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

As Mona notes in the opening sentence of this chapter, “So many of the things we found out later were troubling” (284). The FOIA requests resulted in thousands of state officials’ emails releasing to the public. These emails display active efforts by state employees to lie about and cover-up the water crisis taking place in Flint. For example, emails confirm that the city manipulated water samples from Flint homes to hide the magnitude of the lead problem in the Flint water. Officials even threw out samples with high-lead levels, including those from Walters’s residence. Officials also had water coolers delivered to the Flint State Office Building so state employees did not have to drink the tap water, all while they told residents the water was safe to drink. Emails also documented strange increases in cases of Legionnaires’ disease, a severe and often lethal form of pneumonia caused by inhaling waterborne bacteria, as early as December 2014. Officials did not alert the public leading to at least 12 deaths from Legionnaires’ between 2014 and 2015. State officials displayed disdain for Flint residents.

Despite knowing the source of Flint’s water crisis, the state continued to fight against switching back Flint’s water source, saying that “the pipe was already sold, that it was too expensive” (287). The media grew more critical and vigilant, and Flint residents and activists grew angrier and held even larger demonstrations. Governor Snyder finally announced that the water would be switched back to its original source. This switch occurred with a simple flip of the switch. The EPA also reversed course and acknowledged Flint’s water crisis. They established a taskforce charged to develop and implement a plan to secure safe water for Flint.

After the water switch, Mona and her team’s advocacy goals shifted to demanding a state of emergency. The water was still not clean or safe. Nearly two years of corrosive water damaged the city’s water pipes and corroded residents’ pipes and appliances. The state also continued to downplay the health risk of lead exposure to children. Dr. Mona attributes this to two reasons. The first is that state officials were trying to make their own complicity seem less awful. The second is budget. The scope of the liability was not currently known, but it would be massive. The governor called a press conference in January of 2016. From the beginning, it was filled with misinformation and lies. MDEQ blamed high water-lead levels at local Flint schools on school fixtures, rather than the water itself. The state also massively underestimated the number of children exposed to lead. Dr. Mona attended the press conference and made her disagreements with the statements known. After the press conference, Mona sent an email to the state explaining why they were wrong and sent an email to the media protesting the state’s weak understanding of the number of kids truly exposed to lead over the last 18 months.

The state finally accepted defeat when Eden Wells “told the Detroit Free Press that lead exposure was population-wide in Flint and not limited to a few dozen children” (300). Governor Snyder was also forced to call an emergency in Genesee County after Flint’s new mayor, Karen Weaver, declared a citywide state of emergency. The National Guard were deployed to distribute bottled water and filters, and President Obama also declared a federal emergency in Flint. Once Flint gained federal emergency status, Dr. Mona and her team submitted their science-based list of recommendations for Flint kids. This list not only included interventions and programming, but also a registry of everyone exposed to lead and a framework for a health fund that would help Flint residents who faced the effects of their childhood lead exposure in the future.

Governor Snyder paid Dr. Mona a visit to let her know that most of the wrap-around services that she and her team recommended for Flint kids was in the state budget. He also commissioned a Flint water task force, which Mona nicknamed “the Five Guys Committee” (307) because it was comprised of all men. The committee’s task was “‘reviewing actions regarding water use and testing in Flint’ and asked to ‘offer recommendations for future guidelines to protect the health and safety of all state residents’” (308). The committee produced a report, which focused on the failings of state government at multiple levels, especially how governor-appointed emergency managers handled the city’s affairs. The taskforce also made explicit the role race played in the environmental crisis. As Dr. Mona notes, “Flint may be the most egregious modern-day example of environmental injustice” (308). More than one year after the crisis’ exposure, US Congress passed a Flint aid package. There were political causalities of Flint’s water crisis, in contrast to the DC water crisis. Several prominent MDEQ and city employees were fired, and criminal charges were brought against state and city officials.

Grace brought her two children, Nakala and Reeva, for check-ups. Grace, like so many other Flint families, is suffering from the collective nightmare of the city’s water contamination. One year ago, both Reeva’s blood and the water in their home had elevated lead-levels. To Mona, “it is a community-wide PTSD. The mental health problems are now just as serious as the physical ones” (323).

For the children of Flint, life is a struggle from the very beginning. The American Dream seems so far out of reach for them, and, in fact, many children in Flint, like other low-income and minority communities and urban and rural America, never experience economic mobility. For Mona, “Too many kids are growing up in a nation that does not value their future—or even try to offer them a better one” (324). Mona tells Grace to continue loving them, providing them with great food, and stimulating them intellectually. Mona believes that she can help the Flint children overcome the toxic stressors they face with goodness and hope.

Bebe tells Layla and Nina the family fable of Haji wa al asafer (Haji and the Birds). The story is about a young man named Haji, but they all know he is Dr. Mona’s grandfather, who loves nature, and especially birds. Every day, Haji fed the birds, eventually becoming friends with them. While picking dates from a palm tree, Haji falls and breaks his leg. Although he called for help, no one came. Instead, the birds came to take Haji to the doctor by holding onto his clothing, hair, and toes. Mona notes that when each of the family members tells the family fable, they tell it in slightly different ways. Mona emphasizes how Haji treated everyone around him with respect and took care of them. This simple and right way to live has been Mona’s guiding principle throughout her life, including through the Flint water crisis. Haji’s magic continues to lift Mona up.