It is the story of Tommy and Celeste, a couple in a town without safe water. “It’s so sad. Something has to be done. We can’t even flush the toilet or anything. It’s so bad,” Celeste tells me. We are in their kitchen. He turns on the faucet. Yesterday there was no water. Today, a trickle, but it’s not safe. Tomorrow, who knows? “We can boil water to bathe in. But we can’t bathe in the water that comes here. We can’t bathe in it,” says Tommy. He tells me he hasn’t taken a bath without boiling the water since 2019. It is a story of poor infrastructure, chronic mismanagement, funding constraints. It’s compounded by storm damage — the Pearl River burst its banks last week, destroying a water treatment plant that wasn’t fit for purpose anyway. But Tommy and Celeste believe it’s about much more than that. “This is mostly the black area. So we only have that problem,” says Tommy. “Everywhere else you go, they have water. And good pressure. In this area we don’t because it’s mostly black. So I think they should do something with that money. They had the money once, but now they don’t have the money . To me it’s just that they don’t care about black people in my opinion.” Picture: The couple has to boil the water to take a bath Here in Jackson, it’s all about improvising to survive. Celeste shows me around the back of their house. On the ground, placed under the roof gutter, she shows me a large plastic bucket. “We’re filling this tub to flush the toilet.” She pauses. “We don’t really have to live like this. It’s like going back to the slave days.” It’s Tommy who pops first. “It’s very very frustrating. I’m tired…” she says before starting to cry. “Don’t cry…” Celeste says. “We should live better than this,” she says, crying. “It’s really sad. Down here in Mississippi it’s really sad. The people down here really need help. It’s so sad here.” What an indictment of America this is. Every day now they have to drive to a water distribution center. They are waiting in a long line of cars. The Mississippi National Guard is on hand to assist. We watch young soldiers from across the state load cases of free bottled water into each vehicle. It is a signal that immediate challenges are being addressed now. But what about this legacy of failure? Image: Tommy and Celeste say they ‘can’t even flush the toilet’ The city’s Democratic mayor, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, has been known for years to ask for much more funding from the Republican-run state. “We’ve made it very clear that we need support, that we need support, and that remains the position, and we’ve put together different efforts to achieve their feat, and so we’re going to continue to do that,” he told me. I asked Mayor Lumumba about the accusations of racism. “Well, I would say this is America and these things are true,” he said. A day earlier, I had asked the Republican governor, Tate Reeves, why the city is in such a great position. It only offered a diversion. “Well, what I would say to you is, and I know you in the press really want to play the blame game and you really want to focus on pitting different people against each other, and that’s certainly your priority, and that’s Okay. “What we are focused on is the immediate health and well-being of the people of Jackson.” No one can tell Tommy, Celeste, and the people of Jackson when their water will be safe. All over this city, quietly and with as much dignity as they can manage, so many struggle.
