Water Warriors from Around the State Join Flint 8th Year Commemoration of water Crisis

Editor’s Note: The following are excerpts from water warriors, speaking at the event:

Bishop Jefferson

“We were going to let lanterns go today in recognition of two great people who were part of Flint water warriors, and for all who lost their lives in the water crisis and Covid . . . because of the water. We had two soldiers to fall: Tony Palladeno this year and Priscilla Wheeler last year, and those too numerous to call their names . . . Our spiritual lantern is going up.  What is that spiritual? Our voice, our presence . . . We will not let them die in vain! We will not let them go in vain! We ‘re out here today because we love our Brothers and Sisters. So today is in memory of the lives that have been lost and the blood that has been shed, the lives that have been broken and torn down, our children whose future has been damaged. So we hang in there. So Father, we thank you for the representatives of their lives. Because they died, we should continue to grow and continue to speak out . . . “

Claudia Perkins-Milton FlintH20Coalition and Democracy Defense League

“Moving Forward, the first thing we want to happen is that the culprit that poisoned us be put in orange jumpsuits and into jail. That’s Number One. Number Two: I want Medicare for all of the citizens impacted by this atrocity. Number Three: We want the Emergency Manager (law), Public Act 436, abolished, obliterated, and to never come back again.”

Carol Sewell

“I’m totally outraged by the Flint water settlement. Because it’s not fair nor equal. Here’s only part of my story. I got up one morning to my brother, not a child, in severe pain. He asked me to call 911. I did. Ambulance driver told me to follow. He was taken directly to surgery where he died on the table. They were able to bring him back from death. I had to wait for hours in the waiting room losing my mind as to what happened, and come to find out his intestines ruptured. His body had to be altered. And he now had a colostomy bag. This was all because of the lead in the drinking water, to 80 percent of children. I am one very pissed off person. I am the one who changed his wound dressings and flushed out his tube and changed his bag. Plus I have my own issues as a result of the lead. So I’ve had it double because of the crises. I’m extremely pissed off. My brother’s life means more to me than a mere slap in the face.

Jasmine Hall

What will it take?

What will it take, Flint? For them to see our humanity.

I moved away in 2012 after graduating high school and came back in 2019 after studying at CMU and Harvard.

I’m involved in NAACP and community engaged research and also a yoga teacher

I’m a millennial, we see at least 1/3 of people of retirement age out here in the rain fighting. This makes no sense.

What will it take?

We see clean water not here yet, in the third  administration since 2014

What will it take for clean water?

We see kids 8 years later not doing well and instead of offering resources, we open a new jail. Disrespectful.

What will it take to care about our kids, Flint?

We see disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on our community because of the underlying conditions caused by the water crisis.

We see an insufficient response at all levels of government. Flint has not been made whole.

What will it take?

We see outsiders centering themselves in telling our story and gate keeping resources instead of amplifying our voices and expanding access to resources

What will it take?

There was more than just lead in the water. More than just physical but also mental harm was done. More than just Flint, but multiple black communities like Benton Harber and Detroit.

What will it take to get clean water?

What will it take for you to respect black lives?

Sylvia Orduno, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization

“And right now, as we’re in the middle of trying to exit out of this Pandemic, we got millions of people with water bills they can’t afford, and that have been accumulating and contributing to the problems with their water utilities. They can’t keep up with the cost of paying for all the water and sewer main replacement and repairs that needs to be done. We want all that for our cities, we want to have good sound structures, but you cannot put those costs on the back of residents, especially low  income residents . . . We (Michigan)should be the examples of the whole nation,to the whole world. . . “ 

Nicole Hill, Peoples Water Board {Detroit)

“We have to stand up and fight and we have to stand up and show solidarity with our Flint brothers and sisters, firstly for water that they can’t utilize, let alone pay for water that is completely unaffordable. It is a human right. Human rights — that doesn’t say a black right, that doesn’t say a white right, that doesn’t say a Jewish right, that doesn’t say gay right. It says a human right to water that includes everyone, everyone has clean water. No one should have to go through what these people are going through. and it needs to stop today . . . “

Marian Kramer, National Welfare Rights Union

“We need to start a movement that all the water throughout Michigan should be owned by the people — a public entity. We got to get back in the streets and let people know that one day you’re going to have no water. Who got the water? Who rules the world? Great Lake Water Authority put a big lie out saying that we (Highland Park) don’t pay for our water and that the surrounding community is paying for our water. The lies must stop. We need to put out our own news.”

Reverend Edward Pinkney, Benton Harbor Community Water Council

“If it wasn’t an election year none of this stuff would be going on in Benton Harbor (meaning the sudden infusion of subsidies for water and pipe replacement). It’s not about Reverend Pinkney, it’s about the future of our children. They’re trying to intimidate me, The Governor made the statement that the Benton Harbor Water Council was selling water in South Bend, Indiana. We got to make sure that the people have clean water! When you fight, you win! When you fight, you win! There is no such thing as waiting ‘til tomorrow . . .  We have to show them we’re not intimidated by them!”