After finishing Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers, I was left with so many unanswered questions. It baffles me that our government treats people the way it treated Zeitoun and there was no consequences for its actions. I had no clue that people were treated the way they were during Katrina—treated like animals for looting. Why was our government building a prison two days after the hurricane? The sheriff of Orleans parish even called the warden of Angola prison to ask for supplies and labor to build a makeshift prison before the hurricane (310). These prisons had food, water, and even toilets—many of the things the refugees waiting for rescue did not.

Was everyone as ignorant about the circumstances surrounding Katrina as I was before reading Zeitoun or were they just choosing to ignore the facts? If so, then it saddens me that no one did anything about it. Why weren’t more people angered at what went on? Maybe because I was only eighteen at the time and was in my own little world, but I don’t remember any of this being on the news. When natural disasters happen in other countries America always does what it can to help. Our government has even already sent Navy ships and relief supplies to Japan, but it 5 days for the government to get to New Orleans.

Zeitoun was one of the few people who were actually doing some good after Katrina. Instead of treating him like the hero he was, they treated him like a terrorist. Think about it, who was actually terrorizing who? Zeitoun was the passive one, while the guards and police were the ones terrorizing him. Instead of using all this money and manpower to build prisons and arrest “looters” and “terrorists,” the American government could have been helping the people trapped, starving, and dying in the streets. After the whole ordeal was over, Kathy and Zeitoun decided to sue. But the outcome was not revealed in the book—I would like to know what happened. I wonder if anyone was ever punished for his or her wrongs.

If you take away race, religion, and socio-economic status, these were just American citizens dying in our own streets without the help of their government. When we think of America, we think of a land of freedom, of opportunity; instead those affected by Hurricane Katrina lost hope and faith in their government and their country.