Ride Hamilton
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUPROWELL: Why didn't you evacuate when you heard that Hurricane Katrina would hit New Orleans?
HAMILTON: I knew that after the storm I would have to protect my property from looters or fires that might spring up. I also felt that I had to help my neighborhood out and I knew other people were staying behind. I was the only one in the French Quarter with a vehicle, with a running car, so I knew with that advantage I could help people get food, water, medical supplies, and many other things. I wanted to help my community. I also knew that I would be safe in my big brick building in the middle of the French Quarter. If I am safe, I know I'm going to be fine. So, I need to use my safety to help other people. Then, too, I am an artist and I know if I stayed I could get stories from people. I knew that I could photograph and interview people—that I could document what was going on. There are many reasons that I stayed.
ROWELL: Did you do any documentation?
HAMILTON: I started documenting all the boarding up one day before the storm. I am still documenting, even today. I have been everywhere—even to Plaquemine and St. Bernard parishes and to Mississippi.
I went out with a still camera and a video camera, and I got as many interviews and as many stories as I could. I thought that was very important. As someone that lives here and understands more of the culture, more of the people, and more of the situation, I could get the story out without the hype, without the lies, without the sensationalism, without the badmouthing. I thought I could get out the true story from an insider's point of view, from a person who understands as much as one can about the people here.
ROWELL: Have you done cross-sections of interviewing and sightseeing?
HAMILTON: Yes, I've done all kinds of neighborhoods: the different races, the different social classes, the different economic classes. The different people—people in the Ninth Ward, the first responders, the people in the French Quarter, the people in St. Bernard [End Page 1203] Parish, coroners and firefighters, and funeral directors. I tried to cover every aspect that there was of the storm and every type of person.
ROWELL: Were you born here in New Orleans?
HAMILTON: I was born in Nebraska and I came to New Orleans a few times when I was a kid. I moved here when I was in my early twenties. So, I've been here for quite a number of years.
ROWELL: You're Native American?
HAMILTON: Native American, yes.
ROWELL: Which nation?
HAMILTON: Cheyenne.
ROWELL: How many years have you lived in New Orleans?
HAMILTON: About eight years or so.
ROWELL: So, you had been used to hearing about hurricanes?
HAMILTON: Somewhat. It always amazed me because I knew if you were going to live anywhere it had to be in the French Quarter, because they were going to protect it to the end. I knew I should never go to the Superdome or to the Convention Center. I also knew that if anything serious happened to the levees it would first happen in the Ninth Ward.
ROWELL: Will you briefly tell the story of what happened here—that is, what struck you most of all, something you think you will carry with you for the rest of your life?
HAMILTON: As Hurricane Katrina happened, I heard a lot of my friends and other people becoming very prejudiced. I couldn't watch TV, but I heard that the media was becoming very prejudiced. For example, if a white person took supplies, they were helping themselves or helping their neighborhoods or they were getting food and water. It was called getting supplies or commandeering or whatever. If a black person took the same items, then it was called looting. It...
