Failure in Flint: LeeAnne Walters fights for family — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00all right now to the Flint mom who
2. 0:02really helped expose the water crisis
3. 0:04here in Flint yeah we're talking about
4. 0:05leanne walters is she is just a regular
5. 0:08mom she says fighting for her family but
6. 0:10now she's unsure whether they'll ever
7. 0:11trust the water that flows from the tap
8. 0:13wherever they live a tender moment
9. 0:20between mother and son
10. 0:22leanne walters wants to keep positive
11. 0:24for her twin boys Gavin and Garrett I
12. 0:26don't want my kids to be victims in this
13. 0:28I want them to know they're survivors
14. 0:29the five year olds have suffered because
15. 0:31of lead in the water Gavin is 30 pounds
16. 0:34lighter and two inches smaller than his
17. 0:36twin brother Leanne says the children
18. 0:40don't speak as well as others their age
19. 0:42they struggle with hand-eye coordination
20. 0:44and have a hard time writing their
21. 0:46letters and numbers that's their like
22. 0:48most frustrating kart was cool for them
23. 0:50re-- teaching them things that they had
24. 0:52already known their ABCs their colors
25. 0:54their numbers that kind of thing where's
26. 0:56your three okay where's a six
27. 1:02she's homeschooling the twins and says
28. 1:04they are improving but they have
29. 1:07developed some of the behavioral issues
30. 1:08when it comes to led with the lack of
31. 1:10impulse control the anger outbursts then
32. 1:13there is the psychological impact on
33. 1:16these two little boys Gavin's having
34. 1:18some self-esteem issues because of the
35. 1:22height and weight difference there's
36. 1:24days where he really struggles with that
37. 1:25and I'm sorry for a five-year-old that's
38. 1:27not okay
39. 1:28like in their little heads it's clicked
40. 1:31they understand that they were poisoned
41. 1:33and they understand that you know we've
42. 1:35had questions about are we gonna die you
43. 1:38know can the doctors fix us that kind of
44. 1:39stuff and we addressed it you know
45. 1:41we're honest with them on a
46. 1:44five-year-old level so when we talk to
47. 1:47them about it it's yes this is what's
48. 1:49happened and you know these bad people
49. 1:51made it happen we've got all these good
50. 1:54people who are trying to make it better
51. 1:55and you're not gonna die Oh
52. 2:00bottled water is the only way of life
53. 2:02for Leanne and her family baths cooking
54. 2:06and for the daily drinks packed with
55. 2:07nutrients they need to offset the
56. 2:09effects of lead you kitchen-table
57. 2:12time for your super food
58. 2:13leann continues to fight for her family
59. 2:16and other families in Flint she works
60. 2:18with Marc Edwards the Virginia Tech
61. 2:20engineer who helped expose the lead
62. 2:22problem the research that they did and
63. 2:25they just put out my house is listed as
64. 2:27ground zero
65. 2:28and I'm Ground Zero resident in it so I
66. 2:32don't know it's kind of surreal so she
67. 2:37played a pivotal role in the lead crisis
68. 2:40testified on Capitol Hill working with
69. 2:42investigators looking into the crisis
70. 2:44and traveling the country speaking on
71. 2:46panels but feels she did what any parent
72. 2:49would do for the love of their child
73. 2:51I know people who use words like hero
74. 2:53and then and I'm like no I'm just I was
75. 2:56just a ticked off mom whose kids were
76. 2:59being hurt and I mean that hasn't
77. 3:02changed that's not going to change it's
78. 3:04what we're supposed to do and she is a
79. 3:09busy lady she attends City Council
80. 3:11meetings and other community events when
81. 3:13she is here in Flint she wants to make
82. 3:15sure the money that the city was given
83. 3:17to fight the crisis is spent the right
84. 3:19way so she's also working with the EPA
85. 3:21to get the lead copper rule changed
86. 3:24because she worries what happened here
87. 3:25in Flint can happen somewhere else she
88. 3:28wants to brush that aside a little bit
89. 3:30but moms are heroes all the time she's
90. 3:32been you know at about this