The Flint, Michigan Water Crisis
A quick video to watch that summarizes the Flint water crisis.
Flint, Michigan isn’t the only community experiencing a water crisis of some kind in the US, but this paper will focus on the Flint Michigan Water Crisis as a case study. Coming from a state famous for having over 10,000 lakes, I was surprised to see that even Minnesota is not among the top 10 states with the cleanest water. I will analyze this crisis through the lens of Iris Young’s work on oppression in and Marilyn Frye’s work on the Double Bind to understand that the citizens in Flint do not have a choice. Being a community of poor families can’t just get up and move because their water quality is poor and having clean drinking water is an imperative to living as beings on this planet. The government and other NGOs involved in this issue knew they were dealing with a life threatening issue and in many cases turned a blind eye to people who are already experiencing historical disenfranchisement.
Flint, Michigan isn’t the only community experiencing a water crisis of some kind in the US, but this paper will focus on the Flint Michigan Water Crisis as a case study. Coming from a state famous for having over 10,000 lakes, I was surprised to see that even Minnesota is not among the top 10 states with the cleanest water. I will analyze this crisis through the lens of Iris Young’s work on oppression in and Marilyn Frye’s work on the Double Bind to understand that the citizens in Flint do not have a choice. Being a community of poor families can’t just get up and move because their water quality is poor and having clean drinking water is an imperative to living as beings on this planet. The government and other NGOs involved in this issue knew they were dealing with a life threatening issue and in many cases turned a blind eye to people who are already experiencing historical disenfranchisement.
How did we get here?
Flint, Michigan is a location for the beginning of the American middle class. It is the home of General Motors and the auto boom of the 1950’s. (Source) However, globalization has taken auto production mostly out of the United States; Detroit and surrounding cities like Flint are no longer as prosperous as they once were. Forty percent of Flint’s population is experiencing poverty and 56% of the population are POC. This community is poor and suffering from low post-secondary education levels relative to the rest of Michigan-not the US as a whole. (Source- 2014) Having high percentages of POC and folks living in poverty are both groups that historically have been disenfranchised and oppressed in the US. This is the political and economic backdrop to what has been happening in Flint, MI for the last 3 years.
In 2014 the water supply in Flint was changed from Lake Huron to the Flint River which had been known to have contaminants in it from chemical run off to waste in the water. Flint’s government was in trouble and low on money when they made the decision. They thought it would be a cost saving measure. Soon after, the city started testing the water regularly and right away they found bacteria from fecal matter. Just six months after switching the water supply it was also had a boil advisory, this means that the water had contaminants in it that could be deadly. The high levels of lead found in Flint’s water became well known the city tried to address this problem by adding more chlorine. Which helps to clean the water in the short term, but this made the water more acidic. Consuming lead poisoned water can cause poor brain development in children, rashes, and hair loss. It’s also not healthy to drink, cook with, do laundry or bathe in, but nevertheless the people of Flint and anyone who visited there between April 2014 and October 2015 has been exposed to some level of lead poisoning.
Flint, Michigan is a location for the beginning of the American middle class. It is the home of General Motors and the auto boom of the 1950’s. (Source) However, globalization has taken auto production mostly out of the United States; Detroit and surrounding cities like Flint are no longer as prosperous as they once were. Forty percent of Flint’s population is experiencing poverty and 56% of the population are POC. This community is poor and suffering from low post-secondary education levels relative to the rest of Michigan-not the US as a whole. (Source- 2014) Having high percentages of POC and folks living in poverty are both groups that historically have been disenfranchised and oppressed in the US. This is the political and economic backdrop to what has been happening in Flint, MI for the last 3 years.
