Earlier in the week, I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline and noticed a post that was quite alarming. The post was for Ohio residents in Lima and included an advisory for residents to boil their water. I immediately wanted to delve deeper into what was causing this “boiling advisory”. It turns out that increased levels of turbidity or “cloudiness” in the water caused this advisory. Moreover, officials say that this water contamination happened when a “slight” carbon leak encountered a treated water storage tank. Although, swift action was taken to secure the contamination and officials addressed the media and residents, I can’t help thinking how Lima’s water situation differed from Flint, Michigan’s water crisis. Lima is a very poor city just like Flint. About 22 percent of the population live in poverty and the median income for any family in Lima was $27,067. However, the big difference between the two cities is race. Lima is made up of mostly white residents whereas Flint is made up of black residents. This got me thinking of environmental racism and how it compares between the two cities.
Environmental racism can be described as a type of discrimination where minorities of low-income are forced to live near or close to hazardous environments. These hazardous environments could include, toxic or radioactive waste, polluted factories, or urban decay. In the case of Lima’s water supply, the contamination was handle swiftly and the media was addressed quickly. The residents were not left in the dark about their drinking water and were even given the exact cause of why the water was contaminated. However, Flint residents were completely left in destitute when their water supply was ruined. These residents were lied to by their own government and were told their drinking water “safe”. Moreover, in an attempt to “fix” the problem, the government gave Flint residents’ water “filters” that were to be placed on faucets in their homes. These faulty filters did nothing for residents’ water and residents were given rations of bottled water. The water crisis in Flint led to lead poisoning of many children and parents that caused a host of medical conditions. It’s clear that environmental racism is present in the case of Flint, Michigan versus Lima, Ohio.
Being a black woman and seeing what my people have endured throughout the water crisis is disgusting. I’m also aware that many poor white residents were affected by the lead poisoning in Flint, but the majority of people who live in that city were black. It’s absolutely disheartening to see such slow response from not only the local government, but from the federal government. I mean, the federal government just approved a $170 million bill to fix infrastructure repairs, healthcare costs, and loans related to the crisis on December 8, 2016. The water crisis with Flint has been going on since 2014. Let me say that again, 2014! This response compared to Lima is disgusting. My people in Flint deserved an emergency response to that water crisis, it’s all too clear that environmental racism isn’t a notion, it’s a fact.
