I live and work in Flint. I am not from Flint, but I work with and know many life-long residents. I moved here because my husband accepted a position here.

You are really wrong here. First and foremost, not all homes/businesses in the city have lead-contaminated water. On the same block, some houses have 0 ppm, some have levels in the accepted/expected range, and some are wildly high. Second, any one who wanted to leave and had the means to leave left for the suburbs decades ago. Rare is the person/family (like me) who moved into the city within the last decade. Third, the city is not a decimated waste land like you've been lead to believe. There are people making lived here, with careers and families and a real, personal, emotional investment in the city. Fourth, there are people who literally have no one and no where to go. They have no extra money for a hotel for one night, let alone for many nights while they do as you're suggesting--pick up and run. Their entire support system, everyone they know or have ever known, live here. They DO NOT HAVE ANYWHERE TO GO. Finally, the residents of Flint are not stupid. We know, we've known, how bad the water situation is. We have been protesting and fighting for a long time.

We are not living in a wildfire. I know you just learned about this, but we have known about problems with the water for much, much longer. The national news media attention is welcome (and a long time coming) but after you all pick up and leave for the next scandal/crisis, we will still be here.

This attitude--"why do people even live there?!?!" literally solves nothing. It does not help. It trivializes the people of Flint. It makes them look naive and foolish.

I am glad you all are angry. We are angry, too.