We have to acknowledge that the justice system as an entire entity, has not always (read: ever) been fair and just as it pertains to people and communities of color. Even before its pipes started leaching lead. Adding to its economic woes, much like its larger cousin down the road, Flint has a vexed political relationship with the state. However, I dont believe in using that humanity to excuse ones passive racism. July 21, 2021; 0; 0; examples of obligations in everyday life . And here's one new series that could be too easily overlooked: Flint Town, an eight-part Netflix docudrama about the crisis of policing in Flint, Michigana city that has been called one of. I get reelected in 2011, and then we get the sequence of [four] emergency managers, who under state law effectively become the mayor and the city council, even though they dont take that title, Walling told me. So lets show the world what the real Flint Town looks like. Derek Robertson is digital editor for Indianapolis Monthly. March 23, 2015. And while Flints political tug of war with a majority-white state government isnt unique, that dynamic gave an extra sting to the citys repeated financial takeovers by state-appointed emergency managers, culminating in the austerity-driven call to switch its water supply to the contaminated Flint River. We will update this section as soon as we hear more. We just want to live normally, and actually be able to drink the water that comes out of our tap safely, with no concerns, said Melissa Mays, a vocal Flint water activist. "90 Day Fianc" has introduced audiences to many couples who met in different countries. We wish you a lifetime of love and happiness. Were a community of victors, not a community of victims.. Self - Field Training Officer, Flint 1 . (Photo Credit: Open Door Co./Nomad Films Inc.). I really enjoyed Heatwave, Bloodstone, and The Stylistics they were GREAT but Whispers come on I am OLD SCHOOL I realize that some of the members are not present anymore or deceased but to go from 5 Whispers to 3 to 2 is ridiculous my suggestion is to bring on new whispers or retire, I hope they do not retire they can still sing but keep . With crime soaring, things get further complicated for the officials when a Presidential Debate takes place in the city. Stay connected to whats happening with the City of Flint. The Flint water crisis begins On April 25, 2014 officials from Flint, Michigan switched the city's water supply to the Flint River as a cost-cutting measure for the struggling city. Documentary Crime Documentary following the police department in Flint, Michigan as they struggle with dwindling resources and crumbling infrastructure in a community crippled by violence and a contaminated water crisis. Just moments before, captured on video now for eternity, Walling had pushed a button on a panel at the citys water treatment plant that turned an ominous, glowing red. 11 Nov 2021 A federal judge in the United States has approved a $626m settlement for victims of the lead water crisis in Flint, Michigan, in a case brought by tens of thousands of residents who. With market analyses, stakeholder engagement, and program economics, we have envisioned a bold, strategic and transformative future that is like nothing this university has ever experienced before here at the University of Michigan - Flint. Welcome to Flint Town. There was a lot of racial discomfort in the documentary. Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena - Atlantic City. As the evening wore on, Flint resident Elizabeth Taylor needled them for their perceived eagerness to draw the proceedings to a close: How can we trust you when you look at the clock and say you want to leave? As a water crisis erupts and a new mayor is sworn in, the understaffed police department faces uncertainty while struggling to protect the city. The information they provided was, to be generous, incomplete. Self - Flint Resident 1 episode, 2018 Sylvester Jones . For once, it was nice to see someone making an attempt to get at the humanity of both sides of this conflict. Weaver was narrowly defeated in her 2019 reelection bid by Sheldon Neeley, a state representative and former city council member who relentlessly needled the mayor for her mismanagement of the arduous project to replace the citys lead pipes, calling her a ceremonial mayor who basked in the media spotlight. As of June, just over 10,000 pipes have been replaced in Flint and the citys website says it is in the final stage of replacement, but even still residents struggle to trust that the water is safe to drink. They might not trust the results of a presidential election, behaving as if they live in a banana republic and not a robust, if flawed, democracy. They might not trust their criminal justice system, with no incentive to respect a system that allows elites to break the law with impunity. As of July 12, 2020, Flint has had 25 homicides, 42 rapes, 104. Its the way school districts are drawn and the funding those schools receive being based on property tax. We need more community building and support for the positive things that Flint natives are creating. That sequence was extraordinarily difficult. As far as the next season goes, the decision to renew Flint Town is still under contemplation. Nine former Michigan officials, including ex-Gov. Officer Frost is among the most egregious; rarely does he break free of the hyper-masculine, overaggressive, and self-centered officer archetype that has come to define the cultural atmosphere of . 