Faith in Crisis: Arab American Faith Communities and the Fight for Water Equity in Flint (2015-2024)

Introduction

Orange water pours down from the tap with a metallic hint that stays in the air. In Flint, Michigan, families cleaned their produce, children bathed, and moms cooked in water they were promised was safe for a while, until skin rashes and emergency rooms filled with ill residents. However, local and state officials stated there was no cause for this fear. “We believed them… and we drank it,” said Flint resident Nashwa Mashraki, a member of the Arab American community. ^[1] Her words are more than just words; they are an embedded accusation against the government. They show people’s trust in the government and the betrayal the residents felt when that trust was broken by ignorance. Mashraki’s words, “We believed them…and we drank it,” describe the tremendous betrayal felt by Flint residents who trusted the government’s claims. Her remark is more than simply about drinking contaminated water; it is about believing in a system that promised safety but brought damage. The quote depicts a moment of disappointment in which confidence in authority was broken.

In 2014, Flint officials in Michigan switched their water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River to uphold the credibility of the water source. Within weeks, families began witnessing their tap water turning orange, having metallic tastes, and showing unusual rashes and sicknesses. This is significant because the rusted iron pipes caused the water to be orange because the city failed to apply any of the corrosion control chemicals to the corrosive water it was pulling from the Flint River.^[2] This mistake is what permitted lead and other toxic pollutants to enter the waterway, which impacted tens of thousands of residents. Because of the Flint River’s history of contamination and chloride spikes, drinking the water without proper treatment was unacceptable. This change not only exposed residents to poisonous metals but also brought to light how environmental neglect and bad governance can lead to a serious public health emergency.

In more recent research on the Flint Water Crisis, researchers have primarily focused on the failures of the government involved, human health consequences, and activist efforts on the part of the Black and Hispanic communities involved. Researchers have examined the crisis largely based on it being a racial justice issue, with an emphasis on the disproportionate effects on low-income communities.

Governmental negligence, as well as the crisis’s long-term health effects on the community and grassroots organizations in Black and Hispanic communities, have been the main topics when it comes to discussing the Flint Water Crisis. Furthermore, scholars have also more recently discussed the crisis in terms of racial justice, which recognizes that a crisis significantly impacts low-income people and people of color. When talking about researchers, we can discuss how Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha raised awareness about the water crisis by sharing her Arab-American experience within the book “ What the Eyes Don’t See,” but the book did not discuss how Arab-American groups across religious lines mobilized in response to the crisis.^[3]

As an Arab American, I was driven to explore how Arab Americans in Flint faced systemic neglect. How has turning to religion/faith helped Arab Americans mobilize during the crisis? To answer these questions, this paper dives deeply into the response to the Flint Water Crisis, the local government’s inaction to properly handle the water crisis, and how the Arab American community turned to their religious faith and organizations as key places for organizing and advocacy for water equality.

Throughout the paper, the reader will be able to first understand the background of the Arab American community in Flint and then briefly lay out the water crisis and how it unfolded. Next, I will go over the government’s inaction, beginning from neglect of the people’s complaints to the obvious denial of the crisis. I will then follow with how faith played a role in how these faith-based organizations mobilized through social media, translation of information to Arabic, water distribution, youth volunteer initiatives, and legal action. Lastly, through these actions, I show how Arab Americans were not simply passive victims of systemic failures but also leaders in building pathways toward water justice.

Background

Flint made the enormous decision to switch from Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) water to Flint River water without corrosion control, seriously affecting the safety of the water in Flint and lead-contaminating thousands of residents. Flint made the switch to the Flint River water at substantial cost savings to Flint officials by stopping the purchase of clean water from DWSD, which was sourced from Lake Huron, which had been properly treated, choosing instead a source with a heavy history of severe industrial contamination. Although DWSD referred to the Flint River as an all but lifeless source of backup water, it rationalized it as safe enough to use. Flint made the error of using Flint River water as a main source, and simply not treating the water appropriately before use would have severe consequences for residents.

