FLINT, Mich. — The failure of state and national lawmakers to move faster to get funding to this eastern Michigan town dealing with a water crisis is environmental racism, a green group leader alleged Sunday.
Before the Democratic presidential primary debate in Flint, Aaron Mair, the president of the Sierra Club, told reporters it’s clear to him that lawmakers would move faster on replacing the city’s lead pipes if the city was wealthy and white instead of poor and mostly black.
“Let me be clear: If they were white, this would be done. If this were Ann Arbor, this would be taken care of,” Mair said, referring to a wealthier, whiter city in southeast Michigan. “Just because they are poor and majority-minority does not make them, as they say, the wrong complexion for protection.”
In April 2014, a state emergency manager appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed off on a symbolic vote from the Flint City Council to change the city’s water source. The move aimed to cut costs by requiring the city to take its water from the Flint River instead of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department while a new pipeline was built to connect the city to Lake Huron.
The Flint River water, however, was so acidic that it caused the lead pipes bringing water from the city’s cast iron mains to homes to corrode. Lead leached off the pipes and into the drinking water of homes throughout the city.
The state has declared a state of emergency and Flint residents are not able to drink the water coming out of their taps.
The Democratic presidential candidates are debating in Flint Sunday night. Both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders have made the city’s water issue a part of their campaigns.
The press conference was held to allow the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, the Sierra Club, the Service Employees International Union, Michigan Faith in Action and Genesee County Hispanic and Latino Collaborative to express willingness to work together to fix the city’s lead water crisis.
NAACP President Cornell William Brooks said he wants Snyder to present a timeline for when the lead water pipes in this town will be replaced, a deadline for when that work to be done and a price tag for how much that work should cost. If that Snyder balks, Brooks threatened civil disobedience in Michigan.
“It’s important not to underestimate the power of the people in this community,” Brook said.
“The people conducted their own tests, they reached out to Virginia Tech University,” he said. “A pediatrician in this community stood up and stood against state government. They brought a presidential debate to Flint, Mich. The point being is all of the timelines, all of the conditions for reform, are not coming out of Lansing. They are coming out of this community.”
Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said it was shameful that all of the groups assembled Sunday had to prod the government to work on Flint’s behalf.
He questioned why elected officials are equivocating on how much funding for Flint is needed and worrying about process when people still can’t drink their water. If Flint residents are paying for their water, it ought to be clean, he said.
“Where you live shouldn’t decide whether the water is clean or dirty. Where you live shouldn’t determine if the government works for you or for someone else,” he said. “Where you live shouldn’t determine whether you get to have hope.”
