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May 27, 2019: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha — Transcript

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0:00In April 2014, officials in Flint,
0:02Michigan switched the source of the
0:04city's water from the Detroit water
0:06supply to the Flint River. It was a
0:09cost-saving move, but it touched the
0:10lives of citizens across that city.
0:13Today's guest helped blow the story
0:15open. With science and determination,
0:17she proved the decision was poisoning
0:19the children of Flint. She's Dr. Mona
0:22Hanna-Attisha. This week on Story in the
0:24Public Square.
0:59Hello and welcome to Story in the Public
1:01Square, where storytelling meets public
1:03affairs. I'm Jim Ludes from the Pell
1:04Center at Salve Regina University.
1:06Alongside me is my friend and co-host G.
1:08Wayne Miller of the Providence Journal.
1:10Story in the Public Square is an effort
1:11to study, celebrate, and tell stories
1:13that matter. To do that, we sit down
1:15every week with the best storytellers
1:17around, authors, journalists,
1:18filmmakers, and more to make sense of
1:20the big stories shaping public life in
1:22the United States today. To help us this
1:24week, we're joined by Dr. Mona
1:26Hanna-Attisha, the crusading
1:28pediatrician in Flint, Michigan, who
1:30helped confirm the city's water crisis.
1:32She's written about it in her book, What
1:34the Eyes Don't See, and she's with us in
1:36Providence today because of the Rhode
1:38Island Center for the Book, who selected
1:40What the Eyes Don't See as its selection
1:42for its annual statewide read. Dr. Mona,
1:44thank you so much for being with us.
1:45It's great to be with you. So, for those
1:47of us who don't maybe haven't read the
1:49book or have don't maybe only know
1:52tangentially what happened in Flint,
1:54what happened in Flint?
1:55Well, what happened in Flint is a water
1:58crisis. So, in 2014 and really kind of a
2:01corrosion of democracy and a a move
2:04towards austerity, we changed our water
2:07source to the local Flint River to save
2:09dollars. So, we went from Great Lakes
2:11water, which we had been using for about
2:13a half a century, to the Flint River
2:16to save money. And the Flint River water
2:18wasn't treated properly. It was missing
2:20an ingredient called corrosion control,
2:22which made it about 20 times more
2:24corrosive that the than the water we
2:25were getting from the Great Lakes. And
2:28that corrosive water ate up our pipes,
2:30which have lead in it.
2:32The lead began to flow into our drinking
2:34water and into the bodies of our
2:35children for about 18 months. How did
2:37you find yourself in the middle of all
2:39this? A lot of my kind of involvement
2:41happened by serendipity.
2:43So, I happened to be home with a high
2:45school girlfriend, who of all things was
2:48a drinking water expert. We've been
2:49friends for about 20 years and our kids
2:51were running around and playing
2:52together, having a glass of wine, and
2:55she's like, "Hey Mona,
2:56have you heard about what's going on in
2:57Flint's water?" And I'm like, "You know,
2:59I've heard about what my patients are
3:00concerned about and what I hear in the
3:01local media, color and odor and taste
3:04and bacteria." And I've also been hear
3:06hearing a lot of reassurance from state
3:08officials that the water is okay.
3:10And she's the one that shared with me
3:12that the water wasn't being treated with
3:15this important ingredient, and because
3:17of that, there would be lead in the
3:18water.
3:19And from that very moment, you know, my
3:21life really changed because when a
3:23pediatrician hears the word lead, it's a
3:25call to action.
3:26Well, so why is lead so bad? Lead is
3:28probably the world's most well-studied
3:32neurotoxins. We've known what lead has
3:34done for centuries. It is potent, it's
3:37irreversible, it's a poison. Incredible
3:40science over the last few decades has
3:42gotten us to the point of recognizing
3:44that there is no safe level of lead in a
3:47child. And its dangers are mainly in
3:50what it does to children. It really
3:52impacts the core of what it means to be
3:54you,
3:55impacting cognition. So, it actually
3:57drops IQ levels, impacts behavior, leads
4:01to things like developmental delays and
4:02attention disorders and focusing
4:04problems, and it's even been linked to
4:06things like criminality.
