Personal Narrative: Flint

It is a privilege and yet it is with a heavy heart that I am writing this to all who has utmost disgust for the evils and vices happening around us. I sincerely believe that we all despise injustices of any kind and cannot stand the stench of discrimination be it racial, sexual, ethnic, or class. Whether you have a religious or nonreligious stance, I presumed we all have a sense of good and evil, right and wrong, just and unjust. And all these can be meaningfully understood only when applies to the relationship and interdependence of the human society. If not all, most of us would agree that the greatest evil that can be done to the human race is to deny the right to exist to someone or a group of people. And if you believe in the Christian God like I do, it is even more explicitly stated in the Bible that taking lives is a sin with extreme consequences. Of all the rights we can imagine, the right to live triumphs and makes sense of all the rest.

The Flint Water Crisis has quickly joined the ranks of Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance, Kwame Kilpatrick, and the state of Michigan’s highways as nationally televised disappointments to come out of Michigan. This paper will look at the facts surrounding the causes, current situation, and remedies for the Crisis while also confronting the ethical and unethical acts of key figures associated with the Crisis.

Greater Flint Health Coalition’s Flint Healthcare Employment Opportunities (FHEO) Program is proud to recognize Keisha McClain (WIOA-Adult) as our 3rd Quarter success. Ms. McClain, came to the FHEO Program ready take charge of her future. “I was unemployed, after I left a job working at Walmart. I had just moved back in with my kid’s father, when his house foreclosed on and we ended up living in a motel on Miller Road. It was really stressful, caring for two kids and worrying how we’d pay for the room each night. And, I knew I was depending on someone, I shouldn’t be depending on.” Ms. McClain visited the GST Michigan Works! Service Center to fill out job applications and saw a flyer for the FHEO Program. “I was really excited about

There currently is a problem in the US with the government and how they cut corners with the water problem in Flint, Michigan. About two years ago, Michigan’s government decided they would save money by switching the water supply in Flint, Michigan. Before, Flint was getting their water from Lake Huron. Now, they are getting their water from the Flint River, known by it’s filth through the people of Flint. When reporters interviewed long-time residents of Flint they were shocked at the decision. The decision was supposed to be temporary, it wasn’t planned for it to go on for almost two years. Soon after the switch, the people of Flint saw the water didn’t look, smell, or taste right. It was almost as if the water was brown and you could see the dirt in it. Most people thought it was sewage but it turn out to be iron. The Flint River is highly contaminated, 19 times more so than Lake Huron. The state Department of Environmental Quality wasn’t treating the river so, the water was building up iron which caused the water to turn brown. The water was worse than it seemed, half the service line to homes in Flint are made of lead because the water wasn’t treated like it was supposed to be. The lead got into the water and mixed with the iron. The fire stations are helping with providing free bottled water and water filters for the homes. The fire stations also gave out lead testing kits

Flint Water Crisis, independent professionals reported testing the drinking water and what was found that there is lead and it was leaching into the main water supply. Contaminated water with lead and iron may be the most intense image of environmental and social injustice. Flint, Michigan, is amongst the poorest in the U.S. and majority African American, since 2014(npr.org 2016). The citizens of Flint had been complaining that their tap water was foul and discolored and had an odd taste. Nonetheless city, state, and federal officials ignored the issue. It has been stated that by changing the Flint water pipeline back to Lake Huron will not rectify the damage, investigators and many researchers believe that it may not be possible to ever undo

The situation in Flint was a completely avoidable tragedy, however, due to the secrecy of the state, its terrible decisions, and the DEQ completely ignoring a federal law, it happened. Flint will always be crippled by that terrible mistake that was made so nonchalantly by the DEQ and the state. The lead will always be in the pipes and will transfer into the water even if it’s completely clean. Those residents will turn out to have learning disabilities, behavioral issues, growth issues, and more because of the state’s the the DEQ’s inability to make the right decision. They had so many opportunities to stop this tragedy or at least make it less severe, each time they decided against it to try and help themselves. This terrible disaster could

Growing up in the city of Flint, Michigan shaped me into the person I am today. Just recently my community was faced with another crisis. Occurring just a few weeks ago was the “Flint Water Crisis”; it was and will forever be remembered as a community wide tragedy. I got the feeling that I needed to do something to help those who were victims to this. I did my best to volunteer at as many places that were giving out free fresh water, such as with the Upward Bound Program on the Mott Community College campus.

