Chapters 19–21 Summary and Analysis
Chapter 19
When the governor’s office realized that Dr. Hanna-Attisha had called a press conference, they demanded her data immediately. They also attempted to have Melany, the CEO of Hurley, stop the conference, but she refused. However, Dr. Hanna-Attisha also received a call from the interim dean of the medical school, Aaron Sousa, who said that while they supported her as a faculty member, they did not support her research. However, she saw this as a political move so that the university would not be held accountable for her actions, and she went forward with the conference.
That morning, she met with the journalist Ron Fonger, and while she gave him all the information she had, he was not allowed to publish anything before the press conference. She also met with Allison, one of her pediatric residents, and procured two bottles from her. Afterward, she filled one of the bottles with tap water and went to the conference room. She was greeted by Kirk Smith, who told her that Mark Valacak, the head of the county health department, would be there. She also saw that her other opponents from the meeting with the mayor on Monday were there, as well as LeeAnn Walters, the first person to have her water tested for lead. Many of her residents were in attendance, and her family had promised to watch on television. A group of friends and researchers stood behind her at the podium, and she felt a sense of support from everyone who had helped her thus far. She presented roughly the same PowerPoint that she had presented to the mayor but this time showed the room the baby bottle of Flint water, demonstrating that children were unknowingly consuming lead. At the end of the conference, the media surrounded the representatives of the health department, asking questions. Dr. Hanna-Attisha felt accomplished, but she ends the chapter by noting that in making the truth public, she had also awakened new enemies.
Chapter 20
Immediately afterward, the Michigan government attempted to discredit Dr. Hanna-Attisha and save face, saying that all governmental water testing had been compliant with state and federal standards. Brad Wurfel called her research “unfortunate,” and the state health agency claimed that her findings were a result of a “seasonal anomaly,” even though she had controlled for seasons.
That night, she attended Layla’s back-to-school night and acknowledged that for the past month, she had been largely absent from her children’s lives. As she was driving to the school, she received a conference call from Senator Ananich and Andy, who had spoken to Nick Lyon, the director of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). They had encouraged him not to reflexively discount the data or Dr. Hanna-Attisha, but his press person was already attempting to poke holes in Dr. Hanna-Attisha’s findings, calling her data spliced and diced, which hurt her greatly. Still, the senator was doing all he could to validate her publicly. At back-to-school night, she began receiving questions from the media about her study, and they began asking for responses to MDEQ and MDHHS. She left the event early and curled into a ball in her bed, worrying that although she was telling the truth, no one would listen. Her husband came home to comfort her, but she felt enormous self-doubt and wondered if she had done the right thing.
Chapter 21
After falling into a deep sleep, Dr. Hanna-Attisha woke up feeling refreshed. Her mission was to help the children of Flint, who were more important than her reputation or doubts. Additionally, her mother was proud of her,...
(This entire section contains 1256 words.)
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rather than experiencingaeb. She continued to run the data in her head, assuring herself that it was the state, not her, that was incompetent. The state released an unscientific sheet attempting to show that there was no lead danger, but she issued a response to this through Ron Fonger, explaining why the state’s science was shoddy. She also realized that thus far, she had been working with data that included children who, despite being in Flint, were not receiving Flint water: some of it was coming from other sources. She decided that to obtain true numbers, she would need to use Graphic Information Systems to find out which children in the data set were actually using the tainted water. She emailed her friend Rick, a former classmate with GIS experience, who agreed to help her.
Even though the state had been trying to discredit Dr. Hanna-Attisha, it issued a lead advisory, and the schools stopped allowing students to drink from fountains. Over the course of several days, Rick was able to map the blood-lead levels onto certain neighborhoods, all supplied by Flint water, which increased the validity of Dr. Hanna-Attisha’s study and claims. She met with a statistician from the Detroit Free Press, who agreed to run her story and demand a call for action from the Michigan governor.
As she garnered support from the press, Dr. Hanna-Attisha began to think about what needed to happen immediately to protect Flint residents. Knowing that one of the only ways to combat developmental problems caused by lead was to remove additional stressors in children’s lives, she began to make a list of demands to improve the Flint community. Over the next few weeks, she decided that she would try to use her facts to terrify the community and government into action, and she was often interviewed by the press several times a day. However, the state continued to attempt to discredit her, with Wurfel calling her hysterical. Still, she and her team began developing a list of community demands, including better nutrition, education, and transportation programs, as well as filtered and bottled water.
Analysis
Like the previous three chapters, chapters 19–21 help readers to better understand the polarization that can occur when sociopolitical issues such as the Flint water crisis come to a head. In chapter 19, for instance, a group of friends and researchers stands behind Dr. Hanna-Attisha as she speaks at the podium. She likens this group of people to her bodyguards. For this metaphor to be effective, however, it is important to recognize that she feels vulnerable and unsafe. She has good reason to feel this way; almost immediately after her press conference, governmental figures such as Brad Wurfel attempt to discredit her research, and in the next chapter, they claim she is picking and choosing, or splicing and dicing, her data, which she experiences as a slap in the face.
As a result of this battle between herself and governmental employees, these chapters also show the toll that such an issue might take on one who feels strongly about injustice. Dr. Hanna-Attisha can no longer focus on her family, and at one point in chapter 20, all she can do is break down and cry, even with the support of her husband. In previous chapters, she has alluded to the costs of standing up for what one believes in. In chapter 20, this appears to come to a head, breaking her mentally and emotionally. However, we see a shift in her character in these chapters as well. At the beginning of chapter 19, she mentions that she has begun cursing when she speaks, and she describes how therapeutic this can be. In chapter 21, she begins thinking about how she can use her data not simply to prove a point, but to terrify people into action. Despite her breakdown in chapter 20, she is learning to be a new, hardened, and politically strategic kind of person.