4:08So, what we're supposed to do in
4:09medicine and public health is something
4:11called primary prevention. We're never
4:14never exposed supposed to expose a
4:16population to lead because what it does
4:18to children. Oh.
4:20So, you talked about this was done to
4:21save money.
4:23What kind of money what what sums were
4:25being talked about that we would save by
4:27going to this new source of water? Yes.
4:29So, Flint was in a state of near
4:31bankruptcy, and we were under the
4:33control of a financial emergency
4:35manager. And at that point in Michigan,
4:38many of our cities, our predominantly
4:40minority cities, were were taken over by
4:42emergency managers, all to to save
4:44dollars and to kind of balance the
4:46books.
4:47So, there was a lot of cost-cutting that
4:49was happening by these emergency
4:50managers. They were, you know, wanting
4:52to, you know, sell off our public
4:54hospital. And in Detroit, where it
4:55happened,
4:55Seriously? Yeah, in Detroit, they wanted
4:57to sell off our Detroit Institute of
4:59Arts, and that kind of finally saved
5:00that city from its its bankruptcy state.
5:03So, it was the savings were in the order
5:06of millions.
5:08The Flint was buying its water from
5:10Detroit, the Great Lakes water, and they
5:12were fed up with paying Detroit, and you
5:14know, they thought that they could save
5:15money
5:16by moving to the Flint River until a new
5:19pipeline was to be built to the Great
5:21Lakes. So, the move to the Flint River
5:22was supposed to be temporary
5:24until a new pipeline was to be built,
5:26and I think the savings were in the
5:27order of, I don't know, like 20 to 30
5:29million dollars.
5:31And the greatest irony in this story is
5:34that this treatment chemical that was
5:36missing, this corrosion control, only
5:39would have cost 80 to 100 dollars a day.
5:42That's all it would have cost
5:44Nobody foresaw this in the planning. I
5:46mean, this was not done, you know, on
5:49Mars. This was done in America in a in a
5:51major state near a major city. So, you
5:55know, this is and this is why it is so
5:57mind-boggling and why I really felt
5:59compelled to write this book because
6:01this was happening on American soil in
6:03the 21st century in the richest country
6:06in the history of the world.
6:08Right. And of greatest irony, in
6:10Michigan. So, Michigan's the mitten
6:12state. We are surrounded by water.
6:14water. We're surrounded by the Great
6:16Lakes. The Great Lakes are the largest
6:18source of fresh water in the world. We
6:21Wherever you are in Michigan, you're
6:23like an hour away from fresh water.
6:25And here's Flint, literally in the
6:27middle of the largest source of fresh
6:28water in the world in America in the
6:3021st century, and where we you know,
6:33where where bureaucrats have made the
6:34decision to save money by going from a
6:37high-quality water source to a
6:39lower-quality water source on the backs
6:40of poor and minority people.
6:42I just have an image of these
6:43bureaucrats, whoever they were, in a
6:44room totaling up the dollars. Boom boom,
6:47ching ching. And oh, by the way, the
6:49health
6:50Exactly. There was there was no
6:51consideration of children's health,
6:53environmental health, public health.
6:55Well, you
6:56One of the things that I love about this
6:57book, and I really I really love this
6:59book, the
7:01the role of the emergency managers.
7:04You know, this is something that a lot
7:05of municipalities across the across the
7:08country have dealt with in the last
7:10decade and a half.
7:11But you you argue that this is is about
7:14the diminution of democracy. Absolutely.
7:17This is probably the most egregious
7:18examples of what happens when we take
7:20away democracy. Literally overnight,
7:23Flint lost control of our locally
7:25elected officials, and we became under
7:28the control of somebody who just
7:30reported to the governor, who had no
7:31accountability.
7:33And that's why this story is not an
7:34isolated story. It really speaks to
7:36what's happening across our nation in
7:39regards to the breakdown of democracy.
7:41This is no different than efforts at as
7:43as voter suppression and gerrymandering
7:45and mass incarceration. These are all
7:48different ways that democracy is being
7:50taken away from some of our most
7:51vulnerable citizens.
7:54And as you said, we're the richest
7:55society in the history of
7:57our species. It's It's
8:00where it's failing me. So, how did you
8:02get involved writing about it? You're a
8:03pediatrician by training.
