Jordan Chariton + Susan Sarandon: We the Poisoned

Join us for an in-person event with investigative reporter Jordan Chariton for a discussion of his new book We the Poisoned: Exposing the Flint Water Crisis Cover-Up and the Poisoning of 100,000 Americans. Joining Jordan in conversation is Academy Award-winning actress and activist Susan Sarandon. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

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We the Poisoned exposes the full, never-before-told story of who is responsible for the poisoning of Flint and the cover up of the Flint water crisis. From state and local government to Wall Street and beyond, readers will uncover one of the biggest government cover ups of the 21st century that is still ongoing and attacking innocent people.

As the ongoing Flint water crisis marks its tenth anniversary, Chariton reveals shocking new evidence of the major government cover-up that resulted in the poisoning of Flint—and shatters what you think you know about what caused the water crisis. Kirkus Reviews calls it an "impassioned and enlightening work of current events" and Publishers Weekly praises it as "a vital report on a horrific scandal."

From crooked Wall Street financial schemes to political payoffs, destruction of evidence, witness tampering, falsified water data, threatened whistle blowers, and panicked phone calls, We the Poisoned: Exposing the Flint Water Crisis Cover Up and the Poisoning of 100,000 Americans reveals, for the first time, the real story behind how the government poisoned a major American city—and how they are still getting away with it.

As the cover-up continues a decade later, innocent residents have been arrested, surveilled, threatened, and gaslit to feel like they are crazy. With more and more sick residents slowly dying every year, Flint’s lead levels again on the rise, and cancer rates surging across the city, it is time for the true, sinister story of the Flint water cover-up to be told. Based on eight years of reporting, thousands of confidential documents from the criminal investigation, and the former governor of Michigan’s own words under oath, Jordan Chariton takes readers on the road to crisis before the Flint River switch—when government officials blew through all stop signs and orchestrated a financial scheme that allowed a nearly bankrupt Flint to borrow $100 million for a controversial new water system. As brown, smelly water flowed through Flint homes and residents grew sick, politicians intentionally and knowingly allowed Americans to drink poison as they prioritized their own political ambitions and survival. Just when you think the levels of callousness and disregard for the people can’t drop any lower, Chariton digs even deeper to expose one of the biggest government cover-ups of the twenty-first century.

We the Poisoned is a cautionary tale about “run-government-like-a-business” leaders who champion privatization and economic development at the expense of the environment, public health, and vulnerable citizens. Perhaps even more important, with water and environmental contamination surging across the US, Chariton’s revelations provide a road map for how to fight back and prevent similar tragedies from happening to other communities.

Jordan Chariton is an independent investigative reporter known for reporting on-the-ground across America on significant stories that often fall through the cracks of mainstream media. Chariton has made twenty reporting trips to Flint since 2016 investigating the water crisis and cover-up. He also covered the indigenous-led protests at Standing Rock in North Dakota against the Dakota Access Pipeline, the United Auto Workers strike across the Midwest, and the 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, and he has reported across the US on union drives,worker exploitation, poverty, homelessness, and protest movements. He is the CEO and lead reporter for Status Coup News, an independent news outlet on YouTube. His work has been featured in The Guardian, VICE News, The Intercept, CNBC, The Hill, and more. He lives with his wife and daughter in the New York area.

Photo credit: DarrenTieste

The extremely versatile Susan Sarandon brings her own brand of sex appeal and intelligence to every role – from her fearless portrayal of Annie Savoy in Bull Durham to her Oscar®-nominated performances in Thelma & Louise, Lorenzo’s Oil, The Client, and Atlantic City to her Academy Award®-winning and SAG® Award-winning role as Sister Helen, a nun consoling a death-row inmate in Dead Man Walking.

Sarandon made her acting debut in the movie Joe in 1970, which she followed with a continuing role in the TV drama A World Apart. Early film credits include The Great Waldo Pepper, Lovin’ Molly, Billy Wilder’s The Front Page, the 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby. She went on to receive her first Oscar nomination in Malle’s Atlantic City.

Additional film credits include The Hunger, The Witches of Eastwick, A Dry White Season, White Palace, Light Sleeper, Bob Roberts, Little Women, Stepmom, Cradle Will Rock, Igby Goes Down, The Banger Sisters, Moonlight Mile, Shall We Dance?, Alfie, Elizabethtown, Romance & Cigarettes, Enchanted, The Lovely Bones, Jeff Who Lives at Home, Robot & Frank, Arbitrage, Tammy, The Meddler, Blackbird, and The Jesus Rolls.

The hard-working actress has made a career of choosing diverse and challenging projects in film as well as television, having received an Emmy® and Golden Globe® Nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in Limited Series or Movie for her portrayal of Bette Davis in Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Bette & Joan opposite Jessica Lange in 2017. In 2008, she received an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries for her role in the HBO film Bernard and Doris, as well as a Golden Globe and SAG nomination. She also received an Emmy and SAG nomination for her work in Barry Levinson’s You Don't Know Jack with Al Pacino for HBO.

Sarandon has made guest appearances on Friends, Malcolm in the Middle, ER, 30 Rock, The Big C, Doll & Em, Mike & Molly, Search Party and in the Mother Lover video on Saturday Night Live. As well as lent her voice to numerous animation projects including The Simpsons, James and the Giant Peach, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, April and the Extraordinary World, Hell and Back, Spark: A Space Tail, Skylanders Academy, and Rick and Morty. 

Most recently Sarandon plays Dottie Cantrell Roman in FOX’s musical drama Monarch and Victoria Kord in DC Film’s Blue Beetle. Her upcoming projects include Tyler Perry’s Six Triple Eight, an original comedy directed by Stephen Chbosky titled, Nonnas, and The Lester brothers, bowling comedy titled, The Gutter.

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