water? With what extra money??
There is one thing to poison a population but there is another to lie to them and tell them the poison doesn’t exist. That is where the state of Michigan is guilty of purposeful carnage. They assured people that their water was okay to use for everyday things, but not to drink.
Even after the state of emergency was declared, the state officials kept lying like the scum they are, and they placed a poster of reassurance on the Michigan website.
Every time I want to not hate everything, people do things that make me hate everything. Are you fucking kidding me? No really. ARE. YOU. FUCKING. SERIOUS???
Michigan wins the GOLD in the Deplorable Olympic Games. This poster makes me want to send the ghost of Bruce Lee to dropkick everyone in the Governor’s office and health department in Michigan. Just run through and put a foot into someone’s face. There’s just so many things wrong here.
They’re like: “BTW, TOTALLY don’t drink the water that is poisoned with lead but WARM IT UP and it’s safe to bathe with. AND HERE ARE TWO CUTE BABIES OF DIFFERENT ETHNICITIES PLAYING. K BYE!”
First of gahtdamb all, LEAD is not some simple dirt that can be handled with boiling water. Bill Nye the Science Guy should go slap whoever even suggested that by warming up the water, it makes it safer.
Then, they tell people that “lead will not soak into your skin fast or at high levels.” BUT IT STILL SOAKS INTO SKIN, NUMBNUTS?!? It’s like saying your leg will just be a little broken.
Who are these intergalactic imbeciles?!?
They also make sure to let folks know that their kids shouldn’t drink the water they use to bathe. Because: “yuck.” iSweaterGAWD whoever is behind this poster is either dumber than a box of pencil shavings or more evil than Jafar from Aladdin. Or both. But I think it’s more evil than anything.
Kids drink their bath water like juice, because THAT IS WHAT THEY DO. You poor water over their heads and they stick their tongues out like they’re trying to taste fresh falling snowflakes. If they dip their toy in the water and suck on it, or if their pacifiers fall in the water, what happens?
BUT WHAT PISSES ME OFF THE MOST is that condescending ass font! That adorable, cutesy font, because you know. They can’t let on how serious the issue is. What is cuter than lead poisoning?? NOTHING, YOU GUISE.
Jesus take the wheel, be a fence and hold my mule because the devil is hard at work and doing the wop in the state of Michigan.
I guess we should be glad it wasn’t Comic Sans. This could have been worse. That is a poster of lies!
This poster even existing (it’s been pulled now) and the coverups that happened after the lead poisoning was discovered, and the continued lack of accountability makes you realize that MJ was right when he said “All I wanna say is that they don’t really care about us.”
Access to clean water should be a right, not a privilege, and what’s happening in Flint is a human rights debacle. In THE United States of America in 2016, people are being told to drink hot dog water. We should be embarrassed, because we always play Captain Save-a-Planet, talking about third world countries and their failures to their citizens. This failure is epic. It is a disgrace, and it is criminal.
This isn’t just a civil issue. People need to go to JAIL for this Flint thing. These officials gotta see some bars in front of them, because what do you do when someone aids and abets the death of someone else? SOMEBODY gotta go to jail over this thing in Flint. Some PEOPLE. Heads have got to roll because what the governor officials have done is criminal, and it is on a massive scale.
Cartoon by Matt Wuerker from Politico
And to think. This crisis began because they wanted to save a few bucks. How is it even an option to cut corners by serving people tainted water? The few bucks that Snyder tried to save will be tiny compared to the amount that Michigan will have to spend to treat poisoned people. But when you do not see people as real humans, and you see them as pawns on your chess board, you can make a decision that will leave lifelong wounds. And when those people are poor, or Black OR poor AND Black, it makes it easier.
The saddest thing about all of this, is that Flint’s crisis is not the first of its kind and it won’t be the last. Everywhere in the world, the poor are used as stepstools to get the rich richer, and their lives are used as collateral damage.
Edit: Nayyirah Shariff, who lives in Flint tweeted me this image of the demands that Flintstones are making. It’s in English and Spanish.
Also, there’s a public thread on my Facebook profile where I asked what folks in Flint need the most from us. Read that thread for the good discussion that’s happening.
