TOXIC NEGLECT

Laney teach-in connects Flint water crisis to environmental racism in Oakland

It has been two years since the State of Michigan decided to save money by switching Flint’s water supply from Lake Huron in Detroit to the Flint River. In response to the water crisis that ensued thereafter, Laney College held a teach-in on May 5 at the Laney Forum.
Themed “From Flint to Oakland,” it strove to connect the dots between environmental racism and “toxic neglect” in cities like Flint, Mich. and Oakland, Calif.
This event was sponsored by the Associated Students of Laney College (ASLC), The Peralta Foundation of Teachers and the Women’s Economic Agenda Project (WEAP).
Poet Chris Brown, an Associated Student of Laney College (ASLC) Senator, set the momentum for the teach-in.
Brown read a poem called “Unequal,” a rumination on indifference, lack of governmental accountability, and the causes and effects of socialized racism.
Laney College English Professor Jackie Graves inspired the audience to recite prose with her, during her reading of a poem she wrote the night before, titled “The Power is in the People.” The audience was visibly elated by the call and response of her performance.

THE REAL STORY

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Associated Students of Laney College Student Senator Trent Hannival, Laney College Professor Alicia Caballero-Christenson, and community speaker Anyka Barber speak out during Session II of the Laney College teach-in on May 11. Multiple sessions of the teach-in were held in order to accommodate the influx of attendees expressing concerns and offering solutions.[/caption]

The group of visiting panelists took turns speaking on topics like affordable housing, the cost of education, corporate influences and other community issues.
“We have a system that is tearing families apart,” WEAP’s Ethel Long-Scott said. “We must sound the alarm.”
She went on to introduce another guest speaker, Claire McClinton.
Wearing a blue t-shirt emblazoned with “Flint Lives Matter,” McClinton is a long-time Flint resident and the spokesperson for the “Flint Democracy Defense League Water Task Force” and the group “Speakers for a New America.” These groups travel the country promoting a message of solidarity for human rights.
“The citizens have been crying upon deaf ears,” McClinton said. “We didn’t know the water was full of lead; it just looked like English tea. The community brought balls of hair and children’s doctor reports as evidence that there was a problem and now many have Legionnaires’ disease.”
McClinton went on to explain what happened in Flint.
“I would like you to know the real story,” she said.
She explained that water lines serving over one million residences in Flint contain lethal amounts of lead and iron.
Yet after complaining the water looked and smelled bad, Flint residents were repeatedly told the water was safe and met all state and federal regulations for cooking, showering and drinking.
McClintoned traced the water crisis back to a financial crisis in Flint, when local officials were replaced by the governor’s appointed Emergency Manager.
This one person had to take on the duties of several local officials. He implemented the waterline switch, which took place without properly treating pipes — carrying water from the Flint River — with anti-corrosive agents.
The switch was supposed to be temporary while a new water supply line to Lake Huron in Detroit was being prepared for connection. The entire project would take two years to accomplish.
However, the Flint River is corrosive. Researchers from Virginia Tech report the water is 19 times more toxic than Lake Huron. State officials suggested their own research showed no abnormal lead levels.

CORPORATE (DIS)INTERESTS

The crisis wasn’t even addressed until corporate interests spoke up.
The General Motors Company (GM) had its own stake in the city. When GM contacted the State Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) with complaints that the water from the Flint River was rusting automotive parts used to make cars, the emergency managers switched GM’s waterline supply to Lake Huron as planned, but didn’t do the same for the county’s or city’s residential waterlines.

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Students and faculty packed the forum, often breaking out into applause as urgent and moving speeches were presented by the afternoon’s speakers.[/caption]

McClinton described how there were no public hearings asking the citizens if they wanted to switch waterlines, or if the governor of Michigan should call in an Emergency Manager.
“We feel like we have been abandoned by every level of government,” McClinton said. “The government officials have failed us and our lives do not matter to corporate interests.”
Flint residents are working to declare a “state of emergency” in order to deal with the crisis.
“By declaring a state of emergency, we can get help for the adult residents and children can get counseling and the medical help they will need for the rest of their lives,” McClinton said.
In February 2016, 300 union plumbers donated water filter systems to thousands of families who stood in line for hours. The water filters cannot filter out lead. “These filters are not working in all homes, the community is still suffering,” McClinton said.
“We have children asking, ‘Are we going to die?’ People will have health issues for the rest of their lives. We need federal help.”

