"Zeitoun" pronounced Zay-toon



Image from Hurricane Katrina

After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in  August 2005, I remember seeing many images like the one above, and I literally thought "This couldn't be happening in this country!"

I remember spending countless hours glued to the television feeling anger, disbelief, but mostly sad. I would look at the people who were hot, hungry and begging for help and silently cry.

I remember the racial tension in the air and feeling like lots of other people: The government was slow to respond because the people impacted by the storm were Black.

At the Advance Placement (AP) conference for people who teach high school AP classes, I was given a copy of a book titled Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. Needing something to read, I decided to read this book. It is An Entertainment Weekly Book of the Decade, A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner, A New York Times Notable Book, and named One of the Best Books of the Year by The San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, O, The Oprah Magazine, and The Kansas City Star. It is also an American Book Award Winner. And it came with rave reviews from one of my favorite authors, Edwidge Danticat.

This book caused me to have a complete paradigm shift. The media is powerful, and most of the the people who were shown suffering during Hurricane Katrina were Black people, so I unconsciously thought that "The Katrina Situation" was "A Black Situation", but this book, Zeitoun, helped me to see that Katrina was "A People Situation."

When I first started reading this book, I assumed that the characters were Black. Even with a name like Abdulrahman Zeitoun, I still assumed that the characters were Black because of my unconscious thoughts. Once I discovered that the characters were not Black, I was disappointed and almost stopped reading the book. I thought: "The nerve of Dave Eggers to take a Black story and tell it from the point of view of a Syrian and a White lady." But, I overcame myself and continued to read this book, and I am so happy that I did.

Abdulrahman Zietoun in the New Orleans Greyhound bus station where he was held after ­being arrested. Photograph: Julie Dermansky/Polaris

Zeitoun is the true story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Muslim Syrian-American owner of a painting and contracting company in New Orleans and his wife Kathy, who is a White, Muslim woman from Baton Rogue, Louisiana. Abdulrahamn decided to stay in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and Kathy decided to evacuate with their four children.

Abdulrahman just happened to have a canoe and was able to rescue many people and help many animals. He felt like he was divinely left in New Orleans to help. However, everything changed when cops bursted into his house and took him to a Greyhound bus station that had been converted into a prison. (What really surprised me is how quickly New Orleans was able to build a makeshift prison that was stocked with food and water, and regular citizens were stuck on bridges for days.) Abdulrahman greatest fear happened, and this incident completely changed him!!!

Eggers gives details accounts of the experiences of Zeitoun and many other innocent people who were imprisoned for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This book is captivating and adds another story to the many stories that are already told about the horrible things that happened during Hurricane Katrina. It is a MUST READ!

The 6th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina was August 29th, and I have not been watching much television, but I have not seen or heard any stories about the anniversary. Some people can forget, but others are left with the scars forever.

I am so grateful for authors who feel that everyday people's stories are worthy to be told.

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