In 2014 the water supply in Flint was changed from Lake Huron to the Flint River which had been known to have contaminants in it from chemical run off to waste in the water. Flint’s government was in trouble and low on money when they made the decision. They thought it would be a cost saving measure. Soon after, the city started testing the water regularly and right away they found bacteria from fecal matter. Just six months after switching the water supply it was also had a boil advisory, this means that the water had contaminants in it that could be deadly. The high levels of lead found in Flint’s water became well known the city tried to address this problem by adding more chlorine. Which helps to clean the water in the short term, but this made the water more acidic. Consuming lead poisoned water can cause poor brain development in children, rashes, and hair loss. It’s also not healthy to drink, cook with, do laundry or bathe in, but nevertheless the people of Flint and anyone who visited there between April 2014 and October 2015 has been exposed to some level of lead poisoning.
This connect to Young’s Five Faces of Oppression and specifically her analysis of powerlessness. Powerlessness for the purposes of this essay is the fact that people of Flint didn’t have a seat at the table from the beginning and didn’t have decision making power in an issue that would affect them greatly. The people of Flint were absolutely powerless when it came to this issue of having clean water. They weren’t really taken seriously throughout the process, though they were the ones suffering, having all these bad things happen to them because they didn’t have the resources or the ability to leave and move to Detroit for example who’s water was unaffected by this whole process. The media often portrays white people in hearings thought this problem has affected black folks more Part of powerlessness is forgetting that you have power and being so indoctrinated into the system that hurts you that you don’t know you’re being hurt anymore.
Frye's notion of the double bind also helps to illuminate the oppressive circumstances in Flint. The people of Flint are in a Double Bind because the majority experiencing this crisis are already a disenfranchised population and a lot of tasks of being a human require clean water. They’re stuck in Flint to drink and use this dirty water which furthers their vulnerability and complications are greater that could be caused long-term from having to use this water.
Current State of Flint, Michigan
Fast forward 3 years and now there are many lawsuits happening in the wake of Flint’s clean water attempts. Several state leaders and water plant workers have been charged with felonies in negligence of this issue. The EPA is being sued by 1,700 citizens of Flint for $722 million dollars in accounts of negligence. The EPA also granted Flint $100 million dollars already for water upgrades. The city was granted $97 million in settlement in order to replace the lead pipes in the city with steal. The state government has agreed to fix the pipes in 18,000 households by 2020. Flint is still largely a mess after the water crisis, but plans have been put in place to fix the wrongs that have been done to this city. Will the city follow through with their plans? We will have to wait and see. (Sourced by: CNN’s timeline about Flint)
Watch a video here made by the Michigan ACLU chapter.
Frye's notion of the double bind also helps to illuminate the oppressive circumstances in Flint. The people of Flint are in a Double Bind because the majority experiencing this crisis are already a disenfranchised population and a lot of tasks of being a human require clean water. They’re stuck in Flint to drink and use this dirty water which furthers their vulnerability and complications are greater that could be caused long-term from having to use this water.
Current State of Flint, Michigan
Fast forward 3 years and now there are many lawsuits happening in the wake of Flint’s clean water attempts. Several state leaders and water plant workers have been charged with felonies in negligence of this issue. The EPA is being sued by 1,700 citizens of Flint for $722 million dollars in accounts of negligence. The EPA also granted Flint $100 million dollars already for water upgrades. The city was granted $97 million in settlement in order to replace the lead pipes in the city with steal. The state government has agreed to fix the pipes in 18,000 households by 2020. Flint is still largely a mess after the water crisis, but plans have been put in place to fix the wrongs that have been done to this city. Will the city follow through with their plans? We will have to wait and see. (Sourced by: CNN’s timeline about Flint)
Watch a video here made by the Michigan ACLU chapter.
The Flint Water Crisis is a Matter of Justice
Water is a basic need. Humans are 85% water and we require clean, healthy water to survive. The Flint water crisis is an issue of justice because it’s a human right to have clean water accessibility. This right is a part of Article 25 in the Declaration of Human Rights. According to filmmaker and Flint native, Michael Moore, this problem could have been mitigated for just $100 a day. America prides itself on being so much better than the rest of the world, but we aren’t if we’re ignoring such a huge problem as failed infrastructure and dirty water in a poor community. Where are our values, really? The fact that this problem was ignored for so long has to do with neoliberalism: democracy favoring the free market system. Systems in place are set up to ignore problems and communities of poor and POC folks because there is nothing to financially gain from investing in them.
