WASHINGTON -- The Congressional Black Caucus will travel to Flint, Michigan, in March to protest the city's ongoing water crisis.
The “Speak Out” event will allow Flint residents to tell members of Congress how their lives have been affected by a crisis linked to environmental racism.
“What has happened in Flint should touch the heart of anyone who has compassion for others, and especially for those who care for the well-being and safety of our children,” CBC Chairman G. K. Butterfield said. “The CBC was among the first to demand a thorough federal investigation of the Flint water crisis and we will be among those visiting with Flint families to further amplify the urgency of this situation.”
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), a native of Flint, helped organize the event with Butterfield, Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Kildee helped mobilize support, briefing CBC members on the Flint crisis in a series of meetings.
“What is happening in my hometown breaks my heart. Resources are needed right now for Flint and the families, particularly children, who are the victims of this terrible tragedy,” Kildee said in a release. “Governor Snyder, whose administration’s policies created this public health emergency, has a moral obligation to help the victims of this crisis.”
And getting members to Flint and putting boots on the ground is important, since congressmen didn’t fully understand until a few weeks ago how dire the situation is.
“Frankly, members of Congress were not aware of the problem until the last six or eight weeks. People knew there was a problem but it really didn’t come up to a national recognition,” Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.) told The Huffington Post. “Obviously there needs to be an immediate response. There are short term and long term responses that have to be made. The health effects are permanent and long term.”
The CBC has been busy this week. On Thursday, it formally announced that the caucus’ political action committee would endorse Hillary Clinton for president. Clinton has courted the black vote, earning strong support from African-Americans and even holding campaign events in Flint last weekend.
Additional details about the upcoming event in Flint haven’t been released, but will be in the coming weeks.
Other members of the caucus believe what happened in Flint wouldn’t have happened in a more affluent community.
“You can not have, in 2016, 100,000 people unable to get clean drinking water out of their [pipes]. That’s unconscionable,” Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) told HuffPost. “I am convinced that, you know, we have a lot of people who are very poor and who are minorities and we have people who many of them are underprivileged. If this were in a different type of neighborhood, if it were a predominately white community, this wouldn’t happen. I think we would all be upset.”
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