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#Hurricane Katrina Race Against Time
#Hurricane Katrina Race Against Time
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00:00The flooding in this city is leveling off, but 80% of New Orleans is still underwater.
00:09And while the mayor wants everyone to get out of the city, people here are still trying to figure out how to leave.
00:17The Superdome, which was the shelter of last resort, has become the last place anyone wants to be.
00:24No one's allowed you to walk out of here.
00:25No, no, no, no.
00:27When you say you want to just leave, then go out, what do they say?
00:29They tell us there's alligators, dead bodies, disease, and you won't make it.
00:37My cousin, that's the one I picked up from home, told me he didn't know how much he was going to be able to take.
00:42He said, I don't think I'm going to make it.
00:44He was about to break down up in there.
00:46I said, though, we're going to get out of here.
00:49Right next to the Superdome, they have a ramp.
00:53The bottom of the ramp was flooded out.
00:55And I seen, like, a group of National Guards members, like, they were sitting, like, on the backside by the ramp, just kicking it, relaxing, chilling.
01:03I guess they ain't thinking nobody going anywhere because of the water down there.
01:07So I was like, I'm going to try to sneak up and get my truck.
01:10We found my truck.
01:14I'm all excited.
01:15It just looked like this beautiful horse sitting on a hill.
01:20Right?
01:20I call it Pegasus.
01:21As a matter of fact, it just was the most beautiful sight I ever seen.
01:26My heart was beaten.
01:27Got to the truck, put the keys in, turned up, cranked it.
01:33Thank God, it started up again.
01:38We're just driving through the water.
01:39There's waves just pushing and pushing and pushing.
01:41As we pass by the convention center, I'm looking, I'm seeing all these people just, they don't know what's about to happen next.
01:52They just want to survive.
01:54They just want to get out of here.
01:56And all them people just looking up at me like, man, you about to get out of here in this truck.
02:04I'm holding on to my crucifix.
02:07And I'm praying, I'm asking God to get us through it.
02:26This is where they're picking up some of the refugees out of the Superdome.
02:29And as you can see, these people look like they've been here for quite some time.
02:34There is one scrap of good news from New Orleans.
02:38More than a hundred buses evacuated thousands of people from the hell hole that was once the Louisiana Superdome.
02:46And more will be brought out tonight.
02:51After a successful bus evacuation of the Superdome, the National Guard organized the people in front of the convention center,
02:59got them on buses, and we sent them to the airport.
03:02Buses are loaded up on top 2 of the street.
03:07Let's put it all in there.
03:08Let's get the whole family in there.
03:10When they put us on the school buses under the interstate bridge, they didn't tell us nothing.
03:16They didn't tell you where you were going.
03:18I was still out there by the convention center.
03:25I didn't feel like I could go no more.
03:27Like, I didn't even feel myself, you know.
03:31I was just done.
03:32And so when they say that the military is taking people to the airport and they're going different places,
03:40I said, man, I don't care where I go.
03:43I was going anywhere.
03:44The plane was going to fly me.
03:46The water had receded, so we took our mother, who was in a wheelchair, and the rest of the family,
03:57and we walked to a vacant lot where a helicopter landed.
04:02That Saturday, we had over 200 helicopters from the 82nd Airport on landing in New Orleans.
04:13The idea was to recover people and get them evacuated and take care of them at the airport.
04:17At the airport, we were met by National Guardsmen with guns who said, we must get on the plane.
04:29We begged them to let us go to our sister, who lived in Houma, Louisiana,
04:38which is about an hour's drive away from New Orleans.
04:42We had family that was ready to receive us, but we were forced to get on the plane.
04:48We had no choice.
04:50They had guns.
04:53The first airplanes are getting loaded.
04:55Everything seemed to be going well.
04:58But then one of the senior pilots on the ground flying a civilian airplane said,
05:03well, we can't take off.
05:05We don't have a manifest.
05:06So he told my major, and my major called me up and said, hey, boss, we got a problem.
05:15They haven't taken off.
05:16The people have been sitting here for hours because we don't have a manifest.
05:20I said, well, let me talk to them.
05:22So I talked to him on the phone and said, look, a lot of these people out here even have identification.
