Read the full story from Prism.
When Dionna Brown entered high school as freshman in Flint, Michigan, in 2014, she wasn’t initially aware of the city’s contaminated drinking water supply. Blemishes broke out on her skin, only to clear up once she started using bottled water to wash her face. It was months before she was informed about the real issue.
Flint’s public health crisis—caused by a series of government failures in 2014 to safely switch the source of the city’s water supply—exposed its residents to high levels of lead, a neurotoxin that impacts biological processes in childhood development. Though much of the youngest generation impacted has now grown up, they are still living with the aftermath all while seeking justice a decade later.
For Brown, she now navigates her own cognitive and behavioral difficulties that she believes came from elevated lead levels. And throughout the years, she’s watched health complications persist in the people around her, like her grandmother.
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