The residents of Flint, Michigan, unknowingly drank lead-poisoned water for two years until President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency on Jan. 16, 2016, according to a CNN report.
Flint, once a thriving industrial city, fell into a financial crisis in April 2014 after multiple car manufacturers shut down plants in the surrounding areas. In an effort to save money, Flint officials decided to draw water from the Flint River instead of continuing to pump it from Detroit, according to an ABC News report.
The water from the Flint River has a different chemical makeup than the water being pumped from Detroit. The chemicals in the Flint River water reacted to the outdated pipes, which then caused lead to leach into the water, eventually carrying that lead into the homes of thousands of people over a span of two years, according to a CNN report.
Former Harding student Coleman Yoakum moved to Pontiac, Michigan, in 2011 to start a community development organization. He said he works closely with Flint citizens, and that many people had complained about several problems — the unpleasant smell and brown color of their water, hair loss, the development of rashes and upset stomachs — but that Michigan’s leadership, including Gov. Rick Snyder, had ignored them.
It was only after pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who had been researching the levels of lead in Flint children, released her findings during a press conference that the government started to acknowledge the situation, according to a CNN report. According to Hanna-Attisha, the lead levels in children had doubled in the past two years.
“When pediatricians hear anything about lead, we absolutely freak out,” Hanna-Attisha said in an interview with CNN. “Lead is a potent known neurotoxin. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control), the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics), everybody tells us that there is no safe level of lead.”
Yoakum said the effects of the lead poisoning will affect Flint for years to come.
“You just had a whole generation of kids exposed to lead poisoning for two years,” Yoakum said. “Whenever you encounter high levels of lead, it stops your mental development. It’s going to get worse for Flint, because now you have thousands of stunted citizens.”
Junior Amanda Floyd, who grew up a 30-minutes’ drive from Flint, Michigan, said the crisis is a hard blow to an already hurting city. Floyd said she feels that the negative media coverage is making the situation worse, instead of helping it.
“It just makes me sad because we were already at the bottom, and now it’s even worse,” Floyd said. “And now we are in the spotlight of the country … we just look even worse than we did before.”
According to a CNN report, over the month of January, Snyder issued boil advisories, deployed the National Guard to distribute bottled water and filters, and apologized in his State of the State address. The city has switched back to pumping water from Detroit, but it may take weeks for the water to clear up.
While the water may be clearing, Yoakum said he thinks the people of Flint are just now starting conversations about the possible underlying cause of the crisis. According to Yoakum, decisions made years ago having to do with race may have influenced the poor choices.
“There is a big part of the conversation saying that this is a problem of racism, and I’m not exactly sure how I feel about that,” Yoakum said. “I think actions from 20 years ago are finally adding up. So maybe not racism today, but decisions from a long time ago that are having an effect.”
