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

Mona Hanna-Attisha (Dr. Mona) is a pediatrician, scientist, and public health advocate whose research helped uncover the Flint water crisis. She credits her Iraqi family’s history of resistance against Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi tyrants as partly what drove her to stand up to city, county, and state officials. She has testified three times before the United States Congress and has appeared on countless media outlets championing the cause of children in Flint and beyond. Dr. Mona received PEN America’s Freedom of Expression Courage Award, Time magazine named her one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World for her work exposing the Flint water crisis. Dr. Mona continues to advocate for Flint children and is the founding donor of the Flint Child Health and Development Fund and the founder and director of the Michigan State University and Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative.

Alice Hamilton is one of Dr. Mona’s favorite social justice activists and medical doctors. Dr. Mona describes her as “a stubborn badass who devoted her life to improving the lives of workers, the poor, and the children” (149). During particularly stressful periods of the Flint water crisis, Dr. Mona would think about how hard Hamilton worked to try and right the wrong of adding TEL to gasoline and make the world a better and safer place for kids.