MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Thousands of water bottles were loaded onto trucks in Miami Gardens on Monday, headed for Jackson, Miss., where many residents are without clean water.
The city of Miami Gardens partnered with UPS and the Orange Blossom Classic (OBC) to help residents of Jackson, which has been dealing with a water crisis following heavy rain and flooding in late August.
“We got people in need of support and we’re going to make sure that we’re there for them,” Miami Gardens Vice Mayor Reggie Leon told the Miami Herald.
The OBC and city distributed about 500 tickets in exchange for cases of water during the week of the football game. Although some of the water went home with Jackson State following their 59-3 victory over Florida A&M, the rest — approximately 2,400 bottles — was packed onto a UPS truck Monday and should arrive Thursday.
“Knowing that [JSU] have become a part of our South Florida community, our South Florida family, so we wanted to help as much as we could,” OBC executive director Kendra Bullock said.
JSU’s dominant win over FAMU didn’t come easy. In the week leading up to the classic, members of the JSU football team had to be moved from their Mississippi campus due to the lack of running water, something that ultimately inspired Bullock to host the donation drive during the week leading up to the Classic. At the press conference just days before the game, JSU quarterback Shedeur Sanders said the situation “wasn’t good at all.”
“The water issues in Jackson, Mississippi, was something that was very unexpected but our coaches did a very good job with just putting us all in a hotel,” Sanders said.
About 83% of Jackson’s 150,000 population is Black, according to the U.S. Census., making it one of the largest predominately Black cities in the country. Nearly 70% of Miami Gardens is Black. The similar demographics undoubtedly contributed to Miami Gardens rushing to Jackson’s aid, Bullock said.
“We deal with hurricanes and natural disasters here so being two predominately Black cities, two of the largest, predominately Black cities, we want to make sure that when they’re in need that we assist them and hopefully when we’re in need, it will be a reciprocal effect,” Bullock added.
Jackson’s water issues are something that’s not new to residents. The most recent water crisis can be attributed to failure at one of the city’s two water treatment plants following the flooding yet many link the situation to the divestment that happened as white families left in droves. Black Voters Matter activists called the crisis the manifestations of “systemic racism.”
“At the root of this crisis is systemic racism, and the local and state governments’ intentional negligence to redirect infrastructure funds that could have helped solve this issue years ago,” Black Voters Matter co-founders LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright said in a statement.
As of Monday, city officials have said that the water pressure has returned yet tens of thousands are still under a boil-water advisory. The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating the city’s water crisis, according to CBS News.
