Parks, who personally handed out water to several residents whose drinking water is contaminated with lead and other pollutants, posted the photo above as she stood alongside a few of her legal peers, which included notable civil rights Attorney Benjamin Crump, stating:
Parks was also spotted alongside Russell Simmons, as he held a town hall meeting to address the crisis.
Chants of ?Clean water now!? and ?Flint lives matter!? rang throughout the First Trinity Missionary Church in Flint, Mich., where hundreds of people gathered for a town hall meeting with Russell Simmons Monday afternoon.
Simmons also personally delivered cases of bottled water to a number of Flint homes Monday morning before joining Baltimore pastor Jamal Bryant, National Bar Association president Benjamin Crump, Phaedra Parks, and hundreds of Flint residents at the packed church.
During the meeting, Bryant admonished state officials for the potentially irreversible damage the leaded water might have caused the city?s ?9,000 predominantly black children? because, he said, ?the state of Michigan doesn?t wanna see black babies go to college ? they want to see them go to jail.?
Flint has long had some of the highest water utility rates in the county, and even since the contamination of the city?s water has come to light, residents have continued to receive huge bills for water they can?t use.?? Bryant hopes to get officials to issue a refund to the people of Flint ?for every dime you?ve spent on water over the last two years.?
Crump, a Florida-based attorney known for his pro-bono work in high-profile cases such as those of slain teens Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, vowed to petition U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to investigate which elected officials should be held responsible for the water crisis, pointing to the Watergate scandal as precedent.
“This is way worse than Watergate,” Crump said. “People didn’t die from Watergate. This is our children’s lives at stake.”
Parks also voiced her opinion on the crucial subject, stating on her Instagram page:
Also in attendance at the rally were Flint Mayor Karen Weaver and Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who helped first expose the crisis with her report on elevated lead levels among Flint children.