Claudia Rankin's Citizen is a powerful compilation of stories from the narrative of the black experience in America. Several stories were alarming and upsetting, but the one that stood out to me the most was Rankine's situation video for Hurricane Katrina.
I was six years old when Hurricane Katrina happened, and I can still remember all of the news coverage and devastation shown on TV. However, I was never exposed to, nor aware of the real destruction that occurred within the black communities of New Orleans.
Rankine describes the class and racial divide between those who fared well, and those who faced devastating consequences. "Where were they? Where was anyone? This is a goddamn emergency, he said. Then someone else said it was the classic binary between the rich and he poor, between the haves and the have-nots, between the whites and blacks, in the difficulty of all of that" (83). The poor, black communities were neglected help during the havoc while the white, rich communities had no trouble or hardship compared to the black neighborhoods. There was a clear distinction between those who had money and those who did not. There was a horrible reality that those who were supposed to help everyone in need, were selective in a critical period of time.
After reading this story, I wanted to look more into what happened at the Superdome. The dome was chaotic and did not have the supplies needed to support 30,000 people. Those who had to stay in the dome were all black citizens, and were deserted by FEMA. The dome went days without power with water rising fast. Rankine highlights this, "He gave me the flashlight, she said, I didn't want to turn it on. It was all black. I didn't want to shine a light on that" (84). Everyone who had to live through the awful reality of the Superdome, was black, and was ignored by their own city.
Over ten years later, and people are still suffering from the repercussions of Hurricane Katrina. "We are drowning here, still in the difficulty, as if the faces in the images hold all the consequences, and the fiction of the facts assumes randomness and indeterminacy" (85).
Rankine effectively and powerfully describes the atrocities and racism the black people of New Orleans had to experience.
This was one of the most awful and devastating events in history. What makes it even worse is how neglected the black community was during this time. If this disaster would of occurred in a predominantly white area, such as the northern east coast, everyone would have received proper help in no time. It is entirely unfair how black men and women are treated in this country...
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