We the Poisoned

Exposing the Flint Water Crisis Cover-Up and the Poisoning of 100,000 Americans

Jordan Chariton

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781538194256
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

As the ongoing Flint water crisis marks its tenth anniversary, Chariton reveals shocking new evidence of the major government cover-up that resulted in the poisoning of Flint—and shatters what you think you know about what caused the water crisis. Kirkus Reviews calls it an "impassioned and enlightening work of current events" and Publishers Weekly praises it as "a vital report on a horrific scandal."
From crooked Wall Street financial schemes to political payoffs, destruction of evidence, witness tampering, falsified water data, threatened whistle blowers, and panicked phone calls, We the Poisoned: Exposing the Flint Water Crisis Cover Up and the Poisoning of 100,000 Americans reveals, for the first time, the real story behind how the government poisoned a major American city—and how they are still getting away with it.
As the cover-up continues a decade later, innocent residents have been arrested, surveilled, threatened, and gaslit to feel like they are crazy. With more and more sick residents slowly dying every year, Flint's lead levels again on the rise, and cancer rates surging across the city, it is time for the true, sinister story of the Flint water cover-up to be told. Based on eight years of reporting, thousands of confidential documents from the criminal investigation, and the former governor of Michigan's own words under oath, Jordan Chariton takes readers on the road to crisis before the Flint River switch—when government officials blew through all stop signs and orchestrated a financial scheme that allowed a nearly bankrupt Flint to borrow $100 million for a controversial new water system. As brown, smelly water flowed through Flint homes and residents grew sick, politicians intentionally and knowingly allowed Americans to drink poison as they prioritized their own political ambitions and survival. Just when you think the levels of callousness and disregard for the people can't drop any lower, Chariton digs even deeper to expose one of the biggest government cover-ups of the twenty-first century.
We the Poisoned is a cautionary tale about "run-government-like-a-business" leaders who champion privatization and economic development at the expense of the environment, public health, and vulnerable citizens. Perhaps even more important, with water and environmental contamination surging across the US, Chariton's revelations provide a road map for how to fight back and prevent similar tragedies from happening to other communities.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Governor’s Henchman Comes to Town
• Chapter 2: Flint’s Shadow Government
• Chapter 3: Water Wars
• Chapter 4: Flint Down the Drain
• Chapter 5: Snyder’s Warning
• Chapter 6: Economic Terrorism
• Chapter 7: River of Fraud
• Chapter 8: Scream for Help
• Chapter 9: Don’t Believe Your Lying Skin
• Chapter 10: Killing the Story
• Chapter 11: Urgent Matter to Fix
• Chapter 12: Snyder’s Sin
• Chapter 13: Governor’s Briefings
• Chapter 14: Update for the Governor?
• Chapter 15: Political Implications
• Chapter 16: Make Their River Water Safe
• Index
• Chapter 18: Wiped Clean
• Chapter 19: Shredded
• Chapter 20: Stonewall Snyder
• Chapter 21: Bad for Business
• Chapter 22: Flushing Flint
• Chapter 23: Cold Cooperators
• Chapter 24: Flint Fatigue
• Chapter 25: Department of Injustice
• Chapter 26: Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Bibliography
• About the Author