Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster

by Michael Eric Dyson

When Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, hundreds of thousands were left behind to suffer the ravages of destruction, disease, and even death. The majority of these people were black; nearly all were poor. The Federal government's slow response to local appeals for help is by now notorious. Yet despite the cries of outrage that have mounted since the levees broke, we have failed to confront the disaster's true to be poor, or black, in today's ownership society, is to be left behind. Displaying the intellectual rigor, political passion, and personal empathy that have won him acclaim and fans all across the color line, Michael Eric Dyson offers a searing assessment of the meaning of Hurricane Katrina. Combining interviews with survivors of the disaster with his deep knowledge of black migrations and government policy over decades, Dyson provides the historical context that has been sorely missing from public conversation. He explores the legacy of black suffering in America since slavery and ties its psychic scars to today's crisis. And, finally, his critique of the way black people are framed in the national consciousness will shock and surprise even the most politically savvy reader. With this clarion call Dyson warns us that we can only find redemption as a society if we acknowledge that Katrina was more than an engineering or emergency response failure. From the TV newsroom to the Capitol Building to the backyard, we must change the way we relate to the black and the poor among us. What's at stake is no less than the future of democracy.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics, Race, Social Justice, Sociology, African American

258 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Michael Eric Dyson is an American academic, author, and radio host. He is a professor of sociology at Georgetown University.

Reviews

[Zanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the facts and figures with careful critical analysis of the layered causes of the failure to deal with Katrina and the effect of the catastrophe for the (mainly) black & poor people of New Orleans.

While much of the book is pretty dry and mainly useful for reference from my point of view, Chapter 9 'Frames of Reference' tackled complex issues of race, class, racism and the media framing of the catastrophe of ingrained & structural anti-blackness. According to captions, while white 'residents' 'found food', black people 'looted'. The inclusion and analysis of quotes from diverse black survivors and supporters brought the book to life.

His exposure of the cronyism behind government failing and re-implicated in the anti-black, gentrifying, poverty-entrenching 'disaster capitalism' that followed is also extremely important. Fighting this is integral to struggle against racism & poverty...

The book also examines theodicy critically and seriously from a Christian perspective, which will be important for some of Dyson's audience.

Here's a quote I LOVE from Martin Luther King that Dyson uses:

On the one hand we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside; but that will only be an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an ediface which produces beggars needs restructuring.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given the current US President, I had almost forgotten what an inept, bigoted piece of $#!t Bush was. This book was informative, particularly about the role the local, state, and federal governments played in exacerbating the disaster. I also thought the chapter on religion was interesting. Overall it could have been written in a more engaging way, but Dyson is an academic so this was pretty good prose considering.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Come Hell or High Water by Michael Eric Dyson was a powerful and compelling book that captured the devestation, panic, racism, and over all grief that many victims experienced during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Dyson fills in the gaps of the missing stories during the terrible event, mishaps with in the Federal government and Fema, Bush's lack of respose to helping victims in need, and other politicians who failed to help the citizens of new orleans.

What I liked about this book so much was that it gave a real and true perspective of what if was like for all those victims stranded in houses engulfed in water, the fear of those who sat lying hopelessly in the Super Dome waiting for food and water for 5 days, 5 days after the storm hit. Dyson uses factual evidence to support his arguments, excerpts from politicians and victims that experienced the storm and gives it his own personal view point on the situation in between.

Over all this was a very good book and for all those going to new orleans in February, this is a must read!

[Alicia Bishop · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me over a month to get through this book. Although it is clearly well researched and informative, it is poorly written and struggles to entertain. I believe this content needs to be read and the struggles of neglected poor, black New Orleans citizens needs to be heard, there are much better books that this on the topic.

The first third of the book was a dense, albeit informative, history of local and FEMA leadership in the time leading up to and during Katrina. A strong discussion point in the book was in chapter 9 in which the media's portrayal of Katrina is discussed. The last chapter of the book was unfortunately the weakest, full of religious bias and first person side steps in a discussion on religion's role in the Hurricane response and understanding.

[Cheryl S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many boring statistics at the beginning, I just couldn't get interested in this book although I'm very interested in the topic.

[Tory Cross · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an absolutely incredible assessment of the blatant government neglect and harm done under the Bush Administration during Hurricane Katrina. Dyson's work captures the history of segregation, racist policies, and racist implementation of FEMA and other emergency agency policies.

[Krysten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean I knew how the Bush administration handled Hurricane Katrina was bad but damn! I was in high school when this happened. It was really devastating learning all the ways the country failed black people already suffering from poverty then being demonized and victim blamed. Absolutely disgusting. Very informative yet also depressing.

