By Rachel Popa
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| Pamela Powell, her son Devontae Powell and brother Darrell
Spann stand with her father Otis Span whose Alzheimer's the
family says has worsened because of the poisoned water.
|
FLINT, Mich.—Flint.
Vehicle City. Once a bustling city of over 200,000 people, now less than
100,000 remain. In the past, Flint, Michigan was a symbol of American
prosperity. Today Flint is synonymous with neglect and decline.
In 2014, after the city of
Flint started receiving its drinking water from the Flint River rather than
pumping it in from Detroit in an effort to save costs, residents started
reporting discoloration in their drinking water, among other problems. Flint’s
water was eventually rendered undrinkable due to the high amount of lead
present in the city’s supply. And still without a new water system, many here
still don't trust their drinking water.
Hundreds of families have
been affected by the poisonous water, including the Spann family, which has lived
in Flint for over 60 years.
“I’m not going to give up.
I’m going to do what I have to do.”-Otis Spann
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| A copy of the Spann's water bill reflects the high charges some residents say they simply can't afford to pay. |
“I came to Flint
when I was two years old,” said Judy Spann, 64, surrounded by two generations
of family in her Flint home, including her son, Darrell Spann, her daughter
Pamela Powell, and her grandson, Devontae Powell.
Pictures of her children and
grandchildren decorated shelves adorned with knickknacks and keepsakes. Almost
every corner of the living room where the Spann family gathered was adorned
with memories: graduation pictures, trophies, and even a bust of President Barack
Obama smiled at visitors from a glass coffee table.
A retired employee of General
Motors (GM), Spann described the aftermath of GM closing factories in Flint,
saying that it led to other problems such as school closings.
“Flint is going
down,” Spann said. “Once General Motors started pulling out, the school system
started going down. We have a lot of empty schools around here. We have a lot
of people who don’t have jobs.”
According to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in Flint is 9.7 percent, nearly
double the national average of 4.9 percent. In 1999, GM closed its last
assembly plant in the city, which eliminated 1,200 jobs. Since Flint is such an
economically depressed area, Spann said that the response of the local politicians
to help ease the water crisis has been all talk.
“They really don’t care,”
said Judy Spann, referring to what he sees as local politicians’ lack of
concern for the people of Flint. “Everybody is somebody.”
Spann said that those who can
move away do, but the reason why she does not move is because her family is in
Flint. However, Spann said that once her family is taken care of, she hopes to
be moved out of Flint within the next few years. Despite the fact that Flint is
where her family is and this happens to be where she grew up, Spann said that
even before the water crisis happened, she wanted to move out of Flint, citing
a water bill for $193.88 dated from only the week before.
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| A sign captures the sentiment of many residents in Flint. |
“We had a meeting
at church a couple of weeks ago and they said ‘don’t pay your whole water bill,
only pay $55,’” she said. “Why should I pay $55 then you come cut my stuff off?
I don’t have time for that. It’s not fair to us that we have to pay these high
water bills.”
Spann said that
not being able to use the water has been inconvenient for her, and she has seen
changes in her husband, Otis Spann, following the switch from Detroit’s water
to water from the Flint River.
Spann said her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease
about eight months earlier, and suspects that the rapid decline in her
husband’s health since then has had something to do with the water.
“He tries to go out and talk to people,” Judy Spann said of her
husband. “We’re pretty much at a standstill; I think the water has had an
effect on him.
The couple’s daughter Pamela
Powell said that her father was a prominent member of the community due to his
time working as a school administrator in Flint. As Powell spoke in the family’s
home about her father’s career working with children, his face lit up with a
proud smile. “From the top of the morning
to the end of the day, he was always going that extra step to help children,”
Pamela Powell said.
Otis Spann talked about the hardship of living
day to day with poisoned water, elaborating on getting things done in the face
of adversity. “You have to walk before you run,” he said.
Devontae Powell, Spann’s
20-year-old grandson, elaborated further on how the water crisis has affected
his grandfather, saying that the city has a responsibility to take care of its
senior citizens.
“One of my
prayers with my grandfather having Alzheimer’s is, ‘God, allow him to remember
that he can’t use that water,’” Powell said. “Just like the water is tainted,
the political system is very tainted in Michigan.”
Surrounded by his family in
their Flint home, Otis Spann said that people in Flint have to try to do the
best they can.
“I’m not going to give up,”
he said. “I’m going to do what I have to do.”
