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Young Evacuees Arrive in Los Angeles
"We’re all scattered everywhere. Half my people are in Atlanta, some of them are in Texas - some in Dallas. Some I don’t even know."
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By Tyler Seaberry
Hurricane Katrina left thousands of residents in the Southern states without a place to call home. Stranded, without anywhere to turn, many found themselves traveling to different places just to get a hot meal and clean clothes. Eighteen-year old Tyler Seaberry, along with his 25-year old brother, hit the highway and hitchhiked across the country from New Orleans to Los Angeles to escape Hurricane Katrina. Here's Tyler's story as told to Youth Radio. (September 8 on KCRW's Which Way, LA?)
When I saw that day, when I woke up – I saw a lot of people that I grew up with, dead. Imagine you waking up in the morning and you see a body in the street. I could have been the same dude on the block stealing things from people. I could have got me a car, and that’s not me. I like to get it the right way - the legal way. So what we did was, we just found somebody who was going out and went and caught a ride. It was like one ride like to a certain spot, then we got another ride with somebody else.
It took two days to get here.
And hours and hours sitting in a car. I was hungry and everything. Had no money or nothing. We’re all scattered everywhere. Half my people are in Atlanta, some of them are in Texas - some in Dallas. Some I don’t even know. It’s kind of hard. Most people I talk to, I don’t even know where they are at. I’m way out here by myself – me and my brother, we don’t got nobody. I’m not trying to have anyone feel sympathy for my story. It’s just I’m blessed to be here. Cause I went through a lot of things.
I could have been in one of those bodies floating up back there. I’m glad I made it through.
That’s all I can do is just pray to the lord every night. Like for a week. We were all at Cerrito, at the Galleria mall, walking around in the parking lot, holding up signs in the heat. It said, “New Orleans, Hurricane, Louisiana, Please help, God Bless.” Some people thought we were just fake, lying. We were just trying to get some money to eat or survive. We had no clean clothes. We just got here and got some clean clothes. Had the same clothes on for a week. For a week, walking around. Same shoes. Everything.
I got frustrated so many times where I just wanted to give up. I just threw the sign. I didn’t know what to do. I was about to cry. I’m like, “I’ll keep my head up. I’m not going to cry. I’m a man.”
Roaming the streets of LA, people tell you, “It’s rough out. You don’t get caught walking the streets at night.” We walk the streets at 3 o’clock in the morning. We met some people staying in Cerrito. When we met them in Cerrito, we walked all the way to Cerrito. Cerrito is a far place from Compton. One man was showing us around, showing us what to do and what not to do, what to wear, what not to wear. If it weren’t for him, we’d still be on the street holding up signs. And I thank him for that.
Me and my buddy can’t go back. We have no home to go back to.
There are a lot of people that have, say they are going home. Where am I going? Got nowhere to go. We came to Los Angeles because it’s the only way it looked like we could get away from the Hurricane. Cause I wasn’t trying to stay in the South. I just made a move where I know someone is going to help me. As long as someone gives it to me, like give me a job or something, I’ll take it. I need the best job I can get. I had almost close to 5 thousand dollars. I can tell you now, I can’t get it. It’s gone.
I’m coming back. I’m never going to forget about my people. Yes, I’ll always be a New Orleans resident. That’s my home town right there. You can bury my city but you can’t take the soul. That’s my heart right there. That’s my city.
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