carmen arace middle school · web viewa class-action lawsuit alleges lead poisoning and some have...

Flint, Michigan’s Toxic Water Crisis8th Grade Argumentative Performance Task

Student BookletText 1: “How Tap Water Became Toxic in Flint, Michigan” by Sara Ganim and Linh TranText 2: Five Years after Flint Water Crisis, unresolved issues remain by National Geographic SocietyText 3: Universal Declaration of Human Rights

C A M S G r a d e 8 F l i n t M i c h i g a n ’ s T o x i c W a t e r C r i s i s - 2 0 2 0 P a g e 1 | 26

Name: _______________________________ Teacher: ______________________ Date: __/__/__

Directions: Conduct a CLOSE read of each of the articles using your meta-textual markers. And also use a pencil to write notes in the margins. Follow the annotation guide for each color highlighter. Review your text dependent questions before you read.

“How Tap Water Became Toxic in Flint, Michigan”

by Sara Ganim and Linh Tran, CNN

January 13, 2016

When Michigan officials switched water sources for Flint, it introduced iron and lead into the water supply

A class-action lawsuit alleges lead poisoning and some have called for Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to resign

(CNN)Flint, Michigan, lies about 70 miles from the shores of the largest group of fresh water bodies in the world: the Great Lakes. Yet its residents can't get clean water from their taps.

A city employee flushes out a hydrant." "FEMA aiding in toxic water crisis"

Nearly two years ago, the state decided to save money by switching Flint's water supply from Lake Huron (which they were paying the city of Detroit for), to the Flint River, a notorious tributary that runs through town known to locals for its filth. "We thought it was a joke," said Rhonda Kelso, a long-time Flint resident. "People my age and older, thought 'They're not going to do that.' "The switch was made during a financial state of emergency for the ever-struggling industrial town. It was supposed to be temporary while a new state-


run supply line to Lake Huron was ready for connection. The project was estimated to take about two years.

What's in the water?Soon after the switch, the water started to look, smell and taste funny. Residents said it often looked dirty.

"Rhonda Kelso and her daughter" The water would come in brown and my daughter was like 'Mom ... why is the water brown?' " Kelso thought it was sewage, but it was actually iron. The Flint River is highly corrosive: 19 times more so than the Lake Huron supply, according to researchers from Virginia Tech.According to a class-action lawsuit, the state Department of Environmental Quality wasn't treating the Flint River water with an anti-corrosive agent, in violation of federal law. Therefore, the water was eroding the iron water mains, turning water brown.But what residents couldn't see was far worse. About half of the service lines to homes in Flint are made of lead and because the water wasn't properly treated, lead began leaching into the water supply, in addition to the iron.This had been the status quo for nearly two years, and until September, city and state officials told worried residents that everything was fine. Former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling even drank it on local TV to make the point.


http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2016/images/01/10/may.et.al.v.snyder.et.al.-.pacer.1.complaint.for.injunctive.and.declaratory.relief.pdf

http://flintwaterstudy.org/about-page/about-us/

http://flintwaterstudy.org/about-page/about-us/

"The city is now issuing bottled water to Flint residents." But in August, a group of skeptical researchers from Virginia Tech came up and did in-home testing and found elevated levels of lead in the drinking water and made those findings public. State officials insisted their own research was more accurate."You're paying for poison. I'm paying for water that's a toxic waste," Kelso said. She and her daughter and four other families are now part of a class-action lawsuit that alleges not only lead poisoning but several medical conditions resulting from contaminated water after the switch. CNN sought responses from all the defendants, and many did not respond. Later it became publicly known that federal law had not been followed. A 2011 study on the Flint River found it would have to be treated with an anti-corrosive agent for it to be considered as a safe source for drinking water.Adding that agent would have cost about $100 a day, and experts say 90% of the problems with Flint's water would have been avoided.But Flint residents say they were kept in the dark for 18 months until a local doctor took things into her own hands.

The hero doctor

"Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha"




In the pediatric ward of Flint's Hurley Medical Center, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha was seeing more and more worried parents fretting over rashes and hair loss. No one believed state and local officials when they said that this icky brown water was safe. Hanna-Attisha, an animated and passionate young pediatrician with horn-rimmed glasses who everyone calls Dr. Mona, realized there was a way to determine whether the water was affecting kids. Medicare requires states to keep records of blood lead levels in toddlers. The comparison was astonishing. Lead levels doubled and even tripled in some cases."When (my research team and I) saw that it was getting into children and when we knew the consequences, that's when I think we began not to sleep," Hanna-Attisha said.At first, the state publicly denounced her work, saying she was causing near hysteria. They spent a week attacking her before reversing their narrative and admitting she was right.