8:05Had you done any writing before or
8:08So,
8:08By the way, pediatricians, along with
8:09primary care people, are like sacred.
8:12Seriously, they're like, you know, in
8:14terms of health care, they are the most
8:16important pieces, I think.
8:17It is a privilege to be a pediatrician.
8:19I absolutely wake up every day and I
8:20pinch myself to be able to care for for
8:22my kids in Flint, and it's it's it's a
8:24wonderful wonderful profession, Yeah.
8:26where you can do a lot of science and
8:28service, but a lot of advocacy. Advocacy
8:30Advocacy is very much part of our work.
8:32of prevention, as you said, which is a
8:34critical piece of this.
8:35in but our work is embedded in public
8:37health. It's, you know, it's not as much
8:38about the kid in front of me today, but
8:40it's really about the promise and the
8:41potential of that child. What's going to
8:43happen to that kid in 5, 10, 15 years?
8:45That young brain that's getting poisoned
8:46by lead that will never be the adult
8:48brain it could be.
8:49Exactly, because what was happening in
8:51our water was really threatening the
8:52tomorrows of all of our children.
8:55So, you know, as to being a writer, so I
8:57grew up a reader. I always kind of
9:00devoured books as a child. Reading was
9:03really kind of the the religion of my
9:04family. Being being well-read. I was the
9:07publisher of our high school paper. I
9:09literally
9:10Publisher, but not editor. Maybe it was
9:12editor/publisher. I don't remember.
9:15Yeah, yeah, yeah.
9:16So,
9:17went on to college, and you know, I
9:19actually my undergrad major was more
9:21like an environmental science. I started
9:23out as like an environmental activist
9:24organizer.
9:26Really started to understand the
9:27connections between environmental
9:28health. But then really also got
9:30immersed in creative writing classes.
9:31Stayed another year in college really to
9:33take fun things, fun classes like
9:35creative writing. Yeah. So, so, you
9:38know, reading and writing have always
9:40been a passion, and I strongly believe
9:42that no matter what profession you go
9:43into, you need to be a good writer.
9:46Talk to us if you can about the the
9:48title of the book, What the Eyes Don't
9:49See. So, when I first started reading
9:51the book, I'm like, I I don't I'm not
9:52I'm not sure what this is. You very
9:53quickly explain that really is a central
9:55theme to to to the book, but I think
9:58more to the way you approach medicine,
9:59too. Absolutely. So, What the Eyes Don't
10:01See means many different things, and I
10:03I'm I look forward to readers kind of
10:04digesting it on their own and finding
10:06the many many kind of themes that of of
10:09that title.
10:10So,
10:11first and foremost, it means the quite
10:12literal. So, we don't see lead in water.
10:15It's invisible. It's odorless. It's
10:17tasteless. If you remember those
10:18pictures from Flint, that kind of brown
10:20water, yellow water?
10:21Oh, yeah. That that was from iron
10:22corrosion cuz the iron pipes were also
10:24corroding and that gave you that
10:25rust-colored water. But but lead in
10:27water is is invisible. We don't see it.
10:30We also don't see the effects of lead.
10:33You know, back in the day when when we
10:35had lead in paint and gasoline, children
10:38were presenting to our ERs with seizures
10:41and coma and and could acutely die from
10:43acute lead poisoning.
10:45And a lot of that came from paint.
10:46From paint and gasoline.
10:48And gasoline. But but we don't see those
10:50high levels anymore. What we see right
10:52now is something called a silent
10:54pediatric epidemic. It's asymptomatic.
10:57Children People think, like, oh, you
10:58figured this out cuz kids were coming to
10:59your clinic, right? With problems.
11:02No, that's not what was happening
11:03because the symptoms of lead exposure
11:05are asymptomatic. They're subclinical,
11:08which actually makes it more dangerous.
11:10Like, I wish kids would present with
11:11like a glow-in-the-dark spots. Then we
11:13know that they're exposed to lead and we
11:16could do something about it, but
11:17unfortunately, it's it's asymptomatic.
11:19So, we it's it's a silent. We don't see
11:21the consequences of lead exposure if not
11:23years or decades or generations later.
11:26Which makes it so much more harmful.