4.7K4.7K. Without that treatment, lead leached from the pipes into drinking water, resulting in lead-poisoning in thousands of homes. The documentary follows the Flint Police Department over the course of one trying year filled with budget cuts, local and presidential elections, and, of course, a water crisis. When Burton Mayor Duane Haskins visited him in the hospital after the incident, he said Christie "still had a . Thats not to say the Flint Town series is faultless. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Try as they might, celebrities have to face the reaper as well at some point. Christie's condition was upgraded to "fair" Tuesday, and he was expected to recover. This is another one of those tough conversations I mentioned we needed to have a Come to Jesus moment, if you will. According to the 2001 Census the population of the community of Flint was 12,804. Tuesday 23 November 2021 13:26. The first season of the show was set in Flint, Michigan, and the events portrayed took place in the aftermath of the Flint water crisis which began in 2014, after the drinking water source for the city of Flint was changed to the Flint River from its earlier sources, Lake Huron and the Detroit River. We need to hold our educators, lawmakers, and other civil servants accountable for the services they are paid to provide. And Flint's experience has been a precursor to lead. ), By then, more than five years had passed since the switch flipped that began the crisis. I dont want to leave my home, she said. After years of painstaking cleanup and rebuilding, the studys results were a sparkling capstone. Walling is now a consultant and occasional college adjunct, imparting hard-earned wisdom from his time in office to the would-be technocrats of tomorrow. One of Weavers campaign promises was that she would declare a state of emergency in the city, out of a belief that the city needed to fan the media flames more aggressively in order to draw the national attention and resources necessary to remedy the crisis. Steel Magnolias is a 1989 film based on the stage play. Flint was founded as a village by fur trader Jacob Smith in 1819 and became a major lumbering area on the historic Saginaw Trail during the 19th century. And a year and a half later, no new charges have been filed. Debbie opened for NKOTB during their 2019 tour, which also featured Tiffany, Salt-N-Pepa, and Naughty By Nature. They lined up their cars and popped their trunks to collect cases of water to use in their homeswater in bottles, from somewhere else, that they actually trusted. Walling was elected in 2009 to succeed Williamson, after the latter resigned rather than face a recall election. In a city with a long legacy of dysfunction, its the rare action that can be matched to a clear and obvious positive outcome. One of the things about Karen is that shes a regular person, and not a politician, and so there were some issues with that, mostly from some of the people she listened to, said Mays, the activist. After six years of lies, deliberate or not, a revolving door in a disempowered City Hall, and the dysfunction wrought by a high-profile, high-stakes recovery process, they find themselves still unable to trust either their water or the people telling them to drink it. By David K. Li and Erin Einhorn. White discomfort does not take precedence over the literal safety and human rights of others. And read the Great Lakes News Collaboratives coverage of ongoing problem of urban drinking water systems. Copyright 2023 City of Flint, Michigan. Dr. Benjamin J. Pauli, assistant professor at Flints Kettering University. Optimists and institutionalists hope that new leaders in Washington can deliver the return to normalcy theyve been promised, and maybe rebuild some of that easily burned-off trust. Despite what some see as the shortcomings of Weavers administration, her emergency declaration is viewed as a key moment in transforming a story of local mismanagement into one with nationwide repercussions. In the nation outside Flint, with the coronavirus vaccine at hand, the eyes of normal people are eagerly turning toward a post-pandemic world. Well get to that in a bit. 3// DALLAS, TEXAS. Weaver was elected as an