Page 10 The Skanner May 31, 2017
News
Flint Residents Still Suffering, Exposed to Contaminated Water
Three Years Since Discovery of Tainted Water, Little Has Changed
By D. Kevin McNeir
The Washington Informer/NNPA
Member
PHOTO BY PETE SOUZA/WHITE HOUSE
R
esidents of Flint, Michigan have
very little to celebrate, three
years after the water crisis in the
city made national headlines.
On April 25, as citizens of the
blue-collar city, located about one hour
from Detroit, marked the third anni-
versary of the announcement that over
100,000 men, women and children had
potentially been exposed to high levels
of lead in the drinking water, the suf-
fering continues.
The health crisis arose shortly after
officials decided to switch drinking
water sources to the Flint River. Before
long, thousands began to suffer from
illnesses linked to the contaminated
water, including an estimated 12,000
children who have been exposed to
dangerously-high levels of lead. And
while an estimated 15,000 children in
the city will soon receive extra money
for nutritional foods that can limit the
effects of the lead exposure, that assis-
tance will not be extended to families
who left the city—even though their
children may suffer from health prob-
lems related to the lead-contaminated
water.
That decision, made by the Michigan
Department of Health and Human Ser-
vices, has not been well received. For
now, qualifying families will receive a
one-time payment of $420 for each el-
igible child —funds that come from $7
million in additional food assistance
from the Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families block grant.
But for those like one former Flint
resident and mother who moved barely
a stone’s throw away for the sake of her
young child’s health, the dollars won’t
be made available.
Then-President Barack Obama sips filtered water from Flint following a roundtable on the Flint water
crisis at Northwestern High School in Flint, Mich., May 4, 2016.
“If I had moved to another state, I
could understand being treated differ-
ently. But moving just 15 minutes away,
I feel like it’s unfair,” said Ariana Hawk
in an interview with the Detroit Free
Press.
Meanwhile, a fundraising campaign
has been launched by California-based
Green for All—a climate and econom-
ic justice organization that focuses on
poverty and pollution to create an in-
clusive green economy strong enough
to lift people out of poverty.
Vien Truong, the director of Green
for All said that the #FixThePipes
campaign has raised $10,000 to fix
Flint homes. With several celebrities
signing on and asking their followers
to give their support, including Van
Jones, Common, Russell Simmons and
most recently hip-hop artist Big Sean,
she expects to see the level of donations
increase.
“Every dollar we collect brings Flint
families one step closer to clean bath-
ing and drinking water,” said Truong,
who estimates that the bill for remov-
ing lead-contaminated pipes is $10,000
per home. “Many don’t know that over
8,000 city residents now have tax liens
[on their homes] for refusing to pay for
poisonous water,” Truong said. “It’s
outrageous that three years later, fam-
ilies living in Flint still don’t have clean
drinking water. Lead has poisoned over
300,000 people. Meanwhile, compa-
nies have left, restaurants have closed,
property values have declined and in-
vestors have gone elsewhere. We have
to make people remember and help.”
Truong continued: “With President
Trump promising to cut the EPA bud-
get by one-third, Americans need to
understand that what’s happened here
in Flint will one day become the norm.
One can intellectualize this all they
want but studies show the dispropor-
tionate number of landfills, toxic facil-
ities and dumps are more often located
near the dwellings of low-income fami-
lies or near places where people of col-
or reside. No one speaks for them. Race
remains a prevalent factor.”
One young activist who has served
as the face of the Flint water crisis,
nine-year-old Amariyanna Copeny,
also known as “Little Miss Flint, joined
other protesters during the “Stand
Up to Trump” rally outside the White
House last month, criticizing President
Trump for breaking his promise to ad-
dress the problem.
“On the campaign trail, he prom-
ised he would fix Flint. Unfortunately,
this was one promise that he failed to
keep—just like his promise to ‘Make
America Great Again,’” Truong said.
“Little Miss Flint” first made head-
lines last year after she sent a letter to
President Obama inviting him to come
see the damage caused by the lead poi-
soning. Obama replied and visited the
city, even meeting with the youthful
activist.
In many cases, the stories of suffer-
ing from Flint residents seem to be un-
believable in a country like America,
given its level of resources. One senior
citizen who has lived in Flint since 1963
says she feels abandoned and confused
particularly after receiving a water bill
for $1099.09 which officials from the
water department alleged was issued
to her because she had been “under-
charged.”
“I’ve written letters, I’ve gone to the
city’s Board of Review, I’ve called on
my city councilmember—I’ve gotten
nowhere,” said Mary Huddleston, a 76
year-old widow who lives alone and
says she barely uses any water at all.
Huddleston continued: “I keep mak-
ing payments each month—just enough
to keep the water on so I can flush my
toilet, but I don’t wash much and only
shower once a week. My hair began
coming out from using the shower so I
have to do it with bottled water that the
city gave us. One day my water bill was
$151. Then, after new meters were in-
stalled, it jumped to over $1,000.”
Huddleston has been diagnosed with
several respiratory illnesses and said
that she believes the illnesses are a re-
sult of drinking and using the contam-
inated water.
“I feel like I’m being forced to pay oth-
er folks’ bills—and for water that’s still
contaminated,” said Huddleston.
Since a federal state of emergency
was declared in January 2016, Flint res-
idents have been instructed to use only
bottled or filtered water for drinking,
cooking, cleaning and bathing. Earlier
this year, officials said the water quali-
ty had returned to acceptable levels.
However, residents continued to be
told that they should use bottled or fil-
tered water until all the lead pipes have
been replaced—something that won’t
be completed any sooner than 2020—
in another three years.
“Flint will soon become a ghost town,”
Huddleston said. “But I can’t go any-
where. I have nowhere to go. They talk
about all this money being donated to
help us. I don’t know where it’s going,
but I sure haven’t gotten a call.”