11:29In addition,
11:30the title really The first time I heard
11:32that title was when I was a a doctor in
11:34training, when I was a pediatric
11:35resident, and one of my supervising
11:38doctors,
11:39an attending in our intensive care unit,
11:41would really drill us
11:44at the bedside, especially if we
11:45couldn't figure out a diagnosis. And he
11:47would always say, "The eyes don't see
11:49what the mind doesn't know." And it's a
11:51it's a D. H. Lawrence distillation,
11:54really telling us and reminding us that,
11:55"Hey, we need to read more. You need to
11:57study because you're not going to
11:58diagnose something or pick up something
12:01if if you don't even know that it
12:02exists." And that kind of speaks to my
12:04blindness because I never even knew
12:06about the possibility that lead could be
12:08in water,
12:10which really shows how kind of eyes
12:13closed I was because the word lead
12:15actually means plumbing. Lead comes from
12:18the Latin PB, which comes from plumbum,
12:20which means plumbing. So, so the word
12:22lead actually means plumbing. But the
12:25the bigger meaning of this title, What
12:27the Eyes Don't See,
12:29it goes way beyond Flint. It is about
12:31people and places and problems that we
12:33choose not to see.
12:36And it is really I hope I hope that this
12:38book is a rallying cry for all of us to
12:40open our eyes.
12:41But it is not enough to be awake. It is
12:43more important to act to
12:46towards the injustices that are
12:47happening all around us. We're going to
12:48get into that a little bit further in,
12:50but
12:51you were one of the first to sound an
12:52alarm here. What was the reaction when
12:54you publicly brought attention to this?
12:57Yeah, so I was actually kind of late in
12:59the story. So, the water crisis had been
13:01going on for like a year and a half.
13:04I think of it like a series of dominoes.
13:06Like the the heroic and brave people of
13:08Flint, they knew something was wrong and
13:10they were loud and organized. And then
13:13there was really incredible journalists
13:14who were on the story.
13:15And it was known that it was lead. No,
13:17no, they didn't know it was lead. They
13:18knew that there was something going on.
13:20Right.
13:21And
13:23something not right. I mean, like just a
13:25few months after we switched our water
13:26source, General Motors, which was born
13:28in Flint and still has plants in Flint,
13:31noticed that this water was corroding
13:32their engine parts. And they were
13:34allowed to go back to Great Lakes water.
13:37That's a tell. That's a tell. That's a
13:39red flag. That that is like alarm bells,
13:40sirens should have gone off. That should
13:42have been the end of this crisis. And
13:44that was a full year before I was
13:46involved in this in the story.
13:47So, so when you began drawing attention,
13:50what what was the reaction? Yeah, so I
13:52you know, I I once I heard about the
13:54possibility of lead in water, you know,
13:56like I said, there was there was no
13:58going back. There was only going
13:59forward. And I conducted the research,
14:01which is kind of detailed in this book,
14:03to see what was happening to our
14:04children, to see if our children were
14:06increasingly being exposed to the lead.
14:09Then very publicly shared this research,
14:12which is not something you do in
14:13academia. You you publish and present.
14:15You're right. So, I but I shared it at a
14:17press conference because our children
14:18did not have another day.
14:20You just knew it was too important to It
14:22was an academic no-no. So, I literally
14:25literally walked out of my clinic and I
14:26stood up at a press conference
14:28to to share this research. But there was
14:31no other option. This is what This is
14:33what had to be done.
14:35And right away, just like everybody else
14:37who had raised concerns, moms and
14:39pastors and activists and journalists
14:41and water scientists, just like
14:42everybody else,
14:44I I was dismissed and attacked. Why do
14:46Why do you think though? I mean, there's
14:47a crescendo of
14:49I'm not going to use the word,
14:51but coming to people's attention. What
14:54Why wasn't
14:55You know, that's like the
14:56Why weren't the public health officials
14:58and the officials
14:59paying attention and not dismissing?
15:02That's a great question, and and that's
15:04why we have ongoing efforts at
15:05accountability and justice. Those
15:07investigations are are ongoing to this
15:10date
15:11in terms of why did this happen, why
15:13weren't people paying attention, and why
15:15was public health and children's health
15:17not the foremost rather than than than
15:20saving dollars. Well, there are a lot of
15:22critics of what happened in Flint who
15:23say that this was about race. Mhm. And
15:25your book, I think, sort of explores
15:27that link between environmental justice
15:29and social justice in really profound
15:31ways. Can you unpack that for our
15:32audience a little bit? Absolutely. So,
15:34the the concept of environmental
15:36injustice is the recognition that people
15:39who are poor and people who are
15:41predominantly minority
15:43disproportionately suffer from the
15:44burden of environmental contaminations.
