Marching with Flint

Photo by Kristina Andreski

The signs read, “Protect our Homes and Families,” Water is a Human Right,” “Wanted! For Crimes Against Democracy, “Tricky Ricky’s Recall No Joke,” “Genocide of God’s Children,” and “America’s Decaying Infrastructure: SOS.”

Twenty-seven Madonna students and staff took a bus up to Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle in Flint, early Friday, February 19, to participate in the Rebuild Flint March and Rally. More than 400 people tried to cram together in the church, but the fire marshall finally had to clear out those who stood in the aisles.

Photo by Olivia Khleif

Before the speeches started, we found a small room in the church to talk about the issues that prompted the rally/march. Social Work Professor Janice King said that Flint’s problems would be ongoing, and it was important to make a sustained commitment. BLG Program Director Brett Jordan pointed out that race was certainly an issue in the state government’s sluggish response to Flint’s water crisis. An estimated 57% of the city’s population is black (“QuickFacts,” 2014).

At the Tabernacle, Reverend Jesse Jackson compared Flint to “a crime scene perpetrated by government. Somebody lied. Somebody covered up.” He told participants that “It’s time to fight back.” Demonstrators chanted, “No pipes, no peace” and “No justice, no peace.”

Flyers were passed around the Tabernacle: One, from Assembly of God, promised free water on Sundays and Wednesdays. Another flyer offered free telephone counseling through an organization called Rock of Life.

Photo by Olivia Khleif

Flint stopped getting its water from Detroit’s Water and Sewerage Department in 2014 when the city switched to Flint River water. Because the water was not treated with anti-corrosive agents, the lead in the water pipes bled into the water. These events occurred while a state-appointed emergency manager, Darnell Earley, assumed responsibility for Flint (Helms, 2016). Ten people in Genesee County have died of Legionnaire’s disease, believed to be connected to Flint’s contaminated water (Lurie, 2016).

The impetus to participate in the Rebuild Flint March and Rally came from Rodney Patterson, diversity educator and author of Trumping the Race Card. Patterson had come to Madonna the week before to speak with students, faculty, and staff about diversity and race relations. Totty and McIntosh got the okay from President Grandillo and quickly organized the event.

Photo by Olivia Khleif

By 11:30 a.m., we were leaving the church and walking toward the Flint Water Tower. The day was overcast and windy, but the weather did nothing to dampen the outrage of demonstrators. We held signs (“MU2Flint,” “Flint Lives Matter,” “MU Supports Flint”) that Director of the Office of Residence Life Tanisha McIntosh and CPI Director Cortney Totty had worked on the night before.

Despite the justifiable anger of the demonstrators, the march was peaceful and orderly. We saw a significant range of ages and races. One young woman was pushing two small children in a stroller. She said, “We live in Grand Blanc, but we go to Flint for everything: restaurants, movies, music.” She said, “I can’t believe this happened.”

Someone wearing an enormous paper-mache head of Rick Snyder and clothing with prison stripes, spoke into his megaphone, “Clean water for me. Poison for you.” During the march, a few well-dressed people handed out contact information for their environmental-crime-focused law firm.

After we reached the water tower, a Madonna nursing student, Sung Ji Kim, said he’d been following the story about Flint’s water crisis. He asked, “Why didn’t the government do anything?”

Excellent question.

References

Helms, M. (2016, February 19). Jesse Jackson in Flint: "It’s Time to Fight Back." Detroit Free Press. Retrieved from http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/02/19/hundreds-prepare-flint-water-crisis-protest-march/80605930/

Lurie, J. (2016, January 26). A Toxic Timeline of Flint’s Water Fiasco. Mother Jones. Retrieved from http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/01/flint-lead-water-crisis-timeline

QuickFacts, Flint city, Michigan. (2014). United States Census Bureau. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/2629000,00

-- Frances E. FitzGerald