The Flint Water Crisis was not just a public health emergency; it was an example of environmental racism. A report from the Michigan Civil Rights Commission called what happened in Flint “a complete failure of government,” a result of systemic racism.^[4] These decisions did not just happen by accident. As Pauli explains, the state used Flint as a testing place for austerity policies that prioritized cutting budgets in important areas, such as water protection, over protecting residents. With this selfishness of putting money before people, officials chose to put thousands of their residents’ lives in danger.

The water crisis occurring within the city has impacted many communities, including Flint’s Arab American community. Multiple cities in Michigan provide a home to the largest Arab American communities in the United States, with roots dating as early as the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when immigrants came from Greater Syria to work in factory jobs.^[5] Over the years, more migrants from the Middle East have come to Michigan seeking better opportunities. Arab Americans today live primarily in Dearborn, Detroit, and Flint, allowing for the continued development of the Arab American community, which includes religious organizations that provided support for its members during the crisis.

Government Inaction and Mistrust from the Community

It was only a few days after the switch to the Flint River that residents first began to express their concerns about the safety of their water, but officials refused to listen. Even when residents lodged complaints about their water being discolored and developing rashes, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) insisted that the water met all the safety standards, and it did so even when contradictory evidence emerged.^[6] The Flint activist and mother, Melissa Mays, confronted officials when she recalled one of her arguments, stating, “ We sat here and argued.” “ The water is poisoned; they said No, it’s not, you’re fine.”^[7] The residents of Flint had received fake reassurance from government officials while continually dismissing the growing evidence of toxic water; therefore, it has aggravated the residents of Flint and caused mistrust in the government. Flint residents felt angry, betrayed, and frustrated due to this attitude of dismissal and blatant disregard for their health and well-being.

The state’s refusal to recognize scientific evidence, even in the face of many poor public health decisions during the public health crises, was an example of institutional failure. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha’s study identified children in Flint with elevated lead levels in their blood and was glossed over by the government, which jumped to state that the study used several improper methods to acquire results. She later exposed the fact that state officials and the governor’s office were engaged in efforts to discredit her work even before the analysis was complete.^[8] Absent an apology, state officials engaged in all types of behavior to diminish the findings of Dr. Mona’s research to find ways to downplay the seriousness of the situation. As Pauli indicated, state officials made concrete efforts to discredit community-based research and instill confusion in residents like Melissa Mays.^[9] In a sense, the campaign of discrediting scientific evidence and creating challenges for residents like Melissa Mays became part of a broader institutional denial and undermined community knowledge. Failure to act or properly consider credible evidence of contamination was not just a result of governmental incompetence; the state’s decisions, in this case and other cases, represented systemic initiatives that were less interested in public health and more interested in the institution’s appearance.

Most Arab Americans in Flint, especially those from countries with histories of corrupt governments, saw the Flint Water Crisis as a disturbing manifestation of skepticism toward political systems. It was too similar to the corruption and disregard for residents that they had experienced in their countries of origin. Mona Sahouri, executive director of the Arab American Heritage Council (AAHC), described the change as some Arabs imagined that the United States was a country free of corruption; they were used to the corrupt governments in their countries, and they were now starting to worry. ^[10] This shift in perception was particularly troubling for those who had fled countries where the government was known to abandon its citizens, such as Syria, where there has been significant water contamination and environmental risk due to the civil war. The civil war has polluted drinking water with sewage and toxic chemicals from industry, destruction, and loss of infrastructure.^[11] The Arab Americans in Flint have incorporated that experience within their worldview and now feel a sense of betrayal by their new government and a more entrenched mistrust of institutions, which they believed had failed them again.