The Flint water crisis broke newsstands around September 2015. A town exposed to a poisonous level of lead from the drinking water. This was followed by previous problems they have experienced since the switch of water sources in 2014, to save money. The history of the Flint water crisis is complicated and made so by small governmental agencies. The trial for this tragedy is still on going because of the lack of clarity. (Lin) In my opinion Governor Snyder is part to blame.

What makes Flint, Michigan's current water situation a crisis? Is it the children not being able to stop their thirst by consuming water at their schools, or moms who can’t give their child water from the tap due to high levels of lead in the water. This crisis should not be taken as a joke, as it may lead to harmful situations. Plenty of families in Flint are badly affected by this upsetting case. How would you feel if the water in your community was tainted?

Flint, Michigan has a population of just over 10,000, 36.2% of its population is under the poverty line, and this isn’t even the worse of its problems. Since 2014, the residences of Flint Michigan have been cheated, lied to, and poisoned, all at the hands of its own government. Most consider the governor of Flint, Jerry Ambrose, to be the main culprit. He ignored research that proved Flint’s water was toxic to the body, and then went on to lie to the general population about the safety of the water, Michigan is settled between 4 of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, a fact that served them little in the crisis to come.

In Flint, Michigan around a couple years ago decided on the worst decision to save money for the state. The state decided to earn money by switching from Detroit's Lake Huron to one of the Rivers most known for its filth, the Flint River. Residents were shocked at the sudden change and started getting worried, this, being long-term residents there it was a fear amoung them . Most were concerned whether it would be safe for the health of everyone due to the fact the the water looked brown until Former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling drank the brown water in front of everyone to prove a point in front local TV. One of them said, “‘You’re paying for poison. I’m paying for water that’s a toxic waste,’ Kelso said” (Ganim, Tran 1) after realizing that

In April of 2014 Flint Michigan endured one of the deadliest crisis that hit the United States since Hurricane Katrina. It was later called “The Flint Water Crisis”, it made headlines everywhere including hashtags on social media and it also got the the attention of celebrities which spread the news all over. It also became one of the

Flint, Michigan is in a state of emergency, but help isn’t coming fast enough. The seepage of lead into drinking water pipes has created a widespread public health crisis, prompting President Obama to declare a federal state of emergency. The problem can be traced back to 2014 when the city started to use the Flint River as its water source. Flint needed an alternative water source until its connecting pipe to KWA was complete, so the city switched to the Flint River. In a summary of the Flint crisis, the New York Times stated, “the switch was made as a cost-saving measure for the struggling, majority-black city. Soon after, residents [began] to complain about the water’s color, taste and odor, and to report rashes and

The water crisis in Flint has caused mixed effects on the local businesses. There is one factor that every business has in common and that is the use of water in one way, shape or form. Because of the lead contaminated water in Flint, the city officials have given out water filters; however, for some businesses this will not do. In a story from INC.com we see the story of a man beginning his new business in Flint. The business in question is a coffee shop. Luke Leffel the owner of Wild Root Coffee states that, “He cannot afford to spend a couple thousand dollars on a filtering system. While the city is giving out tap filters to residential homes, businesses need to outfit their shops with filters at their own cost. Instead of waiting until he can afford a filtering system, Leffel found a bottled water delivery company that he can afford in the meantime.”(Yakowicz) This is the expense that this small business owner now is faced with, with drinking water that is not safe.

Great post. The Flint water crisis, resulting in toxic levels of lead in the city’s water supply, was indeed a major public health tragedy in the recent years. A series of bad decisions by a few led to the devastating environment, health, and safety ramifications. One strategy is that the city should ensure that the state conduct corrosion control reviews before implementing any water source or treatment change.1 This strategy is especially necessary for communities, like Flint, with their aging infrastructures, under the city governance, and minimal water utility capacity.1 Such areas required an increased need for the state and federal oversight and expertise in making decisions that affects the health of such vulnerable population.1 Also,