Governor Rick Snyder stood at the podium with what looked like a blank stare. It was early October, 2015. For the previous eighteen months, his administration and Flint city officials had fielded complaints from residents worried about the brown and smelly water coming out of their taps.
The governor and his top officials had responded to residents’ concerns with grade-A government gaslighting. “Don’t believe your eyes” was the basic message from Snyder and company. Disregard the brown water, the foul smell, your skin breaking out in rashes, or hair rapidly falling out of your scalp. “Your water is safe to drink,” residents were repeatedly assured since April of 2014.
To be more exact, it was April 25, 2014 — that is when city officials flipped the switch to the Flint River.
That event diverted Flint away from Detroit’s water pipeline, from which Flint had been getting its drinking water for fifty years, over to the heavily polluted Flint River. Most residents weren’t even aware the changeover occurred. It was supposed to be a temporary move, while a new regional water system Flint had signed on to was built. The problems were immediate, and it didn’t take long for angry residents to show up at city hall hoisting jugs of brown water.
The mayor and city council members initially told residents the water was safe. According to the powers that be, the discoloration and smell were just kinks being worked out at the city water plant. But the people of Flint weren’t buying it. At first there were a few groups showing up at city hall. Small crowds grew to large protests. Some residents even contacted the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Yet government officials remained steadfast in the “official” story. They upheld a united front across federal, state, and local levels: Flint’s drinking water is meeting federal requirements, and that’s the story we’re sticking…
La suite est à lire sur: jacobin.com
Auteur: Jordan Chariton
