Detroit water shutoffs are racially motivated, lawsuit claims
And this is why we can't have nice things.....
A class-action suit has been filed against the city of Detroit for water shutoffs, claiming the stoppages are racially motivated.The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department stopped service to about 7,200 buildings with overdue bills in June, compared to 1,570 in the same month last year. The issue gained national attention last month after activists appealed to the United Nations for help.There are concerns the shutoffs are “being done in a discriminatory fashion,” the Defense Fund’s Veronica Joice told a local CBS affiliate. “They should at least take a look at whether there’s a better way to do this that doesn’t affect the most vulnerable citizens — the majority of whom are African-American here in Detroit.”Attorney Alice Jennings, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Detroitresidents, said the shutoffs were a racial issue.“These companies are basically Caucasian companies,” she told the station. “The folks who are being cut off are almost one hundred percent African-American.”Detroitannounced Monday that it would suspend its aggressive policy of cutting off water for the next 15 days, but the NAACP Legal Defense Fund said in a press release Monday that it’s not enough. They also want the financial aid program for Detroit’s neediest people to be reformed.Disclosure of the 15-day moratorium was made in bankruptcy court — three days after an estimated 2,000 people took to downtown streets to protest the shutoffs. “Avengers” actor Mark Ruffalo made a surprise appearance at the rally, hoping to “shed a little light on what’s happening” in Detroit.Don't mind the fact that the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is a public works department.
Don't mind the fact that the board has 3 African-American board members.
Don't mind the fact that more than 50% percent of its 170,000 residential accounts are 60 days or $150 delinquent. Simple math equals $12,750,000.
Don't mind the fact that of the 15,266 accounts where water service was suspended, more than half were made current and had the water restored within 24 hours.
Don't mind the fact that the remaining accounts with suspended water service represent less than 4 percent of the water department’s residential customer base.
Don't mind any of those facts. This is simply racist. And that is why we can't have nice things....
