America was heartbroken as an issue we typically associate with developing nations hit us at home. Children with red teeth were shown across cable news because the only way they were able to drink the water from the local river was if they mixed it heavily with Koolaid.
Men and women showed heinous rashes across their bodies because of the harsh chemicals and dangerous metals in their shower water. Now the issue of the Flint water crisis is out of the headlines, but the people who first decided to switch the city water supply from the Detroit to the polluted Flint river are still around and kicking in city hall.
Recently, the Mayor of Flint was given a raise which was seven times higher than the current income level of the city even though the problem of the tainted water still hasn’t been resolved.
The Libertarian Republic recently stated that “Flint has a per capita income of $16,554, according to Census figures, meaning Mayor Karen Weaver will now be making between seven and eight times as much as an average constituent in the 100,000-person city.”
Three years after the news broke out of the water crisis, the federal government pumped around $100 million towards efforts to fix it. The city in which most of the taxpayers live below the poverty line could have spent the money on more responsible projects, but instead, the city council overwhelmingly voted “yes.”
Flint Councilman Maurice Davis lashed out at criticisms of the raise stating “You get what you pay for… How dare you try and deny the mayor an increase in her pay?”
Maybe the Mayor was putting in enough work to warrant a raise, but seven times the average income that her constituents earn at least deserve for all the city council members to show up at least, which a number of them didn’t on the night of the vote.
Many of the Council members currently serving – as well as numerous state and local health commission employees – were active participants in the Flint water crisis, with only a handful of them ending up charged with manslaughter for the deaths that resulted because of the poisoned water.
Though Flint received $100 million from the federal government, a group of activists has continued to sue the feds for upwards of a billion dollars on the grounds that federal executives should have forced state officials to lose their jobs as a result of this crisis.
Three years later, concerned citizens are still trying to seek some form of restitution for their suffering caused by people that ignored the well being of the least among us.
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