The Flint Water Crisis revealed the serious issues surrounding widespread distrust in government officials at all levels in response. When officials did respond, it was often not quickly enough. Officials took too long to respond despite repeated alerts when the Flint River was designated as a drinking water source, ignoring its dangers. The MDEQ and other state agencies ignored warnings, allowing it to turn into a crisis. In August 2015, Genesee County was issuing boil water recalls after finding bacterial levels high enough to issue advisories.^[12]At that point, state and federal authorities did nothing to address the alarming level of things gone wrong in Flint. The New York Times revealed that emails showed that the governor’s office tried to play down the lead levels present in residents’ blood.^[13] This reveals the depth of efforts made to act like the issue was not the high levels in the public water supply, both publicly and within the administration managing the crisis.

The state and local government lacked a response to the water crisis occurring in the city of Flint, and it demonstrated an alarming and irresponsible lack of urgency and response. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) discovered dangerous levels of lead in Flint’s drinking water in June 2015, and nine days into their investigation, determined it was unsafe for residents to drink, but officials did nothing. Governor Snyder not declaring a state of emergency until December 2015 increased the state and city public health crisis, and residents continued to distrust their leaders.^[14] While residents struggled over this period, as well as all of the public outcry through 2015, it was incredibly disappointing and wrong for state officials and their federal counterparts to continue their denial as a formal response for doing something to stave off further relief, and it is unfortunate in that it was an inherent part of the community’s experience during the crisis.

Action Taken Through Faith

Social Media

Faith-based organizations, such as the Arab American Heritage Council (AAHC), Michigan Muslim Community Council (MMCC), Islamic Flint Center, St. George Orthodox Church, The Muslim House, and Presbyterian Church, were successful in using social media to reach Arab American community members during the Flint Water Crisis. For many of these organizations, their social media presence, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, became a perfect way to let the Arab American community know about the crisis, sharing how and where people should get clean drinking water, and posting links about how people could donate to what they were doing. Social media enabled organizations to collaborate in public in real-time and gave many people the opportunity to experience the obvious ineffectiveness of numerous local and state officials, all while elevating the voice of the community. Social media helped organizations reach the public directly, disseminate critical information, and allow their communities to respond to the crisis in effective ways.

Local organizations were important to the promotion and organization of significant initiatives on virtual channels. An important example is the Joint Water Distribution initiative done by St. George Orthodox Church and the Arab American Heritage Council. The AAHC showcased how the Arab American community used social media to share important information in a Facebook post from January 21, 2016.^[15] In partnership with the Michigan Muslim Community Council, these digital resources assisted the larger community with information about water distribution sites, lead testing sites, and donation opportunities, making it easier to find essential resources.^[16]

Besides grassroots activism, the Islamic Relief USA, which is a global humanitarian aid organization, has aided faith-based organizations and amplified their voice while assisting in both water distribution for Flint’s community and promoting greater national and international awareness of the severity of this crisis. The group committed to providing one hundred thousand bottles of water to over three thousand five hundred families in Flint. Through volunteering, funding, and information, they also used their website and social media to promote the importance of collective action.^[17] The extent of the mission was accompanied by a YouTube video documenting service members in the community who could be seen coming to support water distribution, which reflected the compassion of the community members uniting as a community to uplift and support the other community members. ^[18]

Translating Information to Arabic

One of the key challenges faced by the Arab American community during the water crisis was trust in the information provided, particularly in Arabic. While a small percentage of Arab Americans did speak English, the vast majority were not English speakers. Therefore, government warnings and local news did not reach them. Because many of the people were relying on local satellite TV stations from overseas, they were missing out on crucial information about the safety of their drinking water. Mona Sahouri described that due to these communication barriers, many residents simply did not understand that the water was unsafe.^[19] In response, faith-based organizations translated and disseminated communication for essential information in Arabic. AAHC was clear on social media, where it also stated it was creating bilingual outreach materials because it wanted to make sure all people in the community had access to current information.^[20] The AAHC’s efforts were motivated not only by language but also by survival, because if all information had not been translated into Arabic, many families would have continued using contaminated water simply because they did not know.

