Where I lived then and now is just three miles from the Flint City limites,
and two miles from the Flint water district. We in the sixties was a mostly
white, working class community. In fact when I attended parochial school at
St. Mary's there were no black students though that is not so weird for most
blacks around here are not Catholic. But, my senior year was at Mt. Morris
public school which was predominately white, whiel the next school two miles
to the sSouth was predominately black.
Now, things have shifted immensely as the smal city of Mt. Morris and the
school district have numerous refugees who are African-American, and even
before the Flint Water crisis, living, shopping and schooling here.
Flint has no grocery store anymore, for example, but the bus lines go to Mt.
Morris (less than a mile from me) where there are two grocery stores.
And again the schools are quite integrated though many whites have simply
moved further to the north or in the rich southern part of the county.
By the way Flint is more integrated than it used to be and more than Detroit
though it is still 55 percentAfrican-American.
Sorry I'm writing quickly here.
And yes, there still is racism systemically, but there is also classisism
too involved in all of this.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2016 11:39 AM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Dear President Obama: Your Visit Is Too
Little Too Late
I attended the school of social work at the University of Michigan from 1959
to 1961. My observations and experience back then, were that Michigan was,
and has always been a racist state which punished people for being poor and
segregated its black communities. Ann Arbor, a college town, with a street
set aside for its fraternities and sorrorities and its crowds of visitors
and football Saturdays, had a black ghetto. Black high school students in
Ann Arbor did not attend the big university in their town because they were
forced into non academic tracks in high schools. The many black university
students came from other places. Yipsilanti, where I did my second year of
field work, had segregated low cost housing so far from town that residents
had no way to shop or do errands unless they could catch a ride with someone
who had a car or could afford a cab. They had to take a cab owned by the
black owned taxicab company because the white owned cabs wouldn't go into
their area. Women who lived in the housing project could expect
unanticipated visits from inspectors in the middle of the night to see if
there was a man in their bed. If a man was found, their public assistance
would be cut off. They could lose their housing. If someone was poor and
back, homeless, had no money, there was absolutely no government program
available. The only organization on whom we could count for help with
emergency food and housing for clients, was the salvation army. That's what
it was like in 1960. I'm reading a book about contemporary poverty and now,
that's what it's like, in most parts of our country. Our country has never
come to terms with poverty or endemic racism. We still believe that if
people only try hard enough, they will find work. Evidence means nothing in
the face of long held beliefs. There's a whole lot of rhetoric, but it's
actions that matter and clearly, no one with power and money cares enough
about Flint or all of the other nightmares that people in our country are
dealing with, to actdually do something.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2016 11:08 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Dear President Obama: Your Visit Is Too
Little Too Late
Now that sums it up in clear, succinct terms.
When Snyder was elected as Michigan's governor, I'll bet that few Working
Class citizens believed that he intended to rape their state and turn over
the proceeds to his Ruling Class Masters. After all, citizens listened and
believed Snyder's dribble, promising a return to the state's proud past, and
a bright future.
While my heart goes out to the Working Class of Michigan, especially the
little children who will carry the Mark of the Snyder Beast to their graves,
still I remind myself that enough of these citizens voted for Snyder. And
even the call for him to step down is nothing more than a weak wave of a
diseased hand. This man did not win the votes of the People, to take
actions to bring an end to their hardships. He took the job in order to
ensure that his Masters continued pulling down huge profits. You can bet
that when the last Michigander has dropped to the ground, either from
malnutrition or lead poisoning, the elite will quickly blame those same
workers for their inability to earn enough to bail the state out. Just as
in Greece or Puerto Rico, the victims will be blamed.
I cannot begin to talk about the image that comes to my mind when I think of
our Prince of Peace stooping down to pat the little children and their
poisoned parents on their Black, fuzzy little heads.
What do you want to bet that Obama brings along his own drinking water?
I know it's hard for some folks to believe, but Barak Obama is not really
part of what we know as, Black America. Sure, the Senate Republicans claim
that he is, and they refused to do any business at all with him, but he is
not Black in the sense that he has any experience in what living as a Black
Working Class, unemployed American Negro is all about. When Obama leaves
office he will follow the money, and not turn his talents to those Black
Americans who really believed that they had a Brother in the White House.
Carl Jarvis
On 4/28/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
you.
Moore writes: "You say you're coming to 'listen to the people of Flint.'
Sir, they've been poisoned for two damn years. You've known about it
since October. There's nothing to listen to."
Michael Moore. (photo: Getty)
Dear President Obama: Your Visit Is Too Little Too Late By Michael
Moore, Michael Moore's Facebook Page
28 April 16
ear President Obama -- Finally, after months of us begging you to
come to Flint, you've decided to visit next Wednesday. I know this
will make many people happy and grateful. But, as one who voted for
you twice and was thrilled beyond belief over your election, I'm sorry
to tell you your visit is too little too late.
You say you're coming to "listen to the people of Flint." Sir, they've
been poisoned for two damn years. You've known about it since October.
