The water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, began 3,653 days ago, on April 25, 2014, when the city switched its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The result was lead contamination being distributed through the city’s water system. 

At the time, Flint was 51.5% Black (the Black population in Michigan as a whole was 13.8%) and had a 40.1% poverty rate — meaning nearly half of the people in the city were living at or below the poverty line. The poverty rate in Flint was over double the state as a whole. Flint also had a higher proportion of people with disabilities, which is also a large contributor to poverty. 

The city ranked third in violent crime among other cities in the state, and the median income was only 52.5% of the state median. 

In other words, in the eyes of the government, these people were Black, poor and easily overlooked, so the government overlooked them. 

The people of Flint are still being overlooked. 

In 2020, the state of Michigan agreed to pay $600 million for its role in the water crisis while the city of Flint agreed to pay $20 million. Because of delays in the “claims administration process,” the only people who have seen any of that money are the attorneys involved with the case. 

10 years later, people in Flint are still suffering the effects of the water crisis