Meet Wantwaz Davis, the ex-con who tried to save Flint
http://news.yahoo.com/meet-wantwaz-davis--the-ex-con-who-tried-to-save-flint-231549164.html
The councilman has been one of the fiercest opponents of the decision to switch to the more polluted and corrosive Flint River, made before he was elected, while the city was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager. His calls nearly two years ago for a federal investigation into the water crisis seemed like a long shot, but, then again, Davis’ entire political career has been improbable.
In 1991, when he was 17, Davis shot and killed Kenneth Morris, a man he suspected of sexually assaulting his mother. Davis said he didn’t intend to shoot him until he saw Morris reach for his pocket. But a judge sentenced him to up to 50 years in prison for second-degree murder. He grew up behind bars, teaching himself to read and write so he could understand the letters sent to him from family and friends....
“After my five minutes was up, they used to throw me off the mic and say, ‘Your time is up, Mr. Davis,’” he recalls of the meetings. “So I would say, ‘OK. But I will run for City Council in the next election.’ They blew me off. They said, ‘Yeah, you’re a convicted murderer, whatever.”
Davis campaigned vigorously, knocking on thousands of doors, and eventually beat out five opponents for a surprise victory. The local Flint newspaper had never reported on Davis’ felony prior to the election, prompting a public apology from their editor. But Davis says he told everybody while out campaigning his entire life story, and that the newspaper didn’t write about his past because they didn’t take him seriously enough as a candidate to write much about him at all.
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