FROM FLINT TO OAKLAND

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Community members were also encouraged to share their thoughts on the crises facing Flint, Mich., and the city of Oakland. There was a question-and-answer period during the event, and a call-and-response session to close the event.[/caption]

At the May 5 teach-in, Laney College students and faculty expressed concern about the water on campus.
“What is happening in Flint could happen here,” Laney student Alicia Alston said. Alston is an ASLC student senator.
Alston spoke at the teach-in, taking about keeping the tuition for community colleges affordable, giving several examples of potential tuition increases and the possibility of the elimination of the Board of Governors Fee Waiver (BOG), which offers low-income students free tuition.
Laney College Chemistry Professor Pinar Alsher conducted an on the spot pH test of the water on the Laney College campus with the help of students from her class. Samples were taken from the fountains outside the restroom near Laney’s C building, in its chemistry lab, and in the Laney Student Center.
The pH levels ranged from 6.04 to 8.48. The most basic water (pH 7 and above) was found in the faucet outside the restroom. “I am not the expert here, but I hope the campus will continue to keep the water filters clean,” Alsher said.
After hearing about the Flint water crisis, many students are concerned about the safety of campus water.
“I never took into account the water I was drinking on campus, or a need to be concerned about its safety,” Laney student Kevin Ortiz said.
“This conversation opened my eyes to the possibility of a problem,” Courtney Lac, another Laney student, said.
Willie Verner, a journalism major at Laney, was glad the school brought this panel together for this discussion. “This information is teaching us all how to beware of what could happen,” he said.
Laney professors also spoke, including Laney College Humanities Professor Dr. Kimberly King.
“The Flint issue shows that water and other basic needs should be public rather than under corporate influence and control,” King said.
“Corporations are influencing how our government is managing water, food and housing affecting thousand in the community. Also that corporate estate developers are spending money on High rise luxury apartments on Oakland public land sold away by our city’s elected leaders,” she said.
McClinton echoed similar themes. “This move to emergency management is a political move to take away our democracy and putting it in the hands of corporations,” McClinton said.
Peter Brown, a Laney College Machine Technology faculty member, points out that 19 states already have emergency managers in place.
Locally, the Port of Oakland has sold Jack London Square to private owners (i.e., corporations), and the Kaiser Auditorium adjacent to campus is in the process of being sold to a private corporation.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf has plans to build 465 affordable housing units at the waterfront site near Laney College.
The noise from the construction site was the backdrop for Laney students during classes that week. During the teach-in, participants could hear construction tools hitting the concrete.
Faculty members at Laney are interested in Schaaf’s plan for Workforce Housing, which includes affordable housing for middle income residents such as teachers, firemen, and others not meeting the lower income criteria or not able to afford the luxury apartments.
The waterfront project is called the “Oak to Ninth” development. “We cannot build a more equitable city without addressing both jobs and housing,” Mayor Schaaf said during a public hearing in March 2016.

ACTIVELY AGITATING

“Corporate interest has set the tone, but just because they have set the tone doesn’t mean we are letting it happen passively,” said Brytanee Brown of the East 12th Street Coalition.
Brown sees the community in Oakland being forced to accept the terms of corporate intrusion into the housing market.
“Corporate interest has resulted in displacement of families,” she said.
“Vacant unused land down East 12th Street in Oakland is the dumping spot for construction material to be used for luxury apartment complex.”
She asked the audience a rhetorical question for emphasis: “Who here can afford a $3,100 a month for one bedroom?”
According to Brown, if more people from the community would get involved and attend city council meetings, the community could possibly block more votes to sell private city land to outside developers.
In one case involving the East 12th Street, the Oakland City Council decided to open a “Request for Proposal,” giving community sponsored groups the opportunity to purchase unused land for more affordable housing.
The teach-in concluded having employed community engagement, global consciousness, and awareness on social issues affecting students and faculty members alike.
“Student learning conditions are faculty and staff working conditions,” King said.
Future teach-in programs are scheduled to take place at Laney College in the Fall 2016 semester.