15:46This is not a new concept. It's been
15:49really kind of well-established for
15:50about three decades and and and and
15:52well-studied throughout this nation. Of
15:55kind of crises that happen or or burdens
15:59that happen predominantly on poor and
16:00black people.
16:02And Flint is another egregious example
16:04and probably kind of the most profound
16:06in this young century of what of an
16:08environmental injustice. Many
16:10investigations have been done, including
16:13an investigation from the Michigan Civil
16:14Rights Commission, as well as the
16:16governor's own task force that clearly
16:18say that this was another case of
16:19environmental injustice where the race
16:21and the demographics of the population
16:24perpetuated this crisis. Other folks,
16:27for example,
16:28Michael Moore, who's from Flint, Jesse
16:30Jackson and others have said to clearly
16:32said that this is a racial crisis. That
16:34it never would have happened in a richer
16:35or wider community. Are there people who
16:38would dispute that now? I mean, it's
16:40obvious and clear to to us.
16:42I don't think so. I think it's been
16:44well-established and it's been Yeah, and
16:45there's been also many kind of academic
16:47articles and other folks that have
16:49that have lent kind of their wisdom and
16:51also shared that yes, this is in a form
16:53of environmental injustice. That that
16:56continues and and is not, once again,
16:58isolated to Flint. The These are things
17:00that are happening throughout our nation
17:03where poor and minority folks
17:05disproportionately suffer from
17:06environmental contamination. That's
17:08because of the zip codes where they live
17:10and and the legacy of of industry in
17:12certain areas and is that much
17:13Yeah, I think kind of lack of political
17:14voice, industry's ability to manipulate
17:17those communities
17:19and to, for example, put polluting
17:21factories or what have you in those
17:22environments.
17:24So, it it goes back to the title of What
17:25the Eyes Don't See. These are
17:27populations that we choose not to see
17:29and thus choose not to value. And they
17:31disproportionately suffer from these
17:32things. Where does your personal sense
17:35of justice and injustice come from?
17:37Yeah, so I think if you if you pick up
17:39this book
17:40and you think it's a Flint book, I think
17:41you'll be taken aback cuz it's not just
17:43a Flint book.
17:44You know, this book weaves very much my
17:46kind of my personal story and my family
17:48history. And I felt that it was
17:50important for the readers to to know who
17:52I am,
17:53to understand that what I do and why I
17:55do it is really rooted in my deep kind
17:57of family upbringing and and sense of
18:00justice.
18:01So, that means that this book is very
18:02much an immigrant story. I'm a first
18:05generation immigrant, came to this
18:06country when I was 4 years old. From
18:09from where? We're Iraqi American. So, I
18:12was actually born in the UK. My father
18:14was getting his PhD there, but the plan
18:16was to go back to Baghdad, where my
18:17family is from.
18:19But that was the rise of Saddam Hussein.
18:21And my parents could not go back to a
18:24country that was
18:26that where they were seeing really the
18:28effects of of injustice back home.
18:31The rise of fascism and tyranny and
18:33oppression and dictatorship.
18:35So, my parents decided to move to the
18:37states and we we came to this country
18:39for what everybody comes to this country
18:41for as immigrants, for freedom and
18:42opportunity and democracy, for that
18:44American dream.
18:46And I absolutely wake up every single
18:48day fortunate
18:50to be a recipient of that American
18:51dream,
18:52but also acutely aware of what injustice
18:55can be. And my parents never shielded me
18:58from what was happening back home.