"Mayor Karen Weaver" "Their information wasn't flawed. They had the data, but they were being told by the DEQ that there wasn't a problem, they just dismissed it," said Hanna-Attisha and confirmed by the state-appointed task force. "There was almost like blinders on," she added. CNN contacted DEQ's former director, Dan Wyant, who made the decision and later resigned over the issue. He did not respond. Just a few weeks later, in October, the city reverted to using Detroit's Lake Huron water supply, but the damage was done to the lead pipes.Even with properly treated water flowing in, Virginia Tech researchers still detected lead levels -- albeit lower ones -- in water in Flint homes.The state is now handing out filters and bottled water. "You know, I never thought this was something that we would be begging for, crying for ... clean, affordable water," said Flint Mayor Karen Weaver. Flint's woes began before the water, but it's all related


The past three decades have been rough for Flint. Like many blue-collar Michigan towns, it was fueled by the auto industry. General Motors plants kept it afloat for much of its prosperous history. But in the 1980s and 1990s, those plants began to close their doors, and when the jobs left, so did many of the people. A steady decline in population has been matched by a steady rise in violent crime. It's consistently ranked among the most dangerous cities in America. According to local officials, about 40% of residents are below the poverty rate. Fifteen percent of homes are boarded up and abandoned. Weaver says the city of 100,000 doesn't even have a grocery store. And now its residents don't have clean water either.In 2011, Flint was declared to be in a financial state of emergency, and the state took budgetary control. Therefore, all the decisions made during the water crisis were at the state level, which state officials confirmed, not by the City Council or the mayor. "When the governor appointed an emergency financial manager (in 2011), that person came here ... to simply do one thing and one thing only, and that's cut the budget, at any cost," said Michigan Congressman Dan Kildee.Kildee said the water crisis is indicative of an attitude about industrial towns such as Flint that have seen hard times in the past 30 years. They're often just forgotten, he said. "This case shows that you can't treat cities the way you treat some corporation that you might just sort of sell off," Kildee said. Long-term health consequencesLead poisoning is irreversible. Pediatricians such as Hanna-Attisha fear the Flint children who tested with elevated levels will suffer lifelong consequences. "If you were to put something in a population to keep them down for generation and generations to come, it would be lead," Hanna-Attisha said. "It's a well-known, potent neurotoxin. There's tons of evidence on what lead does to a child, and it is one of the most damning things that you can do to a population. It drops your IQ, it affects your behavior, it's been linked to criminality, it has multigenerational impacts. There is no safe level of lead in a child."There are environmental actions that can help mitigate exposure such as proper nutrition and early childhood education. But that's made more difficult in a city with inadequate resources and without a grocery store.


"We need some money for infrastructure," said Weaver, who took office in November. "We've got to get all of these kids and all of these families the services they deserve because of what's happened."Who's to blame?A state-appointed task force preliminarily found that fault lies with the state DEQ, and on December 29, Wyant stepped down.Last week, three months after high lead levels were detected in Flint children, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency over the issue.

"Dan Wyant, the former quality director at Michigan Department of Enviromental Quality"

The U.S. Attorney in Michigan and the federal Environmental Protection Agency are also investigating why the state chose to ignore federal law and go without the anti-corrosive agent, as the lawsuit contends. "Nobody has answered that question," Weaver said.Friday evening, about 100 protesters in Flint marched from city hall, calling for Snyder's resignation over the issue.Everyone CNN interviewed -- residents, the former mayor, the current mayor, Congressman Kildee, city workers -- they all blame the governor's office and the state Department of Environmental Quality for what happened to Flint. Snyder apologized on Thursday during a news conference.Dayne Walling, the former mayor who so confidently went on TV and drank Flint River water to try to quell the early protests, lost his recent re-election bid in a campaign centered around the issue."In retrospect, I regret all of it," Walling said this weekend. "All the way back to seeing the city move to a different drinking water source. You can't put a dollar amount of the devastation to our community, our kids, and it was completely avoidable."



“How Tap Water Became Toxic In Flint, Michigan”

Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________________

Grade 10 Informative/Explanatory Performance Writing TaskDirections: Conduct a CLOSE read and annotate the article, “How Tap Water Became Toxic in Flint, Michigan”.

