12024-04-26T17:48:33+00:00London Jones75d9984c3fe0e0ec2b87a30132499276d8d1e6b71381Dr. Sanjay Gupta visits with a family in Flint, Michigan, and learns how the contaminated water has harmed them.plain2024-04-26T17:48:33+00:00CNN21/1/2016London Jones75d9984c3fe0e0ec2b87a30132499276d8d1e6b7
Click here to read the definition of Slow Violence
Example of Slow Violence in Flint
The Flint water crisis is an example of Slow Violence. Its immediate effects were catastrophic, including residents losing their hair, getting rashes, and even death. However, there are also long-term effects associated with the crisis. Exposure to lead, for instance, can severely harm a child's health and development. Lead exposure can result in slowed growth and development, damage to the nervous system and brain, learning and behavior problems, and health and speech problems. These effects can lead to lower IQ, decreased ability to pay attention, and underperformance in school. Watch the effects of Lead poisoning below.
What does this mean?
Slow violence is just that, slow and gradual, these children in Flint might not see the full effects of lead poisoning until years from when they were first poisoned. This effects their academics, their social life, their health, and also their livelihood, creating a system of inequality and violence against the community of Flint, again, it's important to see how Environmental racism, Infrastructural Violence, and Slow violence all play a role in perpetuating Violence and oppression through means of denying infrastructure and targeting generations with violence that is everlasting.
