My Katrina story is bittersweet. My younger siblings;Juliene and Rachel and I evacuated with 44 of my family members to Gloster, MS. My mother and father stayed behind in Algiers and I kissed and hugged them goodbye on that Sunday morning. The drive to Gloster was fun I called all of my friends and checked on them and talked to my parents; Tommie and Annette for a while. Monday the storm hit and my family and I were glued to the television in the church mission we were staying in. When the new anchor said that all of New Orleans was underwater I started to cry because my parents were still there and I couldn\'t get through to them on the house or cellphones. One of my uncles hugged me and told me that my father was a survivor and not to worry. I went outside so I could cry by myself. I kept thinking that I was parentless at the age of 16 and had to take care of my 14 year old brother and 7 year old sister. I also thought of my grandfather who had died in 2004. I spent the next few days trying to get in touch with my parents and watching the horror unfolding on the news and wondering where my older siblings were and if they were safe. One of my older sisters lived in the East and the other in the lower 9. Finally I talked to my parents and I started to cry and thank God for protecting them. My mother came up with my aunt to Gloster and I was estatic to see my mommie. The next week and a half I watched television, played cards, went to the park and developed a crush. My time in Gloster came to an end when a friend of my mother drove us to Monroe, LA by my Great-Aunt Michelle Tripplett and her husband, Daryll. My Aunt had about 15 people in her house included my mother, my siblings and me. She brought each of us 3 pairs of clothes and registered my siblings and me in school. Quachita Parish High was like a school from a telvision series but with racism. I joined the school newspaper and continued on in my Honor/Gifted classes and made new friends. I also decided to run for Homecoming Queen. I hated living with my aunt she had so many rules we started calling her Fire Marshall Bob. We had to be in the bed by 9pm and couldn\'t put salt on our beans etc. Then I had my first encounter with blatant in your face racism. I had went to a game with my mom, siblings and two of my cousins on Friday, September 16, 2005. I was walking around the game with a classmate when I saw a white officer pulling every black male teenager to the side. He would pin them to the chainlink fence and shine a light in their faces. I was disgusted with this and asked for his badge number and name. Then a white female in the crowd had asked why was the officer harassing the black boy and I simply responded by saying that it was because the boy is black. The officer handed the boy to another officer and approached me and got in my face. He asked if I was the one that said that and I said yes. He roughly grabbed me and tried to drag me out of the fence. I told him to unhand me and he said I called him a racist. I repeated what I said earlier and stated the fact that I had Freedom of Speech and he said not here. I told him I wasn\'t going anywhere without my mom knowing. He told me she\'d find out. I refused to move so he dragged me further. I was trying to do anything to stop the officer from dragging me into the unlit, very dark area behind the stadium. It was isolated and filled with trees and I had heard of black people disappearing in Northern Louisiana and I did not want to be one of them. I saw my brother and yelled for him to go get my mother. A crowd had gathered and they were watching the officer drag me out the gate. Soon my mom arrived and asked what the problem was. After they exhanged words he put my mother out the game as well. Both of us vehemently protested because my siblings and cousins were still in the game. As we sat outside of the game waiting for them we talked about racism in Monroe and how I shouldn\'t have been touched or brought out of the game and how I hadn\'t done anything wrong. Then officer said he was arresting both of us and we resisted because we had done nothing wrong. My little sister became hysterical and the white woman was holding her. They tried handcuffing my mom who was pregnant at the time and she sat on the ground and refused. She started screaming because they were hurting her. Then I got upset because they had made her fall. I started to scream and fight the police officer and my cousin finally got my little sister. I stopped fighting since my sister was gone and let them handcuff me. They put me in a patrol car and started to sing gospel hymns and pray. I saw my uncle Daryll talking to one of the officers and they let me go. I saw my mom in a police car and asked her if she was ok. One of the officers got mad an put me back in the patrol car and drove me to a detention center. Once there I was booked and smiled on my mugshot and got my phone call so I called my Dad and my cousin at Aunt Michelle\'s house. They made me strip and searched me and gave me clothes to wear. Then I was brought to a room and given blankets and sheets. I didn\'t make up my bed I just sat on the sheets and sang. I finally dozed off and at 11:50 I was out. My Aunt had got my mom and I out. I hugged my mom and we went back to my house. After that incident there was tension in the house so my father came and got us on September 26, 2005. I was so glad to be back home in New Orleans all I could do was cry.