Rasheed Wallace issues plea to help Flint residents: ‘It looks like a 3rd-world country’

Professional sports can be a fan’s getaway from day-to-day problems. Debating whether DeMarcus Cousins should leave Sacramento or whether the Knicks should bring Joakim Noah off the bench can be a release from other daily issues like credit card bills, tomorrow’s cumulative exam, or weeks-old laundry turning sour.

But the residents of Flint, Mich., don’t have the luxury of ignoring the enormous elephant in the room. Even two and a half years since the crisis’ inception, the city’s water supply is still tainted with lead.

And former Detroit Pistons great Rasheed Wallace went on television in a spot on Kevin Garnett’s new TNT segment, Area 21, to shed light on the ongoing situation in one of the nation’s struggling communities.

“It’s definitely a crisis,” said Wallace, who won a championship during his five-plus seasons playing for the Pistons. “You wouldn’t even think that it’s part of the United States if you went up there and looked at it. It looks like a third-world country. You might have, like, 15 to 20 houses on a block and only, like, two of them are occupied. It’s either boarded up homes [or] vacant lots, it’s nasty. It’s disgusting. They got people still up there. Still, even though the governor sent money for help. But that was months ago and the water is still messed up.”

Wallace has been active in helping the residents of a city just 30 minutes from The Palace at Auburn Hills. In an October story published to The Players’ Tribune, Wallace detailed his journey to Flint, where he delivered bottled water and school supplies to the residents struggling to survive.

Well, I’ve been visiting Flint for the past year, so let me tell you the truth.
Some of the folks in Flint can’t take showers because their water is still poisoned with lead.

They have to boil water, pour it into the sink and then wash in it.
Yeah, a grown-ass man has to take a bird bath. That shit ain’t right. It’s still going on today.

And it’s not going away anytime soon.

Wallace also brought ESPN’s Rachel Nichols and Stephen Jackson with him to deliver bottles of water over the summer.

The Pistons have also donated towards Flint relief efforts. In January, team owner Tom Gores, a Flint native, pledged $10 million to help re-stabilize the community and contribute funding for programs that help kids. A month later, Pistons players followed suit, donating $500,000 towards the same efforts.

But it will take more than cash to resolve the ongoing crisis in Flint. Though Wallace is just one man, his efforts should inspire others to take action.