outsider, someone who would give voice to Flints common man and upend the sclerotic status quo through sheer force of personality. Co-director Zackary Canepari has already signalled his willingness to go for another season to explore in-depth more systems that flog day-to-day life in Flint. Urbane where his predecessor was crass, credentialed where Williamson had only a rap sheet, brainy instead of flexing his political brawn, Walling was exactly the kind of homegrown talent a troubled, once-proud city needed. Dion has his first shift on the job. Having finally finished all eight episodes, I have mixed emotions about it. And for the other half, I will serve them equally; I believe that over the last few months, were winning them over, Neeley said. I met Walling at Caf Rhema, a small coffee shop in downtown Flint that seeks to do its part in revitalizing the city by invoking the better days of the Jazz Age. People think were just poor and have no means to leave. Approximately 80% is allocated for them, with most of that going to children who were under 6 when they were exposed. Block by block, house by. Flint Town, in all of its glory, tells the critical story of how over 10 years, the funding for the police department has wilted to the very bare minimum. Flint is a majority-African American city, where over 40% of the residents live in poverty, and some suggested that authorities' indifference to the community led to the crisis. Equally wary was Jim Ananich, a lifelong Flint resident and outgoing leader of the Democratic minority in the Michigan State Senate. You ended [the investigation]. There are plenty of ways to tell the story of what went wrong in Flint leading to that moment. So when I say certain police officers in Flint Town display passive or casually racist attitudes, I mean they may or may not realize the biases and opinions they have are rooted in racist ideology. For months, it turned out, Flint had had been exposing its residents to that lead at levels that could cause lifelong damage to the health of its children. When he looks back at his time in office, Walling remembers it the same way that many of his constituents probably do: as a time of being caught flat-footed, without recourse or relief. Air date: Mar 2, 2018. Nessels communications director declined to comment for this article, citing the ongoing investigation. The state is well prepared to argue out any legal liability from lead poisoning, but you cant really argue out the bacteria if you can show that the bacteria is there because of the water switch, and there are researchers now who have shown that., The fact that some residents still say they experience mysterious water issues doesnt inspire their confidence, either. On a criminal level, nine people, including Snyder, werecharged with crimes in Januaryafter a new investigation. The Lead and Copper Rule ensures that residents anywhere in the United States have clean drinking water. It offered a raw view into the humanity and vulnerabilities of both police officers and the residents of the communities in which they serve. Some of us just dont want to leave. But you fix bumps, right? She currently is a paraprofessional at her alma mater, the International Academy of Flint, and plans to pursue graduate studies this fall. So whats the trust level?. Snyder has never come here to say hes sorry. O-Town: What Are They Up To Now? Since he first took office, there have been no fewer than two subsequent mayors and four emergency managers (one serving two nonconsecutive terms), giving Flint residents a leadership that goes far beyond the revolving door to approach a whirlwind. Members of Flint's City Council vote 7-1 to reconnect Flint to the Detroit water system. She believes the state vastly underplayed, and therefore worsened, that outbreak at the time. So all you Flint motherfuckers listen to what I say. FLINT, Mich. In a city synonymous for half a decade with disaster, something remarkable happened in February 2019. Even before its pipes started leaching lead, Flint was deeply in trouble, as badly off as any other Rust Belt cityor worse. In their Netflix docuseries, director-cinematographers Zackary Canepari, Jessica Dimmock, and Drea Cooper spend a year embedded with the police department of Flint, Michigan, a city reeling from. Follow him on Twitter @derek_j_rob. I shudder to think whats going to happen if these cases just evaporate into thin air, because its going to be yet another trauma inflicted upon the community, whether people intend it that way or not., For me, you cant have trust without truth-telling, Shariff said. Hopefully, the scope of those challenges will at some point begin to narrow, but I dont think were at that point.. View Details. Over a two-year period, filmmakers embedded with cops in Flint, Michigan, reveal a department grappling with volatile issues in untenable