Water is not just about dollars and cents. Take a fish out of water and see what happens. Let farmers stay without water and we have no food. Water is a matter of life and death, which makes it a moral imperative. There have been congressional hearings for all kinds of things that are not central to life, and yet there have been none on Detroit’s water shutoffs.
Last week, Detroit Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes became the latest voice on the issue, raising the question of the water shutoffs in bankruptcy court and noting that the shutoffs are hurting the city’s image internationally.
The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, which seems to have lost its moral code of conduct, especially when they applied draconian enforcement on those with little or no resources or connections while sparing other major businesses from their enforcement need to have its officials undergo a special schooling on the essence of water as a right to life and liberty.
Water doesn’t have to be free but it has to be provided. The human body is 70 percent water. The earth we live in is mostly water. Water is a blazing necessity. If you don’t have free speech you are not going to die. But people will die of communicable diseases if they live in unsanitary conditions where there is no water.
That is why the thousands of water shutoffs have been alarming and a disgrace for the city in the eyes of the world.
For the last ten years of all the major events that have taken place in Detroit, from the Kwame Kilpatrick saga to the historic bankruptcy, none have gotten the attention and reaction of the world’s leading transnational and human rights body, the United Nations, of the water shutoffs. Human rights leaders around the world are now looking at Detroit, as an emerging human rights catastrophe.
That designation is a shame and officials at the water department should hang their heads in shame.
Wars have been fought over water because water scarcity is a major global problem. Nations have suffered crucially because of lack of water. As a country we have exercised moral authority to intervene in those nations that are shedding blood because of a lack of water resources.
We need the same moral authority to be exercised by the federal government to stop the Hurricane Katrina image that is being created in Detroit as a result of the water shut offs.
Yes, those who owe water bills ought to pay but those who can’t afford to pay their bills should not be victimized and the water department should roll out a comprehensive and affordable water plan to help the underserved. Water department officials must act now to prevent a disaster on par with a Hurricane Katrina.
The founding document talks about the right to life, liberty and happiness, but there is no way to achieve those three without water. Plain and simple.
Bankole Thompson is the editor of the Michigan Chronicle and author of a forthcoming book on Detroit. His most recent book, “Obama and Christian Loyalty,” deals with the politics of the religious right, Black theology and the president’s faith posture across a myriad of issues with an epilogue written by former White House spokesman Robert S. Weiner. He is a senior political analyst at WDET-101.9FM (Detroit Public Radio) and a member of the weekly “Obama Watch” Sunday roundtable on WLIB-1190AM New York. Email bthompson@michronicle.com or visit https://www.bankolethompson.com.
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