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32 Comments
Luvvie, this is my city, born and raised. Lived here for 35 years. Why did I finally move to the suburbs a few months ago?
Water. Crime didnt drive me out and school system didnt drive me out.
Whats worse is that when the doctors from Hurley and the guy from tech started talki g about test results, they were basically called quacks.
Yet the whole time, snyder and friends are intentionally skewing test results by removing specific samples to get the averages down.
Thank you for breaking this down with such passion and clarity. Someone’s head needs to roll for this.
Thanks for speaking on it, it’s been going on smh…
ISoon-to-be-former-governor Snyder’s bright orange is the new black jumpsuit is ready & waiting. I for one am praying that the mighty name of Jesus will get him into it. And soon.
Goes well with the color of that water.
Bullshit! I hope they are really held accountable for this crap. They have been lying and deceiving people for far too long with permanent effects.
Very well said. Thank you for the breakdown
My understanding is that the water from the don’t river is highly corrosive and that the corrosive water broke down the pipes and picked up last along the way. So it’s not just lead water, is highly polluted water that is messing up the infrastructure and picking up lead along the way.
I read it would have only cost $100/day to treat or filter the corrosive water before it entered don’t system and corroded the pipes. Now the whole infrastructure is shot to sh#+.
Edit:
My understanding is that the water from the Flint River is highly corrosive and that the corrosive water broke down the pipes and picked up lead along the way. So it’s not just lead water, it’s highly polluted water that is messing up the infrastructure and picking up lead along the way.
I read it would have only cost $100/day to treat or filter the corrosive water before it entered Flint system and corroded the pipes. Now the whole infrastructure is shot to sh#+.
That’s what I heard too. You know water is corrosive when it breaks down pipes! If it’s breaking down lead pipes just think about what it’s doing to the insides of people’s organs, bloodstreams, etc. Just sickening.
Plain and simple environmental racism. Gov Slick Rick Snyder appointed the Black (Donald Trump) to administer the poison water program. Once The Black man finish poisoning the water guess what is his job now? School Superintendent. Heck of a Job Slick Rick Synder to jail is where you belong.
GM stopped using the water because it was corroding the engines O.o
Right now I’m watching this lyin’ criminal on the State of the State
See this stuff? I’ll believe it’s safe when all those who make that claim grab a 16 oz. glass and CHUG IT. Live. On T.V. Then move into a yurt without a bathroom for a couple of days.
Wayment — these asshats chose pee water for a hunnert????? I don’t give ask a kitty, this ish is criminal. All involved need to have several seats in the nearest penitentiary. May they be forced to shower & served current Flint pee tea w/ a # 2 pencil for a stirrer for all the rest of their damb lives while watching a loop Katrina 4 years later, Bill Nye & The Bruce Lee “Dragon”movie trilogy.
The person who drafted that sickening poster should be at the head of the parade to the penitentiary.
If you want to help, you can go to http://www.flintkids.com, or check out the links provided at http://www.msnbc.com/maddowblog (right side of home page).
Luvvie, thank you for speaking the truth about this.
Luvvie, could you please post ways to help? I tried to comment earlier with a link to the charity that’s been set up to handle this, along with a link to a list of other resources, but it didn’t post. I understand you have to be careful about links, so could you please have some vetted and post them so those who want to help can? Thank you so much!
“The few bucks that Snyder tried to save will be tiny compared to the amount that Michigan will have to spend to treat poisoned people.” Do you really think they will treat people maybe just sweep it under the rug when people just fall out dead. Wonder is this a way to gentrify Flint. Then, the next thing you know they will have a new plan to redevelop Flint.
When the media drum beats then in the year 2025 the majority is going to be people of color. Who know if it is true or just a rallying cry to kill off people who they feel are a threat. To see so many threatened it’s not about how much isn’t going to cost. They could have found another way. He just didn’t care or respect people who weren’t his constituents or he persevered as a drain on his resources. Maybe also reduce the black population. I wonder how many black populated small towns they are targeting.
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Hi Luvvie, your link to This is how toxic Flint’s water really is – Washington Post is broken.
2016. 2016! Pathetic.
