Environmental racism, the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color – isn’t the only form of racism still plaguing the residents of Flint Michigan.
Lead attorney, Corey Stern, representing 40,000 residents in the poisoned water case called the city of primarily Black residents a “s— hole” and implied that recipients of settlement funds would probably spend it on drugs and prostitutes. The comments were made during a 2018 podcast interview for “Race Wars.”
During the podcast, Stern also suggested that a settlement for the young children affected by the water crisis be structured so that they “have some steady stream of income” over their lifetime.
“Especially if these kids had arrested development once they had the lead poisoning, you got a 13-year-old ….now he got a $2 million check, it’s gonna be some dead prostitutes,” the podcast host said.
“And a lot of cocaine,” Stern added as laughter is heard on the podcast.
Stern said in an emailed statement to the Detroit Free Press that one of the contractors he is suing in the case is behind the resurfacing of the podcast remarks. “For years, Veolia has used a public relations machine to shift the narrative from their role in the Flint Water Crisis. In Veolia’s latest PR maneuver, it is peddling to the media a four-second snippet from a five-year-old podcast.
“In that podcast, which lasted over an hour, I talked at length about the damage caused by childhood lead poisoning and the tragic outcomes likely to occur for kids in Flint. But, Veolia denies that any children were lead poisoned in Flint and even denies that the water was unsafe. Instead, Veolia continues to attempt to distract from its role in the Water Crisis by attacking the lawyers representing the victims,” Stern’s statement read.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Flint water crisis in which an entire community fell victim to insidious and wanton neglect on the part of environmental and government officials allowed residents to consume lead-poisoned water for years before a local doctor blew the whistle and broke the case that focused the eyes of the nation and the world on the ravaged city.
Many health experts say lead is the most widespread environmental hazard in minority communities. The effects of lead poisoning can extend from headaches and nausea to permanent brain damage, especially in children.
To date, no residents have received any payments from the $641 million settlement approved by a judge in 2021, but Stern and the team of attorneys have received almost $200 million in fees and payments. Individual Flint residents are to receive payments in the thousands of dollars range.
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