User:Goodboy2024/New sandbox

Flint residents themselves have identified racism as a contributing factor to the crisis. In a qualitative study done by The Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture and Health (CRECH) at the University of Michigan, researchers investigated Flint youth's perceptions of the Flint water crisis. The young Flint residents, with 93% identifying as black, were asked questions regarding the socioeconomic factors that attributed to the crisis. In these interviews, themes of race, genocide, and oppression became apparent as youth expressed opinions on how their "poor Black city" was stigmatized and deprioritized by those in power. While some participants attributed the crisis to intentional ignorance in the face of a stereotype of cities with high crime rates such as Flint, others connected the crisis to an "intentional program of genocide." Regardless of varying dissent, the interviews were notably "emotionally charged", and much of the interviewees posed an idea of internalized oppression. Researchers noted that these results can help academics study the racialized mental trauma and stress among youth who experienced the Flint water crisis.

2019
On December 18, 2019, the cases against former MDEQ employees Steven Busch and Michael Prysby were dismissed by a Genesee County judge. Nine years after Flint’s disastrous water switch, prosecutors say no one will stand trial for their role in the city’s government-caused water crisis. State prosecutors conceded that they had no viable path forward, effectively dismissing the investigations. Legal experts pointed to a series of missteps by Attorney General Dana Nessel’s team, complicating an already challenging prosecution. The conclusion of the investigation left many in Flint disheartened yet unsurprised. Kevin Croom, the executive director of the Asbury Community Development Corporation in Flint, expressed the sentiment shared by many: “It’s a slow-walk slap in the face. Lives were lost, and it’s just like, ‘Deal with it, it happened, go on with your life.’"