We the Poisoned: Exposing the Flint Water Crisis Cover Up and the Poisoning of 100,000 Americans

In this impassioned debut exposé, journalist Chariton details the official decisions that led to a public health crisis in Flint, Mich., and its subsequent cover-up. In the early 2010s, Republican governor Rick Snyder “hijack[ed] power away” from local elected officials in “predominately minority cities” such as Flint, appointing his own “emergency managers” to run them. That power grab led in 2014 to Flint switching water sources, from the Detroit municipal supply to the Flint River. The water, which the city began distributing without testing, was polluted and did not contain federally regulated anti-corrosion chemicals to stop antiquated lead pipes from leaching; residents began suffering ill effects, including rashes and cognitive deterioration (“Kids I met were forgetting letters in the alphabet,” Chariton reports). As the outcry escalated, Snyder’s administration began shredding documents and trying to buy off victims. In 2019, a newly elected state prosecutor halted the investigation begun by her predecessor (whose files Chariton managed to access). Chariton’s narrative is powered by indignation as he chronicles the catastrophe’s legacy (including increased cancer rates) and jaw-dropping government malfeasance (“The corruption was so shameless, I thought I had misheard,” he writes of learning about the attempted payoffs). It’s a vital report on a horrific scandal. (Aug.)