The crisis in Flint, Michigan is a horrific social crime. Flint residents have been poisoned by lead from the city’s water supply, with permanent and devastating consequences for thousands of children.

The policies and decisions that led to this crisis were the result of Democrats and Republicans working together to defend the interests of the financial elite. The same players who poisoned the drinking water in Flint were also involved in the bankruptcy of Detroit, with the same cold indifference about the consequences of their decisions. The University of Michigan law school had originally planned to celebrate four of those responsible: Republican Governor Rick Snyder and Democrat and Obama supporter Kevyn Orr were among those directly involved in the water crisis in Flint. Federal Judge Gerald Rosen played a major role in gutting the pensions and health care benefits of Detroit retirees. Federal Bankruptcy Court Judge Steven Rhodes, who presided over the bankruptcy hearing, notoriously stated regarding the water shutoffs in Detroit, that there is “not…a fundamental enforceable right to free or affordable water. Just as there is no such affordable right to other necessities of life such as shelter, food and medical care.”

In Flint and Detroit, workers confront the consequences of policies that have laid waste to the social infrastructure. Decades of de-industrialization and massive cuts to social programs have boosted corporate profits and the wealth of the financial elite, while trillions of dollars have been wasted in wars. Hillary Clinton and other Democratic Party officials are saying the crisis in Flint is a racial issue. Socialists reject this. It is not a question of black or white, suburbs vs. the city. It is a class question.

The Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality at the University of Michigan urge all students and workers to attend this meeting, which will review the political background to the crisis in Flint and Detroit and discuss the necessary response.