In his June 6 letter “Root of poor water not due to race,” accusing Leonard Pitts of being a racist, Joseph Massie says he knows the “real facts” about the Flint, Mich., water crisis. Yet, he doesn’t mention them.
Flint’s elected city government was replaced by a manager appointed by the governor and accountable only to the governor. In order to save money, this manager switched the city’s water supply from the Detroit system to the Flint River. The problem was the corrosive nature of the Flint River water. The high levels of corrosive pollutants in the river were common knowledge.
The Flint River water began to eat the lead pipes that made up the vast majority of Flint’s water delivery system. People began to show symptoms of lead poisoning, especially children. Citizens began to question the water. Forensic scientists, public health scientists and finally the CDC got involved.
The bad act — the decision that demonstrates absolutely no concern for the lives of the people of Flint — was the cover-up for more than a year. The manager claimed that anti-corrosives had been added to the water, but they had not. They demoted public health scientists who found the water corrosive and full of lead. They stonewalled all outside investigation from the governor’s office down through his unelected manager’s office.
Need I point out that the majority of Flint’s residents are poor and not white?