What made these efforts even more impactful was the trust in the organization. Years of political instability and government failure in their countries of origin have already made many Arab Americans skeptical of state institutions. The crisis in Flint reinforced these fears. As a result, residents were more likely to trust information coming from familiar and respected sources, like the AAHC. These organizations were not just communicating facts, they were sharing them through a lens of shared values and lived experiences. They were not just addressing a certain issue or responding to the crisis. They were setting the stage for opportunities for a community to be empowered for more than a moment in time. Flint Fights Back reflects on these moments and identifies it as “People Power,” which is the ideological framework used for community organizing when people close to one another build relationships that peel away layers of loyalty, shame, and isolation until collective action emerges.^[21] Organizers held one-on-one strategic conversations, which would ultimately help residents connect their stakes in the crisis to the broader goal of the community, which was to commit to action at the grassroots level. These methods allowed community members to do more than survive; it gave them a chance to lead, resist, and rebuild from the inside out.

Water Distribution and Volunteer Work by the Youth

Faith-based organizations emerged as primary sites of emergency response during the Flint Water Crisis. As government responses fell far behind, places of worship operated as trusted and effective relief organizations, planning large-scale water distributions and addressing the residents in the communities most impacted. Religious spaces, especially mosques and churches, not only provided supplies but also a moral framework for collective action. They demonstrated the ability of faith communities to intervene in times of public failure, combining their spiritual belief and tangible material support to address public health crises with life-threatening implications.

Muslim-Led organizations were instrumental in Flint’s response to the water crisis and often situated at the forefront of both infrastructural repair and emergency assistance. Muslims were the first to replace contaminated lead pipes in Flint with safer copper pipes, demonstrating an institutional and community investment in long-term solutions to the problem.^[22] In the short term, Muslims provided relief by contributing and distributing over one million bottles of clean water. More than 110,000 of those bottles were distributed by the Michigan Muslim Community Council (MMCC).^[23] Each of these actions is rooted in Islamic teachings; MMCC director Amina Iqbal spoke to the religious obligation of service, stating, “As Muslims, it is our religious and civic responsibility to help our neighbors.” Dr. Muzammil Ahmed elaborated on this by stating that giving water is the highest form of charity for Muslims.^[24] This belief inspired many Muslim organizations and individuals in Flint to take quick and generous action, seeing water distribution not just as humanitarian aid but as an act of faith. The hope of water distribution also mobilized volunteers and donors based on a common purpose and the idea that service to the community is a religious practice. In a situation where the community’s trust in government had collapsed, these faith-based values offered a strong and unifying framework for action.

Churches were also an important partner, providing long-term distribution of water and consistent support to families in need. St. George Orthodox Church was one of the primary organizations that supported the people in need. As Father Joseph Abud said, “People still need water; there is no quick fix to this.” ^[25] Time was not on the side of the people who needed water. Catholic Charities, through its Center for Hope, did not just provide water; they also provided a good portion of the material supplies people needed at a time when public institutions were failing people. Catholic Charities was able to offer Flint residents some material goods and hope for relief, commitment was only a moral obligation; it was about providing service to help neighbors. As Jon Manse, director of community service, said, “We are all in this together.” ^[26] During the Flint Water Crisis, churches offered both spiritual help and emotional support to struggling families. These organizations exemplified the values of providing continuity and showing compassion in a time of stress while also being cognizant of the emotional needs of the families. Their faith-based commitment has particular value in a situation where trust has been violated. These faith-based organizations helped build a sense of trust and solidarity in a community, but public trust has been violated.