05:27There's no computers out here.
05:29We can't create no manifest.
05:30I said, we can get you a yellow piece of paper.
05:32And when they walk on the airplane, you take their names down, and that's going to be your manifest.
05:38And I fly the fucking airplane.
05:40And the planes took off.
05:44We asked, where were we going to go?
05:48Where is this plane going to land?
05:50We don't know.
05:53I said, you don't know.
05:54I said, everybody has to know where they're going to land.
05:58Don't they have to have a flight plan and this kind of thing?
06:02They said, just get on the plane, ma'am.
06:08Nothing.
06:08We didn't know anything.
06:10We knew that we were leaving New Orleans.
06:13My mind was blank.
06:14I didn't know what was going to be next.
06:16We didn't really have control over our destiny.
06:21They tell you you're going to go to Houston.
06:23They tell you you're going to go to Atlanta, to Chicago, San Francisco.
06:27God knows where you'll end up.
06:29The New Orleans International Airport is part of the largest airlift ever on U.S. soil.
06:39More than 10,000 hurricane survivors.
06:41Help us on the way.
06:43Help us on the way.
06:44We've witnessed all day airlifting evacuees to the Louis Armstrong International Airport.
06:50Buses also arriving to take people out of the once great city.
06:54I tell you what a difference a day makes.
07:0024 hours ago, this building behind me, crowded with thousands and thousands of the most desperate
07:06refugees you can imagine, has been emptied.
07:09God bless the United States Army.
07:11God bless the United States military.
07:13They pulled this thing together from chaos, confusion, anarchy.
07:17God bless you.
07:18Oh, I tell you what, it's great.
07:19The All-Americans are here to help Americans.
07:21That's it.
07:24Is this America?
07:27Do I have freedom of movement?
07:30I thought I was still living in America.
07:38So, you know, it was like, okay, I'm going to do what they tell me to do.
07:44I'm going to cooperate.
07:45I'm not going to cause a ruckus.
07:47But I will get back to New Orleans.
07:49The first wave of hurricane refugees from Louisiana is arriving in Texas this morning.
07:56They're being bused from the New Orleans Superdome.
07:58As we were moving around the country, the news media, we're calling people from New Orleans
08:06refugees.
08:08Dallas schools are opening their doors to storm refugee kids.
08:11And Dallas is delivering truckloads of donations to refugees.
08:15How can you be a refugee in your own country?
08:18It offended not only me, but a lot of people.
08:22We are not refugees.
08:23We are American citizens that have got caught up in a bad way.
08:27And we resent that word, refugees.
08:29And they shouldn't use that anymore.
08:30We've been traveling and traveling.
08:34We've been going from one shelter to the next shelter.
08:38But that's okay, because we live in.
08:41The thing that's not our right is, we've got family members scattered all around.
08:49Where they scattered at, we don't know.
08:51With approximately a million refugees, 30 states in all are accepting evacuees in this country's
09:00largest migration in 70 years.
09:03These were internally displaced people.
09:06This was the forced migration of people because of Katrina.
09:12And I think within modern history, that was the first time for a lot of Americans that that happened.
09:18I had never even heard Austin, Texas in my life.
09:25But Austin, they showed us love up there.
09:29But I didn't know where my life was headed from there.
09:38I currently live in Memphis, Tennessee.
09:41However, I'm from New Orleans, Louisiana.
09:43I'm here in Georgia.
09:44I have lost everything in my home.
09:47I live in Norman, Oklahoma.
09:49Houston, Texas.
09:50But I want to go back home, but now I'm in Georgia.
09:53I was born and raised there.
09:59About a month after leaving the Superdome, once the water receded, I was able to come back
10:13to check on the house in St. Bernard Parish.
10:19You can see the devastation.
10:21Coming back after the city was emptied out, it was strange, for sure.
10:32A city that is known for celebrating, known for its food, known for being loud.
10:36It was dead quiet.
10:38When I came back to New Orleans, everything looked dead.
10:48Everything smelled dead.
10:50It was just desolate.
10:53Just, oh my God, I could not believe.
10:56I was like, this is never going to be back right.
