Water: Fighting for a Basic Need
"Clean water is not a constitutional right". This is a quote from a FEMA official. FEMA. Let that marinate. This quote from Ted Radio Hour: Our relationship with Water, stopped me dead in my tracks. It was such a powerful and uncomfortable quote that I found myself sitting on it all day. I've spent the afternoon exploring my visceral and emotional reaction wondering how to articulate how I feel without going on an incoherent spiel; I probably will but it is what it is. This quote was followed by, "FEMA regulations are not meant for the most vulnerable communities and disaster process is meant for the middle class". OK, so you are telling me that a basic need to survive is not a constitutional right, and the powers that be can dictate that? We look to FEMA for help in many crisis situations and not everyone can be or is meant to be helped with their system structure? As with most everything, the middle class and up to get all the advantages while the rest, the oppressed, and the most vulnerable have to have permission to live and be helped. This bothers me.
There is so much to unpack about water injustice and water scarcity alone, that I will embarrassingly admit I have never really thought about it. The idea that my water could be limited, shut off, or contaminated has not come to mind because, why would it, I am not in a position where this would be an issue and...I'm a white woman. The idea that without more community advocation around these issues of water injustice, water scarcity, climate change, etc, can have severe repercussions on the planet and humans is very real and very scary.
While listening to the Ted Talk on the artist photographing people living in Flint Michigan and their experiences with contaminated water several things struck me. 1.This is still happening years later, 2. people are getting sick and dying and a blind eye is being turned to those in need 3. People are being denied a basic need. I became choked up in the part of the Ted Talk where the artist speaks of her work and collaboration in getting a machine brought to Flint to purify Flint water. A man exclaimed, "This is what clean water is supposed to taste like". This exclamation of joy over something I take for granted, was a hard reality for me to swallow. I sit here drinking my water freely knowing I will not get sick, become cancerous, and my hair won't fall out, while others experience this very real and unnecessary side effect of being, "at the bottom". I think about these people in Flint, already vulnerable and oppressed most likely with minimal money, being made to buy bottles upon bottles of water to simply hydrate, be able to cook, and be able to bathe. Bottled water isn't cheap. The people do not deserve this.
In the book, The Social Labs Revolution, Hassan speaks of habitus-behavior that is deeply ingrained, mentally, physically, and systematically like it is like an addiction and not something we can shrug off i.e racism, oppression, class systems, inequality, injustice, you name it. The golden thread that has woven throughout the USA and history. The thing that social workers are out to stop and support change in the narrative. I've tried to put myself in the position of what can I do as a social worker in this situation of water injustice? What can I contribute? How would I approach this? I feel overwhelmed thinking about how to begin to think about how to approach this complex social problem. I want to walk over to Poland Spring and bang on the door and demand they help because that seems tangible and is not totally out of the question. I want to make more community connections and network. I know this is clearly not a real solution and this injustice requires a lot more thought and action than that. I will be the first to admit I do not know where to start in creating change (with many things) even though I can identify that what is happening in Flint (discrimination/oppression/inequality), causes of climate change, water injustice, and environmental injustices are wrong. Basic needs such as water should not have to be asked for and people should not have to have permission to live.
Dani, your passion for this is so real! I know that you are one who is not afraid to make waves, so I can truly imagine you banging on the door at the Poland Spring plant.
ReplyDeleteReading your post, I am thinking about how the mainstream media narrative and Americans' short attention spans lead to so easily forgetting and ignoring these ongoing, often systemic, injustices. Flint is no longer shocking - we heard it, we react, maybe donate something, and then we get over it and move on, because it doesn't immediately affect our lives. Of course there are some that continue to advocate and make change - if there weren't, then we wouldn't have these stories that you highlighted.
As social workers, we are some of the few that notice and try to help (and hopefully liberate) the poor, impoverished, and deeply marginalized. It frustrates me so deeply when I hear politicians talking about the middle class and working class - but rarely (or never) the poor, the working poor, those below the poverty line, etc. This makes it so easy for the masses to forget they exist or justify their ignorance. How often do folks look the other way when they see panhandlers, people pushing shopping carts, or those on their way from Oxford St. to Preble St.?
It can definitely feel overwhelming when thinking about how we could help or assist in such a big problem like lack of clean water. When there are people at FEMA(!) who don't believe clean water is a right, how can little old me do anything about it? I wrote about this a bit in my post, because the system can feel just so /wrong/ when thinking about systemic oppression and how difficult it is to overturn it. Hopefully as we continue through this semester and our careers, we can figure out what to do - because right now, I don't really know.
Hi Dani, thank you for such a thoughtful post. As a white woman I too have not had to think much about where my water will come from or if it will be contaminated by greedy corporations who care more about profit than people (the shady nature of Poland Springs is another Blog entirely!)
ReplyDeleteThe Flint water crisis is indeed a travesty and this video was so disturbing to me; it’s crazy to me to think that five years later Flint still does not have clean drinking water! I have been following this story since it began and have always assumed that this is racist, but I had no idea the depths of depravity that the powers that be in Flint would go to to allow this to continue to happen. LaToya called it environmental racism; I am embarrassed to admit that I have never heard this term before, but it makes so much sense. It is a new perspective for me to be able to look at and think about what is going on around us through this lens. Now I am thinking about the Keystone XL Pipeline that was being built through Indigenous Peoples lands in South Dakota (Biden recently signed an executive order essentially stopping the pipeline! Hooray!).
It’s disturbing to me that the water in Flint was contaminated in the first place, by manufacturers of course, the ones with the power and money. And to add insult to injury to the people of Flint, those who were responsible for contaminating the water, making people sick and causing them to die, were cleared of all charges. Environmental racism, like all forms of racism, is political in nature; water is being used as a commodity by the rich and powerful and they are raking in the profits at the expense of human lives. It is unbelievable to me that FEMA’s official stance is that clean water is not a constitutional right. I had no idea until now! How can that even be reality?
One final thought: Alita said, “It’s a miracle that god gave Moses the knowledge and technology to provide us with pure drinking water.” That is devastating. Humans should not have to wait for a miracle to have a basic human right; the miracle would be if the politicians and leaders would accept responsibility and help the people of Flint overcome the crisis that they created.
Thank you so much for your passion! I grew up in Michigan and still have a lot of friends there. It was a huge deal when all that went down a couple of years (Geez... er, 7 years) ago and I remember wondering why I was only hearing about it from friends and it wasn't making more news nationally. I feel like the more I have moved around the more disjointed the US seems. Even in the current times of globalization, it's difficult to even keep track of what goes on within our own country. *insert rant about biased news* I will say I'm glad that what isn't being exploited in the news is the high rates of violent crime and murder in Flint. That seems weird to say? But when I lived in Michigan Flint surpassed Detroit as the most violent city in the state, and that was the backdrop to the water crisis a few years later. Like.. so they're struggling with violence so they deserve to not have clean water?
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