19:01I acutely remember, and this is
19:02described in the book, I think I was 11
19:04or 12 12 years old and my father
19:07was trying to kind of devour anything
19:08that was in the news about Iraq, and and
19:10there was not much in the news at that
19:12time. And he would have memberships and
19:15subscriptions to like Amnesty
19:16International and Human Rights Watch,
19:17and he shared with me a picture from the
19:19massacre in Halabja, if you remember, in
19:22northern Iraq, Saddam Hussein poisoned
19:25an entire village of his own people, a
19:27Kurdish population. 5,000 people died
19:30that day. And he showed me this picture
19:32of this beautiful baby girl wrapped in a
19:34pink blanket with her father, both of
19:36them dead on the street. That is kind of
19:38the milieu of how I grew up,
19:41recognizing that people in power
19:44can do terrible things to populations
19:46that they don't they don't Well, is that
19:48not true historically and today as well?
19:52There's another major issue that Flint
19:55brings to the surface and you and you
19:56write about and would like you to talk
19:58about too and that's the infrastructure
19:59of this country today.
20:01Yeah. Water supplies, bridges, roads,
20:04railroads. We can go through a litany of
20:07I mean just drive anywhere.
20:10Absolutely. So, um that is why this
20:13story is also not an isolated to Flint
20:15story because it also very much speaks
20:17to the disintegration of our critical
20:19infrastructure due to inequality and
20:21austerity. We think that our roads and
20:24our bridges are bad, what's underneath
20:26is is even worse and has not had
20:28significant investment. Um specifically
20:31in regards to lead in our plumbing
20:33um it it's it's even hard to believe
20:35that we actually have a neurotoxin
20:36delivering our drinking water throughout
20:38this country. Um not until 1986 did we
20:41restrict the use of lead service lines,
20:44which are the pipes that go from the
20:45water main to the front of the house,
20:47but not until 2014
20:49did we restrict the use of lead in
20:51fixtures and faucets.
20:52Well, a lot of those lead pipes are
20:53still there, huh? No, they're still
20:54there. Like everywhere, I suppose.
20:55They're they're everywhere, especially
20:57in the Northeast and the Midwest uh in
20:58older cities. Um I was in Philadelphia a
21:01few months ago and they had a water main
21:02break. They dug up the water main,
21:04they're like, "Oh, this was installed
21:05when Calvin Coolidge was president." Um
21:07so that is throughout our nation and we
21:09really need a massive investment in
21:11infrastructure and I'm I'm hopeful that
21:13this is something that that can be
21:15bipartisan supported and can then also
21:17reap the benefits of of employment and
21:19other opportunities. So, give us an
21:21update. What's the status of water in
21:23Flint now? Yeah, so Flint is is doing
21:27that infrastructure work, which is
21:28amazing. So, for the 18 months that we
21:31were on this corrosive water that ate up
21:33our pipes, um that damaged our pipes and
21:35those pipes are being replaced right
21:36now, which is awesome. Uh that will be
21:39done in a few months and then we'll be
21:41the only the third city in the country
21:42that has replaced their lead service
21:44lines, which is phenomenal. Um but while
21:47we're doing that infrastructure
21:49earth-moving work, um it requires people
21:51to remain on precautions with filtered
21:53water and bottled water because of the
21:56disruption that can happen in the lead
21:57scale during that work and and that's
22:00why people are still on the precautions
22:01right now. You talked about the
22:03possibility of a bipartisan effort to
22:06rebuild the infrastructure. Do you think
22:08that's realistic now in this current
22:10climate and we could describe in detail
22:12the current climate, but I think we know
22:14what the current climate is where
22:16there aren't a lot of people necessarily
22:18necessarily Washington or paying
22:20attention to that as opposed to uh a
22:22wall. Yeah, you know, um
22:25I think infrastructure, unlike things
22:27like immigration and health care, um is
22:30something that that both sides can agree
22:32is important for all their constituents.
22:34It's it's something that constituents
22:36and and communities all over need
22:37investment in. Um so I see that as
22:39something that's more favorable than
22:40other kind of very polarizing topics
22:42that we are dealing with right now in
22:44the nation. But because a lot of this is
22:46not happening at the federal level,
22:48we're seeing a lot of innovation and
22:51creativity and leadership at the state
22:53and local levels and that has been
22:55reaffirming. For example, Michigan
22:57um because of the lessons of Flint um
23:00has a new uh lead and copper rule um at
23:02the state level, which is mandating that
23:05all of our pipes in the state be
23:06replaced in the next 20 years. So, there
23:08have been some really positive Flint
23:10ripple effects um but have that have
23:12really kind of resonated at the local
23:14state levels because of federal kind of
23:16inaction paralysis. I guess half you
23:18know, half a loaf is better than none,
23:20right? The local and regional level. You
23:22describe in the book though sort of your
23:24surprise
23:26uh when one of your partners in the
23:28exposing what was happening in Flint
23:30turned out to be a conservative
23:31Republican. Look, so there's there's
23:33more to it than than than just sort of
23:35meets the eye. Yeah, so and that is
23:37actually one of the reasons I wrote this
23:38book because we are in this really
23:40bizarre divisive state of our nation
23:43right now.