“Everywhere in the world, the poor are used as stepstools to get the rich richer, and their lives are used as collateral damage.”
THIS! Flint was/is indeed collateral damage. As were my fellow Detroiters who had to go to the UN in 2014 when they tried to turn our water off. This is about GREED. It is about the privatization of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Dept. (DWSD).
A few facts: Scientists have predicted a global freshwater shortage beginning in as few as 15 yrs. Oil rich families, like the Bushes, and Wall St. have been buying up hundreds of thousands of acres on top of aquifers w/water rights. Companies like Nestle Co. have been raping our natural resources and selling them for profit, both in the Great Lakes and in Cali, even in the midst of their terrible drought.
Fresh water is the new oil. Michigan is the Saudi Arabia of fresh water and the DWSD is the largest and most efficient treatment facility on the largest freshwater source in the world.
When it was about to come out from under federal oversight and return to being a municipally owned utility (read Black, because Detroit is still mostly black), Snyder decided instead that it would become “regionally” owned and is now under the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) which, of course, has a number of Snyder cronies on the board. Why did he do this? Because the DWSD was “in the red”. Why was it in the red? Because the Emergency Manager Snyder appointed, who answers only to him decided the remove Flint (the 2nd largest single customer after Detroit, itself) from the DWSD. It was PUT in the red, intentionally (just like they did the US Postal Service and for the same reason), as an excuse to take it from a municipally owned utility to a “regionally-owned” (read: white/suburban) utility. The board will have to wait until Snyder falls on his sword & resigns and the media turns it’s attention to whatever new CF/scandal comes up, but they WILL vote to privatize (sell) it, when we’re no longer in the national news.
“They” want control of the largest freshwater source before the shortages become “real” and they don’t care who they hurt to get it. Imagine the power & profit inherent in controlling the largest freshwater source during a global shortage. It’s a long-term plan with global implications, and if you don’t think “they’re” capable of it, consider it’s taken 30 yrs for the “trickle down ” economic rape of the middle class to come to fruition and the propaganda machine known as FOX news was conceived when Nixon was in office specifically to become what they are right now, at this moment (documented in papers written in Roger Aile’s own handwriting found in the Nixon Library). Flint (and it’s babies) are indeed “collateral damage” to these people and their greed for more money & power.
Wow,
I am taken about by the amount of greed but I agree with you 110% AND I am honestly not entirely surprised. These are politicians we are talking about. They pray and worship the almighty dollar.
Luvvie, I don’t know how you did it, but even on a subject as nauseating as this, I laughed. Out loud. Several times. Standby for lighting cause it’s a-comin for me y’all.
I hope that Governor Snyder is sentenced to a life of eating nothing but saltine crackers, and the only liquid they give him to quench his thirst is that dirty ass Flint water.
In all seriousness, how do you sleep at night knowing that you basically turned a whole city full of people, Black AND White, into your personal science project?! How, Sway?! There is no hell for Snyder; he needs something more sinister and much hotter.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this was some Tuskegee experiment type isht….
Apparently, Flint MI has made throwing out the baby with the bath water public policy.
See, it goes deeper than Snyder….It honestly goes back to Granholm and Mayor Dennis Archer former mayor of Detroit….
Archer, went and made a deal with the mayor of Ohio yeeeeears ago, behind Gov Granholm’s back. And when all this went down, Archer skipped town and country.
Plus, it was known the the big 3 was dumping in Flint back in the 80’s.
This particular rabbit hole is very deep and crooked. When the smoke clears, lots of folks are going to be going to prison.
It’s a criminal enterprise from top to bottom.
Never forget..
that in OCTOBER 2014
The General Motors Corporation…
STOPPED USING THE WATER OF FLINT BECAUSE IT WAS TOO CORROSIVE FOR ITS PARTS.
Not fit for MACHINERY…
but, ok for HUMAN CONSUMPTION?
PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.
Are u serious? Yeah Flint is going to be sued to the hilt over this.
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People should have independent water testing done in their homes. Because I guarantee this is happening in other cities.
this is horrible. but i dont believe you can state that this is a crime purposefully directed agains minorities, or african americans, seeing that only 60 percent of the population is african american, and the rest is of other identity, and also effects them.