After months of concern people are finally starting to take a stand against the toxic water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
It all began nearly two years ago when city and state officials decided to switch it’s water supply in order to save money, based on numbers in the city reflecting citizens containing little to nothing financially. About 40% of the residents in Flint, Michigan are way below the poverty line which led the government to make a drastic change “at any cost” according to CNN.
You would think since the state of Michigan isn’t too far off the Great Lakes that this wouldn’t be an issue but it is indeed. The government decided a more cost-effective source of water supply from the Flint River would be more practical than sticking to a more sufficient supply from Lake, Heron.
As researchers from Virginia Tech University found back in Aug. 2015, that not only is there iron in the water supply, but lead also! Governor, Rick Snyder kept avoiding the situation even when the citizens of Flint brought this disastrous situation to his attention. Even at one point former Mayor, Dwayne Walling tested the water on national television to prove that the tap water was fine and not hazardous, but indeed it is!
Now ever since President Obama finally declared a federal emergency to this treacherous situation, the actions of others are spreading like a wild fire! He reached out on Saturday to give the city $5 million worth of federal aid from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which should cover 75% of all costs that will aim in clean water supply.
Muslims donating over 30k water bottles
Entertainers, organizations, National Guard troops and many concerned citizens have reacted swiftly to give back to to the community especially after hearing that the lead in the water has caused an infectious disease to spread called, Legionnaire. According to the Food Poisoning Bulletin, this disease develops from inhaling the bacteria from water containing lead which has already caused 10 fatalities and sickened many others.
One person who has also stepped up in a significant way is Cher. The singer has been working efficiently with Icelandic Water to deliver over 181,000 bottles of water to the city.
Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton during her presidential debate last night, had a few words of her own about the situation taken place in Flint, Michigan once she noticed that Governor Snyder was doing little to nothing to help.
“I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what’s happening in Flint, Michigan, and I think every single American should be outraged,” Clinton said. “We’ve had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead-contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn’t really care. He had a request for help and he had basically stone walled. I’ll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would’ve been action. So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a TV show and I said, “It was outrageous that the governor hadn’t acted, and within two hours he had.”
Meek Mill has also took a stand even though he used his beef with 50 Cent to do it but it still got a point across:
Since Obama declared a federal emergency, Snyder has asked for Obama to announce a “disaster declaration” according to Detroit Free Press, but was denied since such actions only take place during a natural disaster i.e.: hurricanes, floods, etc. However under federal law, this is the next best thing.
We continue to pray for the citizens of Flint and hope that this situation is alleviated asap!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/18/hillary-clinton-just-seized-the-political-moment-on-flint/
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/11/health/toxic-tap-water-flint-michigan/
TSR Intern: Charise W.
Instagram: @planet_reese
