Jason, this is Dr. Pamela Pugh running for Congress in Michigan’s 8th District (which includes Flint, Michigan) – a toss-up district that Democrats need to win in 2024 to win back the House. I am writing today to ask for your support for my campaign on the 10th Anniversary of the Flint Water Crisis.
While it may seem like a strange time to ask for your help and to support Forward Blue and my campaign, please let me explain why:
10 years ago today, the Flint Water Crisis began when Republicans in control of the Michigan Government directed the City of Flint to switch their water supply from Detroit-supplied Lake Huron water to the Flint River in a cost-saving measure.
Poor treatment and testing of the new contaminated water supply led to the infamous Flint Water Crisis, which the State of Michigan’s Civil Rights Commission called “a result of systemic racism.”
For more than 18 months, Flint residents drank, washed, and bathed with poisonous water. Complaints about foul-smelling, cloudy, and bad-tasting water were initially ignored by the government, even as residents began to develop skin rashes and hair loss. Ultimately, the contaminated water led to 2-3x increases in lead levels in the blood of Flint’s children.
In the aftermath of the Crisis, I was hired as the Chief Public Health Officer of Flint to lead the public health portion of the response. During my three years in the role, one common theme emerged – Flint’s community could no longer trust their State and City governments who had let this crisis happen to them and initially ignored their cries for help.
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The solutions we implemented in our response in Flint simply had to go beyond the band-aid of bottled water – we had to renew public confidence by educating Flint residents on the risks, effects of exposure, and when the water would be completely safe to use again.
We worked together with the school system to address the environmental health needs of 9,000 children who had been exposed to elevated levels of lead. We worked to help residents understand their legal options as settlements were pursued. Through communication, collaboration, and advocacy, we began to regain the trust of Flint residents, although there is still much work to be done to continue to repair that trust.
Today as I run for Congress, I see similar work that needs to be done in Washington, D.C. Public confidence in Congress is near an all-time low with a 15% approval rating. Our system is broken, and our Republican opponents are intent on taking advantage of raw power and cynicism to get their way at the expense of the majority of Americans, who suffer from their short-sighted decisions.
So, with what I’ve learned responding to the Flint Water Crisis, please donate to support Forward Blue and my campaign and help elect me to represent Flint’s residents in Congress, and I’ll try to teach my fellow members of Congress three lessons I learned in my role responding to the Water Crisis:
- Our government needs to tell the truth and authentically communicate with our constituents to regain their trust.
- We need to listen to people’s problems and course-correct before a crisis spirals out of control.
- When you prioritize the bottom line of a government budget or an industry’s profits over people’s lives and basic needs, we see you, we’re watching, and we’ll vote you out.
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Thanks for your support,
– Dr. Pamela Pugh
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