23:44Um and this is a story of how unexpected
23:48people came together. People of
23:50different ideologies, of different
23:51backgrounds, of different professions
23:54came together on behalf of our children
23:56and that is a story that we need right
23:58now. I mean, yes, the story of Flint is
24:00is a story of a crime committed with
24:03absolute indifference against some of
24:04the most vulnerable people, but it is
24:06also how everyday people um from all
24:09over, moms and pastors and activists and
24:11students and and teachers and doctors
24:12and scientists and water folks came
24:15together from very very different and
24:16diverse back backgrounds um to find
24:19something that they that they all could
24:20rally towards um and that's an important
24:23lesson that we need right now,
24:24especially in this really divisive state
24:26that we're in. So, we discuss a lot of
24:29issues on this show on a weekly basis.
24:32Some are international, some are are
24:33national and a question we often ask our
24:36guests is if you, the viewer or listener
24:38of this show,
24:40is concerned about the issues we've
24:41talked about today, what would you
24:43advise? What can the quote unquote
24:45ordinary citizen do?
24:47Yeah, so I you know, this book is um
24:50it's very much a Flint book. The story
24:52is very much kind of about what happened
24:53in Flint and and kind of a call to
24:55action for all of us to kind of be aware
24:58and alert and recognize what's happening
24:59in our communities and a lot of people
25:01go away and they're like, "Oh, I want to
25:02help Flint." And if you want to help
25:04Flint, great, you know, you could donate
25:06to our Flint Kids Fund, which is one of
25:08the reasons I wrote this book, part of
25:09the proceeds go back to that that fund,
25:11flintkids.org, but but by and large I
25:13tell folks, you do not need to come to
25:15Flint. You do not need to help Flint.
25:17You just need to find something that
25:18you're that you're passionate about.
25:20Turn on the news. Every There are
25:22injustices happening right around us. We
25:24cannot afford to have a society with
25:28their eyes closed and silent to the
25:29injustices. Um kids at the border
25:32separated from their parents, our
25:33inaction on climate change, on gun
25:35violence, the constant threats to social
25:38safety net programs, health care, rising
25:40drug prices, the you know, slavery
25:42morphing to mass incarceration. You pick
25:44it. You pick what is passionate and put
25:46your energy towards that and that is
25:48something that that everybody can do and
25:50and can do today. We just need an
25:52engaged citizenship. Wow. That's a hell
25:55of a point. No kidding. So, we've got
25:57about 30 seconds left. What's next for
25:59you?
25:59Retirement. No, just kidding.
26:02I didn't I didn't believe that
26:03for a second. You know, I I I am
26:05privileged. I feel blessed to have this
26:07amazing microphone to be able to
26:09advocate and you know, especially with
26:11this book to be able to advocate not
26:12only for Flint children, but children
26:14all over because the stories are not
26:16isolated. There are kids all over this
26:17nation who really wake up to some of the
26:19same nightmares of our Flint kids, be it
26:21poverty, injustice, austerity, lost
26:23democracy, stolen opportunity and I will
26:25continue to to do kind of my part to
26:28make sure that kids throughout this
26:30country have the best opportunity. The
26:31country's going to be better for it. Dr.
26:33Mona Hanna-Attisha, thank you so much
26:34for being with us. The book is What the
26:35Eyes Don't See. You should check it out.
26:37That's all the time we have this week,
26:39but if you want to know more about Story
26:40in the Public Square, you can find us on
26:42Facebook and Twitter or visit
26:43pellcenter.org.
26:45We can always catch up on previous
26:46episodes. For G. Wayne Miller, I'm Jim
26:48Ludas asking you to join us again next
26:50time for more Story in the Public
26:52Square.

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