[Ami]

I saw a meme the other day that said, "On September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard coordinated the evacuation of 500,000 people from the area surrounding Ground Zero by creating a volunteer fleet of military, merchant, city and private vessels. It took just 9 hours and moved more people than the Dunkirk Evacuation at the start of WWII." Well, look what's possible when they're people who are cared about.

Michael Eric Dyson does a great job of explaining just why the mostly poor, mostly black people of New Orleans were not cared about, why Kanye West's statement that "George Bush doesn't care about Black people) was pretty much accurate, that not only is there a deep history of racist neglect & violence, but it is ongoing: when evacuees tried to walk over the Mississippi Bridge into the suburb of Gretna, police fired shots over their heads to get them to turn around.

In the best case scenario, the horrifically inadequate response was "just" bureaucratic incompetence. But the truly disturbing part is that there were SO MANY offers for help that were turned down. The Red Cross was told they couldn't go into New Orleans because "it might encourage people to believe it was safe to remain". The mayor of Chicago, prior to the storm, offered FEMA the use of "44 Fire Dept rescue & medical personnel & gear, over 100 Chicago police officers, 140 Streets & Sanitation workers, 146 Public Health workers, 29 trucks, 2 boats, and a mobile clinic." Of that, "FEMA only requested a single tank truck" AFTERWARD. The US Marine ship the USS Bataan was in the Gulf before Katrina, followed the hurricane into the port in order to be ready to help, had 600 hospital beds & 1200 sailors that were never called into service. The American Bus Association tried to assist with evacuation & couldn't get in touch with anyone from FEMA. Walmart trucks with bottled water were turned away. 1,000 firefighters on route were sent back. And on & on. It appears to be a much deeper problem than simply not being able to figure out the correct procedure.

Dyson also give a history of the government's evolving sense of responsibility in disaster relief. In the past century or so, the buck has been passed around from agency to agency, defunded, and ultimately in the hands of an administration like GW Bush's that believes that government should be limite, it was bound to not have adequate allocation for helping those who need help the most. The focus was also shifted from natural disasters, which in the case of New Orleans was predicted by many, to terrorism, which, let's face it, is a comparatively less likely threat. Hurricanes WILL happen, every year.

Just, UGH. Bush was a shithead for so many reasons, but I hope this goes on the books as one of the worst things he did. Fuck him & his 533 vacation days.

[Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely interesting book that explores that failures in preparation and response to hurricane Katrina. The bottom line is that New Oreleans was obviously ill prepared to handle such a powerful hurricane for various reasons. There is plently of blame to go around, but Dyson places a significant amount of blame on the bungling Bush adminstration for being indifferent to blacks and the poor. Secondly, by placing unqualified people (Mike Brown) in the agencies (FEMA) supposedly designed deal with natural diasters or other catastrophes he only exaccerbated the pain, suffering and damaged, which hindsight shows, absoulutely could have been prevented. Lastly, and probably the most damning is his complete disregard for the well-being of African Americans and especially poor African Americans. He absolutely failed to even do a good job of diverting blame through his insincere public relations campaign. He basically didn't care what the perception of him was in regard to how he mismanaged and helped to create this calamity in the first plae.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Dyson is hilarious in interviews, but it doesn't come across as well in print. Of course this is not a "funny" book, however Dyson's voice doesn't come through the way I hoped it would. I don't believe that nonfiction has to be dry because history is a story, just like any other, that should be told in a descriptive, engaging, and witty style. Dyson leans too hard on statistics and logistics; the story of Katrina gets lost in his retelling.

The book is still a worthwhile read, especially the parts that explain how each of the players (Bush, Brownie, Nagen, etc.) fit into the puzzle. But if you're looking for the story of Katrina, you're better off checking out Spike Lee's excellent HBO documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts and the recently released documentary Trouble the Water shot by a couple in the Lower 9th Ward through Katrina's onslaught and aftermath.

[Tinea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very clear explanation of the racism that influenced the Hurricane Katrina disaster: why it was mostly poor African Americans who lived in low-lying, flooded area; why these people didn't evacuate before the storm; and why did the government delay its response for five days-- and then how come that response was above all military, not humanitarian.

I recommend this if you want to get a basic understanding of the structural causes of so many deaths.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good investigative report. To go along with this see Spike Lee's 2 documentaries- when the levees broke and if God is willing and the creek don't shine.