“Nearly two years ago, the state decided to save money by switching Flint’s water supply from Lake Huron(which they were paying the city of Detroit for), to the Flint River, a notorious tributary that runs through town known to locals for its filth. ‘We thought it was a joke,’ said Rhonda Kelso, a long-time Flint resident.”

1. Identify the contextual definition that supports the reader in determining the meaning of the word tributary.


a) Antonym definitionb) Apposition definitionc) Formal definitiond) Structural analysis definition

“Hanna-Attisha, an animated and passionate young pediatrician with horn-rimmed glasses who everyone calls Dr. Mona, realized there was a way to determine whether the water was affecting kids. Medicare requires states to keep records of blood lead levels in toddlers. The comparison was astonishing. Lead levels doubled and even tripled in some cases. ‘When (my research team and I) saw that it was getting into children and we knew the consequences, that’s when I think we began not to sleep.’ Hanna-Attisha said.

At first, the state publicly denounced her work, saying she was causing near hysteria. They spent a week attacking her before reversing their narrative and admitting she was right.”

2. The word denounced in this context most nearly means _____________________.a) betrayedb) criticizedc) exposedd) rescinded

“The past three decades have been rough for Flint. Like many blue-collar Michigan towns, it was fueled by the auto industry. General Motors plants kept it afloat for much of its prosperous history. But in the 1980s and 1990s, those plants began to close their doors, and when jobs left, so did many of the people.

3. The phrase fueled by in this context most nearly means _______________________.a) encouragedb) provokedc) stimulatedd) sustained

“If you were to put something in a population to keep them down for generation and generations to come, it would be lead.” Hanna-Attisha said. “It’s a well-known, potent neurotoxin. There’s tons of evidence on what lead does to a child, and it is one of the most damning things that you can do to a population. It drops your IQ, it affects your behavior, it’s been linked to criminality, it has multigenerational impacts. There is no safe level of lead in a child.”


“There are environmental actions that can help mitigate exposure such as proper nutrition and early childhood education. But that’s made more difficult in a city with inadequate resources and without a grocery store.”

4. The word drops in this context most nearly means _______________________.a) changesb) decreasesc) fallsd) sustains

5. The word mitigate in this context most nearly means ______________________.a) concentrateb) endurec) heightend) reduce

“About half of the service lines to homes in Flint are made of lead and because the water wasn’t properly treated, lead began leaching into the water supply, in addition to the iron. This had been the status quo for nearly two years, and until September, city and state officials told worried residents that everything was fine. Former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling even drank it on local TV to make the point.”…

Dayne Walling, the former mayor who so confidently went on TV and drank Flint River water to try to quell the early protests, lost his recent re-election bid in a campaign centered around the issue.

6. The word quell in this context most nearly means _______________________.a) calmb) crushc) questiond) silence

7. Sara Ganim and Linh Tran, CNN reporters conducted extensive research to write their article, “How Tap Water Became Toxic in Flint, Michigan.” Identify and write at least 5 statistics they’ve included that provide the reader with background knowledge and evidence on how the water became toxic and its adverse effects on the residents.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. Infer the cause or causes for how the Flint River became toxic.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Infer what the reporters meant when they wrote, “But Flint residents say they were kept in the dark for 18 months until a local doctor took things into her own hands.”


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. Determine the cost per resident to add the anti-corrosive agent to the Flint River if the state would have followed the recommendation from the 2011 study until the time they decided to change the water source from Lake Huron. Include a discussion of the details used from this article to help you construct your response.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11. Analyze and elaborate on the reporters’ use of rhetorical appeals and devices to write about Michigan’s decision to “save money” and switch Flint’s water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River.


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

12. On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest, rate Dr. Mona’s problem-solving abilities. Provide evidence for her claim that drinking Flint water has devastating effects on children. Use evidence from the text to support your answer.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

13. Explain how the reporters use words to support the reader in identifying the protagonist in this article.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Five years after Flint water crisis, unresolved issues remainBy National Geographic Society, adapted by Newsela staff on 05.17.19Word Count 1,021Level 1060L

Image 1. The Flint River is shown in downtown Flint, April 20, 2016, in Michigan. Photo by: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

FLINT, Michigan — On April 25, 2014, smiling city officials raised glasses of water to toast a switch that changed 100,000 lives.

