News & Commentary

ACLU at the Michigan Capitol – March 25, 2016

WASHINGTON—There was much partisan heat generated, but very little light shed, when Gov. Rick Snyder and U.S. EPA administrator Gina McCarthy appeared recently before a congressional committee to answer questions about their roles in the Flint water crisis.

What we have come to learn about the Flint water crisis over the past several months—including the fact that a city of 100,000 people was left exposed to alarming levels of lead in its drinking water for nearly two years—has left our state reeling and our nation angry in disbelief.

The ACLU of Michigan documentary “Here’s To Flint” is a searing examination of the origins of the Flint water crisis and the determined efforts of Flint residents, activists and researchers to learn the truth about the city’s lead-contaminated drinking water.

Individuals who contribute to racial inequities and discrimination are not always motivated by purposeful racial hostility.

By now, you've surely heard about the Flint water crisis. And you probably know why it happened: After the state of Michigan suspended democracy in the impoverished, predominantly African-American city, emergency managers appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder were given absolute power to make unilateral decisions that resulted in the lead poisoning of the municipality’s water supply.

Michigan state government’s arrogant, callous indifference to both the plight of the people of Flint and the weight of outraged public opinion is explained quite simply by the fact that some officials regard black Michigan as their own little Africa. With the mentality of colonizers, they created and wielded the mighty weapon of Michigan’s emergency manager law, and they set out to dominate and exploit predominantly black cities with breathtaking indifference to the rights and the welfare of those who live there. Michigan’s emergency manager law gives the governor the power to place all authority of a mayor and city council in the hands of a single unelected individual, supposedly for the purpose of rescuing the municipality from financial distress.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—ACLU of Michigan investigative reporter Curt Guyette has been named Michigan Journalist of the Year by the Michigan Press Association for his groundbreaking coverage of toxic contamination of the Flint water supply, a public-health disaster that exposed the city of 100,000 people to lead poisoning for almost two years even as government officials insisted the water was safe.