Using the legal system to have some reparations in damages after the fact is a start, but really as a country and as a world we need to put a higher value on infrastructure in general. So what if it doesn’t gain a profit? Water shouldn’t be coming out of the tap a yellow/orange color because a states government turned a blind eye to the fact that they knew the water was bad and didn’t want to pay to fix pipes and continue using water that was already clean. They get away with it. Why? Because it doesn’t affect the people in the government offices directly. They can afford to buy water filters and bottled water. A systemic improvement would be to stop ignoring poor POC projects in general that will benefit the community, but not bring much of a return on investment. Because honestly, Black Lives Matter.
Conclusion
Flint, Michigan water crisis is an issue of social justice because though steps are being taken to fix the issue now, the government was negligent when they knew that switching the water supply from Lake Huron- some of the cleanest water fresh water in the country to the Flint River, there were going to be consequences for their people. It took them a year and a half to do anything about it. From April 2014 to October 2015. There was no disaster that happened in Flint to make this happen. This happened because of greedy politicians not having regard for the most vulnerable in their constituency for the millionth time in history. Environmental racism happens all too often. Awareness is one thing, but all kinds of people, but especially people with influence, privilege, and power need to stand up against the people who are supposed to be supporting us- our government.
Additional Sources
Water is a basic need. Humans are 85% water and we require clean, healthy water to survive. The Flint water crisis is an issue of justice because it’s a human right to have clean water accessibility. This right is a part of Article 25 in the Declaration of Human Rights. According to filmmaker and Flint native, Michael Moore, this problem could have been mitigated for just $100 a day. America prides itself on being so much better than the rest of the world, but we aren’t if we’re ignoring such a huge problem as failed infrastructure and dirty water in a poor community. Where are our values, really? The fact that this problem was ignored for so long has to do with neoliberalism: democracy favoring the free market system. Systems in place are set up to ignore problems and communities of poor and POC folks because there is nothing to financially gain from investing in them.
Using the legal system to have some reparations in damages after the fact is a start, but really as a country and as a world we need to put a higher value on infrastructure in general. So what if it doesn’t gain a profit? Water shouldn’t be coming out of the tap a yellow/orange color because a states government turned a blind eye to the fact that they knew the water was bad and didn’t want to pay to fix pipes and continue using water that was already clean. They get away with it. Why? Because it doesn’t affect the people in the government offices directly. They can afford to buy water filters and bottled water. A systemic improvement would be to stop ignoring poor POC projects in general that will benefit the community, but not bring much of a return on investment. Because honestly, Black Lives Matter.
Conclusion
Flint, Michigan water crisis is an issue of social justice because though steps are being taken to fix the issue now, the government was negligent when they knew that switching the water supply from Lake Huron- some of the cleanest water fresh water in the country to the Flint River, there were going to be consequences for their people. It took them a year and a half to do anything about it. From April 2014 to October 2015. There was no disaster that happened in Flint to make this happen. This happened because of greedy politicians not having regard for the most vulnerable in their constituency for the millionth time in history. Environmental racism happens all too often. Awareness is one thing, but all kinds of people, but especially people with influence, privilege, and power need to stand up against the people who are supposed to be supporting us- our government.
Additional Sources
- http://socialjusticestories.leadr.msu.edu/2016/05/05/racism-in-america-flint-water-crisis/- a great blog type article to read focusing on the environmental racism specifically happening in Flint, Michigan.
- http://flintwaterstudy.org/ - Virginia Tech also has a role in this conflict they created a research team to track lead and chlorine levels in Flint’s water. Here is more about the work that they do.
- http://aquadoc.typepad.com/files/mdcr_flint_water_crisis_report_feb2017.pdf - The Michigan Civil Rights Commission (MCRC) did a report on the Flint water crisis because they believe that there have been civil rights violations.