The efforts regarding water distribution in Flint were largely driven by residents who were motivated by deeply held religious convictions and a commitment to act collectively. Rather than waiting for outside intervention, local community institutions initiated and organized residents to demand empowerment for themselves, actively joining forces as residents in changing their conditions rather than simply suffering through them passively. As Pauli describes in Flint Fights Back, successful community organization is about empowering people to change circumstances rather than waiting for these circumstances to passively change through a decentralized system that emphasizes collective leadership and accountability.^[27]Coalitional organizational efforts involve institutions like the Michigan Muslim Community Council (MMCC), Life for Relief and Development, and The Amity Foundation. These coalitions collaborated on resources and activities to deliver clean water and basic supplies to thousands of residents in the community.^[28] The scope and impact of these efforts highlighted what grassroots organizations can do and respond to gaps in governmental processes and provided a model for community-based resilience and leadership.

The youth played a crucial part in these efforts, particularly in the Muslim communities, and showed initiative through organizations such as the Muslim House. At the ground level, the Muslim house had young community members involved in water drives and outreach, service with education. These people organized water distribution aid, provided necessary donations of goods, and volunteered in local food banks, therefore demonstrating a deep commitment to advocacy and civic participation.^[29] Together, these facts reflect distributed leadership theory as expressed in Flint Fights Back in that authority and responsibility are distributed amongst multiple people who are all working towards one goal.^[30] So active participation in crisis time, these young people not only helped alleviate immediate suffering but also learned essential skills and community organizing. Their involvement showed that faith-based services can go far beyond charitable offerings and develop into an active means for endorsement and structural change. Through these actions, the youth help prove the effectiveness of the grassroots organization and encourage future generations to take on social problems and develop long-term processes.

Legal Action

Arab American efforts in Flint extended beyond the provision of direct service, but they also occasionally took legal action against officials whom they found were responsible for the crisis. This effort was organized by the AAHC, which also provided Arabic assistance to residents with legal issues. It is obvious that this is of utmost importance, given how many barriers they were already facing due to not only the inability to understand English but also being new to the US legal system. As well as the AAHC had also been committed to assisting residents in defending their rights. Huge civil rights organizations such as the ACLU and the NAACP were also working with local organizations to file lawsuits to hold the government accountable. The lawsuits were also the result of years of grassroots organizing and trust with the community, and as Pauli illustrates, they also offered another effort in the movement, quite literally holding government officials in court as more demand for accountability from the government was made through this avenue.^[31]

The legal response reflected a comprehensive plan, which brought together grassroots organizing, legal education, and litigation to counter systematic failures. These efforts represented a clear articulation of not only Arab American victims of the crisis but also active resisters to these injustices. When the Michigan Civil Rights Commission’s report identifies the multitude of lawsuits as the functional story of institutional neglect and systematic injustice, the Arab American leaders utilized, in all forms and formats, from community education to litigation, their commitment to explore how to influence these complex systems.^[32] Faith-based organizations were in a unique position to use their own identity to develop a new way for their communities to understand their rights on behalf of their fellow residents, and their ability to blend charity and activism provided immediate support and future possibilities to work for justice.

Conclusion

“We believed them… and we drank it.”^[33] These are the words of Flint resident Nashwa Mashraki, spoken at the outset of his paper, that take on even greater significance after considering the broader experience of the Flint Water Crisis and its effect on the Arab American community. What began as a statement of betrayal now stands as a significant entry point to a larger narrative, one of the community agencies’ connectedness, leadership, and faith. The hurt behind her words still exists, although through this paper, these words also signify a turning point. The community did not stay in anger or mistrust, but rather, they took the betrayal and did something meaningful, stepping into the leadership when no one else would.

People of Arab descent in Flint were not just victims of environmental injustice, they became organizers, educators, and caregivers. Their faith institution quickly transformed its operations to tackle immediate needs, from distributing clean water to translating essential health information into Arabic. As a result of no government support, the Arab American Heritage Council and Michigan Muslim Community Council emerged as important sources of assistance, providing both material and a sense of dependability. Interfaith formation demonstrated that organizations like St. George Orthodox and Catholic Charities defined their common mission around core values rather than affiliation. Their different forms of youth volunteering, legal education, and coalition structures formed an infrastructure of support that responded to disaster but became the foundation for ongoing empowerment.

