What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City (One World Essentials)

by Mona Hanna-Attisha

Snyder, a new governor, was popular at the time. He dubbed himself “one tough nerd” and had a history as a successful business executive. He was a Republican who ran as a moderate—a technocrat—but he was soon pushed to the right by a Tea Party–controlled state legislature. Flint wasn’t the first Michigan city to have its democratically elected government replaced by an EM who demanded draconian budget cuts: Snyder had appointed EMs in Detroit and Pontiac. By 2013, half of all African-American citizens in Michigan were living under an EM, compared with 2 percent of white residents. In other words, half of the African-American population in Michigan did not have elected representatives running their cities—the cities had been effectively colonized by the state. This seemed grossly undemocratic to me and hardly an accident.