Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in What the Eyes Don’t See, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism and Environmental Injustice
Truth vs. Corruption
Community Values and Collective Duty
The American Dream
Family, Tradition, and Strength
Summary
Analysis
With the water source switched back, Mona and her team switched their focus to a new goal: they demanded that a state of emergency be declared. Eighteen months of corrosive water had damaged the city’s pipes, and the water still wasn’t safe to drink. To make sure this goal was possible, Mona doubled down on her list of science-based demands for Flint kids, and a more accurate publication of the blood-lead data she’d refined using geospatial software. If she published a new article using GIS data and received a “scholarly stamp of approval” from a peer-reviewed journal, her data would be seen as even more unassailable.
Even though Mona and her team had achieved one of their biggest goals, Flint was still in trouble. The city’s deeply entrenched problems with racism and corruption hadn’t evaporated overnight—there was still a lot of work to be done to ensure that the state could no longer neglect Flint’s needs. Mona knew that she still had a role to play: she had to do all she could to secure an unimpeachable set of figures that would prove Flint’s ongoing need for resources and assistance.
Themes
Mona and Jenny were nervous—in spite of all their progress—that their communications and research could still be used against them. They kept their data on an encrypted USB drive and used code names in their emails to each other: Jenny’s was Red Panda, and Mona’s was Fire Ant. Mona liked using a fake name because it reminded her of Nuri’s nom de guerre, Anwar. They finished the paper by late October, had it peer-reviewed by colleagues, and then submitted it to the prestigious American Journal of Public Health. When it was published in November, Mona knew she’d now have more leverage to talk about long-term solutions for Flint down the line.
In this passage, Mona found herself in a frightening situation—she feared her communications were being monitored by state authorities looking for any information they could possibly use to cut her down. But rather than buckle with fear or dread, Mona drew on the strength of her family’s stories and traditions and found solace and even excitement in carrying on her family’s legacy of fearless resistance.
Themes
The governor’s office, meanwhile, was still trying to downplay the danger of childhood exposure to lead—and, even worse, the state didn’t have the budget to implement any real change in Flint. The ACLU and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed many lawsuits against the state, causing the state and county authorities to panic even more.
As more and more individuals and organizations across the country began to realize the magnitude of what had happened in Flint, the state realized it would have to answer in some way for its actions—but backed into a corner, state authorities would choose to go on the defensive rather than admit defeat.
Themes
In January of 2016, Mona agreed to attend a press conference featuring Governor Snyder and the new mayor of Flint, Karen Weaver, as they spoke about the crisis. Mona reluctantly agreed to attend, but as soon as she arrived and began speaking with state officials—including Nick Lyon and Eden Wells—she realized that the press conference was a desperate scramble to do some damage control. Mona realized that she was “behind enemy lines.”
This passage illustrates how poisonous corruption is. There was no reason for the state to continue lying—they’d already been put on the spot. And yet the damage control they sought to do through this press conference was more about protecting their own reputations than protecting their constituents.
Themes
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As Mona stood with the governor, the mayor, Eden, and Nick at the podium, an “onslaught of misinformation and lies” began. The MDEQ blamed the high water-lead levels in the schools on school fixtures—then Nick announced that throughout the entire crisis, only 43 children had been exposed to lead. Mona was outraged and furious. Every child who lived in Flint had been exposed—nearly 10,000 kids. Mona began shaking her head, knowing full well that the conference was being filmed and broadcast. Each time an erroneous fact was reported, Mona defiantly shook her head and watched as her allies in the audience encouraged her.
Even when they were claiming to tell the truth or to be acting in the name of transparency, state agencies in Michigan continued to lie and deflect blame. Mona had fought so hard for so long already—and she wasn’t about to let a new crop of baseless lies derail her work on behalf of the people of Flint.
Themes
The clip of Mona shaking her head throughout the press conference made the rounds on the news and the internet. Within a week, the state had once again changed their position and admitted that many more than 43 children had been exposed to leaded water. As the state’s position changed again, Mona finally began to feel that some real help was on the way for the children of Flint.
Mona’s repeated insistence on the truth had real-time effects. Her refusal to accept the state’s flimsy research and offensively low numbers was part of what ultimately made the state admit even further wrongdoing. Sticking staunchly to the truth, this passage suggests, is the best weapon against corruption.
Themes
The new mayor, Karen Weaver, soon declared a citywide state of emergency. Then, Governor Snyder declared an emergency in Genesee County—and, on January 16th, 2016, President Barack Obama declared a federal emergency in Flint. A disaster categorization would have meant more resources, and Mona was upset that the children of Flint still weren’t getting all the help they needed. But the U.S. public health service officials who took charge of the situation were, luckily, just as passionate about fixing the crisis as Mona was.
This passage shows how, finally, as local, state, and federal officials began to name what was happening in Flint, the city started to receive some help and attention. By bringing the truth to light, Mona had been able to help make change. Truth is the only thing, this passage suggests, that can overcome corruption and concealment.
Themes
Mona, Jenny, and Kirk continued working on their list of Flint’s children’s needs. Mona suggested many preventative measures and social initiatives and included the demand for a registry of anyone exposed to the crisis, like the one used for victims of 9/11. Mona wanted to make sure that everyone who needed support and resources would get them.
No one in Flint could be left behind any longer, and Mona and her team worked hard to ensure that all those affected by the water crisis would be seen, acknowledged, and cared for.
Themes
With the support of MSU and Hurley, Mona came up with a public health program that would bring help and healing to Flint. Truckload after truckload of donated bottled water and other resources were arriving in Flint every day—but Mona knew that her patients would need an “investment in [their] tomorrows” that went beyond immediate solutions. She and her team created an advisory committee called the Flint Child Health and Development Fund and submitted their list of preventative initiatives to the Emergency Operations Center. At last, someone was telling the federal government exactly what the kids of Flint needed to survive and to thrive.
This passage shows that Mona’s fight was about much more than restoring clean water to Flint. The water crisis was a symptom of the city’s ongoing problems with racism, corruption, and governmental neglect. By shining a light on the truth of what life in Flint was like, Mona was able to demand real, structural change that would help her community grow and prosper for years to come.
Themes
