FLINT, Mich. — Rachal Perez considers herself blessed. Her son and daughter haven’t been poisoned by the city’s water. But as a certified nursing assistant at the local hospital, she has seen the sores and rashes others suffered because of the elevated levels of lead in the tap water.
“We worry about how it’s going to affect our children and the grandchildren,’’ the 37-year-old said, one of the thousands of faces of endurance in this industrial city where dangerous levels of lead tainted the municipal water supply and thrust Flint into the nation’s political conscience.
As the Democratic candidates for president prepare to debate here Sunday in advance of next week’s presidential primary election in Michigan, Perez said she welcomes the blizzard of attention politicians have heaped on Flint.
But she and many in the community, who already feel betrayed by the political system that allowed their water problems to fester, wonder warily whether Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will come back once the 2016 election is over.
In interviews, residents of the city expressed skepticism about the motives of candidates who cite their empathy for Flint in their overt courtship of black voters across the country. The onetime auto manufacturing hub is 57 percent African-American.
The Clinton campaign mentions her solidarity with Flint in a 30-second spot airing nationally that is narrated by Morgan Freeman, and also emphasizes her empathy with the black victims of vigilante and police violence. Both candidates have campaigned here, trailed by an entourage of national media.
“It’s definitely gotten to a fine line between exploitation and concern, and it’s not a good feeling,’’ said Teresa Chase, 48, manager of Totem Books downtown. “We have all been dealing with this for two years. It’s like, ‘Where have you been?’ ’’
“People play politics. But what happens after?’’ Marie Herron, 33, asked as her son and daughter played in the children’s section of the bookstore.
Flint has become synonymous with a human-made public health emergency exacerbated by government inaction. But the struggling city’s problems run deeper than contaminated municipal water. Poor schools, crumbling infrastructure, boarded-up homes, high crime and poverty levels, few jobs — even few grocery stores. It suffers from a litany of ills suffered by cities across the country.
Clinton and Sanders have stood in the pulpits of Flint’s churches, decrying what happened and calling for action. On Sunday, two days before Michigan’s presidential primary, the candidates will take the stage here in a debate hosted by CNN with MLive and The Flint Journal.
Dale Weighill, a former Flint city councilor and an associate vice president at Mott Community College, said this attention is what the city needs to help turn it around.
“Any time you have the ear of folks who may end up in the White House, that’s a good thing,’’ Weighill said. “The degree of attention that the city’s receiving, at least from the Democratic candidates, is unprecedented. Hopefully, the water issue will draw attention to other issues.’’
Flint’s tap water was tainted with lead after the city changed its source of drinking water to cut costs in 2014. More than a year after the switch — and after test results revealed children had elevated levels of lead in their systems — Michigan officials declared a public health emergency. Residents have been told not to drink the water for the foreseeable future.
When Sanders asked a church full of people Thursday, “What kind of help is needed?’’ the responses went well beyond the water supply.
“We have one in three structures in this city that need to be torn down. We’ve been in the, what, top three most violent cities in this country for how many decades? Decades, Bernie,’’ Adam Moore, 35, told the senator and about 300 people inside Woodside Church. “When the attention turns somewhere else, the homes, the vacant structures, are still going to be here.’’
Sanders said the federal government needs to “acknowledge this is an emergency situation,’’ and he spoke in broad strokes about what needs to be done.
“We have people out there talking about hundreds of billions of dollars of tax breaks for the top two-tenths of 1 percent,’’ he said, “but apparently we cannot adequately fund cities and towns throughout America.’’
Flint once prospered. General Motors opened its first plant here in 1908. By the 1950s, it was the site of GM’s largest single manufacturing complex. But in the 1980s and 1990s, GM began closing or relocating plants in Flint, leaving the city with a shrinking economy, dwindling population, and declining tax base.
And while some residents are packing up and leaving, there are those determined to see Flint rebound stronger than before.
“Flint is not a sit-down-and-die kind of place,’’ said Rebecca Gale-Gonzalez, 52, who had a colorful “Sanders 2016’’ button on her lapel.
“You can exploit me if you want to for the day, if it brings attention to the needs of the people,’’ she said. “When people campaign on promises, people hold them to it.’’
Akilah Johnson can be reached at akilah.johnson@globe.com.
