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| Patrice Worthy, Publisher of PWorthy Archives |
Then on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Days leading up to the tragic event the news reported that the category 5 hurricane would be one of the strongest to ever make landfall – it made landfall at category 3. New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin urged everyone to evacuate and those who could did, while others remained. I remember sitting in my front room with a friend who said, “I have a really bad feeling about this hurricane.” America was on pins and needles. Not knowing what expect, I replied “I think it’ll be fine.” I was wrong.
I think every Black person in the US remembers where they were when Hurricane Katrina made landfall. I was at a friend’s house, and we were both getting ready for class. I was attending Indiana University at the time and working at the school newspaper The Indiana Daily Student. The newsroom was mostly white and there were a lot of opinions. It was hard for the Black reporters to listen to the insensitive remarks made by our peers as we watched our own people suffer. We weren’t in shock by the failed response of our government, but we shed collective tears with the Black community at the sight of little Black babies on the verge of death due to dehydration. Black women and men laying in the streets while others surrounded them shouting “live, please live.” Then there was the man carrying a wagon full of small children whose mothers could not be found - I’ll never forget the image as he pulled the wagon through the 9th Ward.
When I interviewed Babington about climate change, I was excited because the content was perfect for PWorthy Archives. What I didn’t expect is for my memories of Hurricane Katrina to come flooding back. I started remembering the days leading up to the tragedy and the aftermath. During our interview Babington brought up the Kanye West incident when he appeared on a live television segment and said “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.” Black folks who silently held the same sentiment were in awe of West’s emotional outburst, didn’t disagree. As Babington and I continued to talk about climate change and I thought to myself is the water trying to tell us something. Water is a living organism, it holds memory, it cleanses and has other attributes we are just now discovering
I discovered the power of water in Norfolk, Virginia after a difficult year and having visited beaches abroad, I decided I wanted to have an American beach summer. To be honest, the only beaches I ever visited stateside were in Miami and I thought them to be gorgeous. My visits were just long enough to entice me to explore other beaches, and so I went on my first beach summer in the United States. Swimming in the waters at Ocean View everyday was transformative. Each time the heaviness I brought with me felt lighter and lighter. A late bloomer, I also found myself in the throes of my first summer beach crush. He taught me how to fish and we talked at night on the beach and ordered pizza from Chanellos, a neighborhood pizza place. More importantly, I learned that beach communities are our last real communities and are in danger. For the first time in years, I saw children playing outside, couples sojourning with their infants to the water, and people meeting up to just hang out. I felt safe at the water.
Soon I learned that these shores were the shores where the first Africans in the British Colonies landed. Inspired, I wrote about it for the BBC. While conducting interviews another idea about lack Black enslavement in the US floated to surface and while I tried to convey it, I was limited to word count. Professor Cassandra Newby-Alexander Ph.D. described the implementation of slavery by way of the law as “a deliberate dispossession of power,” she continued. “It was strategic, and they used religion to do it.” When the article was published I hoped the message would illuminate itself, and I don’t know if it did, but at least the message is out there. The quote still haunts me as I observe a rapidly changing America and history repeating itself.
I thought, more about the water and how it nourishes us, and how it also guides us. Having a relationship with water is like having a relationship with a messenger who will only participate if you’re quiet enough to hear its whisper. As a Black woman, who’s people and culture were “Born on the Water,” as much as I’m aware of the tragedies Black people have suffered by way of water, I’m also aware that the water carries the wisdom to help us transcend our trauma. So, I journey there as much as I can with awareness of where the water is guiding me.
I hope you enjoy the content this week. See you next week.
Patrice Worthy
Publisher, PWorthy Archives