Residents Join Protest at Flint City Hall That No One Takes Seriously [VIDEO]
ABC 12 – WJRT – Flint, MI
Flint residents showed up for a protest at Flint City Hall Monday (July 14th), which was in response to our unbelievably high water bills and the recent civilian fatalities caused by police chases. These are both incredibly valid issues and understandable issues that no one will take seriously in response and here's why.
There are plenty of ways to spend a Monday afternoon that are actually beneficial to your community -- donating blood, cleaning up garbage on the side of the expressway, working at homeless shelters, etc. Some well-intentioned Flint residents opted to spend their Monday afternoon trying to have their collective voices heard on two very important issues -- water rates and public safety.
Don't get me wrong, I agree with most of the things these people were protesting. As I've mentioned before, the water rate is too damn high! I also think something could probably be done to make the public safer when police are chasing suspects. I have no idea what that would be, but that's beside the point. Whether anyone agrees with the protestors is irrelevant because their concerns were invalidated immediately.
Here's the thing, Flint. When you are protesting in response to the loss of life in the community, your protest loses a lot of credibility when it's led by a convicted murderer. If you didn't already know, City Councilman Wantwaz Davis, who organized Monday's rally, made national headlines shortly after his election due to his previous murder conviction.
Davis actually seems to have a lot of Flint's best interests in mind and makes very good points when I see him on the news. Hell, some his statements in the video below are identical to ones I made a couple weeks ago. His message is not the problem, it's his credibilty. The simple fact that someone who has intentionally killed before is leading a protest against police for killing someone unintentionally makes the entire thing ridiculous. The families of the victims deserve a better voice and better representation than that.
If you think the ridiculousness stops there, you're wrong. Local sideshow Eric Mays was out there on a bullhorn spouting the same type of snake oil salesman nonsense that somehow got him off the hook in his drunk driving case a couple weeks back. At that point, the protest might as well have had a juggling clown riding a unicycle, a bearded lady, Shriners in tiny cars and elephants because it's a goddamn circus.
People of Flint, next time you want to protest a serious issue, you need to be led by people that can be taken seriously.