FLINT, MI— After nearly two years, the fight for safe, affordable water by the long-suffering people of Flint, MI., has finally been brought to national and international attention. Coverage of the crisis by publications such as “TIME” magazine and “National Geographic” and more have shocked the nation.
‘It’s like we’re living in a third world country’ is a common refrain in the community here. But the toxic water comparison doesn’t end there. Under the notorious Emergency Manager law, several municipalities and school districts in Michigan have been denied the ability to control or make decisions about their communities, and were touted as “fiscal martial law” when the law was enacted in 2011—another eerie reminder of some so-called third world countries. Emergency Managers (EMs) sell off public assets and privatize public services. Since it’s passage, EMs brought massive water shutoffs in Detroit, Highland Park, and Flint. They infamously stole a beachfront property from Benton Harbor residents. In Pontiac, local Fire and Police Departments no longer exist and the public water source is privatized. Furthermore, EMs totally destroyed public school systems in Highland Park, Hamtramck, and Muskegon Heights and wrecked havoc on Detroit’s school system. In their zeal to transfer the Flint water system to bondholders and other corporate interests—a Michigan city was poisoned.
We have to publicize and shine the light of day on the fascist offensive going on in Michigan. There is nothing to duplicate this model in the country, where you have one individual who can write an order and do all these things.
The backdrop is that Flint is the home of GM, and also the home of the great sit down strike that established collective bargaining with GM. Flint was a game changer within the labor movement and the acceleration of unionization nationwide. As technology advanced and GM began to shift jobs overseas for lower labor costs, the workforce went into rapid decline. The problem is we no longer build cars and trucks and so we have become a throwaway disposable class—a class where people’s lives don’t matter anymore.
Our future is up to us about what kind of a society we want to have, what kind of life we want to live. We don’t want to pass on lead to our children and grandchildren. We want to pass on a good life to them—one where this new technology being developed every day can make life better for all of us. That’s the kind of future that I as a retired GM worker wants to pass on to my children and grandchildren.
