Christopher Siters

SUST150N
09/30/2022
Dr Hanna-Attisha begins her talk with her personal history, growing up with her Iraqi

scientist parents and Saddam Hussein; as she is talking about immigration and being a refugee,

she mentions the American Dream. The American Dream, where hard work means prosperity.

She said that she’d never considered the American Dream, but now, being in America, she was

having the dream every day; her parents were working, supporting their family; her mother was

an ESL teacher, her father worked at General Motors, and she and her brother were enrolled in

school.

She recounts the 1936 GM strike, when the employees staged a sit-in demanding better

wages and working conditions; management tried to freeze them out, starve them out, and beat

them out. Eventually the strike was resolved…by the governor of Michigan and President FD

Roosevelt…and the workers won. The UAW (United Auto Workers) was officially recognized;

they were able to lead a middle-class life with livable wages, they had access to healthcare,

housing, quality education, and pension plans. They had accessed the American Dream.

Admittedly there were still inequalities concerning minorities, such as segregated work

and schools; the industrial plants were toxic, especially, as Dr Hanna-Attisha puts it, “…to the

poor…and the brown.” She highlights the disparaging environment in Flint, MI; a black-majority

populous with 40% living in poverty. the fact that the average life expectancy in Flint is 15 years

less than in neighboring zip codes. Flint was bankrupt and taken over by state-appointed

emergency management with the goal of saving money at whatever the cost. The city switched

from piping water from the Great Lakes to piping water from the Flint River in 2014; the water

was not being treated properly, and the citizens complained. For a year and a half, they were told

to relax because nothing was wrong. Lead is a potent neurotoxin that affects how we think and
Christopher Siters
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09/30/2022
act, with even small amounts being immediately toxic for adults, let alone the still-developing

nervous system of the children.

The parallel between the GM Strike of 1936 and the Flint Water Crisis both needing the

state governor and the sitting president to step in and resolve the issue. You could argue that the

strike had a direct impact in causing the Flint Water Crisis. Since then, multiple lawsuits have

been filed against numerous people, companies, and agencies, charging them with felony counts

of misconduct/ willful negligence of duty/ conspiracy/ tampering with evidence. MI attorney

general Bill Schuette said that the lawsuits [against the companies], “the damages could reach

hundreds of millions of dollars.” This cannot fix the things that have already happened,

especially to children, but hopefully it can prevent this from happening again, not only in Flint,

but anywhere.

This crisis in Flint, MI has become the poster child in the US for SDG #6: Clean Water

and Sanitation. It has been observed in real time, there have been records vis-à-vis the children’s’

medical records. It connects to pretty much every other SDG, whether directly or indirectly,

because it directly affects the health and wellbeing of people (SDG #3) and without people none

of the rest are possible (or even necessary).

Christopher Siters
SUST150N
09/30/2022
References

Hanna-Attisha, Mona. Flint’s fight for America’s children. 2016.

https://www.tedmed.com/talks/show?id=627338.

Kennedy, Merrit. Lead-laced water in Flint: a step-by-step look at the makings of a crisis. April

20, 2016. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/20/465545378/lead-laced-

water-in-flint-a-step-by-step-look-at-the-makings-of-a-crisis.