During the Miss America pageant on September 10, 2018, Miss Michigan used her introduction to highlight the Flint water crisis. In the Miss America, pageant contestants are given 8-10 seconds to give their introduction. Most contestants choose to highlight their talents and what they have done to deserve the title of "Miss America." It was a different story for Emily Sioma from Michigan.
She began the pageant by saying, "From the state with 84% of the U.S. freshwater but none for its residents to drink, I am Miss Michigan Emily Sioma."
That powerful sentence made everyone stop and think about what she had to say. There were many comments about her introduction on social media platforms such as Twitter. Not everyone agreed with what she did. But she got a lot of people talking about a crisis that has not gotten the resolution it deserves.
Flint, Michigan has been without safe water since 2014. That's four years that the people who live in Flint have had to worry about whether it is safe to even shower in their own homes. There has been little to no progress with this issue and after a while, people just stopped talking about.
Emily Sioma got the conversation started again. She knew that just putting that statement out there would not likely change things overnight, but would remind everyone that Flint STILL does not have safe water.
There are some people around the United State's that have likely forgotten that Flint, Michigan is still without clean water. There might even be some that are unaware of the situation because they do not live in Michigan or have a strong interest in what is going on with the water crisis.
Even though Miss Michigan did not win the Miss America title, she should be extremely proud of herself. She took a stand and pushed people in the right direction. Emily Sioma was brave enough to try something new that she knew might not have a positive outcome for her winning the Miss America contest, but she did it anyway. All Michiganders are proud of our Miss Michigan and the stand she took for her state.
