DETROITAlmost precisely four years after lead-contaminated and dangerous drinking water first started flowing into residents pipes and into their homes in Flint, Mich., the state and attorneys for Flints schoolchildren have settled a class-action suit about it, agreeing to universal screening of Flint students for lead poisoning, including in-depth blood testing.
The American Federation of Teachers, which sponsored a Flint teachers tour nationwide to tell others about the toll it took on their kids, endorsed the settlement, estimated to cost at least $97 million. Meanwhile, water quality, not just in Flint but statewide, has become a top issue in the Michigans wide-open governors race.
Thats because, several days before the April 10 settlement, the state announced lead levels in Flints water had dropped enough and stayed low enough for the last two years for Michigan to stop sending bottled water to the majority-minority citys 102,000 residents.
And that decision by term-limited GOP Gov. Rick Snyder, who appointed the fiscal czar who ordered the switch in water sources that caused the poisoning, angers many in Flint.
It also irks Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who first blew the whistle on the lead in Flints water. "This is wrong. Until all lead pipes are replaced, state should make available bottled water and filters to Flint residents," she tweeted.
The crisis began in late April 2014, when Flint residents found odd smells and discoloration in their tap water, whose origin had recently been shifted from Lake Huron to the Flint River. That caused Flints old pipes to leach lead into the water, without proper anti-corrosion chemicals. The state-appointed financial czar ordered the source switch and the chemical ban, to save money.
Residents complained, but state officials didnt listen. But outspoken physicians and public health specialists found and publicized abnormally high lead levels in the water. Lead levels in childrens blood cause serious brain damage and disability. The kids were very scared, with one elementary schooler tearfully asking a teacher: Am I going to die?
A later independent report concluded environmental racism was a key reason for the officials attitudes and the water crisis. Snyder, his czar and other state water officials are white. So is the GOP state legislative majority which approved the czars law allowing state takeovers of financially failing cities and other governments. Takeovers hit non-white bodies.
The American Federation of Teachers and its Michigan affiliate lauded the settlement
and the testing. But an outspoken National Education Association member and a Flint
teacher criticizes Snyders role. She and NEA have yet to comment on the settlement.
The settlement ends a federal class action suit against the state, asserting violations of federal and state special education laws.
Flint families have endured a rolling nightmare because of politicians and administrators who would prefer to strip underprivileged communities of resources than to invest in them, said David Hecker, president of the Michigan Federation of Teachers. Tens of thousands of kids have suffered permanent harm because of their illegal actions. Today, the children of Flint have won a measure of justice through an unprecedented settlement that mandates the services and support that both the law and basic decency demand.
AFT President Randi Weingarten added: The children of Flint, who have suffered an entirely man-made crisis, today have won some relief in the courts to help alleviate the health issues they face. At the core of this case is the legal standard that children with disabilities -- such as those with lead poisoning -- must receive the same education and support guaranteed to others. If they dont, a just remedy must be found and enforced.
Flint kids will now get the services they need to help them recover and thrive. But our fight is far from over. We owe these children recompense for the health problems they may suffer for decades to come -- entirely predictable and foreseeable injuries that arose after the governor and the emergency manager decided to expose them to contaminated water and lead pipes. We must never let politicians create emergency control that strips away local democratic checks and balances and allows them to put ideology over the health and safety of children and communities, which enables foreseeable disasters like poisoned water.
Teacher, writer and environmental racism activist Jessyca Mathews, a Flint native, has a different view, in an interview with the National Education Associations website magazine. NEA has not commented on the settlement yet.
Gov. Snyder and the whole team have done nothing to rebuild the trust destroyed during the water crisis. People simply dont believe the water is safe to drink and this closure of the distribution of fresh water and the way it was announced just furthers that feeling.
You have to remember that we noticed an immediate change in the clarity and quality of their water in 2014 as soon as the supply was changed over, but it took over a year for action to be taken. We took our case to the governors appointed emergency manager for Flint, to Gov. Snyder directly and a lot of people in between, and we were ignored and told everything was fine. During that time, we were poisoned by toxic water.
This is happening in Flint, but there are communities across the country where
students are affected by toxic levels of lead. You need to educate yourself and look for the
signs of lead poisoning, Mathews warned other teachers.
It is hard to put into words the feeling of powerlessness and frustration my students feel
at having their voices ignored for over a year under those circumstances. Without the
intervention of the team at Virginia Tech who went public with their independent testing about the toxic levels of lead, I dont know where wed be.
We talk about environmental racism and that is what Flint was about. It all comes down to race and money. Across the country poor and minority communities are more often impacted by toxic environments. Flint used to be a booming town, but when GM closed its plant and the life changed almost overnight. The real truth is that this water crisis happened in Flint, but it could happen anywhere.
Source: PAI