conditions. The Flint water crisis was a public health crisis that started in 2014 after the drinking water for the city of Flint, Michigan was contaminated with lead and possibly Legionella bacteria. There could have been a combination of approaches, where the most capacity was focused on the highest-risk areas, and some could have been dedicated to, you know, complaints from someone who the model may not show is in a high-risk place. From an outside perspective, it sounds like a happy ending. Shes very adamant about the idea Flint is hopeless and will not recover from the blows we have suffered to date. There were all kinds of efforts at the government level to quiet, and to disregard, and to discourage the idea that there were issues regarding bacteria [during the water crisis], Sullivan said. Most couples, like Amy and Danny Frishmuth from season two, are still together and have a family. Many of the residents who lined up to speak did so through tears. This conversation in itself may make you uncomfortable, but its still one we needed to have. Myth Three: White discomfort supersedes human rights. If you havent seen the show yet head over to. Flint police battle with a store that's a magnet for criminal activity. Ananich wasnt in line that day, but he understands why people were. Only after all of these things do we need money. [1][2][3] The documentary focuses on the thoughts and conflicted emotions of police officers serving to protect urban areas of Flint, Michigan (unofficially nicknamed "Flint Town") struggling with poverty, crime, financially strapped public services and the Flint water crisis. And to compensate its just under 95,000 people for the damage theyve sufferedeconomically, medically and psychologicallythe city and state reached a settlement in August that will pay nearly $650 million to Flint residents. Racism now looks like the stereotypes and personal biases that keep people of color out of certain jobs and neighborhoods. Among them were Adam Ant, Donal Logue . "My city is on fire. In late 2017, Weavers administration gave AECOM, a national infrastructure firm that boasts on its website of being one of Fortunes Most Admired Companies, a $5 million contract meant to speed up the program. Ask the Great Lakes Now Team Your PFAS Question, Beneath the Surface: The Line 5 Pipeline in the Great Lakes, Collection 1 An Exploration of the Great Lakes, Collection 2 Threats to the Great Lakes, Collection 3 Virtual Field Trips in the Great Lakes, Collection 4 Lesson Plans from Our Monthly PBS Program, up-to-date community reporting of Flint and the water crisis, coverage of ongoing problem of urban drinking water systems, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Partnership, Court: Nessel can try again to return Line 5 lawsuit to state court, For Ann Arbor water managers, ongoing battle to keep toxic chemicals at bay, Report: MI and OH must spend hundreds of millions more annually to curb toxic blooms in Lake Erie. So, while I believe in the humanization of police officers, I dont believe we can use their humanity as an excuse to justify biases that can prove, and have proved, to be deadly for people of color. Everything we consume from movies to music has become more explicit. And so its commodified, packaged and sold.. The anger, the lack of trust, its all justified, Ananich says. A lead water pipe removal program, established under a 2017 court order issued as part of a massive lawsuit on behalf of Flint residents, is inching toward a close. All that was coming out [of] the attorney generals office [last summer] was bashing Todd Flood. The levels of bacteria likely caused an outbreak of Legionnaires disease that also followed the switch, killing at least a dozen people. Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States Of America. Local news outlet MLive trumpeted the news, and Michigans Department of Environmental Quality tacked it to their ongoing list of promising signs that indicated the citys potable present and future. She did so in December 2015, a month after her election, and President Barack Obama then declared a federal emergency in January 2016, freeing up $5 million in aid. And in 2020, a group called the Defund San Antonio Police Department Coalition issued a travel warning for San Antonio, labeling the city as a sundown town. Gov. The documentary follows the Flint Police Department over the course of one trying year filled with budget cuts, local and presidential elections, and, of course, a water crisis. Located along the Flint River, 66 miles (106 km) northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. Tiffany, Salt-N-Pepa, and Naughty By Nature rebuilding, the studys results a! 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And Naughty By Nature this article, citing the ongoing investigation hold our,.

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