https://soundcloud.com/mhsmentoronline/jan-20-editorial-flint-water-crisis

This editorial is a compilation from a discussion held by the editorial board.

After almost two years of poisoned water, the Flint Water crisis has finally become a national issue. And rightly so. By now, most have a basic knowledge of the situation at hand. Nearly two years ago, in an attempt to save money, Flint, Michigan began drawing its water from the Flint River instead of relying on water from Detroit. The action was meant to be temporary and Flint residents immediately began complaining about the smell, color and taste of the water as well as the appearance of rashes and hair loss.  In the upcoming months Governor Rick Snyder continued to actively ignore the problem, despite the increase of lead levels in the blood of Flint residents among other issues. Now, Obama has signed an emergency declaration and ordered federal aid for Flint, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate relief efforts. The question, thus, has become how this could happen? How could a governor knowingly ignore such an issue for so long?

The answer seems to be based heavily in the socio-economic status of Flint’s population. Flint is a predominately African American community, with 40 percent falling below the poverty line. It seems fair to ascertain that if such a water issue had appeared in a white, suburban community the problem would have been addressed and solved immediately.

The Flint Water crisis depicts a huge disparity in American existence. We have one American population living luxuriously and another struggling to obtain the necessities of life. Our country likes to define itself as a provider to the rest of the world, yet here we are unable to provide basic needs to a large portion of our own population. There is an obvious divide – both racially and economically – in America that people are continuing to ignore (just as Snyder did with Flint).

In the last three weeks, it has been reported that state officials had for months wrongly brushed aside complaints about the contamination. And after months, Snyder finally recognized that there was a problem and apologized. Yet even this “apology” was empty, as he argued against the supposed politicization of the issue, brushing aside the comments presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders made in regards to the issue.

“There are no excuses,” Sanders said. “The governor long ago knew about the lead in Flint’s water. He did nothing. As a result, hundreds of children were poisoned. Thousands may have been exposed to potential brain damage from lead. Governor Snyder should resign.”

The Mentor editorial board agrees that Snyder ought to resign. And, likewise, we believe Clinton’s statement on the crisis should be considered seriously.

“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 stonewalled. 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.”

In dismissing these comments as simply another sleazy attempt by politicians to obtain votes, Snyder once again derails and diminishes the real problem at hand. Clinton and Sanders’ comments are both poignant and should be considered likewise.

Flint is just one case of many of poor, minority communities living in seemingly medieval conditions. This crisis, and the broader of the socio-economic rift in America it illustrates, should be brought center stage, not swept under the rug.