*-or maybe just callous indifference, neglect and racism
One of the nightmare scenarios often discussed in stories about domestic terrorism is the one in which a terrorist poisons the water supply for an entire city. Untold numbers suffer from the poisoning and, of course, no one can drink the water.
If a terrorist actually did such a thing it would be front page news immediately. There would be round-the-clock television news coverage not seen since 9/11. And Republican presidential candidates would be rushing to outdo each other in demands to bomb something.
And yet, when it actually happened the response was very different.
When the State of Michigan wound up poisoning the water supply in Flint, the response by much of the mainstream media was almost as slow as the response from government.
At first, there were only 30-second “tell” stories on the evening news, and those stories repeatedly referred to a decision by “the city” or “city officials” to stop paying for water from Detroit and start using water from the Flint river. That water corroded lead pipes, the lead got into the water and poisoned children.
Even when media started looking at the culpability of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, they focused on his failure to respond to the poisoning, not his role in the poisoning of the water in the first place.
Michigan Public Radio reporter Rick Pluta set the record straight in an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep:
PLUTA: Flint is a Michigan community that was placed under what's called emergency management. A state-appointed manager was in charge when the decision was made that Flint was going to stop using water from the city of Detroit system, where it was buying it and it was considered too expensive, and start drawing water from the Flint River at least on an interim basis. …
INSKEEP: And you're giving us an idea here why it is that people would blame the governor - because the state was in charge of the city, because it faced a fiscal crisis, as some cities in Michigan have, and it was seen as a money-saving measure that the water supply was shifted.
PLUTA: Exactly. The complaint is that it was putting bean counting ahead of the public health, while the city of Flint was, basically, under state control.
INSKEEP: And so what specific criticisms of Snyder's role are there?
PLUTA: Well, there're two. One is the one that it happened in the first place. And then as it turned out, state environmental regulators didn't make sure that the proper protections were in place - that the water was treated properly once they started drawing it from the city of Flint and then denied that there was a problem. And this went on for months and months and months before anyone at the state level acknowledged that it was real. In the meantime, local activists, a pediatrician in Flint and some researchers from out-of-state came in and kept saying, look there's a problem, and finally the state had to acknowledge that it was true.
Now, finally, Gov. Snyder says “I’m sorry, and I will fix it,” adding:
To the families in Flint, it is my responsibility, my commitment to deliver. I give you my commitment that Michigan will not let you down.
But of course, the governor - not all of Michigan, but the governor and his appointees - already let Flint down. And part of the tragedy of lead poisoning in children is, once it happens, it can’t be “fixed.” But he’s right about the fact that it’s his responsibility. That’s why, for starters, he needs to resign. Starting at five minutes into this video, Michael Moore suggests the next logical step.
Meanwhile, most of the Republican presidential candidates have suddenly lost their voices. (The one tiny silver lining to this horror: If you want Donald Trump to shut up, ask him about Flint.)
Did Rick Snyder want the children of Flint to be poisoned by lead-contaminated water? Of course not. But does anybody seriously believe that the state of Michigan ever would have done this in, say, Bloomfield Hills – or any other very, very rich very, very white suburb?
This is one more example of just how little Black lives matter. And the poisoning of Flint is domestic terrorism.*
Wednesday, Jan 20, 2016 · 11:46:23 PM +00:00 · RichardWexler
UPDATE: CBS, for one STILL doesn’t get it. On the CBS Evening News tonight, Scott Pelley just said the crisis began when Flint changed water sources. No, Scott. Flint didn’t make that decision, the state forced it on Flint.
Then Pelley interviewed Snyder, pressing him only on whether the water is safe now, and letting him blame his environmental protection agency for everything that went wrong. Pelley did not ask a single question about Snyder’s responsibility for bringing on this crisis in the first place.
And to top it off, when asked about another state takeover that’s failed, in Detroit Schools, prompting a sickout by teachers to protest the horrible conditions in school buildings, Snyder said he hoped the teachers “would stop hurting the kids.”
Rick Snyder may not be the very last person in America in a position to tell anyone else to stop hurting kids, but he’s on the short list.