The Scene
- Jacob Lewkow
- Tunde Olaniran.
Last week, Gov. Rick Snyder announced that due to decreasing levels of lead in Flint's water supply, the state would cease sending the city bottled water once current supplies run out.
Yay! Crisis over, right? Wrong.
Tunde Olaniran, a Flint-based musical artist, isn't buying the governor's cheerfully delivered news. He launched into a twitterstorm in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, lampooning everything from the horrible optics of the state approving Nestlé to pump Michigan freshwater the very same week it announced it would stop sending Flint bottled water, to the systemic racism that led to the water crisis, to what it's been like to live without reliable city water for the past four years.
"My accumulated water bill is almost at $1,500 at this point," he tweeted. "I'm not paying."
Olaniran released his latest single "Vulnerable" last week. His forthcoming record, Stranger, is slated for a summer release.
i live in Flint. i haven't washed my hair in my home in 4 years. when I brush my teeth, i use filtered water. i shower and my skin has strange reactions. my accumulated water bill is almost at $1500 at this point. i'm not paying.
— Tunde Olaniran (@tundeolaniran) April 10, 2018
nobody from the city or state has ever directly reached out to me to say "here is the water quality in your home"
— Tunde Olaniran (@tundeolaniran) April 10, 2018
Nestlé was be approved to pump up to 400 gallons of water per minute from a well in west michigan for almost nothing.
— Tunde Olaniran (@tundeolaniran) April 10, 2018
nestle donated water bottles to kids in flint schools, and the schools made the KIDS WRITE THANK U LETTERS TO NESTLE FOR DONATING WATER BOTTLES.
— Tunde Olaniran (@tundeolaniran) April 10, 2018
we suffer from a systemic disregard for working class people in this country. flint is just one of the ugliest examples of it.
— Tunde Olaniran (@tundeolaniran) April 10, 2018
no corporate entity should be able to own a fresh water source for profit.
— Tunde Olaniran (@tundeolaniran) April 10, 2018
i'll repeat: the State of Michigan announced Friday that it was ending bottled water distribution in Flint, four days after it approved Nestle's permit to pump 500,000 gallons of fresh water per day for.... $200.
— Tunde Olaniran (@tundeolaniran) April 10, 2018
the existing lead pipes are replaced, but the process is known to release more contaminants. there's been no plan that has been communicated to me as a tax-paying city resident to systematically test households or make the info available.
— Tunde Olaniran (@tundeolaniran) April 10, 2018
the water dept finally shut my water off and forced me to pay $300 to reconnect. they told me it earliest reconnect would be a week LMAO. I raised some hell and got it reconnected the next day.
— Tunde Olaniran (@tundeolaniran) April 10, 2018
- there needs to be legacy Medicare for all affected by Flint water aka free health care for life for anyone who was living in Flint and accessing Flint water at the onset of the crisis
— Tunde Olaniran (@tundeolaniran) April 10, 2018
- there should be a policy of NO water shutoffs for city residents and a cap on charges
i am a tax paying citizen of Flint. before the water crisis, i paid my high ass water bill. i shouldn't have to move, and to be quite honest, there's no escape when we privilege corporate prerogative and ownership of natural resources.
— Tunde Olaniran (@tundeolaniran) April 10, 2018
Stay on top of Detroit news and views. Sign up for our weekly issue newsletter delivered each Wednesday.
