As I am an outsider looking into the ordeal that occurred prior, during, and after Hurricane Katrina, I found the reaction of our public and civic officials on site were alarming. For me, I lived through two hurricanes in my lifetime that of Hurricane Eva in 1982 and Iniki in 1992 on Oahu in the State of Hawaii. I believed the issues concerning Katrina were more likely behind the lines of racism and the corruption of our public macro systems that have been in placed since our forefathers of America established this country. To me, Katrina illustrated my own discontent with our own institutionalized system that has continuously systematically kept people in the dark.
In New Orleans, prior to Katrina in 2005, Hurricane Betsy in 1956 was considered to be the most devastating natural disaster of all time. On August 29, 2005 a category three hurricane broke on to the shores of New Orleans. Its impact was high winds, tidal waves, and intense rainfall. However, no one thought the hurricane would lead to the levees catastrophic collapsing. The levees were utilized to protect New Orleans from being underwater. Nevertheless, this failed in a crucial time that it was essential, during a natural disaster. In fact, Katrina was not at fault; on the contrary, it was the engineer’s design of the levee, the failure of the city to correct this error, and the use of cheap materials. Thus the reality of Katrina lead to 1, 800 deaths and 200, 000 New Orleanians displaced from their homes, their communities, and their families.
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| After Katrina, New Orleans was 80% underwater. |
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| Side view of the Superdome |
The Aftermath of this disaster placed a historical city rich in culture into a dark place. The confirmed dead from Katrina were not entirely caused by the hurricane but for the lack of food, neglecting victims’ basic essential of food, water, and medical care. Additionally, the public servants rescued victims by selecting them based on the color of their skin. The question of race that has been embedded in the south and else where in the United States emerged from its invisibility to more of a visible site. The people were treated as criminals and some were shot on spot if they crossed a line after the militarization of the city. Suheir Hammad in his verse “On Refuge and Language”
Evacuated as if criminal
Rescued by neighbors
Shot by Soldiers
Adamant they belong
The rest of the world can now see
What I have seen
Do no look away
The rest of the world lives here to
In America-( Flaherty 213)
For me, the words of Hammad explained the pain the people endured during this time and afterwards. Yet, his words most importantly to me as an outsider not only showed his own disillusion of our government’s failure of a so-called just system but it represents my own disillusion of how our system remains unbroken with injustices. For the people in New Orleans, they are taxpayers and citizens of the United States who wondered why the government was not helping them. Instead, institutions often mistreated its people and in fact, the media portrayed the situation negatively by only showing African American as criminals when there was looting involved. The media rather than aiming for the truth about the situation in New Orleans opted to further place negative images geared toward its audience. Even though, the truth was more important than negative portrayals, the media failed our people as always with its manipulative news model.
The people of New Orleans lived in a brink of chaos and mistreatment. The Superdome a place of refuge became a private hell for those who were waiting to be evacuated. There was false hope for days while waiting for the bus to come. The bus for some never came because the sick and injured died there just waiting. At the Causeway Camp and Interstate 10, the people placed there were to be later separated by race, class, and gender. “In the atmosphere of chaos, family members were separated from one another, and fear and misinformation dominated. Given the choice between being shipped off somewhere unknown or staying behind, hundred of people opted to stand to the side, not even trying to get on the bus.” (Flaherty 40).
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| Causeway Camp |
This is the reality that families and communities felt even after the hurricane they were forcibly bound to be separated. This saddens me even more because family and friends are who we look for in a time of need. I often wondered, how could we do that? Not only were they separated, but a blogger Michael Horman who spent only a day at the Causeway Camp and Interstate 10 witnessed atrocities of what was occurring there even though he was only there for a day, this marked him. “ There I saw the most horrific scenes that I have ever witnessed. I estimated that I saw 20,000 people. A few were corpse, many were elderly and in bad physical condition”(Flaherty 41). Another women, Leah Hodges at a congressional testimony about what occurred at Causeway stated the following: “ On the last day we were in there…they handpicked the white people to ride out first. Every day the crowd got darker and darker and darker until finally there were only- there were 95 percent people of color in that place…they broke up families and dispersed us... and they stood over us with guns and enforced their authority” (Flaherty 43). These two witnesses of the Causeway Camp although both of different ethnicities saw the same thing that was occurring. Both Leah Hodges and Michael Horman observed natural selection of the camp where whites were chosen first and in fact Michael Horman who is of white descent only spent a few hours at the camp while Leah Hodges spent a few days makes her testimony even more heart wrenching because of the unraveling truth.
Six years later, the Aftermath and Recovery is still on its way for many New Orlean residents. One person stated after the Bush Administration assumed to take measure into the matter with the relief efforts many Americans forgot the people of New Orleans. I in fact, did not realize the devastation of their horrors because I myself did not experience a place of chaos even after the hurricanes I lived through. I like them stayed at home with my family during Iniki in 1992. I waited a category four hurricane out then later saw the destruction of its havoc. However, although I did live in the areas where the most devastation occurred, I know that it had taken many years to recover for those who lost their home and their lives. My family and I were lucky; we only experienced a fallen roof yet the damage was not merely the same as others. The damages caused the state $1.8 billion dollar and six causalities. Because of my own experience, I asked myself for a long time how come in New Orleans there were more deaths? What really happened in New Orleans? Did they have a prevention plan? Then I realized that only a fraction of the people lost their lives during Katrina while others died afterwards due to lack of food, medical treatment, and neglect. Then later I asked myself after finding out the truth through the people who witnessed Pre and Post Katrina, why wasn't I listening.
Work Cited
Flaherty, Jordan. Floodlines Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2010.
" Hurricane Katrina" Nola.Com 2011. 9 Dec 2011. .
"Hurricane Katrina." Wikipedia. 4 Dec 2011. 9 Dec 2011 .
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