Clinton, who took a break from campaigning in New Hampshire to visit Flint, is the first presidential candidate to visit the city. Aides said she was invited by the city’s mayor, Karen Weaver, and plans to hold a town hall meeting with residents before flying back to New Hampshire in the evening. “This is not merely unacceptable or wrong, though it is both, what happened in Flint is immoral”. “The children of Flint are just as precious as children anywhere else in America”.
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Flint, a city that once relied on the auto industry, has hit hard times as local officials estimate that more than 40% of it residents live below the poverty line and 50% of the homes have been abandoned. “I’m worrying about the kids in Flint, Michigan, right now, trying to figure out what we’re going to do to make sure they’re not damaged irreparably by this lead poisoning”.
“I was just heartsick”, she said.
Flint has been a main focus for the Clinton campaign for weeks.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People charged that action to change the water supply would have been quicker if Flint wasn’t such a poor community.
Flint’s drinking water became tainted when the city switched from the Detroit system and began drawing from the Flint River in April 2014 to save money. He made only passing reference to the crisis in Flint at a campaign rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Sunday, rarely straying from the central economic themes of his candidacy.There is one area where not only are we not making process, we are losing ground, and that is the economic struggle, he told 1,200 cheering supporters.
Part of that strategy means cutting into the double-digit advantage that Sanders has enjoyed in New Hampshire for several months.
Gov. Rick Snyder declared a statement of emergency one day later, followed by a disaster declaration by the president on January 15, opening the door for $5 million in funding and up 90 days oversight by the federal government in Flint.
In contrast, the Republican presidential candidates were not asked about the crisis at their debate on Saturday night in New Hampshire, and none have expressed much interest in the matter.
Shop clerk Markus Brown, 60, said Clinton’s early interest in the crisis sold him. Most of us in here is praying that it be a girl, he said to loud applause.
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Antoinette Stokes, who attended Sunday’s service with her stepdaughter Autumn Maderano, said Clinton would bring “great attention” to Flint, and “the more she fights for us, the more we’re going to fight for her”.
