As you may know, Rick Snyder the former Governor of Michigan was arrested and indicted on Thursday, January 14th. He was charged with 2 counts of willful neglect and ultimately charged with a misdemeanor. I am calling on you, the lawmakers and people with power, to please reconsider and re-investigate Mr. Snyder as he is responsible for more than the water. He is responsible for the 12 people that died, resulting from his lack of attention and the people involved.

On January 14th, 2021, Rick Snyder, the former Governor of Michigan, was found guilty on 2 charges of willful neglect. At least 6 others were found guilty and charged. A little history:

The crisis of Flint Michigan started in 2014 and lasted until 2019. In 2014, the city of Flint, changed the water source from treated Detroit water sourced from Lake Huron and Detroit River, to Flint water. Simple change right? Well, that's where it turns deadly. Officials in charge of the water, forgot to apply a chemical called Corrosion Inhibitors. A simple mistake soon turned deadly beyond belief. 

When officials failed to add the corrosion inhibitor to the water, old aging pipes that were lead positive, soon started working and as a result over 100,000 people were exposed to high elevated levels of lead. Perhaps more startling, when a human is exposed to high levels of lead, they can develop serious medical conditions. If that's not suppressing enough, if children under 6 years of age ingested even a small amount of the infected water, they develop permanent brain damage.

Health effects

According to an article published in the US National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health, when children are infected and exposed to lead, they suffer various health problems. Ranging from brain damage, learning and behavior problems, slowed growth and hearing loss, to coma, seizures, and death. Adults can experience serious medical conditions such as Kidney Failure, High Blood Pressure, and Heart disease. For people with existing medical conditions it was especially dangerous. 

Detrimental Effects

Lets break down the crisis in number form

41.2%- Number of people living currently under or at what is considered poverty

100,000- Number of African Americans that make up Flints population

13,000- Number of particles of lead per billion 

539- Number of days the water was considered highly toxic and corrosive

18- Number of months officials knew about the water but did nothing about it

9,000- Number of children that were exposed to the water

Why this is startling

This is particularly very startling because the fact nobody did anything about it. For 18 months, officials knew something was wrong with the oddly colored looking water and musty scent, but still failed to alert law makers. It took roughly around 539 complaints by residents to be brought to light and declared a crisis. People started developing rashes and sores and at least one person in about 66% of Flint resident homes, reported having strange behaviors. 

Perfectly healthy residents began having unexplained bought of sickness that symptoms included life threatening symptoms. The water started turning yellow and brownish-orange tones. Mental health spiked and families were desperate for answers, yet no one acted on it to provide some state of peace. 

Some answers finally came in August of 2014. Scientist detected particles in the water to be of E.coli and Total Coliform Bacteria. Each of these deadly and linked to kidney failure among others. Kids and younger citizens were bathed in high levels of contaminated water and drank from high levels of lead in the water. Kids as young as 12 months were intaking water and getting sick. 

The Take Away

Flint Michigan will never be the same. It is extremely sad to think that it was all because of water. Producer, activist, author, actor, and podcast host, Michael Moore recalls growing up pre-Flint water crisis. His latest Podcast episode on his show "Rumble With Michael Moore" he recalled that when he was growing up, there were at least more then 200,000 people that called Flint their home. Now he says, there are less then 100,000 people that live in Flint. 

I personally don't live in Flint Michigan, nor have I had to suffer this debilitating and detrimental crisis, but it doesn't need to take someone from Flint or not to say that what's happening is nothing short of a Humanitarian Crisis. We have children who now have to live with brain damage thanks to the water. It's like a scar that will never go away. Anybody who has children, and quite frankly anyone with or without children should automatically know that this is wrong. No children, or adult should need to live in fear of developing cancer and other health risks just because they drank water just as a normal person should. 

These people are not asking to be the only ones that matter, or to win the lottery, or be the center of attention. No, they are simply asking for a right. A right they are entitled to just like me and you. They are asking for the right to be able to drink clean water and not worry about the effects. Clean water is a human right. Water is a human right. Being safe is a guaranteed right. But we are not guaranteeing the right that All are safe and have access to the basic human tool of survival. 

The state attorney only indicted Mr. Snyder on 2 counts of misdemeanor and neglect.  To me that seems he is getting an easy pass. 12 people have died. Died because they drank, what? WATER??!! 

I am asking on behalf of all effected by this horrific crisis. I am asking simply that they court and Michigan State Court, take a closer look into the case and seriously think about the charges of Mr. Snyder. I am asking you to help bring justice to the humble and brave people of Flint. I am asking that you please re-think what Mr. Snyder has done and perform a re-trial. I am asking that you please see these peoples side of it. Water is a human right. A humanitarian crisis is not a human right. These people have had to put up with water that hurts them. 

For the People, the new, the young, the old, and the sick, stand with them so that they know that they court has not failed and forgotten about them. 

If you feel the need to help, please consider donating to https://www.savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/emergency-response/flint