The events that occurred within Flint demonstrated a larger truth about the influence of disenfranchised communities in politics. Arab Americans, who are often excluded from the national frame for thinking about environmental injustice, demonstrated that leadership does not always come from elected officials or bigger organizations. As Benjamin Pauli states in Flint Fights Back, organizing in Flint meant not simply organizing around the group’s official demands but piloting the kind of society we want to live in.^[34] Flint’s Arab American community did not wait for that society to come into existence; they began to build it themselves. Their activism breaks with narrow definitions of activism and is a reminder that civic engagement can be connected to culture and faith.

For me, this initiative serves as a reminder and a call to action in addition to helping us comprehend the past. The way the Arab Americans in Flint were able to mobilize in the context of the crisis provides a model for other communities across the country that will inevitably contend with environmental injustice. The fact is, environmental injustice is not going away. Marginalized groups will continue to bear the brunt of environmental injustice. However, we are not powerless to overcome injustice. We already have so many of the tools to assert ourselves: faith-based values, organizing from below, and cultural pride. It is time to act, mobilize, lead, and demand justice for our communities. I hope that this work inspires other Arab American communities across the United States to understand and assert their power to lead and fight against environmental injustice. Substandard and unsafe drinking water, poor air quality, and toxic waste dumped in and around our neighborhoods all impact communities of color, including our own. Through leveraging the example in Flint, we can organize locally, create interfaith coalitions, and mobilize our youth to fight for their futures. The project is not the end of the story, it is meant to be a roadmap towards moving forward.

^[1] Ali Harb, “​​Arab American residents hard hit by Flint crisis”, The Arab American News, January 22, 2016.

^[2] Susan J. Masten, Simon P. Davies, and Shawn P. McElmurry, “Flint Water Crisis: What Happened and Why?,” Journal AWWA 108, no. 12 (2016): 3, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5353852/

^[3] Mona Hanna-Attisha, What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City (New York: One World, 2018), National Library of Medicine, https://www.nnlm.gov/reading-club/book/what-eyes-dont-see

^[4] Michigan Civil Rights Commission, Systemic Racism Through the Lens of Flint. Department of Civil Rights (2017), 20. 

https://www.michigan.gov/mdcr/commission/flint-water-hearings#:~:text=After%20a%20year%2Dlong%20investigation,and%20all%20races%20were%20victims.

^[5]  Becky Nittle, “Arab American Immigration Timeline,” History, last modified March 6, 2025,https://www.history.com/articles/arab-american-immigration-timeline

^[6] Michigan Civil Rights Commission, Systemic Racism Through the Lens of Flint. Department of Civil Rights (2017), 105. 

^[7] Michigan Civil Rights Commission, Systemic Racism Through the Lens of Flint. Department of Civil Rights (2017), 105. 

^[8]  Mona Hanna-Attisha, What the Eyes Don’t See : A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City. First edition. (New York, New York: One World, 2018), Chapter 20. “Slice and Dice”.

^[9] Benjamin J. Pauli, Flint Fights Back : Environmental Justice and Democracy in the Flint Water Crisis. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2019), 35.

^[10] Words of Mona Sahouri ,Ali Harb, “​​Arab American residents hard hit by Flint crisis”, The Arab American News, January 22, 2016.

^[11] Aurora Sottimano and Nabil Samman, “Syria has a water crisis. And its not going away,” Atlantic Council, February 24, 2022, https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/syria-has-a-water-crisis-and-its-not-going-away/

^[12] Michigan Civil Rights Commission, Systemic Racism Through the Lens of Flint. Department of Civil Rights (2017), 1. 

^[13]Julie Bosman, “Recall Effort Intensifies Pressure on Michigan Governor: Facing Attacks Over Handling of Water Crisis in Flint, and Detroit’s Tattered Schools.” New York Times (1923-), Mar 13, 2016. https://login.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fnewspapers%2Frecall-effort-intensifies-pressure-on-michigan%2Fdocview%2F2310705649%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D13626.

