What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City

Dr. Mona frequently refers to her family history. This is partly to explain her own experiences growing up in the US as an Iraqi-American. She and her brother, Mark, were the few minority kids in their school. While they faced some ethnic slurs, unlike her Flint kids, the American dream worked for her and her family. In this way, Mona checks her own privilege and forces the reader to think about their own privileges as well. The Flint kids live under a system that doesn’t work for them and maybe was never meant to. Dr. Mona also uses her family stories to show what drove her to stand up for the children of Flint. She comes from a long line of activists who stood up for others, even in the face of great tyranny. 

Dr. Mona frequently notes that she “stood on the shoulders of giants” (320). In part, this is a way of reminding readers that she was not the most important puzzle piece in the Flint water crisis. Those whom she intimately worked with, like Marc Edwards, helped pave the way for the scientific argument that she was ultimately able to make: elevated blood-lead data explicitly can be linked to lead in water. It also shows the power of activism, even in the face of great adversity. Many of these giants that Mona discusses, such as Alice Hamilton and John Snow, went up against government and scientific experts of their time. Alice Hamilton tried to get the US government to reject GM’s claim that leaded gasoline was safe. John Snow challenged the prevailing miasmatic theory of his time regarding the spread of cholera. While their findings were not accepted until later, they continued to fight for what they believed in. Without them, it might have taken scientists and researchers longer to realize the lead was dangerous to the human body and environment and water can spread dangerous bacteria and other particles.