“Brown water for Brown People” – New York Times comments on Cali Water Crisis
The title of this article made my stomach churn at a first glance and is strikingly offensive coming from a white author (he writes that he is a “guero” – mexican slang for a white person – kind of like gringo”. Although the title comes from an excerpt from the author’s interview – I still don’t know if I agree with the use of the quote to draw readers in.
Despite its name, the article points out a truth – people who live in communities of color (especially agricultural workers) are the ones suffering the most from the California water crisis. The author decided to interview both local historians in California and the people who live in East Orosi and the San Joaquin Valley. The author found frightening stories of communities of color had experienced brown water being pumped into their homes, and in addition, “Sources at the state water agency then told me that up to 1,000 systems across California may be at risk of significant failures, but there is no way of knowing until they actually fail.” This article highlighted an interesting connection/intersection between the housing crisis in California, race & ethnicity, and availability of clean water (/maintaining sustainible water resources). Low-socio economic people of color who were farm workers have to live in remote areas because they can not afford to live in the suburbs or the city. The communities they live in do not get the community or infrastructure for water that the suburbs or cities do, and therefore go without clean water for months or years on end. The author reports that a lawyer he interview commented “Flint is everywhere here” – but we don’t hear about these communities like we hear about Flint (even if the spotlight wasn’t on Flint as it should have been”.
What does everyone think? Of the title? The situation? Did anyone know about the protests in Compton which the article mentions?
Here is more information about the situation in San Joaquin specifically, with a title I found to be much more empowering to the farmworkers and much less offensive – They Grow the Nation’s Food, but They Can’t Drink the Water
This article, and the one about San Joaquin County, are very affecting for me, since San Joaquin County is where I grew up. I never knew that right outside the suburban town I grew up in there were such issues!
I’m not sure how this problem could be solved, but I sympathize with concerns that increasing taxes would not be sustainable since the cost of living in California is so expensive already. Perhaps the state government could allocate part of its $21 billion budget surplus mentioned in the first article to help fix the water systems?
San francisco next year in November want to fish pier 7 what all do I need to do and is there a bait shop close
You’ve made a complex topic simple.
You really know your stuff.