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 244 pages, 16 additional glossy pages of Photos |
Face to Face with Katrina SurvivorsA First Responder’s TributeBy Lemuel A. Moyé, M.D., Ph.D.Author's PageIn personal terms, the book reveals to America what decades of greed and neglect, culminating with Hurricane Katrina, inflicted upon the impoverished people of the Gulf Coast communities of the New Orleans area. While the extent of the devastation perpetrated upon the survivors has not previously been so thoroughly documented, nevertheless, this book remains uplifting and positive in character. Above all, it is a testament to the marvelous spirit that resides in the hearts of these poor and largely black people of the southern United States. It also presents the generous spirit of the people of Houston, Texas in welcoming these survivors of the most destructive hurricane in US history. The riveting text is buttressed by sixteen pages of dramatic photographs. Dr. Moyé, a professor of Biostatistics at the University of Texas School of Public Health and a medical doctor, along with many of his colleagues, witnessed and interacted with these great people as they clung to hope in the wake of a natural and man-made disaster that included the breaching of the levees and an incredibly hostile government “rescue” response. The survivors’ stories of life and death and heroic self-sacrifice that Dr. Moyé relates are in direct contradiction with the media depictions of the poor people of New Orleans. Dr. Moyé, himself a proud African-American man, had been led by the mass media to believe that the people he was volunteering to help would be “animalistic” and selfish. What he found was the very opposite! “The survivors operated from a compassionate and gracious strength of heart that endured this most severe of tests.” Indeed, the book reveals the startling depth of the “souls of black folk” in our time quite similar to that depth of spirit which W.E.B. DuBois discovered and reported so eloquently in his book of that name over one hundred years ago. Dr. Moyé concludes his Introduction with the following observation about the Katrina survivors he encountered face to face: “It was an honor to watch, and even participate in, their reactions as they demonstrated their allegiance to family, to culture, to each other, and, in the end, to us all. This book is my tribute to them.” Complementary Book for Education North Carolina Review for Educators From the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction: InfoTech Review:[Grades 9-12, Social Studies] Dr. Moyé is a professor of biostatistics in Houston. His first-person story as a volunteer physician at the Houston Astrodome, receiving and treating the evacuees from the devastation of hurricane Katrina, is a moving account. He represents many others as the true heroes in the treatment and recovery process, chronicling their indomitable spirit as they pick up the pieces and move forward. In many cases, the story is of evacuees helping each other, even as they try to come to terms with their own losses. If positives are to come from Katrina's devastation, they must come from stories like this that show what people can accomplish with hope and perseverance. Moyé's story is engaging reading and suitable for character studies and as a human interest supplement for history and science classes. Character Education [Science] (InfoTech Volume 2007: Issue 3, pg 20) |
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