That day, Flint's water service changed from nearby Detroit's system to the local Flint River, in an effort to save money. However, the city failed to properly treat the water. Dangerous levels of lead spread from old pipes, setting up a public health crisis that has affected all residents. Many of them had to drink bottled water for long periods of time. Some still do.


The political fallout was intense, with numerous city and state officials resigning. A city-declared state of emergency remains in effect as improvement efforts continue. Many questions linger about blame and the way the disaster unfolded.

People have been calling the Flint River dirty and dangerous since before the water crisis, according to Rebecca Fedewa, director of the Flint River Watershed Coalition. "I think that's why it was so easy to point the finger at the river."

Production of lumber, chemicals and automobiles tainted the waterway during the 19th and 20th centuries. General Motors (GM) was founded in Flint in 1908, and the company had eight plants by the time a 1966 U.S. Department of Interior report evaluated the river area.

Water Complaints Began Immediately

The GM locations dumped 10 million gallons of waste into the river every day, the Interior report said. This included oil and dangerous substances.

Flint tapped into Detroit's municipal water system the following year to receive water from Lake Huron and the Detroit River. Planners wanted a bigger quantity of water for expected population growth. Water quality was not their main concern.

Many people noticed the change after the city drew water from the Flint River instead of Detroit. Complaints to city hall about water with odd flavors, colors and odors started almost immediately after the switch.

The 1966 report had identified a primary element that contributed to the modern drinking water crisis. Measurements from the study had shown elevated chloride concentrations in the Flint River, still found in 2014. Chloride is a compound of chlorine, which is used as a pool cleaner.

"One of the big suspects is all the road salts," said Terese Olson, professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The amount of salt to de-ice roads sold in the U.S. in 1940 compared to 2010 has increased by a factor of 60. Rain and snowmelt wash those salts into rivers.

Lead Went From Pipes To Water

Flint's process to purify the river water into drinking water made things worse, Olson said.

City workers treated water with chlorine disinfectant and a type of chloride.

The problem, according to Monique Wilhelm, laboratory manager for the University of MichiganFlint, was that the city was treating the problems separately, "instead of thinking of the water as a system."

Corrosion spread through 580 miles of main pipe as well as thousands of valves and smaller lines.

Tap water turned the colors of rusted pipes as the metals reacted with the water's chlorine compounds.

Lead-bearing particles came off the pipes, and 100,000 residents used contaminated water daily.

Children And Babies Drank Lead

City officials ignored concerned citizens even after a local GM plant stopped using the water due to corrosion on its machines.


Lead can harm people's health, and children are especially at risk. Because nothing was changed, children drank lead at school fountains by spring 2015. Babies drank lead in formula during the summer and autumn.

Before people knew the dangers of lead, it was a choice metal. In 1897, Flint passed a law that required service lines be made of lead. It is difficult to know which lines have been updated since then. Digitization started in late 2015. Since then, the University of Michigan helped design an algorithm to predict areas with the highest likelihood of dangerous plumbing.

Flint switched back to the Detroit water system in October 2015. However, public health effects from lead exposure brought emergency declarations from the state and federal governments in early 2016. The city launched a rehabilitation campaign, and in the past three years, crews have explored 21,298 homes and replaced lead lines at 8,260. The work should finish in July, according to Jameca Patrick-Singleton, a Flint city employee.

Many cities use orthophosphate to treat their water. It interacts with lead and iron pipes to create a boundary that prevents drinking water from touching the metals.

Flint water treatment plant operators never added the crucial ingredient.

"That decision was not a mistake," said Noah Hall. He previously served as Michigan's volunteer special assistant attorney general to investigate the water problem. Workers didn't do it because the state told them not to, he said.

Ten Percent Of Homes Don't Meet Standards

Emails and testimonies show the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality gave the order, but the documents don't show why.

Even after five years, there's no explanation for the most simple, direct fact that led to the water problem, Hall said.

State and federal funds for repairs and social services combined with grants and charitable contributions — including bottled water — have already totaled more than $500 million. Anticorrosion chemicals would have cost about $150 a day.

The most recent testing of Flint's drinking water, which is sourced from Detroit, marked lead at four parts per billion. This is well under the 15 that requires action. Ninety percent of the homes meet the federal standard.

Hall points out that 1 of every 10 homes in Flint does not meet this standard.

"It's a system that defines success as some people having it and some people not," he said.

The state fired Hall in early 2019 from his unpaid position as independent counsel. It said that the attorney general's office can represent Michigan on both sides of the water investigation.

