DETROIT (AP) – A prominent literary and human rights group is giving its annual courage award to a doctor and a mother of four who faced scorn as they tried to expose dangerous levels of lead in the water in Flint, Michigan.
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha and LeeAnne Walters will be awarded the Freedom of Expression Courage Award on May 16 in New York, PEN America announced Friday.
“The willingness of individuals to stand up, speak out and refuse to be denied is an essential catalyst for the vindication of rights and the realization of reform,” said Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America, a group of 4,400 writers dedicated to free expression. The group sparked controversy last year by giving the award to staff members who survived an attack on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
Hanna-Attisha held a news conference last September that turned the controversy over Flint’s water into a full-fledged storm. The Hurley Hospital pediatrician reported high levels of lead in the blood of children and pleaded with the public to stop drinking the corrosive water, which had been releasing lead from old pipes for more than a year.
Officials with the state of Michigan dismissed her remarks as “unfortunate” and derisively said Hanna-Attisha was adding to a “near-hysteria” in Flint. But Gov. Rick Snyder eventually acknowledged what the doctor had found and gave her full credit.