10:58The graveyard, just the worst thing I ever seen in my life.
11:11We have above-ground tombs, but the water saturated the earth, and it made a lot of the graves
11:19come up.
11:21We got caskets coming out, man.
11:23One of my cousins we had just buried, like, not too long ago, her casket was actually
11:29sitting out in the open, exposed.
11:32Now my people graze, and it's right on top of my people graze.
11:37Look all around.
11:39This, this, this not cool, man.
11:42I don't think anybody after they buried their people didn't want to see graves like this,
11:45man.
11:49I wasn't ready for this.
11:53It's one thing to think about the loss.
11:57It's another thing to see it.
12:00When you see it, it's real.
12:05When I saw my home for the first time, I was devastated.
12:10The tears just kind of rolled down my face.
12:13Mud was still inside the home.
12:16It was just a muddy mess.
12:19All of my belongings were ruined, all of my pictures, everything.
12:26I had mold that was like going up to the ceiling, almost.
12:31Birth certificates, pictures, everything was gone.
12:36When you come back to something that has been your dream, and you realize that it has been
12:51destroyed, it was like, what do I do?
12:58I got you.
13:05Oh, man.
13:09Man, look at my crib.
13:10It smashed down to the ground.
13:13My mama trailer.
13:15Look at my other crib that we just built.
13:17Leaning to the side.
13:20Look at my crib.
13:21Man, this don't even feel like home, man.
13:28Hey, girl.
13:29Hey, cinema.
13:30Hey.
13:31Hey, girl.
13:32Hey, shake, missy.
13:35Shake, missy.
13:38I'm out of the door.
13:43Hey.
13:45See what's in this room.
13:47See what's in this room.
13:51Look at that, you know?
14:01Look at my shit, man.
14:02My face ring.
14:04This devastation.
14:06Martin Luther King.
14:09I got some of my old letters from the military.
14:12My military books up there, man.
14:14We got to step over stuff, walk through stuff, get to stuff.
14:25I can't really get in here.
14:29There's so much mud and thick stuff up in here, man.
14:33It's going to be enough.
14:34But this house is damn gutted out.
14:38Got thick to mud here.
14:39I can't get to nothing.
14:41I really can't find what I'm looking for.
14:44But honestly, I guess whatever I got out the deal,
14:50I guess it'll be all right, but...
14:51I'm going to be like this, man.
15:06This shit is so fucked up.
15:11Everything you ever worked for, man.
15:12Again on your own.
15:16And even if you didn't have so fucking much, man,
15:18this was like, this was yours, you know?
15:20It just leaves you confused.
15:34What are we going to do?
15:36How are we going to fix this?
15:40And it just seemed like it was unfixable at the time.
15:42Louisiana today officially ended the search
15:50for bodies of people killed by Hurricane Katrina.
15:54The death toll in the state now stands at 964.
16:00Because of the heat and the lack of communication
16:03and the absence of medicine,
16:05a lot of the people we found in home dead
16:07were elderly, poor, and disabled.
16:10And they were alone.
16:27My brother, the one that,
16:29when we went walking in the water,
16:31kicked the stop sign and put a big hole in his leg.
16:34He died from an infection.
16:37And my niece that was walking with us,
16:39she had lupus already,
16:43but then she couldn't take her medicine,
16:45so she developed meningitis,
16:47and it moved up to her brains.
16:50So she couldn't talk.
16:52All she could do is lay that with her eyes open.
16:56And so, you know,
16:58that was one of the reasons why
16:59I didn't want to come back to New Orleans,
17:03because I didn't want to have to, like,
17:04relive that again.
17:10From the air today,
17:11we saw miles of once-flooded houses.
17:14As many as 250,000 homes may be uninhabitable.
17:19In New Orleans, there was anger and frustration today
17:21when a sweeping new blueprint to rebuild the city was unveiled.
17:25Anyone who lives in a neighborhood highlighted here in yellow,
17:28most of the city could be forced to move.
17:30The plan calls for new parks in green
17:32that would help control flooding.
17:34Residents would be resettled in areas circled in red.
17:39This was a plan that somebody had come up with
17:42to turn different areas into green spaces for people
17:47that would also be able to capture water during storms.
