Water in an American City Dangerously Contaminated

January 17, 2016


Flint, Michigan: Last week, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency because of elevated levels of lead in the city of Flint's drinking water - 900 times the EPA limit. According to the Centers for Disease Control, lead exposure can affect the entire bodily system especially the brain. There is no safe blood level.

Now, a new deadly threat has appeared. 87 cases of Legionella or "Legionnaires' Disease" have recently occurred in the county, 10 of which were fatal. Legionella is a bacteria found naturally in untreated water. It can cause fever, headaches, shortness of breath and aching of the muscles. It is contracted by inhaling airborne water droplets, which cause a pneumonia-like infection in the lungs.

This is not Flint's first state of emergency because of water contamination. In the 1980s, water was flown in by helicopter because of a leaking gas station. This week, the National Guard was called in to distribute bottled water and water filters to people's homes. However, their efforts are too little and too late. Michigan State Police have been trudging through the snow with volunteers to distribute lead testing kits.

The radical deterioration of environmental safety standards is directly related to Flint's bankruptcy. Public Act 436, passed in 2012, allowed the governor to appoint an emergency manager over the financially distressed city. The emergency manager has broad dictatorial powers. Elected city officials have no standing against him. This unelected, governor appointed overseer can unilaterally overturn union contracts, sell off city assets, whatever it takes to make sure Bondholders are paid. Debt service to the banks has already been a strain on the city budget for decades.

"In 2014, the city of Flint, under the control of an 'emergency manager' appointed by the governor, was looking for ways to save money. To that end, the Snyder administration approved a plan in which the city would switch its water source: instead of getting water from Detroit, Flint would cut costs by drawing water directly from the Flint River... But in order to make Flint River water safe for people, it has to receive a special anti-corrosion treatment. Failing to treat the water sends corrosive river water through local pipes, it starts to eat through plumbing, and the result is lead poisoning," explains Steve Benen on MSNBC.

"The Snyder administration did not take the necessary precautions. What's more, as the community grew concerned about its water, administration officials initially told local residents not to worry and to keep drinking the water. The result, of course, is a public health crisis in which countless city residents, including many children, have been poisoned, which leads to severe and long lasting consequences. Snyder last week declared an official emergency - he also issued an apology of sorts on New Year's Eve - but the people of Flint still don't have safe, clean water."

"The decision to unhook from Detroit and get Flint's water from the highly polluted Flint River was made by Ed Kurtz, the unelected Emergency Manager of this majority African-American city. Kurtz's unelected successor, Darnell Earley, carried out the switch. After Flint emerged from emergency management, Snyder had the nerve to appoint Earley EM over Detroit Public Schools," writes Martha Grevatt in Workers World. "The pollutants in the Flint River — a result of decades of unchecked chemical dumping by General Motors and other companies — have made the river water highly corrosive. This allowed lead to leach from the aging pipes in Flint's system... Now, the corrosion of the lead pipes has destroyed the entire infrastructure. Even though the city has reconnected to the Detroit system, the water is still not safe because of the corroded pipes."

The emergency manager paid the notorious Veolia Corporation $40,000 to conduct a study which recommended reducing other unsafe pollutants with chemicals and using filters. Veolia did not address the lead pipe corrosion issue. Now that it will cost well over $1 billion to replace the corroded pipes, will Veolia emerge with an offer to rebuild the infrastructure in exchange for being allowed to privatize the water department? Unlikely.

Ignoring people reporting stomach problems, skin rashes and hair loss after the switch to the Flint River, Governor Snyder and officials in the state Department of Environmental Quality repeatedly assured Flint residents the water was safe to drink and bathe with. It took two years for the government to acknowledge the lead in the water, so that people would start drinking bottled water. Now with the outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease, it is not even safe to take a shower.

It was only because of community activists like pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, and Michigan ACLU investigative journalist Curt Guyette that a federal investigation ensued. Community members got their tap water tested and exposed the lead poisoning in the local children. University of Virginia professor and water safety specialist Marc Edwards played a leading role by filing a Freedom of Information Act request, obtaining emails between the governor and his of staff, Dennis Muchmore that clearly demonstrate their knowledge of the people's health problems and their deliberate decision to sweep them under the rug.

People are calling for Governor Snyder to go to jail. But meanwhile, many community members who refused to pay their water bills in protest, are getting shut-off notices. The United Nations has already gotten involved investigating water shut-offs in Detroit, where 10,000 people are living without running water in the city's attempt to get rid of blighted neighborhoods by making them uninhabitable. On January 15, 2016, US Congress passed a bill that blocks the EPA's clean water protection plan.

