Our Government, Our Protectors.

In Terry Tempest Williams' essay, "The Clan of One-Breasted Women," she brings to light the idiocracy of the American government. She tells her families story and how their lives were changed because of the American government. Williams recounts the many family members she lost due to breast cancer, caused by the bomb testing done near her home. The government knew what they were doing could have detrimental consequences, but continued their tests, claiming that the area was “virtually uninhabited desert terrain.”

                Although this (the government lying to and putting citizens lives at risk) seems like an issue left long in the past, 1989 to be exact, it is not. Something eerily similar and just as saddening occurred just one year ago in Flint, Michigan, the Flint Water Crisis. Last year, the city of Flint was devastated to find out that their water was contaminated, and could cause many health issues. Many cities rallied behind Flint and helped them, until the government could do something to permanently ensure their water was safe and clean. Little did they know that the government was the exact reason they were in this mess.  The government realized that the water in Flint contained more than the legal amount of lead. However, to bring the pipes up to code would cost $100 per day. Instead of paying this slight fee, the government overlooked the issue at the expense of the lives of the Flint residents.

                This deceit by the American government is all too common. To them, we are “sheep. Dead sheep.”