This summer, crews will remove the last residential lead water lines. Lead can still contaminate homes with old brass fixtures or lead solder on pipes, though. Tests will continue, and PatrickSingleton said the mayor won't lift the city's emergency declaration until the scientific and medical communities clear the drinking water.


Quiz

1 Which two of the following sentences from the article include CENTRAL ideas of the article?

1. On April 25, 2014, smiling city officials raised glasses of water to toast a switch that changed 100,000 lives.

2. Many of them had to drink bottled water for long periods of time.3. Dangerous levels of lead spread from old pipes, setting up a public health crisis that has

affected all residents.4. Many questions linger about blame and the way the disaster unfolded.

(A) 1 and 2

(B) 1 and 3

(C) 2 and 4

(D) 3 and 4

2 Which statement would be MOST important to include in a summary of the article?

(A) Flint is still under a state of emergency five years later as efforts to fix the problem continue.

(B) General Motors is an automobile company that started in 1908 in Flint and expanded over the years.

(C) Flint and its citizens have received more than $500 million in grants and donations to help with the water crisis.

(D) General Motors closed down its plant in Flint because the water was damaging the machines.

3 The author claims Flint’s attempt to clean the river made the problem worse.

Which selection from the article provides the MOST sufficient evidence to support the claim?

(A) Measurements from the study had shown elevated chloride concentrations in the Flint River, still found in 2014.

(B) The amount of salt to de-ice roads sold in the U.S. in 1940 compared to 2010 has increased by a factor of 60.

(C) City workers treated water with chlorine disinfectant and a type of chloride.

(D) Corrosion spread through 580 miles of main pipe as well as thousands of valves and smaller lines.

4 The author argues that industrial companies in Flint contaminated the river.

Is there enough strong evidence to support the claim?

(A) Yes; the author uses statistics from a report by the U.S. Department of Interior that points to road salts.

(B) Yes; the author provides data from a report done by the U.S. Department of Interior that highlights GM's role.

(C) No; the author fails to provide numbers and does not point to any specific companies in the article.

(D) No; the author only describes the ways in which Flint is trying to solve the water crisis, not how it got started.


Universal Declaration of Human RightsPreamble Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law, Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations, Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms, Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge, Now, therefore, The General Assembly, Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article I


All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3 Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4 No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5 No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Article 6 Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7 All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8 Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10


Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11 1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. 2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State. 2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14 1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. 2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15 1. Everyone has the right to a nationality. 2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16 1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They


are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. 2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. 3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17 1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. 2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18 Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19 Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. 2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21 1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. 2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country. 3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22


Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23 1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. 2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. 3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. 4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24 Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay. Article 25 1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. 2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26 1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. 2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.


3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27 1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28 Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29 1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. 2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. 3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30 Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________________

14. Review the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and defend the position that what happened in Flint, Michigan was a violation of a certain article or articles outlined in the UDHR. Identify the article or articles and explain the violation.


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Grade 8 Flint Michigan’s Toxic Water Crisis “Pure water is the corner stone of life and necessary for survival.” It brings forth human life, sustains life, and is an essential ingredient in the growth of food. In essence, water is a hero. However, what happens when water becomes toxic-a villain, as in the Flint Toxic water crisis? Who is responsible for the criminal actions of the water? Defend or refute the claim that Michigan’s Government officials are responsible for Flint, Michigan’s toxic water crisis. Cite the titles and responsibilities of the people involved. Cite evidence from your text sources to prove your claim. Include a counterclaim. Include a discussion about the negative effects of drinking Flint’s water.

Argumentative Writing Rubric


I am sure of my response because I:

S Stated the title of the article/passage or topic in my response Stated my claim/assertion in the response Supplied an organizational structure that lists reasons Stated reasons that support my claim/assertion

U Used signal words & semantic cues (e.g. a key feature, it is important to note, central issue, a significant factor, therefore, on the other hand) Used vocabulary from the article/passage and the classroom/group discussions Used evidence from my sources that is comprehensive, relevant and concrete Used a variety of elaborative techniques (author’s craft)

R Reviewed my response for correct sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization and neatness Revised my response (added details and made corrections after self-editing

E Ensured that every part of the question/prompt has been answered Ensured that every word was correctly spelled Edited my response for word meaning and sentence structure Ended my writing with an effective conclusion (e.g. In summary, consequently, from this we see, therefore, nevertheless…)


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