Historical Determinants for Environmental Disaster

Atkinson III, Mitchell

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-40776-5_9

Mitchell Atkinson III ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6687-4996²⁷

Part of the book series: Contributions to Phenomenology ((CTPH,volume 127))

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Abstract

Here, I present a straightforward historical background of the Flint water crisis.

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Notes

1.
Cf MCRC (2017) p. 16–23.
2.
The final point about systemic racialization probably requires more than a “fair reading of history”. Nonetheless, the point stands. Cf. MCRC p 16.
3.
I include both terms because of essential ambiguities between them.
4.
Cf. Highsmith (2009) p 11.
5.
CF Freund (2007) p. 111, Highsmith (2009) p 71.
6.
Cf MCRC (2017) p 35.
7.
Cf MCRC (2017) p. 16.
8.
As quoted in MCRC (2017) p. 89.
9.
See: https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/ej-principles.pdf, accessed on 6/20/2019.
10.
Cf. Nussbaum (2001) p. 4, DeFilippis and Saegert (2013) p. 320, Robeyns (2005).
11.
Cf. Sen, 2004.
12.
Highsmith 2009 and 2015 are invaluable resources.
13.
Dickens (1859) p. 1.
14.
See also Hinterman (2019) available at: http://www.mycitymag.com/flint-through-the-decades-part-6-change-is-gonna-come-1960-1969/, retrieved on 06/26/2019; and SolastalgiaUSA (2016) available at: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/5/1479868/-The-poisoning-of-Flint-s-drinking-water retrieved on 06/26/2019.
15.
Here, the Marxian notion of “first as tragedy, next as farce” requires either abandonment or inversion.
16.
See: https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2014/04/closing_the_valve_on_history_f.html, retrieved on 06/15/2019.
17.
Some of these questions have been answered in both legal proceedings and scholarship. Some have yet to be publicly addressed in any substantive way. Still others admit of conclusive judgment after a cursory glance at the facts. For example, it cannot be the case that enough testing was performed on the Flint River’s corrosiveness because said corrosiveness was instrumental in precipitating the crisis.
18.
See: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(ubigdpblwi2kn0dqvz2fjkx2))/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=mcl-act-436-of-2012, and: https://www.mlive.com/politics/2012/12/snyder_signs_replacement_emerg.html retrieved on 06/15/2019.
19.
See: https://www.mlive.com/politics/2012/11/election_results_michigan_vote.html retrieved on 6/16/2019.
20.
See: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(ubigdpblwi2kn0dqvz2fjkx2))/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectName=mcl-141-1549, retrieved on 6/15/2019.
21.
ibid.
22.
ibid.
23.
It should be emphasized here that Brown has not been charged with any crimes with respect to the water crisis. Other officials have been.
24.
See MCRC p. 100.
25.
Wright (2016) p. 5.
26.
This graph exhibits a number of anomalies that will not be discussed here.
27.
And what Hammer (2016) terms “strategic” racism (p. 1).
28.
Hammer 2016 p. 15.
29.
Ibid p. 16.
30.
Ibid p. 17.
31.
See Carmody (2018), available at: https://www.michiganradio.org/post/former-flint-emergency-manager-due-court-friday, retrieved on 06/27/2019.
32.
Ibid.
33.
Although the proper law enforcement authorities should do exactly that.
34.
Further elaboration on this point will be found in the theoretical chapters of this work.
35.
MCRC (2016) p. 64.
36.
Cf Highsmith (2009) p. 324.
37.
Ibid.
38.
Ibid p. 326.
39.
Ibid p. 339, 340.
40.
Ibid p. 331.
41.
Cf. Hammer (2016) p. 3.
42.
Flint Journal, February 8, 1963, quoted in Highsmith (2009) p. 333.
43.
Cf. Highsmith (2009) p. 333.
44.
Ibid, emphasis mine.
45.
MCRC (2017) p. 64.
46.
The city and its surrounding region remain segregated. At the end of the century, Flint was the most segregated city in the state of Michigan, and one of the most segregated in the nation. See: http://www.censusscope.org/us/s26/rank_dissimilarity_white_black.html, retrieved on 06/28/2019.
47.
Cf MCRC (2017) p. 78–82.
48.
Highsmith & Erickson (2015) p. 570.
49.
Ibid p. 571.
50.
Cf Highsmith (2015a, b) p. 76.
51.
For a reading of the limitations of the capabilities approach in the Flint context, see Rosati (2018).
52.
MCRC (2017) p. 64.
53.
Governor Romney’s 24-hour decision to declare a state of emergency is instructive here. It would take Rick Snyder more than a year to respond to reports of elevated lead levels in Flint with an emergency declaration.

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Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute for Philosophy and Sociology, Warsaw, Poland
Mitchell Atkinson III

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Atkinson III, M. (2023). Historical Determinants for Environmental Disaster. In: Alterity and the Flint Water Crisis. Contributions to Phenomenology, vol 127. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40776-5_9

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40776-5_9
Published: 14 September 2023
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-40775-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-40776-5
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