Let me take you back to Flint, Michigan, during their financial crisis of 2014. Darnell Earley, state-appointed emergency manager of Michigan, changed Flint's water source from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department directly to the Flint River in Lapeer County. Over a short period of time, after numerous complaints about the taste, smell, and appearance of the water in people's homes, it was discovered that there were high levels of lead in the water from the many lead pipes in the city.
Due to a lack of corrosion inhibitors being added to the water, 100,000 residents were exposed to dangerous water, meaning they had nothing clean to drink, wash, and cook with for a long time. That is, until activists made it their mission for the world, and the government to finally listen to their pleas.
Other parts of the world only really took notice of the #FlintWaterCrisis as late as 2015 to 2016. Although the story should have broken immediately, it took famous Twitter users, including Cher and The Daily Show, to bring the issue to light, and even then the share statistics weren’t too high. It seemed like the world just didn’t care for a while.
Enter Mari Copeny, aka Little Miss Flint, as one of the biggest advocates for the people of Flint. When she was only 8 years old, Mari wrote a letter to the then President Barack Obama, which led to him visiting Flint, leading to more nationwide acknowledgement of the situation. He allocated $100 million to help eradicate the problem, but it was not enough. Alongside many other activists, Mari continued to raise money and bring awareness to Flint, selling T-shirts, distributing water filters, and dispensing countless bottles of safe water to residents.
Though timelines online may tell you the crisis is over, after many lead pipe replacements, tests, and settlements, Flint residents are still seeing effects of the damage to this day. Many still refuse to drink faucet water, saying that it still tastes and smells unnatural. Still, as much work is there still is to be done, it’s spectacular that a young girl made such a huge impact on the situation as she did, and continues to do.
As of 2023, Mari is 15 years old, and has used that same energy to help countless people all over the country. Recently, she took to sharing her efforts with the people of Ohio, after three trains derailed near East Palestine. On February 3, a total of 38 train cars derailed, 11 of which were carrying toxic chemicals such as vinyl chloride and ethylene glycol, which are known carcinogens and irritants.
With the air being contaminated, the majority of the village was evacuated. But some stayed for various reasons, risking contamination. Around 3,500 fish died in local waterways, and 1.1 million gallons of water had to be removed from the site. Despite being allowed back in the area, residents have stated that both the air and water in East Palestine is still not up to standard.
Mari set to it again to fundraise relief efforts for the village, setting up a GoFundMe to buy enough water bottles for the entire village. Unfortunately, she has been met with some backlash online over this decision, as certain naysayers claim she should be focusing on Flint and only Flint. Mari has fought back with her logical reasoning.
While it is sad that so many children are losing a lot of their childhoods to fixing adult problems, change isn’t made by sitting back and doing nothing. And as Mari stated on Twitter, people need to show up and help her with donating their time and money to the causes. One person can start a revolution, but it’s a community that’ll see it through to the bitter end.
You can still donate to both the Ohio and the Flint GoFundMe accounts.