There's nothing to listen to. Unless you're bringing the entire U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers to dig up and replace the 75,000 lead pipes,
plus the Attorney General to arrest Governor Rick Snyder, then this is
just another photo-op and half-baked list of new promises we don't
need. If you're coming to make one of those "we need to rebuild
America's infrastructure" speeches, don't bother. This is NOT an
infrastructure problem - it's a hate crime and mass poisoning of Black
and poor people that NEVER would happen if this were Bloomfield Hills
or Grosse Pointe or any other white town. It was done in order to give
a billion-dollar tax cut to the rich. Every child here now has some
form of permanent brain damage. There is NOTHING you can do to reverse
that for them. There is no cure. Again, they are Black, they are poor.
Do you have a cure for that? Because THAT's the only reason why this
has happened. Flint's infrastructure was just fine (or what passes for
fine these days in the USA). This poisoning happened because the
governor said "Cut services!" -- and so one of the first services he
cut was to seal off the clean drinking water pipeline from the Great
Lakes and make the poor and the Black of Flint drink dirty water from
the drainage ditch you and others call "the Flint River." We haven't
called it that for years. I'd drink my own piss before I'd drink out
of that sewer.
We don't need any more visits from politicians, even one as beloved as
We don't need any more promises of testing. We don't need any moreyou.
token digging up of pipes made rancid by the Flint River water that
flowed through them (of the 75,000 pipes that need replacing, a total
of 39 - 39!! - have been dug up and removed since you met with the
mayor in the White House back in January). Meanwhile the poisoning
continues on daily basis, even with the Lake Huron water that has been
restored because it's flowing through lead-damaged pipes with a new
chemical that now burns people's skin.
So unless you're bringing the U.S. Army with you to save 100,000 of
your fellow Americans, and unless you're going to arrest the governor
of Michigan who has now killed more Americans than ISIS, you might as
well stay home.
The riots here, I'm certain, will begin sometime soon. That's what you
or I would do if someone was poisoning OUR kids and the government
refused to stop it, right?
With respect, admiration and profound disappointment, Michael Moore
Flint native Michigan resident Obama supporter Error! Hyperlink
reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Michael Moore. (photo: Getty)
https://www.facebook.com/mmflint/posts/10153460597166857https://www.fa
cebook
.com/mmflint/posts/10153460597166857
Dear President Obama: Your Visit Is Too Little Too Late By Michael
Moore, Michael Moore's Facebook Page
28 April 16
ear President Obama -- Finally, after months of us begging you to
come to Flint, you've decided to visit next Wednesday. I know this
will make many people happy and grateful. But, as one who voted for
you twice and was thrilled beyond belief over your election, I'm sorry
to tell you your visit is too little too late.
You say you're coming to "listen to the people of Flint." Sir, they've
been poisoned for two damn years. You've known about it since October.
There's nothing to listen to. Unless you're bringing the entire U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers to dig up and replace the 75,000 lead pipes,
plus the Attorney General to arrest Governor Rick Snyder, then this is
just another photo-op and half-baked list of new promises we don't
need. If you're coming to make one of those "we need to rebuild
America's infrastructure" speeches, don't bother. This is NOT an
infrastructure problem - it's a hate crime and mass poisoning of Black
and poor people that NEVER would happen if this were Bloomfield Hills
or Grosse Pointe or any other white town. It was done in order to give
a billion-dollar tax cut to the rich. Every child here now has some
form of permanent brain damage. There is NOTHING you can do to reverse
that for them. There is no cure. Again, they are Black, they are poor.
Do you have a cure for that? Because THAT's the only reason why this
has happened. Flint's infrastructure was just fine (or what passes for
fine these days in the USA). This poisoning happened because the
governor said "Cut services!" -- and so one of the first services he
cut was to seal off the clean drinking water pipeline from the Great
Lakes and make the poor and the Black of Flint drink dirty water from
the drainage ditch you and others call "the Flint River." We haven't
called it that for years. I'd drink my own piss before I'd drink out
of that sewer.
We don't need any more visits from politicians, even one as beloved as
We don't need any more promises of testing. We don't need any more
token digging up of pipes made rancid by the Flint River water that
flowed through them (of the 75,000 pipes that need replacing, a total
of 39 - 39!! - have been dug up and removed since you met with the
mayor in the White House back in January). Meanwhile the poisoning
continues on daily basis, even with the Lake Huron water that has been
restored because it's flowing through lead-damaged pipes with a new
chemical that now burns people's skin.
So unless you're bringing the U.S. Army with you to save 100,000 of
your fellow Americans, and unless you're going to arrest the governor
of Michigan who has now killed more Americans than ISIS, you might as
well stay home.
The riots here, I'm certain, will begin sometime soon. That's what you
or I would do if someone was poisoning OUR kids and the government
refused to stop it, right?
With respect, admiration and profound disappointment, Michael Moore
Flint native Michigan resident Obama supporter
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
