Black Lead Matters was a precursor to the Black Lives Matter and was a largely under reported protest movement focused on the public health crisis. Black Lead Matters was original brought to national attention when local Flint water supply was diverted from the Great Lakes to a highly polluted River. The water crisis in Flint it turns out was a much more common problem of polluted potable water supplies. It later became a low intensity national movement that is still under reported as hundreds of water supplies are revealed to have serious potable water quality problems. The result has been a lot of people got really sick and some died from the lead and other pollutants that were either in the water supply or from the chemicals leached out of the pipes, like lead.
Black Lead Matters was largely a local movement to protect the predominantly black communities from environmental pollution that came to light during the 2016 election system. Sadly the pollution of the public water supply was related to actions by the state government who acted with little concern to the primarily black community from the start. Even worse there was a cover up and continuation of the bad policy till it became a major political issue during a strategic time in the election cycle. Sadly Black Lives Matter is also a protest of police brutality and lack of consideration of black lives by public safety officers or police. However environmental pollution may be just as serious a problem for minority communities as racial profiling.
by mlhiss September 21, 2020