People of Flint Call for Pro-Democracy Revolt [View all]

[Marty McGraw]

to Save Their Poisoned City

Published on Wednesday, January 27, 2016 by Common Dreams

Residents and advocacy organizations are seeking outside intervention, and a complete overhaul of the state government

by Lauren McCauley, staff writer


Ahmirah Porter, 9, of Flint stands outside City Hall to protest Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's handling of the water crisis. (Photo: Jake May/ MLive.com)

Fed up with an administration whose policies caused the devastating water crisis and subsequent health epidemic, advocacy organizations and community members are calling for nothing less than a complete overhaul of the way government works in Michigan.

On Tuesday, Flint residents met with leaders of the national NAACP to draw up a "15-point priority plan" for addressing the lead-tainted water crisis. Chief among their demands is the repeal of Michigan's contentious emergency manager law, which was enacted in 2011 under Gov. Rick Snyder.

A memo (pdf) by the national civil rights group notes that throughout talks with Flint community members, "Most stridently, we heard the need for a return to democracy by repealing the Emergency Financial Manager Law, under which the string of decisions were made that brought Flint to this crisis."

As Flint native Art Reyes III explained, "The emergency manager law gave unchecked power to the governor in the name of helping these communities emerge from financial distress. But in reality, it unleashed a series of devastating austerity and privatization measures adopted in the name of progress, and took away democratic rights from poor communities of color."

Indeed, a number of the city and state officials—empowered by that very statute—who oversaw the decision to change the source of Flint's water supply were named in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Wednesday. The complaint argues that those officials repeatedly violated a number of federal laws, including the Safe Water Drinking Act, and will continue to do so without court intervention.

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http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/01/27/people-flint-call-pro-democracy-revolt-save-their-poisoned-city