The Residents of Jackson Respond
Community members have also organized to deliver water to residents who may not be able to travel to a distribution site. Below is a brief clip which features Jackson State University Students who are members of Mississippi Students Water Crisis Advocacy Team (see between 1:45-2:15).
Alongside with distributing water, the collation has mobilized to demand that state officials provide a long-term solution to crisis that centers the interests of the residents of Jackson. On Monday, September 26, 2022, the Coalition and the Poor People’s campaign held a march for clean water with Jackson residents and supporters. The march culminated in a “moral Monday” rally outside of the Governor’s Mansion where community leaders and residents were able to speak about how the water crisis has affected their lives and apply pressure on government officials. The city had similar rallies in the following weeks. During a rally on October 10th, 2022, the at the rally Poor People’s Campaign co-chair Rev. William Barber II announced that the organization was filing a fair housing complaint against the state “for failing to provide clean water to Jackson Residents.” Rev. Barber argued that:
"The Fair Housing law says you cannot refuse to give people what they need in their private housing, in their rental housing, or in their federally owned public housing, what they need to have a decent life… we believe that when you deny people access to clean water, you are violating their fair housing rights."
Activists have been critical of the current solutions offered by the state because many would involve the city relinquishing control of the water system in some way, such as by merging the system with a state or regional entity or by ceding control of the system to a private company.Many have been particularly critical of privatization because it could me that the water system will become even less accountable to the public. Imani Olugbal, a member of the organization Cooperation Jackson said in response to privatization that “if it’s government-led, we have some oversight. If it’s exclusively for profit, we have to pay the price for water, and it’s going to be whatever they say, because that’s the capitalist construction. What’s next, the air?"Community activists are also critical of other proposed solutions that take control of the system away from the city as they believe that the state and federal government bear more responsibility for the current state of the water system than the city by not providing adequate funding. They argue that proposed solutions that cede control to the state or another third party suggest that the city is at fault. Instead, activists advocate for solutions that keep the water system as a public service and that allow the city to maintain control. At the same time, some city council members have vocalized support for privatization or giving control of the system to a regional authority as they believe the benefits of making such a change outweigh the potential costs of the city losing full control of the system.