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Water rights bond Flint and Standing Rock

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The destinies of the struggle for water in Flint and in Standing Rock are bound together. As the Flint Water Crisis approaches it’s third year, and Dakota Access prepares to tunnel under the Missouri River, we must continue to force the government to serve the people, not the water-poisoning corporations.
PHOTO/FACEBOOK

 
 
Editor’s note: The following comments were excerpted from Facebook posts about the fight for water in Flint and Standing Rock.
“I have one message, we have to stand as one, we have to unify, we have to continue to love each other and trust each other in a one-step movement with each other. I have been rejuvinized. I can go back home a little bit stronger because it gives me hope to continue the fight we have fought for the last two years.” This statement was from a Flint activist who went to Standing Rock to join the fight for clean water.
“The state is forcing Flint to push everyone to pay their water bills. We never stopped receiving water bills for the poison flowing through our taps. The state says that people need to pay otherwise they’ll stop sending infrastructure money. Keep in mind that the state poisoned our water and destroyed our infrastructure which is crumbling right now. All we want is new pipes to stop poisoning the water. Flint is charged the highest rate anywhere in the state — in a city that’s 40% or more below the poverty line. No one is refunding us for the poisoned water, damage to our homes or health. — Melisa Mays, Water You Fighting For
The following are excerpts from a video by Josh Fox recorded at Standing Rock.
Tory Russell: Black people live in Flint. Our water is messed up. I just left South Africa. You go to the Eastern Cape, its mining towns. Their water is messed up. I’m up here, they’re trying to poison the water. It’s universal. Big Mama would say the same thing Native Americans say: ‘God made that mountain baby, how can you own it? . . . Racism and capitalism, doesn’t care who you are or what land you’re on. They will try to defeat you.
Wes Clark, Jr.: Veterans who went to Standing Rock are coming to Flint. We’re going everywhere when we see something wrong is happening. No one is going to pay us. We’re never going to raise money other than for equipment and transportation. — Wes Clark, Jr., a US Marine veteran and son of a former NATO commander

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