The tireless resistance of local communities fighting for ownership of America’s third largest water system.
 
Toxic Water, Toxic System exposes the consequences of a seemingly anonymous authoritarian state willing to maintain white supremacy at any cost—including poisoning an entire city and shutting off water to thousands of people. Weaving together narratives of frontline activists along with archival data, Michael Mascarenhas provides a powerful exploration of the political alliances and bureaucratic mechanisms that uphold inequality.
 
Drawing from three years of ethnographic fieldwork in Flint and Detroit, this book amplifies the voices of marginalized communities, particularly African American women, whose perspectives and labor have been consistently overlooked. Toxic Water, Toxic System offers a fresh perspective on the ties between urban austerity policies, environmental harm, and the advancement of white supremacist agendas in predominantly Black and brown cities. “In this inspiring work, Michael Mascarenhas issues a clarion call to use bolder, more accurate language to confront environmental racism as intentional actions perpetrated by elites in the service of white supremacy, vulture capitalism, and genocide. That’s what I call tellin’ it like it is!”—David Pellow, author of What Is Critical Environmental Justice?
 
“Theoretically rigorous and empirically rich, this book is a compelling read for anyone interested in the roots of inequality in the United States.”—S. Ravi Rajan, Olga T. Griswold Chair and Professor of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
 
“Mascarenhas and We the People of Detroit make an incredible team, crafting a book that is community based, historically and empirically rich, and clear in its vision and recommendations for the future of water.”—Kyle Whyte, University of Michigan