The first situation Rankine discusses in Section VI of Citizen is the situation of Hurricane Katrina explained with various quotes from CNN. This is called a situation because it is a historical event no one was sure how to deal with at the time. The media and the people on the ground we’re scrambling for a response which made Hurricane Katrina a situation without a solution. The text emphasizes this unknown feeling and situates the reader to view Katrina from the perspective of uncertainty. The major theme of the situation is the helplessness black people feel when subjected to the whims of white society. Black people are at the mercy of the whites’ willingness to help them and are shown that they won’t get the help they deserve. This is reminiscent of the scene in Section I where a black woman is meeting her trauma therapist in person for the first time. When the woman walks down the path and rings the bell she is yelled at immediately in a way that solidified her unworthiness in the eyes of the white therapist. She is not given a moment to add her voice to the narrative which is what the world did when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana in 2005. The world immediately looked at the weather report they didn’t look to the people who were actually being impacted.  The world didn’t see the trauma they were causing by not helping just as the trauma therapist didn’t see the trauma she caused to the black woman by making her feel like a wounded dog. When the therapist finally apologizes it is too late just as when help finally arrives to those victimized by Katrina it is too late because people will go home to their “own dead child.” (Rankine,84). There is a clear feeling of hopelessness on the part of black people living in a white society that Rankine establishes over and over again in her narrative. 

Additionally, Rankine includes the quotes “Where were they? Where was anyone? This is a goddamn emergency.” (Rankine,83) to represent the fear and frustration everyone was feeling at that time. CNN began explaining this frustration as the result of “the classic binary between the rich and the poor, between the haves and the have nots, between the whites and the blacks.” (Rankine,83). This reminds the audience that the reason why there was a disparity in the response and the reason why no one comes to help is because they were coming to help black people. The emergency response agencies like FEMA said it was “unsafe to be there” (Rankine, 84) when in reality “they all want to stay in Texas”. (Rankine,84). The white privileged world forgot their responsibility to the underprivileged black people drowning in difficulty. The film alongside Rankine’s text shows the people drowning in harsh black and white imaging. One can see people on makeshift boats struggling to stay afloat and being forced to leave people behind as their homes crumbled behind them, all without an emergency vehicle in sight. These devastating images are the background of the meteorologist storm report which circles the screen. It is a path of destruction and Rankine and John Lucas allow us to see the destruction is caused. Rankine’s audio over the video states “I don’t know what the water wanted. It wanted to show you that no one would come. “(Rankine,85). The water in the form of the Hurricane proved to the poor black people living in Louisiana and around the world that no one will come in their moment of need. They will be left with only the eerie sounds of the wind blowing calling out to people who aren’t even listening. Watching the visual representation of the effects of Katrina put a huge damper on the progress of the world. America as a country has promised equality and freedom for all but when it comes down to a white man risking his life for a black man they decide to “stay in Texas.” (Rankine, 84). However, Rankine knew how to capture the attention of an audience. By integrating different forms of media into her text she is proving herself as a writer of the 21st century. She knows that many people consume information through visual media therefore to effectively communicate her ideas she makes them accessible through visual and auditory platforms. She knows the advantage she has and the wealth of knowledge at her disposal and uses that to reach the broadest audience possible and try to uplift the black community and squash despair to bring about a solution to the situation. 

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