It's been a while since Rasheed Wallace played for the Detroit Pistons, but he hasn't forgotten the area, and he hasn't forgotten the people of Flint, Michigan, who still don't have safe drinking water. So Wallace, some of his NBA friends, some of us from ESPN's #TheJump, and a bunch of Sheed's friends and family took a little trip to Flint over this past weekend. What happened next was really cool, and I downloaded some of my Snapchat and Instagram posts into a video:
This is great, and I always loved Rasheed. But water is still available free from various places throughout Flint. There's a guy who comes and gets our cans regularly now (we save them for him) and he always brings us some water (because he's an awesome dude - he just told us that he's saved up enough money that he and his wife have bought one of the many repossessed houses that are available in Flint) that he gets from the Fire Station. It is true that the number of water stations has declined in recent months, though.
You live there, Rasta? What is insane is 1) that the problem started in the first place and 2) that STILL nothing is being done to fix it. Or very little. How long can Flint live on donations of bottled water? It's great Sheed did this, but something as basic as water should not depend on someone being nice.
Well, our extremely right-wing Attorney General has just announced that six people are taking the fall, none of whom is the Governor (although there's not much love lost between the Gov, who is a dying breed of moderate technocratic Repub. and the AG, who is gearing up to run for Gov.) Yes I live here. When they made the switch to Flint River water, the water immediately tasted disgusting, so we got a water cooler in our office and had an in-house filter fitted in our basement at great expense (but, silver lining, getting the loan for that helped us consolidate our debt to our advantage!) so with any luck neither of our kids will have been brain-damaged any more than they were originally. (And it's too late for us.) We always used a Brita Filter anyway, but very rarely replaced the filter. This is a problem that it'll be easy to forget about because of the extreme poverty of the people affected. Initially I was upset that Dayne Walling lost his job as mayor, because he was actually pretty good and I don't think the shit was his fault, but Karen Weaver has certainly had a high profile and maybe that will work to our advantage. Pipe replacement has been pathetic, though. One thing I will say is that Flint is just the canary in the coal mine. We were kind of lucky (!) that this all came out now, because we actually got a whole bunch of money and help because we were the first, but there probably isn't a city in the country (and certainly in the Rust Belt) that doesn't have similar problems looming.
And you're the one calling people out for not being the "best fans in the NBA?" How convenient of some people to forget how big he was in the community in Portland. Such little mention of his coat drives every winter. Sheed has always done this kind of stuff, and unlike some of the other faces of this franchise that many "fans" like @BlazerWookee hold in high regard, he doesn't do it for the cameras.
And STILL no one is addressing the reason for the problem. Establishment Republicans (PUNK ASS Rick Snyder) becoming dictators by taking out elected government and installing "City Managers". AGAIN PUTTING POLITICS OVER PEOPLE. Good on you Sheed!!!
I didn't forget. And he deserves (and always has deserved) a lot of credit for his charitable works. In fact, I clearly stated "that's cool of him" at the very beginning of my post. And fuck Rasheed Wallace.
Then tell your far right guys to stop contradicting themselves by saying "Blue lives matter" out of one side of their mouth whilst simultaneously having armed standoffs with them. We need your help.
