The Flint water crisis is about more than water; it is about social inequalities and lower class people not getting their basic rights of clean water.

The water crisis in Flint has been going on for two years now and it doesn’t seem to be coming to an end anytime soon.

Would this even be a water crisis if the area of Flint was a wealthy residential area? Most likely, it would not because affluent areas would have the power to call for action and also able to get water more easily, because the system to receive water is built for them by requiring ID that is much easier for wealthy people and legal residents to acquire as reported by Think Progress.

The Flint case is an example of environmental discrimination because this water crisis endangers impoverished people with unsafe water. A entire 41.5% of the Flint population falls below the poverty line. The government in Flint believed they could cut corners just because this water was for lower class people, but they should not be able to do this just because they are bankrupt and have a corrupt government.

According to The Huffington Post, in Flint and many other cities around Michigan, a tax break for the wealthy and large corporations was created. Creating less money funneling into the government to help out with everything from education to water. This means that they chose to cut as many corners as possible in the budget and an easy way to do this in a poor city is by giving them dirty water.

It is unacceptable that the government believes they can put more in their pockets well denying the residents of Flint of a basic need of water. Clean water should be an unquestionable right, and all U.S. citizens need to advocate for a change, or at least try.

Consider emailing to the Michigan Governor Rick Snyder or Flint Mayor Karen Weaver asking them to make clean water the highest priority. The mayor’s and the governor’s email addresses are:  [email protected] and, [email protected].  Ask them to make clean water the highest priority. Use social media, like Twitter using the hashtag #Flintwatercrisis to add to the voices of support and to show that clean water is important, that environmental racism will not be tolerated. Flint needs clean water now.