Zane and the Hurricane: A Story of Katrina

In Zane and the Hurricane, Philbrick calls attention to contemporary issues of racial inequity and injustice during and after Hurricane Katrina, criticizing the institutional response to the crisis and how it reveals structural racism. Statistics and historical accounts offer background information that helps the reader better understand the novel’s themes of racial disparity.

Poor people and people of color were treated unequally and suffered disproportionately after the hurricane. Statistics reveal that Black people were inordinately affected by the hurricane. One in every three people who lived in areas where Katrina did the most damage across Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, were Black. Additionally, 2000 census data reports that the areas of New Orleans hardest hit by Katrina had the most residents living in poverty—28 percent—before the hurricane struck. Like Tru and Miss Trissy, many impoverished people did not have a vehicle and were unable to escape the city before the storm. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes that sixty-five percent of poor, elderly households did not have transportation, and three out of five poor black households did not have vehicles (Shapiro, Isaac, et al. “Essential Facts About The Victims of Hurricane Katrina.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 19 Sept.