This Week on American Black Journal:
Stakeholders Discuss Solutions to Benton Harbor Lead Water Crisis
It’s another predominately African American community dealing with a lead-contaminated water crisis in their city. Reminiscent of the Flint water crisis that began in 2014, host Stephen Henderson talks with a number of Benton Harbor stakeholders — Mayor Marcus Muhammad, Michigan Environmental Justice Public Advocate Regina Strong from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, and Community Response Team Chairperson Princella Tobias — to learn more about the current situation.
The panel discusses the problems with Benton Harbor’s aging infrastructure, the impact of having unsafe drinking water in a predominately low-income community, and the possible solutions for resolving the water crisis now and in the future.
Detroit Phoenix Center Launches Campaign to Support Homeless Youth
Plus, Stephen meets Detroit Phoenix Center Founder Courtney Smith to learn about a new campaign the organization is launching to help homeless and transient youth in the metro Detroit region. The organization, which provides support and resources to youth currently experiencing or transitioning out of homelessness, hosts a “One Night Without a Bed” campaign designed to raise awareness, and monetary and in-kind basic survival donations, for homeless youth.
The “One Night Without a Bed” campaign challenges participants to make themselves uncomfortable and to spend one night sleeping anywhere else but a bed — on the couch, in a tent or car, or on the floor — in solidarity with the nearly 4.2 million youth who experience homelessness each year in the United States. The center’s fundraising campaign ends Dec. 31, 2021.