An April 20, 2017 press conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey was held to protest the state's planned privatization of the city's water utility company and to advocate for its citizens' right to public referendums. Speakers included Cornell William Brooks, president of the NAACP, as well as Mary Grant, expert from Food & Water Watch. Brooks posed a simple question to the crowd in the city's council chambers: "Why is the NAACP here in Atlantic City? Because we understand water rights are civil rights and civil rights are human rights." Private companies have aggressively purchased water systems from municipalities before in cities like Bayonne, New Jersey and Scranton, Pennsylvania. Grant spoke to me about the detrimental effects of switching to privately owned water systems, which include the "loss of local control over rate, type of project, and transparency."

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