What the Eyes Don’t See: Chapter 17 Summary & Analysis

Mona had high expectations for her meeting with the mayor—she assumed that after she showed him her study results, he’d rush to release a health advisory that would urge Flint’s citizens to stop drinking their tap water. She worried that because Walling had overseen the switch, he might be reticent to admit his own fault in the crisis—but she was also buoyed by the fact that he was a Democrat, and she hoped he held the same progressive values and desire to confront the state that she did.

In the conference room where the meeting was to take place, Mona sat at the head of the table. The mayor, Dayne Walling, greeted her warmly. But across the table, Natasha Henderson (the Flint city manager) and Howard Croft (the head of the public works department) were icy and distant. As meeting attendees filed into their seat, Mona felt bolstered by the presence of a number of colleagues and fellow physicians—including Jenny.

After some introductions, Mona began giving her presentation on the lead exposure in Flint, and how it was a failure of primary prevention measures. To bring the data in her presentation to life, Mona created a composite character based on many of her real-life patients: an infant named Makayla. Mona used the story of “Makayla” to explain how healthy-seeming infants and children can still be tormented slowly by lead’s insidious neurotoxic properties. Mona explained the real risks—biological and social—associated with prolonged lead exposure. She looked around the room and noticed that many of the meeting’s attendees looked “shaken.”

Mona ended her presentation with a list of directives for the city and county’s next moves, then she showed one more picture of the little girl she called Makayla. She warned her listeners that inaction would mean pain and suffering for an entire generation of Flint residents. Walling spoke, thanking Mona for bringing Flint’s very real problem to light. Then Dr. Reynolds spoke, urging the city officials in attendance to take immediate action.

Mona was surprised when the mayor spoke up again to say that a meeting with the EPA and MDEQ suggested that there wasn’t a corrosion issue, but simply a problem with many residents’ homes having old pipes. Mona was shocked and disturbed. One by one, the city officials in attendance began suggesting that the flushing measures already in place were enough. Natasha Henderson spoke up and reiterated that the water was fine, and that there was no chance of switching back to the Detroit pipeline.

Sensing the city officials’ reticence to act, Mona essentially delivered an ultimatum. Addressing the mayor directly, she told Walling that if his office did not make an announcement that there was a lead crisis in Flint, she and her team would hold a press conference and do so themselves. She said if she didn’t hear from the mayor’s office by Wednesday at noon, she’d go forward with her own statement. The mayor said Wednesday might be difficult for him—he was scheduled to go to D.C. to meet with the pope. Mona underscored how urgent the situation was, and the mayor promised to be in touch.

As soon as the meeting was over, Mona and her colleagues began hatching a plan. They realized they couldn’t count on the mayor—he was mayor in name only, and it was clear that the power belonged with other city officials, none of whom seemed motivated to face the crisis. But Senator Ananich was on Mona’s side, and Mona struggled not to blame herself for failing to capture more city officials’ attentions.

Marc Edwards, meanwhile, had been hard at work writing the mayor, the health department, the governor’s office, and more, as well as sending in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to obtain state and EPA email records in hopes of finding some answers about what was really going on. But his work was slow-moving. On a phone call with Marc, Mona blasted the Republicans in control of Michigan, but Marc retorted that he himself was a Republican. Mona was forced to consider the idea that no political party had a “monopoly” on care and action—and that regardless of his political affiliation, Marc was on her side. 

As Tuesday went by, Mona still hadn’t heard anything from the mayor’s office. She gave yet another presentation to a county medical society group and found that it was much easier to convince a group of doctors of what her research said about the situation in Flint. At the end of the meeting, the doctors passed a resolution pledging their support for Mona and her team—the city and state might be behind schedule, but at least Mona had a group of colleagues at her side.

Andy Leavitt, Ananich’s chief of staff, contacted The Washington Post about their developing story, knowing that a report from a national newspaper would make it difficult for the state to discredit Mona’s work. Marc Edwards also sent the story to a local newspaper, The Flint Journal. Mona was concerned about a sudden flood of press—but with the mayor still refusing to back Mona’s team, she knew that she had to do all she could to rally support from other sources.

On Wednesday morning—the deadline Mona had given the mayor—Mona took Bebe to the hospital for a minor eye surgery. After the procedure, Mona brought Bebe home and got her into bed. Bebe asked Mona what was going on. Mona didn’t give her mother any specifics, but she explained that she was doing “the kind of thing [Bebe] taught [her] to do.” Mona looked at her phone and noticed that it was noon—the deadline had passed, and there was still no word from Walling.