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1637.htm

Inspiring Women Discuss Their Motivation at ICNA-MAS Convention

TMO 

Rashida Tlaib

Chicago, IL – ICNA-MAS held its annual national convention from December 26 to 28. Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib was featured in a panel discussion at ICNA-MAS’ annual national convention. Her panel, titled “Strong Faith Has No Gender: Empowering Women,” also featured Ibtihaj Muhammad, an athlete on the women’s US fencing team.

Muhammad, a team gold-medal winner at the Pan-American Games, spoke about participating in sports growing up as a hijabi wearing modest dress. “Hijab brought me to fencing,” she stated, because the fencing outfit covers the body, unlike other sports costumes. She said that by succeeding in her sport, she was able to open the door for other hijab-wearing women.

Although Muhammad experienced racial discrimination and religious bigotry, she did not let this crush her self-esteem. She advised Muslim women athletes to strive to be successful regardless of what anyone says. “Being different has its obstacles, but it’s not something you can’t overcome,” she said.

Muhammad also spoke of the importance of humility. “Don’t think you are the best. There is always someone running faster, jumping higher. Champions train hard. If you want to win, you have to work harder than the next person.

“You hurt yourself when you think you are the best and you know everything.”

Following Muhammad was Rashida Tlaib, the first Muslim woman to be elected to Michigan’s state legislature and the second ever in the United States overall. Tlaib spoke about the importance of Muslim women engaging with institutions to serve the community.

Tlaib said that she does not consider herself to be a politician but an activist and public servant. She explained that political activism does not have to revolve around a candidate but can focus on an issue, and not necessarily an “Islamic issue.” Like Muhammad, Tlaib also believes that acceptance comes after achievement.  “Once people know who you are, they won’t care that you are Muslim,” she said.

Tlaib recalled the time she was going to campaign at a black Baptist church. She was the only non-black person there, and she could feel the tension. But then an old lady stood up, pointed her cane at Tlaib and said, “That’s the lady that saved my home from tax foreclosure!” Immediately it was like a light came on in the room.

Tlaib told TMO that she does not wear hijab because she doesn’t want the burden of representing Islam, but she said it is not impossible to get elected with hijab. However, wearing hijab does make getting elected more difficult. “You will have to answer questions about Islam every time you knock on a door, before you can even talk about your campaign platform,” she explained.

As a Muslim woman asserting yourself in the community, you are going to get “pushback,” she said. But it is very important to be in the room. The majority of Americans have never met a Muslim. 80% of the legislature has never met a Muslim. When they start saying ignorant things about Islam or Muslims, it’s important for you to be there, to correct them.

Tlaib was able to defeat a proposed anti-Shariah law by joining forces with Jewish and Catholic groups in the name of religious freedom.

When she heard that all the Michigan legislators except for her were invited by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to go on a free trip to Israel, she advised her colleagues to “pay attention to Us vs. Them thinking.” When they came back, they told her, “You were right!”

She tells the other legislators, “now you have met a Muslim that cares about her community and her country. So when you make decisions that impact people of my faith, think of me, not the TV stereotypes.”

“Do not wait for permission,” she advised Muslim women interested in getting into politics. Her own father told her, “No one is going to vote for an Arab,” while her mother asked if running for office meant she wasn’t having another baby. Yet, through an aggressive door-to-door campaign and by addressing general community concerns such as environmental pollution and stopping scrap metal thieves, Tlaib was elected by a constituency where Arabs are only 2% of the population.

The questions from the audience revealed a hunger to understand how these Muslim women do it.

“My family keeps me grounded,” Tlaib explained. “When I go home I’m not a legislator, I’m a Muslim and Philistina, rooted in my culture and my faith … I always remember the verse from the Quran, ‘With hardship comes ease.’”

Tlaib told TMO that she gained her strength from growing up in Southwest Detroit. Primarily Latino and African American, this inner city community is known for pushing barriers away and making succeeding no matter what. When they fail, they get up and fight again. She said the spirit of Detroiters is “invincible.” She told TMO that if America ever had to fight a ground war, the people of Detroit would be on the front line.

Tlaib said being the eldest child in her family “presented challenges that gave me the strength and courage to represent my district. This urge to fight for the weak, the disadvantaged comes from those experiences I lived through,” Tlaib told TMO.