FLINT, Mich., March 6 (UPI) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will face off Sunday in a debate in this downtrodden Michigan city, which has made national headlines for its lead-tainted water.
For Clinton and Sanders, the debate is likely to focus heavily on problems facing minorities and the poor. About four in 10 residents in Flint live below the poverty line and the city has a majority black population.
Flint was once the heart of General Motors’ industrial operations in Michigan but the company’s factory there has closed, as have other auto-related facilities. In many respects, Flint is a prime example of the toll the decline in American manufacturing has taken on the industrial Midwest. The unemployment rate in Flint is 9.7 percent, nearly double the national average.
The city has been a source of national news of late for the crisis over its tainted drinking water. The city’s government, which is largely under the control of state officials due to the economic problems there, switched its source of drinking water from the Great Lakes to the Flint River in an effort to save money. Pollution from the river caused the water to corrode pipes and large quantities of lead leached in, causing residents to complain of foul odor and taste, and a spike in health problems.
Democrats have torched Republican Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder for his handling of the issue. State officials at first insisted the water was fine, but as public outcry grew, it became clear something was wrong. Residents said thousands of children in the city have been put at risk of developmental and other health problems.
Residents are still using bottled water as a result.
Snyder has since apologized for the state’s handling of the Flint water crisis. That has not stopped Clinton and Sanders from leading the charge, calling out what they see as government’s indifference toward the plight of poor people and racial minorities.
With that as the backdrop, both candidates are sure to hammer home their messages about racial and economic inequality. For Clinton, who has received overwhelming support from black voters so far in the campaign, it will likely mean doubling down on her calls to end racial injustice.
She has proposed rewriting mandatory minimum sentencing rules for drug offenders — legislation her husband former President Bill Clinton signed into law in the 1990s, but now says was a mistake. She has also assailed voter identification laws passed by many Republican-controlled state legislatures, which she says are aimed at discouraging minorities from voting.
She has also assailed what in many American cities is the lack of trust between minorities and police, seizing on a string of incidents where unarmed black youths died at the hands of police.
For Sanders, whose campaign has appealed more to young people and affluent white liberals despite his record fighting for civil rights in the 1960s, the argument over inequality has been waged over what he regularly refers to as the nation’s “rigged” economy. Sanders has repeatedly criticized the influence the wealthiest Americans have over business and politics, and the negative effects on working people. He has championed an increase in the minimum wage to $15 per hour and wants to reform higher education to make it free for all Americans.
The debate also comes at an urgent time in the campaign for Sanders, who trails Clinton considerably in the race for delegates to the party’s nominating convention in Philadelphia this summer. Sanders notched victories in two states on Saturday, but Clinton’s overwhelming victory in the day’s largest prize, Louisiana, allowed her to extend her lead in the delegate race despite losing two out of three states.
Sunday’s debate, the seventh of the campaign thus far, is airing on CNN and will be moderated by Anderson Cooper. It beings at 8 p.m. Eastern.
