The heroic professor who helped uncover the Flint lead water crisis​ has been asked to fix it

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

No if I met you I would not talk about race , cause it's not an issue to me. Like I tell some of my black coworkers, who define someone's race every single time they refer to a person, what does his skin color have to do with your story.

If we met in person , I might have to flirt a tad with you smoking wife ?

It has a lot to do with it. To say you don't see color, is to say I don't exist. And talking about race isn't an issue. But here's the problem:

White people(who feel uncomfortable talking about race) do so because they have negative connotations about it and they're afraid to discuss them. Or, they don't want to have their prejudiced mentality exposed and dealt with. Give you an example.

We have a white/hispanic dude here works here and we do lunch with Janelle during the week. He told me he didn't know how to bring up race around us. I told him to approach it just like any other topic. Think before you speak and have some empathy for the subject matter. Since this time, he's had no problems asking me about things within the black community. And it's been fun since he talks about things about Mexican people I didn't know.

Right now we're talking about how racist Star Wars is. Can't believe they put Yoda above Mace Windu. Even in the galaxy far, far away, the black dude is the best there is, and he's STILL not the number one Jedi. A green dude is.

[Rob L 3,811]

Wait till all the people involved are thrown behind bars. Then we'll see some more threads.

Really, why do we need put government officials in jail to learn from this?

[Póg mo 1,749]

If Flint was 60% white, we wouldn't be having this conversation because there wouldn't be a water issue.

Yeah, I just think Americans are just way to easily divided. What is happening in Flint, could easily many other places in the country, and shouldn't be seen as just a local or poor neighborhood issue. It's disgusting how whole neighborhoods are literally abandoned just as soon as the cost of providing services begin to rise.

[Rob L 3,811]

Yeah, I just think Americans are just way to easily divided. What is happening in Flint, could easily many other places in the country, and shouldn't be seen as just a local or poor neighborhood issue. It's disgusting how whole neighborhoods are literally abandoned just as soon as the cost of providing services begin to rise.

I agree that as Americans we are way to easily divided

And

What is happening in Flint could easily happen elsewhere

But it is far less likely

historically poverty and race have been strong factors in the unfairness of pollution being pushed into their neighborhoods. The pollution that creates wealth for others

[Dashinka 24,499]

Really, why do we need put government officials in jail to learn from this?

I guess it is to get that feel good feeling. What is surprising is that everything I have read so far seems to insinuate that it was impossible to use the Flint River as a source of drinking water. For years, this has always been an emergency source for that area, and with the proper treatment, there should be no issues. I am sure it was the governor spending half his day everyday running the basic operations of the Flint water treatment facility, so I guess he needs to be blamed, but hey, he is the nearest Republican to stop the buck, so why not. This seems similar to Katrina, but in that case they had to go all the way to POTUS to find a Republican to blame. Whatever, just like going to a restaurant, or getting on a plane, there are workers and low level managers that make decisions everyday that may impact the health and lives of any person. Unless there is a smoking gun that shows the governor, emergency manager, or Flint City officials directed the water plant to leave out the anti-corrosive, I think we will just keeping flinging blame.

Here is a good editotial from the Detroit News that touches on the complexity of changing water sources.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/nolan-finley/2016/01/30/finley-trace-flint-blame-water-plant/79586078/