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God and Katrina
"Wouldn’t it be easy to envision God as a “justifier” when a calamitous event brought it all to a halt?"
By Brandon McFarland
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Youth Radio’s Brandon McFarland found that in New Orleans, youth are struggling to understand the spiritual toll of the destruction wrought on their city. He listened to young people reflect on what role they thought God played in Hurricane Katrina, and sent these responses.
Do you believe in God? Do you believe that God had any role in sending Hurricane Katrina to New Orleans?
I asked young people a lot of questions. But over and over, this question yielded the most consistent and surprising responses. They told me that the hurricane was basically God’s response to the city’s iniquity.
Fifteen-year old Angelica Robinson says when returned to New Orleans after Katrina, it seemed like crime in her neighborhood had decreased. And now she sees the hurricane as a good thing.
ANGELICA (on tape)
God was lookin’ down and like, “Man, look at my children. Why they doin’ this? Why they killin’ each other?” He might have felt ashamed and he might of tried to wash, you know, and tried to clean the corruptness out of New Orleans. And that's probably why he sent the hurricane...I don't know if that's true or not, but that's how I feel.
BRANDON
Angelica grew up in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, where she became accustomed to seeing violence. To tourists the city is known as The Big Easy, but there’s another nickname that’s caught fire with the city’s youth - the Murder Capital. Whether it’s Ninth Ward or East Oakland, every 'hood has this in common.
There people who work a steady 9-5, and then there are those people who sell drugs in the same neighborhood. And you don’t have to be in the drug game to get shot. If you were witnessing this stuff on a daily basis, in a place with such deeply rooted religious tradition, wouldn’t it be easy to envision God as a “justifier” when a calamitous event brought it all to a halt?
At New Orleans Charter Science and Math High School, some students say they saw Katrina as one of those events the Bible talks about that heralds the last days.
STUDENT (on tape)
I think God did it because he wanted, because New Orleans wasn't...I ain't even gonna lie...the most holiest place. It was everything, like in the bible, when the world comes to an end. New Orleans was doin’ all them things. So maybe he wanted to give New Orleans a chance to save itself.
STUDENT (on tape)
In relation to what she was saying, I think God sent the hurricane to us to teach us to actually value our lives, our possessions, everything.
STUDENT (on tape)
So, what about the people that died that was livin’ their life right...that was holy or whatever. Y'all think that it's some kind of “good suffer for the bad” type of stuff?
STUDENT (on tape)
I'm not saying that. I'm saying when God choose somebody, he choose you to make an example. So he chose all the good people because he knew they was all coming to him anyway when their time come and what not. I'm showing the people that not...just how fast I can take your life. That's what he's saying.
BRANDON
This is a heavy debate. It’s safe to say that Hurricane Katrina if nothing else, forced these students to think critically about the world around them. High school students in this city are quick to debate the politics surrounding the recovery, and how damage and loss of life could have been prevented.
But in a place where county governments are referred to as parishes, God plays just as big a role as FEMA. I can’t help wondering... Are these young people's ideas about God and the Hurricane coming from church? I turned to Father Vien from the Mary Queen of Vietnam Church to pick his brain about the responses that I had been getting.
FATHER VIEN (on tape)
Of course the act is within the control of God. Why did it happen? Our cushioning understanding is not the cause and effect. Meaning, if that's the way we think, then we are saying all people who suffer are bad.
Then how do you explain the suffering of Christ? The effects of it certainly have been cleansing. That we can begin anew. That there are several things that were out of our reach, pre-Katrina, that are now in our grasp.
BRANDON
For Angelica Robinson, some things now in her reach literally came knocking at her door. When she returned to the city after Katrina, she was recruited by a youth photography project. That led her to the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, or NOCCA, the city's the most prestigous performing arts high school.
ANGELICA (on tape)
Before the storm, I never even knew that they had a school called NOCCA. Never even thought about writing or photography or nothing like that. And so, after the storm, new opportunities came to me. I can see, it’s kind of more good than bad. Or maybe a fifty-fifty thing, because I lost a lot and then, I gained a lot.
BRANDON
I know for a lot of you, it might seem like a dangerous idea that God sent the Hurricane to reform New Orleans. Especially with many neighborhoods still in shambles. But it's hard to find fault with young people's hopes that the city can rebuild - without many of its worst problems.
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