Just One Photograph

There have been many brilliant, shocking images coming out of the Katrina disaster and its aftermath, and there can be no doubt that the photographers who documented the struggle in New Orleans will see their work praised and rewarded for years to come. But it's more than two weeks since the storm; I didn't expect to be shocked, moved, saddened, angered, and touched deeply by a new photograph. Yet there it was, and even in a middle seat on the shuttle down to DC on business today, pressed in by work and competing elbows, it took my breath away.

I won't show it here, but would like to describe it; then you can click on the link. [The photo was taken by Bruce Chambers of the Orange County Register and distributed the the AP].

The picture shows a rescue team emerging from a white, two-family house in New Orleans. A big husky guy in U.S. Army atigues with the name Ramos on his chest holds the truly emaciated body of a naked, elderly black man. The victim's head lolls back at a strange angle; consciousness does not dwell there. His ribs and breastbone are prominent, and his body is smooth; age appears only in the well-worn hands and the ancient feet. He wears an oxygen mask and is hooked up to an IV drip. The team has taken the time to drape a towel across his genitals.  Clearly, the man's life hangs in the balance, but this group of rescuers saw the need for some slight dignity.

Then there is the face of Ramos. It is a powerful face, late 30s I'd guess, going to jowels. A man who likes his cold ones and his football (pure conjecture, but it's my blog). Ramos is hell-bent to save the dying man, that much is clear. All camo fatigues and determination, he is the face of a real Federal response to disaster. His energy is the abundant source of movement in the photo, the complete contrast to the limp, thin victim.

There are others: A woman with a navy shirt that apparently reads New Orleans Medic holds the patient's legs as the group descends some concrete steps. She wears a blue handkerchief on her head, and her brown braids are the only sign of youth and beauty in the picture. Her colleague, a man in dark shades, holds the victim's shoulders aloft. They are local EMTs, supporting the shoulders and the legs of a man being rescued by the Federal response team. A hand with a camouflage cuff, the rest unseen, holds the IV bag.

This is New Orleans two weeks after the flood. Two weeks.

To see the photo, please click here.

The story of the rescue, including the backgrounds of those involved, is here.

Take a look please; I'd love to know if your reaction to this picture is a strong as mine was.

Comments

[John Maas]

Just listening again to Jason Chervokas' podcast #7 of Down in the Flood to which you attuned your readers. Such hell to pay. Saw that picture earlier. The ephemera of American pride crawls across the floor.....

[hrc]

Our modern day Pieta.

[Tony Alva]

It is indeed a great photo. It's one of those that has many levels to it and has something to offer anybody who looks at it.

I like this one for the same reasons:

http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/2005/05/little-girl.html

For me, both of these photos show us the goodness that exists below the fire of all the politics, hubris, hate, blame, etc... That we ought to be most thankful that there are people that are motivated to carry out their duty and do it with care no matter what has led them to the point they're at. And perhaps, that we don't forget these people. Maybe we should inspire to be more like them.

[Michael Turyn]

It reminds me of the image of the raising of the U.S. flag on Mt Surabachi on Iwo Jima.

[Teresa Nielsen Hayden]

It would be a striking photograph under any circumstances. To know it was taken so long after the flood, and that the paramedics/EMTs we're seeing, and relief workers in general, have been excluded from the area for weeks -- it's beyond words.

Tony Alva is right. It's like the raising of the flag on Mt. Surabachi. Only what these guys have had to fight has been one of our own government agencies.

[David Moles]

The part of the story that seems to be missing from the Post-Gazette, that was in the OC Register story, was that in rescuing Hollingsworth, the CA National Guard had to disobey orders from FEMA:

In the past few days, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has ordered searchers not to break into homes. They are supposed to look in through a window and knock on the door. If no one cries out for help, they are supposed to move on. If they see a body, they are supposed to log the address and move on.

[Brendan]

Here we see the culmination of Darwinistic progression, though I would modify the popular concept of "survival of the fittest" to the slightly different "survival of the most ruthless".

In the last 5 years we've seen a spiral through Political Darwinism, to Social Darwinism to Species Darwinism, the fight for very life.

We're all losers.

[seamus]

Shocking and stirring. All the horror and goodness in one image. I hope this man lives.

How can Pat Robertson blame this horrifying event on gays? How can some people still be talking about people looting TVs? It's been so long since America knew survivalism, and this will shake us for a decade.

[Gotham Gal]

I saw that photo this morning too. I was as shocked as you were. The man was a bag of bones. 2 weeks living in who knows what.

I took a taxi ride yesterday and my cab driver professed that New Orleans is like Noah's Ark. It is history repeating itself. Interesting..

[Martindale]

Jesus wept.