And lest anyone forgot, the water in Flint, Michigan still contains unacceptable levels of lead for many families. Not a single politician has faced criminal responsibility for their malfeasance that led to the crisis. Republicans and Democrats in state government systemically neglected and defunded Flint, a majority Black city. They neglected the water supply even after strong evidence emerged that something was disastrously wrong.

If something like that had been happening in a majority white city, the state would have mobilized on an emergency basis, all hands on deck.

Few people know that two more of our majority Black cities are now experiencing similar water crises.

Michigan is really two states. The cities that mostly Black people live in, like Detroit, feature crumbling infrastructure, disastrously underfunded public schools, and sometimes poisonous water.

The cities mostly white people live in are what you see in tourist brochures – well maintained, highly funded, and worth a summer vacation trip.