U.S : in FLINT, the water is still poisoned.

Dear friend,

Five years ago this month, the people of Flint began to be poisoned.

In April 2014, Flint’s leaders decided to switch its main water source to the corrosive Flint River, causing lead from the city’s pipes to seep into thousands of people’s water.

Five years later, less than half of the poisonous pipes have been replaced. Flint residents are still drinking, bathing and cooking out of water bottles. And families will have to wait years to assess the full damage of the poisonous lead on their children’s bodies.¹

My team and I at Color Of Change haven’t forgotten Flint. We’re aiming to train up 200 Flint residents to give them the skills they need to organize their communities and demand that the pipes are replaced. Will you be one of the first people to donate $4 to the urgent #RememberFlint trainings today?

The biggest problem in Flint is that while government funds are replacing large pipes, there is very little funding for the pipes in individual homes, which were also corroded by the lead in the water. Instead, it’s up to families to take on that cost on their own. In a city where over 40 percent of people live below the poverty line, this cost is not feasible, leaving many to deal with their poisoned pipes indefinitely.²

This neglect is no coincidence; Flint is over 50 percent Black, and we know that political leaders across this country think they can get away with sacrificing Black people’s health without any consequences.² That’s why Flint resident Dawn Lawler started the #RememberFlint campaign with us--  to show Mayor Karen Weaver that we will not be ignored, and to demand that the government take responsibility and replace the pipes in every home by the end of 2019.

Here’s what your investment in the #RememberFlint trainings will fund :

1. Running campaign trainings to teach Flint residents community organizing skills, including gathering petition signatures, running meetings, and pressuring those in power to act
   
2. Running storytelling trainings to give people the confidence to tell their own stories of how the water crisis has impacted them, using their emotional impact to move their communities and leaders to change
   
3. Supporting all the little things that make trainings a success, including paying our trainers, renting a training space, and providing food for participants

Five years is long enough. Donate $4 today so we can launch our #RememberFlint trainings ASAP and help the people of Flint end this water crisis.

I honestly can’t imagine the horrors that parents, grandparents, children, teachers and so many others have gone through in Flint these past 5 years. Thinking about the long-term health impacts that this city’s leaders have inflicted on thousands of Black residents makes me furious.

But what I can imagine is a world where the people of Flint take back their city. I can imagine 200 Flint residents, trained with the skills to organize their friends, families and neighbors. 200 Flint residents showing up at the mayor’s office to demand their health and their children’s health is not ignored for one more day. 200 Flint residents not only healing their community, but building an even stronger one.

Please, stand with the people of Flint. Give $4 now to help us push their movement for clean water and community power to victory.

Until justice is real,

Rashad, Arisha, Kwesi, Shannon, Jade, Chad, Dominique, Daniel, Ariana, Quiana, Sadie, Imani, Scott and the rest of the Color Of Change team

---

Sources

1. "'He doesn't trust water.' Five years later, Flint sees few signs of relief", Time Magazine, 11 April 2019, http://act.colorofchange.org/go/134245?t=7&akid=29175%2E1942551%2EpbuzeH
2. "Flint city, Michigan", U.S. Census Bureau, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/134246?t=9&akid=29175%2E1942551%2EpbuzeH

---

Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.