Urgent Call to Action:
Rally at Wayne State University Student Center on Saturday, June 18, 2016 at 5PM
We need you to reach out to mobilize families with children in your circles, youth leaders, children and youth activities to compel them to represent a moral voice to stop water shut offs for the most vulnerable people in Detroit. Three quarters of the children in Detroit are living below 150% of the federal poverty level ($35,775 for a family of four). Exposing children to an opportunity to care about other children is a way to nurture their humanity by caring for other children in need. Please make the sacrifice of time to personally compel people to join in and wage love…
Facebook event link – https://www.facebook.com/events/209562162771029/
“Even as the quality of available water is constantly diminishing, in some places there is a growing tendency, despite its scarcity, to privatize this resource, turning it into a commodity subject to the laws of the market. Yet access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights. Our world has a grave social debt towards the poor who lack access to drinking water, because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity.”
– Pope Francis, Laudato Si
The Allied Media Conference has agreed to support our cause by spreading the word nationwide about Mayor Duggan’s refusal to accept the warnings that massive water shut offs are a threat to public health and an assault, punishing vulnerable people who cannot afford the current payment rates and policies. There is not a reasonable process in place for evaluating shut offs for vulnerable populations such as elderly, pregnant women, persons with serious medical conditions or chronic health challenges, young children in the home, or landlord tenant discrepancies. This is unreasonable and unacceptable. Like Flint we have been persistent as advocates, now we have decided to lift up the children’s voices to call out to the Mayor in front of the nation.
Do what you can to get this message out especially into church youth groups, boy and girl scouts, school groups etc. Post on your Facebook page, email blast, blog etc.
We have youth voices but need all hands and feet, lots of children and lots of adult support.
We can do this!
Water Warriors and Allies,
Again we are besieged with the resumption of massive water shut offs. Much like the situation in Flint, our early warnings of the public health impact have been ignored by the Mayor. We must educate the public and move to protect the most vulnerable among us.
A press opportunity to speak with organizers will be held at 4:30 pm at Wayne State University’s Student Center.
We are mobilizing young people to lead a Children’s March on Saturday June 18 at 5:00 pm launched from the international Allied Media Conference being held at Wayne State University. We will march from the south side of the Student Center. We will walk down Second then go over to Woodward and walk in front of the restaurants in Midtown (this is the start of the dinner hour). We are asking everyone to wear BLUE!
Our young people leading have been involved in “water work” at various levels: at water stations, Lansing lobby days, undoing racism, fundraising, canvassing, prayer vigils, the water justice walk from Detroit to Flint and much more. We reach out to you to bring children to be in the March – all are welcome to show they care about the people by participating in sending a message to Mayor Duggan: Stop the water shut offs!
Please send out an email blast to your circle of influence, youth groups, churches, recreation centers, after school programs. Put it out on social media. Get the children out. The youth are developing a flyer. Please help in any way you can. This is urgent and critical to our community.
Water is a human right. Water is life. The best interests of the people should come before profits. Sick people, elderly, pregnant women, households with young children and those with chronic illness should be handled with sensitivity.
The Mayor and Governor’s resistance is seated in a motivation to privatize water, and targets poor black communities. As they turn a deaf ear, thousands are harmed, losing their children, losing their homes and suffering because they cannot afford the water. Human services are supposed to to help, not hurt.
Join us as we take to the streets to lift the voices of children crying out for water restoration as a human right!
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