What the Eyes Don’t See Major Figures

Mona Hanna-Attisha

Mona Hanna-Attisha (born 1976) is the author of the book. “Dr. Mona,” as her patients call her, is a pediatrician who learns there is lead in the water of Flint, Michigan, and crusades to protect her young patients. She was born in Sheffield, England, to Iraqi parents, Talia and Mufak Hanna, both scientists, who later immigrated to Michigan. She was raised in Royal Oak, Michigan, where she became a crusader from an early age. She credits the influence of an environmental club in high school with her decision to become an activist. She was also influenced by her parents, who fled a corrupt government in their native country. Despite these experiences, she is initially naive, not believing that a government in the United States would do anything to harm its citizens.

Although people in the book tend to underestimate her as a children’s doctor, Hanna-Attisha is an environmental scientist before she becomes a pediatrician. She receives her bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability and her Master of Public Health degree in health management and policy from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, all before receiving her medical degree from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Therefore, her background in environmental science is solid. However, Hanna-Attisha is primarily motivated by her interest in protecting the children, whom she views as innocent victims who will inherit lifelong health problems.

Elin Batanzo

Elin Batanzo is Hanna-Attisha‘s close friend from high school. They were in the environmental club together. Batanzo was the valedictorian of their school and went on to become an environmental scientist who worked for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She worked in Washington, DC, during their water crisis (lead water contamination discovered in 2001), becoming disillusioned with the government.

Her prior experience enables her to find the parallels between the water in DC and that in Flint. She first alerts Hanna-Attisha to the crisis and continues to work with her, introducing her to Virginia Tech engineering professor Marc Edwards. Batanzo is highly intelligent but is also a pessimist, in contrast to the naivete exhibited by Hanna-Attisha throughout the book.

Marc Edwards

Marc Edwards (born 1964) is an engineering professor at Virginia Tech and a corrosion expert. He worked with Elin Batanzo to uncover the DC water crisis, funding the research himself by taking out a home mortgage and using money from his MacArthur Genius Grant to pay it back. Hanna-Attisha calls him a “warrior scientist.” He comes to Flint after being invited by Flint mother LeeAnne Walters and EPA regional groundwater regulations manager Miguel Del Toral to perform “citizen testing.” He is known as a maverick with, as Hanna-Attisha says, a legendary reputation for brusqueness and moral certitude. For that reason, Batanzo is scared to involve him. But he takes what he’s doing very seriously and also personally. When Hanna-Attisha sends him the blood-lead results before and after the water switch, he says, “I’m ashamed for my profession.” He genuinely cares about the kids.

Dean Sienko

Dean Sienko (born 1956) is a doctor and former military officer who works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is assistant dean at Michigan State’s School of Public Health. He had previously taken the viewpoint that while lead paint is harmful, lead in the water is not. This belief causes Marc Edwards to label him an “unhelpful dupe.” When Hanna-Attisha first contacts him, he reiterates his belief regarding lead paint versus lead in water. However, he eventually revises his thinking and helps Hanna-Attisha.  

Talia Hanna

Talia Hanna, called Bebe, is Hanna-Attisha’s mother. She immigrates from Iraq with Hanna-Attisha’s father, Mufak Hanna, and for a time is unable to work because her degrees from a foreign university are viewed as worthless in the United States. However, she goes back to school and gets a master’s degree as well as certification to teach English as a second language. She is helpful and supportive of Hanna-Attisha, taking care of the grandchildren when Hanna-Attisha is working. However, she also worries about Hanna-Attisha and, at times, expresses that she doesn’t understand why Hanna-Attisha has to be the one to cause trouble. Some of this uncertainty likely comes from the family’s experiences in Iraq, where people who protested the government were forcibly silenced. However, she understands that Hanna-Attisha must speak out because she has the knowledge to do so.

Mufak Hanna

Mufak Hanna, called Jidu, is an engineer and Hanna-Attisha’s and Mark Hanna’s father. He immigrates from Iraq, where he witnessed firsthand the abduction and gruesome death of Iraq’s prime minister. He and his wife, Talia, lived in Iraq during the brief peace that followed before moving to Britain and then the United States. Jidu worked for General Motors (GM) for many years, winning many awards for his performance there. Having retired from GM, he is still working and taking on many projects, exploring their family’s history.

