Sharpton Operative Offends Jews for Comparing Flint Water to 'Gas Chambers'

Asked by a reporter to defend his remarks, the Rev. Charles Williams II said “an ijnustice is an injustice … whether it’s an injustice inside a concentration camp or an injustice … in Flint where you’re being forced to purchase bad water.” (Screenshot: WJBK-TV video)

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The Michigan leader of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network has been sharply criticized by local Jews offended by his statement Monday that the water in Flint is “almost as bad as gas chambers for Jews.”

The Rev. Charles Williams II, the president of NAN in Michigan, made the comments at a news conference held as the chapter distributed bottled water to Flint residents, many of whom believe the so-called “poop water” flowing from their taps is responsible for rashes and bouts with diarrhea and vomiting.

City officials insist the water, though discolored and sometimes containing floating particulates, is safe. The city began drawing water from the Flint River in a cost-cutting move while a new water treatment facility is being built.

Anti Defamation League regional director Heidi Budaj told WJBK-TV that Williams offended the memory of the 15 million to 20 million Jews historians now estimate died in the Nazi Holocaust.

“I would imagine that he didn’t mean to offend hundreds even thousands of people when he made those comments, but again comparing what’s going on here to what happened in the Holocaust is never appropriate,” said Bedaj, whose mother- and father-in-law are Holocaust survivors.

“... Not to say they have any kind of monopoly on suffering, but what they went through is a completely different experience than what anybody in the U.S. is experiencing today.”

Related:

• Erin Brockovich Keeping an Eye on Flint’s ‘Poop Water’

Flint city officials issued a statement decrying Williams’ comparison of the Flint’s water woes to “genocide.”

“We are extremely disappointed in Rev. Charles Williams’ comments but certainly understand – and share – his frustration,” the statement said. “With that said, we find Rev. Williams’ accusations are a gross misrepresentation of the Flint water condition and a wholly inappropriate comparison.”

The Flint Jewish Federation’s executive director, Steven C. Low, said Williams’ comments diminished the horror survivors endured and was “an inappropriate invocation of the Holocaust” intended to be provocative.

When pressed by a reporter to justify his comparison, Williams replied, “We don’t know the severity of the effects on people who have drunk the water in Flint.

“An injustice is an injustice, whether it’s an injustice inside a concentration camp or an injustice on a slave plantation,” Williams said. “Whether it’s an injustice in Flint where you’re being forced to purchase bad water – we should stand against it all, and I do.”

Williams said he stands by his statement and doesn’t intend to apologize.