The Transition: Profile of Darren Goudeau
Jr.
“We only brought
three pairs of clothes, because that was how long the storms lasted, three
days. This storm was real different though, It changed how we looked at life
itself.” He wiped his face free of the few tears that had so quickly rushed
from his eyes. Darren Goudeau was a nine year old New Orleans born young boy at
the time of Hurricane Katrina who had never even imagined his life being turned
upside down by the 2005 natural disaster.
Darren sat with a very distant look on
his face. Almost as if he were trying to not relive the moments of Katrina as
he spoke to me. He fiddled with his Saints football team key chain and and began
to speak on what he remembered on the day he left. “The Saturday and Sunday
before Katrina, I had a few football games, like a tournament almost. It was
sunny outside and it just seemed like a regular weekend. When I got home my
grandmother had the news playing and all I heard was the Mayor urging us to
evacuate the city. We were told to leave by Sunday morning at 11:30 or we wouldn’t be able to leave anymore because
the bridges would be shut down after that time.”
He
continued to go deeper and deeper into his mind to pull out the memories of
those very long days. At this point he couldn’t sit still. He was constantly
tapping his fingers on the coffee table that was filled with New Orleans styled
mugs. Darren then proceeded to tell about how they transitioned into Memphis,
Tn. “There were five trucks trailing us across the bridge into Memphis, filled
with all my family members from cousins, aunts, uncles, and family friends.
When we all actually made it to Memphis we went to this hotel on Union Ave. I
don’t even think it’s there anymore. It was a more like a motel if you ask me.
The walls were dingy white and the blankets on the bed were so thin. I did not
at all want to be in that hotel for those three days till the storm passed
over.”
“We never usually left New Orleans during
storms. We would all always just go to one person’s house and wade the storms
out. So, I thought after those few days we would be going back to my home. I
woke up on the second day of being at the hotel and saw my whole family sitting
around the TV in silence. I got close enough to the TV so I could see what was
going on. It was pure hell. The news was showing pictures of people sitting on
the roofs of homes with blankets that had “HELP” painted across them. Homes
were destroyed. Like, where all my childhood memories were and where I once
played football, all those things were gone. I remember them showing my
favorite place, Six Flags, it wasn’t called six flags back then but it was a
danger zone. Nothing was left but ruins.”
At this point Darren was trying to figure
out what came next after his family had seen that they weren’t going to be able
to go back to the place that they once loved so much. He began with, “My mom
had asked the front desk workers at the hotel if they knew of anywhere we could
go for emergency shelter. She told my mama about the S.O.S. shelter down the
street that was for New Orleans evacuees. When we got to the shelter it was
extremely hot on the inside. Like, the moment you set foot in there it was like
the Devil himself had touched you. That shelter was one of the worst
experiences of my life. I didn’t want to be in there with people I knew nothing
about.” He cleared his throat quickly in between sentences to hold back the
evident emotion that was trying to push through.
Darren now wanted to move the place of the
interview. He no longer wanted to speak in front of his mother so we went into
the den that was filled with warm vibrant colors. Beautifully decorated with
oversized vases and earth toned drapes. He continued exactly where we had left
off. “My mama was tired of dealing with the shelter too. My family didn’t want
to be there so we went to a church for help. At the church they adopted
families and since we got there first we were one of the first to be adopted
into the church with a family. The Gooden family adopted us and they were real
welcoming. They had open arms to us and made us feel right at home.”
“I think more than anything those people
are the ones who helped us get familiarized with Memphis the most. It was like
they had gone thru the storm too and wanted to emerge from the struggle with
us. Yeah, I thought that was cool.” He started to smile a little at the thought
of the family who so graciously comforted them in their time of need. As if he
could feel the embrace of them surrounding him the more and more he spoke of
their presence. “I remember when they helped my mom get me in school. That was
like one of the best feelings ever. Mrs.Gooden walked into the school and simply
told them “I have a fine young man here who wants to be our president one day,
could you all help him with his education?” everybody in the front office smiled
so big at me. Yeah that was a real good feeling.”
Darren became very emotional at this point.
Tears began to roll down his caramel colored face as he explained how much it
meant to him to find people in Memphis who actually cared about his family and
did not stereotype them like other people were doing the victims of Katrina. He
started to choke over his word and couldn’t really speak. He had to take a
moment to breathe and get his thoughts together before he could continue on
with the interview. He stared off for a few minutes then began to speak again.
“I feel like my transition from a place
that I loved so much and that I called my home to Memphis was a very big step.
It seemed like at first that I would never get used to the country way everyone
here spoke or how everyone used weird slang. I really had to let everything
process in my head and I just had to think that everyone in this city had to
adjust to the New Orleans people who had come here just as much as we had to
adjust to being here. So Katrina definitely was a factor that caused everyone
to get a little uncomfortable and have to think twice”
Darren began to wrap up the interview in a
few short sentences. “It was all just a learning process for me. I had to learn
that it’s okay to go through things, you know? I had to learn that life isn’t going
to be smooth sailing and we all have to have each other’s back and be in each
other’s corner because if we aren’t then things are going to get hard as hell.
I’m so happy I got to come to Memphis and experience new things and meet some
of the greatest people. I can’t lie, I miss New Orleans so damn bad but that’s not
home for me anymore. New Orleans will always be my home city and I will always
love that place, but here in Memphis is where I have built relationships and
have grown to be the man I am today. This is now home for me.”
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