Haji

Haji is Hanna-Attisha’s grandfather, “idolized for his charm and intelligence.” Haji, whose real name is Khalil, is a businessman who owned a perfume company. He is well-liked and the subject of many family stories. He gives Hanna-Attisha her name so that English-speaking people are able to pronounce it. Although he never wanted to leave Baghdad, he eventually moves to the United States in his old age.

Miguel Del Toral

Miguel Del Toral is the regional groundwater regulations manager for the Environmental Protection Agency. As such, Del Toral tests water in the home of LeeAnne Walters, a Flint resident who suffers from abdominal pain and hair loss. The sample shows a high level of lead. Toral finds that the pipes serving Walters’s home, not the ones in her home, are leaching lead, and he knows the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s testing procedures are faulty. MDEQ and the EPA ignore Del Toral’s findings, then second-guess them, painting Del Toral as an alarmist. Del Toral’s findings end up in the hands of Curt Guyette, a reporter.

Jenny LaChance

Jenny LaChance is a research coordinator who helps Hanna-Attisha with her data. She is very passionate about research and data, “smart, logical, super-scientific, and verging on obsessive.” She tirelessly helps Hanna-Attisha through research. She is also a young mother and is concerned about whether her own baby has been exposed to lead, through her breastfeeding.

LeeAnne Walters

LeeAnne Walters is a Flint mother who notices that her children are experiencing negative symptoms as a result of bathing in and otherwise using the Flint water. These include rash, abdominal pain, and hair loss. One of the children stopped growing.  When a city employee comes to test the water, they say that she should be “flushing” the water, letting it run for several minutes before using it. Even with the process of flushing, the sample comes back high for lead. The city blames Walters’s pipes. However, she has brand-new PVC (synthetic plastic) pipes. Walters does her own research and questions whether the city uses corrosion control. Then, she contacts Miguel Del Toral. Del Toral finds problems with the pipes in Flint, not in her house, and writes a memo. When MDEQ and the EPA ignore the memo, he leaks it to Walters, who leaks it to the press. She also starts testing other people’s water.

Curt Guyette

Curt Guyette is a Detroit investigative reporter who works for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). It is Guyette who receives Miguel Del Toral’s memo. Guyette, in turn, posts the news story on several websites, including the memo, which exposes high lead levels in Flint. These reports are what first get people talking about lead in Flint’s water and alert people like Batanzo and Edwards, who in turn alert others such as Hanna-Attisha.

Kirk Smith

Kirk Smith is a friend of Hanna-Attisha’s from the public health program at the University of Michigan and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Greater Flint Health Coalition. They work on the Children’s Healthcare Access Program (CHAP) together, to increase children’s access to health care. Kirk helps Hanna-Attisha with her research and defends her process. He is the one who first sent a letter to government officials expressing concern about the Flint water. While this letter is largely ignored, when the water situation is finally taken seriously, Kirk is the one who works with Hanna-Attisha on a list of demands from the government.

Mark Hanna

Muaked Hanna, called Mark, is Hanna-Attisha’s brother. He is an attorney who works on public interest cases. Like Hanna-Attisha, he is raised with a strong sense of social justice. He understands the story of Flint as the story of social change in America. He warns Hanna-Attisha that challenging the government will be difficult. Still, he encourages her to stay the course and reassures their parents that Hanna-Attisha’s involvement in the issue is necessary.

Rick Snyder

Rick Snyder (born 1958) is the governor of Michigan during the Flint water crisis. Although he runs for office as a moderate Republican, he turns out to be more interested in saving money than anything else, often at the expense of poor communities. It is Snyder who appoints the emergency manager to save money in Flint, which directly results in the water switch. He is polite to Hanna-Attisha but fights her.

Dayne Walling

Dayne Walling (born 1974) is the mayor of Flint, Michigan, from 2009 to 2015. He has little or no power because the governor has appointed an emergency manager to be in charge of running the city. However, when he hears about the lead in the water, he is very concerned and tries to help. Nonetheless, he loses reelection.

Dr. Ashok Sarnaik

Dr. Ashok Sarnaik (b. 1946) is a doctor during Hanna-Attisha’s residency. He tells her, “The eyes don’t see what the mind doesn’t know,” paraphrasing English writer D. H. Lawrence. This statement has a profound influence on Hanna-Attisha, as it encourages her to learn more in order to better serve her patients.