[Alvaro Francisco Hidalgo Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dyson's main question is whether race played a role in the response to the tragedy in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina devastated the mostly Black and poor neighborhoods of the city. While the answer may be uncomfortable, it is clear that both racism and indifference to the plight of the poor not only set up the requirements for a very disparate effect among the residents, but also shaped how the government reacted. Dyson does point to other elements, such as cronyism, which filled the agencies responsible for disaster mitigation and reaction with incompetents, or the Bush administration's allocation of resources to foreign wars instead of levee reconstruction or funding for homeland safety agencies. In the end, of course, it was a complete disaster of a response. It was then that the subtle and not so subtle defense mechanisms of victim blaming and poor Black demonizing came into effect. The chapter dealing with theodicy in the face of Katrina was somewhat superfluous for an atheist, but it was still interesting to read how believers try to square disasters with their religious beliefs. All in all a worthwhile read, not so much about the disaster itself, but more of an interesting intellectual exposition of some of the racist and classist underpinnings present in our culture which are often overlooked by those of us who are lucky not to be members of the most marginalized groups in our society.

[Emily Onufer · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We can abide the ugly presence of poverty so long as it doesn't interrupt the natural flow of things, doesn't rudely impinge on our daily lives or awareness. As long as poverty is a latent reality, a solemn social fact suppressed from prominence on our moral compass, we can find our bearings without fretting too much about its awkward persistence." 3

"It should also be clear that although one may not have racial intent, one's actions may nonetheless have racial consequence." 20

"Unless we talk and learn about class, poverty, and color, and the distinctive fashion in which they collude to deprive people of healthy life chances, we are perpetuating a legacy of injustice." 209

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for class. I did a lot of skimming for this book but I think that if I have the time, I would definitely revisit it for a more thorough read. The book delves into the hesitation, incompetency and lack of preparation of the US government and FEMA in managing and sending aid to New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. It documents the racist undertones that seem to have governed this response delay and the frustrating elements of bureaucracy and the top-down command-control system of management within the FEMA and Bush's administration at the time.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dense book about complicated things and it demands something of the reader in time and concentration. Even in 2021, Michael Eric Dyson's examination of Katrina contains lessons we should had heard and learned but didn't. Poverty can be crushing and fatal and racial disdain and judgement can poison the very waters surrounding you. How can you evacuate when no one you know owns a car? What does one do when the car you did find is suddenly with three feet/ one meter of rising water

[LaShana Claude]

It's a community with many economic challenges-chronic and systemic poverty in a core group. And because of the roots, the fact that the mama and grandmamma and daughters all live in the same neighborhood, there's a real connectivity of home and family. There's a diversity of income, but the greater portion (face) the challenge of poverty, and the elderly population primarily have fixed incomes.

- Cynthia Williard-Lewis, Councilwoman, District E
(including the Lower 9th Ward)

[Jbondandrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Natural disasters are always the events that mark a government or a populations attitude to their neighbours be it in the same country or other parts of the world. The poor, disadvantaged and others in similar circumstances always suffer the most and as the climate crisis deepens so will the disasters faced by people around the world. They will meet the same indifference as with previous environmental destruction.

[Ernest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent recording of the government's response to the challenges of Katrina. It also covers the political and religious philosophical challenges that Katrina poses for America. It reflects on topics such as disaster capitalism, limited government, the prosperity gospel beliefs, mass media racism, and religious social justice responsibility.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The analysis of Kanye West's comments is so wonderful that I made my students read the whole chapter. The book got a bit repetitive by the end, but it's still probably the best thing I've read about Katrina. I also learned a lot about FEMA and the history of the Department of Homeland Security.

[Phillip Lowrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An in depth examination and critique of how race and class played a role in the many facets of the disaster of Hurricane Katrina. A stark look at how the government at all levels failed the neediest of our society at the time of their greatest need.

[Dominic Howarth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illuminating and soul wrenching, Dyson takes you on a hard journey, pulling back the veil on the myths that surrounded the greatest American natural disaster of the 20th Century, how we got there, and how even today we are all implicit in it’s occurring.

[Nick Smith-Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great quick read. Although I read it 14 years after it was written, it was a good reminder of the failures of the federal government in response to Katrina; as well as a look at how much work we still need to do for people of color and those of low income.

[William Beckman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t think it’s bad per se but I did not enjoy reading and wish there had been more focus on FEMA and maybe less sections where the author is just calling out a specific stupid thing that one journalist said on TV.

[Iris]

Read of most of it for class, really insightful account on how the existing systemic issues in New Orleans and the incompetence of the federal government led to the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina.

[Jerome · Rating 3 out of 5]

The research was great, his view on theodicy often veered off into politics. He never addresses the issue biblically, which leaves his analysis purely religiously secularized.

[Tiarah x · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informational and shocking to say the least. But then on the other hand nothing really surprises me anymore.

[Samuel L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great socio-economic commentary on the historical, geological, and governmental travesties surrounding Hurricane Katrina.

[Rafael Suleiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good account of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

[Eric Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read from my favorite author and I learned so so much!