^[14] Michigan Civil Rights Commission, Systemic Racism Through the Lens of Flint. Department of Civil Rights (2017), 1-2. 

^[15] “Arab American Heritage Council.” Facebook, January 21, 2016. https://www.facebook.com/AAHCFlint/posts/friends-and-community-membersin-response-to-the-flint-water-crisis-the-arab-amer/1716827125228904/.

^[16] Michigan Muslim Community Council Website:https://www.mimuslimcouncil.net/copy-of-capitol-day

^[17] “Islamic Relief USA is Distributing Potable Water to the Residents of Flint” Islamic Relief USA, https://irusa.org/irusa-sends-water-to-flint/.

^[18] Islamic Relief USA, IRUSA Responds to the Flint water crisis, Islamic Relief USA, Youtuebe video, 0:58, January 25, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXppCB1YIgI.

^[19]  Ali Harb, “​​Arab American residents hard hit by Flint crisis”, The Arab American News, January 22, 2016, 2.

^[20]  “Arab American Heritage Council.” Facebook, January 21, 2016. https://www.facebook.com/AAHCFlint/posts/friends-and-community-membersin-response-to-the-flint-water-crisis-the-arab-amer/1716827125228904/.

^[21]  Benjamin J. Pauli, Flint Fights Back : Environmental Justice and Democracy in the Flint Water Crisis. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2019), 236-237.

^[22] Afaf Humayun, “Report Spotlights Muslim American Contributions in Michigan.” The Arab American News, Sep, 2017. https://login.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fnewspapers%2Freport-spotlights-muslim-american-contributions%2Fdocview%2F1938529194%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D13626.

^[23] Frances  Kai-Hwa,Wang, “Michigan Muslim Community Organizations Join Forces to Help Flint Water Crisis.” NBC News, January 29, 2016. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/michigan-muslim-community-organizations-join-forces-help-flint-water-crisis-n507381

^[24] “Faith Groups Respond to Flint’s Water Woes,” America Magazine, January 20,  2016,https://www.americamagazine.org/voices/ap-cns-rns-staff-and-other-sources

^[25]  Ali Harb, “​​Arab American residents hard hit by Flint crisis”, The Arab American News, January 22, 2016.

^[26] Jon Manse’s statement reported by NBC News during the height of the Flint crisis. “Faith Groups Respond to Flint’s Water Woes,” America Magazine, January 20,  2016,https://www.americamagazine.org/voices/ap-cns-rns-staff-and-other-sources

^[27]  Benjamin J. Pauli, Flint Fights Back : Environmental Justice and Democracy in the Flint Water Crisis. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2019), 237.

^[28]  Frances  Kai-Hwa,Wang, “Michigan Muslim Community Organizations Join Forces to Help Flint Water Crisis.” NBC News, January 29, 2016. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/michigan-muslim-community-organizations-join-forces-help-flint-water-crisis-n507381

^[29] Santiago Ochoa, “The Muslim House Offers Glimpse into Islam’s History in Flint,” Flint Beat, October 31, 2021, https://flintbeat.com/the-muslim-house-offers-glimpse-into-islams-history-in-flint/

^[30] Benjamin J. Pauli, Flint Fights Back : Environmental Justice and Democracy in the Flint Water Crisis. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2019), 237.

^[31] Benjamin J. Pauli, Flint Fights Back : Environmental Justice and Democracy in the Flint Water Crisis. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2019), 149.

^[32] Michigan Civil Rights Commission, Systemic Racism Through the Lens of Flint. Department of Civil Rights (2017), 8. 

^[33]  Ali Harb, “​​Arab American residents hard hit by Flint crisis”, The Arab American News, January 22, 2016.

^[34]  Benjamin J. Pauli, Flint Fights Back : Environmental Justice and Democracy in the Flint Water Crisis. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2019), 244.

Primary Sources: