The Poisoned Kids of Flint, Michigan: A Social Media Timeline of an Unraveling Man-Made Disaster

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The Poisoned Kids of Flint, Michigan: A Social Media Timeline of an Unraveling Man-Made Disaster

By Mitchell Trinka

January 21, 2016

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Over the past two weeks, national news outlets have finally zeroed in on the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan, questioning how a major American city could have poisoned its residents with lead-laden water for months on end.

With the toxic water, and the dysfunctional state response, now leading the evening newscasts, even President Barack Obama has weighed in with questions of why residents’ pleas for help were dismissed, or ignored.

Indeed, a quick scan of recent social media posts captures not only the human cost and public anger surrounding the water crisis, but also reveals that people have been begging for help since early 2015.

The scale of the crisis

Pleas for help began more than a YEAR ago

KIDS, ANIMALS, ANYTHING THAT TOUCHES WATER HERE IS GETTING SICK 1 WAY OR ANOTHER

— Jacque Yoder (@JacqueTweets2)

The school water from the drinking fountains tastes nasty

— Ethan (@ethan_taljonick)

Flint water is literally poisoning city children!! PLZ SIGN & SHARE this petition to The whitehouse…

— Matisa Jones (@matisa1974)

The water is killing people's pets. Children are losing hair.

— Destiny (@__DKA)

I don't live in Flint but I got to school in Flint right now. It has a separate water filtration system. But I know that everybody (1/4)

— Becky McDermott (@beckyamcdermott)

around here knew about the crisis going on. Everyone's pointing at it saying "here! look at this!" and it was brushed off. (2/4)

— Becky McDermott (@beckyamcdermott)

Then some news finally caught wind of it and thought "wow this is a big deal." THEN suddenly everyone comes rushing in looking to help (3/4)

— Becky McDermott (@beckyamcdermott)

way late, when they could have fixed it before it ever got this bad. Bigger news came around November and it is JANUARY. (4/4)

— Becky McDermott (@beckyamcdermott)

Students weigh in

What happened to the water?

Water Crisis: How Lead got into the Drinking Water, Governor Rick Snyder: via

— David Ramos (@BMDRamos)

: says, "Politics & profit were put over the lives of people."

— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin)

Swell. First kids poisoned with lead, then those responsible blame others for doing it

— Jim Morin (@MorinToon)

Local newspapers publish the governor’s emails

9 must-read pages from Gov. Rick Snyder's e-mail drop on the and children's lead exposure

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY)

A jawdropping email trail of blind and willful neglect in Flint's water crisis.

— Jim Roberts (@nycjim)

"I can't figure out why the state is responsible." Forgive me, but this is nuts

— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow)

"My God, they poisoned the kids": 150 protest at Michigan capitol over

— Progress Michigan (@ProgressMich)

"I'm going to have to calm down, I'm a little upset myself having drank the water for the past 2 years."

— Senator Jim Ananich (@jimananich)

The rush to help

No end in sight

Flint switched from Detroit water to Flint River water, 10 people in my county have died from Legionnaire's disease.

— Jonathan Diener (@jonodiener)

Nearly 9,000 Flint children under the age of 6 were poisoned by their gov't

— elias isquith (@eliasisquith)

State of emergency over Michigan water

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld)

Lead found in water at Michigan School for the Deaf in Flint

— The Flint Journal (@flintjournal)

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                <h2>The Poisoned Kids of Flint, Michigan: A Social Media Timeline of an Unraveling Man-Made Disaster</h2>

                <h2></h2>

                <p class="sans">By <a rel="author" href="/contributor/20095/">Mitchell Trinka</a></p>

                <img src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/1453409489_5069.png">

                <p>This story first appeared at <a href="/">蜜桃影视</a>, a nonprofit news site covering education. <a href="/about/newsletters/?utm_source=republish-button&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=republish">Sign up for free newsletters from 蜜桃影视</a> to get more like this in your inbox.</p>
                <div class="article__paragraph">
<div class="article__paragraph opening" dir="ltr">Over the past two weeks, national news outlets have finally zeroed in on the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan, questioning how a major American city could have poisoned its residents with lead-laden water for months on end.</div>
<div class="article__paragraph" dir="ltr">With the toxic water, and the dysfunctional state response, now leading the evening newscasts, even President Barack Obama has weighed in with questions of why residents’ pleas for help were dismissed, or ignored.</div>
<div class="article__paragraph">Indeed, a quick scan of recent social media posts captures not only the human cost and public anger surrounding the water crisis, but also reveals that people have been begging for help since early 2015.</div>
<div class="article__intro">The scale of the crisis</div>
<div class="storify"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="no" height="750" src="//storify.com/The74/water-crisis-in-flint-michigan/embed?header=false&border=false&template=grid" width="100%"></iframe><noscript>[]</noscript></div>
<div class="article__intro"> </div>
<div class="article__intro">Pleas for help began more than a YEAR ago</div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">    KIDS, ANIMALS, ANYTHING THAT TOUCHES WATER HERE IS GETTING SICK 1 WAY OR ANOTHER </p>
<p>— Jacque Yoder (@JacqueTweets2) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">The school water from the drinking fountains tastes nasty</p>
<p>— Ethan (@ethan_taljonick) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Flint water is literally poisoning city children!! PLZ SIGN & SHARE this petition to The whitehouse… </p>
<p>— Matisa Jones (@matisa1974) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">The water is killing people's pets. Children are losing hair. </p>
<p>— Destiny (@__DKA) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">I don't live in Flint but I got to school in Flint right now. It has a separate water filtration system. But I know that everybody (1/4)</p>
<p>— Becky McDermott (@beckyamcdermott) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">around here knew about the crisis going on. Everyone's pointing at it saying "here! look at this!" and it was brushed off. (2/4)</p>
<p>— Becky McDermott (@beckyamcdermott) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Then some news finally caught wind of it and thought "wow this is a big deal." THEN suddenly everyone comes rushing in looking to help (3/4)</p>
<p>— Becky McDermott (@beckyamcdermott) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">way late, when they could have fixed it before it ever got this bad. Bigger news came around November and it is JANUARY. (4/4)</p>
<p>— Becky McDermott (@beckyamcdermott) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<div class="article__intro"> </div>
<div class="article__intro">Students weigh in</div>
<div class="article__paragraph">
<div style="width:100%; padding-bottom: 56.25%; position: relative;">
<div class="video-start"><img decoding="async" class="video-embed-image" id="video-start-button" src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/TA53UEr2vaQ/maxresdefault.jpg" /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="article__intro"> </div>
<div class="article__intro">What happened to the water?</div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en"> Water Crisis: How Lead got into the Drinking Water,  Governor Rick Snyder:  via </p>
<p>— David Ramos (@BMDRamos) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">:  says, "Politics & profit were put over the lives of people."  </p>
<p>— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Swell. First kids poisoned with lead, then those responsible blame others for doing it   </p>
<p>— Jim Morin (@MorinToon) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<div class="article__intro"> </div>
<div class="article__intro">Local newspapers publish the governor’s emails</div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">9 must-read pages from Gov. Rick Snyder's e-mail drop on the  and children's lead exposure </p>
<p>— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">A jawdropping email trail of blind and willful neglect in Flint's water crisis.  </p>
<p>— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">"I can't figure out why the state is responsible." Forgive me, but this is nuts   </p>
<p>— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">"My God, they poisoned the kids": 150 protest at Michigan capitol over   </p>
<p>— Progress Michigan (@ProgressMich) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">"I'm going to have to calm down, I'm a little upset myself having drank the  water for the past 2 years." </p>
<p>— Senator Jim Ananich (@jimananich) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<div class="article__intro"> </div>
<div class="article__intro">The rush to help</div>
<div class="storify"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="no" height="750" src="//storify.com/The74/scenes-from-flint-michigan-s-water-crisis/embed?header=false&border=false&template=grid" width="100%"></iframe><noscript>[]</noscript></div>
<div class="article__paragraph">
<div style="width:100%; padding-bottom: 56.25%; position: relative;">
<div class="video-start"><img decoding="async" class="video-embed-image" id="video-start-button" src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/vIfFVnhWlLA/maxresdefault.jpg" /></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="article__intro"> </div>
<div class="article__intro">No end in sight</div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Flint switched from Detroit water to Flint River water, 10 people in my county have died from Legionnaire's disease. </p>
<p>— Jonathan Diener (@jonodiener) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Nearly 9,000 Flint children under the age of 6 were poisoned by their gov't </p>
<p>— elias isquith (@eliasisquith) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">State of emergency over Michigan water </p>
<p>— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) </p></blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Lead found in water at Michigan School for the Deaf in Flint </p>
<p>— The Flint Journal (@flintjournal) </p></blockquote>
<p></div>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>

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