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

In the opening chapter of What the Eyes Don’t See, Mona Hanna-Attisha (Dr. Mona) bluntly describes what the book is about: “It is the story of a government poisoning its own citizens, and then lying about it” (13). As director of the pediatric residency program at Hurley Medical Center, the public hospital in Flint, Michigan that primarily serves low-income and minority patients and most of the children in the city, Dr. Mona helped uncover gross negligence by city, county, and state officials. Despite knowing that Flint water contained lead, these officials tried to convince parents in Flint that the water was safe to drink. The crisis not only manifested itself in water, but in the bodies of society’s most vulnerable population: children, and especially those from low-income and minority backgrounds. As Dr. Mona notes, no lead exposure is safe, especially for young children.

Dr. Mona also introduces several aspects of her family history that have shaped her passion for activism. Haji, her grandfather, gave Mona her name, which means “hope, wish, or desire” (4). While her parents emigrated to the US, many of their family members, including Haji, stayed in Iraq.