17:51It was a great, great idea,
17:54except that people actually lived there.
17:59When they came up with the plan about the new New Orleans,
18:02it angered me,
18:04because many of the areas where
18:05the people at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale
18:08and people who did not have a voice
18:11were being discounted.
18:14Immediately, we need to identify
18:16and begin assembling properties
18:18that can become part of the system.
18:20The Lower Knight Ward.
18:22It was supposed to be a green space.
18:25How you gonna make a green space out of my property?
18:29When the map came out,
18:31the first thing that came to my mind was,
18:34hell no.
18:35It was hell no because it goes back to the legacy
18:38that that house that I live in provided.
18:41I'm not giving up this man's property,
18:43and I'm referring to my grandfather.
18:46Some worry that the black wards of the city
18:48are being intentionally neglected
18:50and may even be bulldozed,
18:52leaving residents displaced and disenfranchised.
18:57It did not go over well with me.
19:00It didn't go well with most of the citizens
19:03who wanted to come back
19:05and rebuild their homes and their life.
19:07And that's when I think folks started to think about
19:12how can we organize and fight back.
19:16Any area of the city of New Orleans
19:19that is sparsely populated,
19:22they are going to want to use the eminent domain
19:25to take over the properties.
19:26We have a resident on the phone.
19:29Whoever didn't hear,
19:29we have a resident on the phone right now.
19:31She's watching them at Gavez and Renee
19:34bulldozing a home.
19:38Give me the city attorney's number.
19:41We will move the people.
19:42Just get your doze and stop.
19:43Ain't no danger as long as they stop.
19:45These are people's home.
19:48They're leading.
19:48All right!
19:49Now you got a whole bunch of mad citizens
19:54that's in the city
19:55and going to get a whole lot mad.
19:57So mad they were screaming today
20:00at the commission that came up
20:01with the rebuilding plan.
20:03Don't tell me about what you're talking about.
20:05This is a big audacious plan.
20:07It was put together by obviously very brilliant people.
20:10But guess what?
20:11You missed the boat.
20:13In fairness to them,
20:14there were some areas that you knew
20:16because of the elevation
20:17and because of the amount of flooding
20:20that it may have taken on during the storm.
20:22It may have not made sense to rebuild there.
20:25But everything is personal in New Orleans.
20:28For people that grew up here,
20:29their neighborhood is everything.
20:31The high school where they went to is everything.
20:34So if the mayor says,
20:35if the city says,
20:36this part isn't going to come back,
20:37we're going to make this green space,
20:39like, it's going to cut you deep.
20:41I hate you
20:42because you've been in the background
20:44trying to scheme and get our land.
20:47It's been happening.
20:49That's not happening.
20:50We know that they have wildfires in California.
20:54They have tornadoes in the middle of America.
20:58They have flooding in Florida,
20:59but they've never told them,
21:01you can't rebuild.
21:03I don't think it's right
21:04if you try to take our property.
21:07Because like I said,
21:08over my dead body,
21:10I didn't die with Katrina.
21:12Bye.
21:12Bye.
21:12The blowback of it was so bad
21:19that the mayor basically said,
21:23not only are we not doing that,
21:24we're not going to do anything
21:25except what the localities want us to do.
21:28We as a community
21:32will have the ultimate say
21:34in how we move forward.
21:38If you don't have the resources,
21:40how can you put your life back together?
21:43The people who live
21:46in these more fluent neighborhoods,
21:48they're up here.
21:49So who's going to need the most resources?
21:51The people who are here
21:52or the people who are down here?
21:54It shouldn't be about equal.
21:55It should be about equity.
21:59How you survive a disaster
22:01is directly proportional
22:02to how well prepared
22:05and how well you all before the disaster.
22:08The bottom line to that,
22:10the poor got poorer
22:11and the rich got richer.
22:21When the federal levees broke 10 years ago,
22:23we in the world
22:23gasped at the possibility
22:26that in the blink of an eye,
22:28New Orleans as we know it
22:29would be gone.
22:32But 10 years after Katrina,
22:33we're no longer recovering.
22:34We're not rebuilding.
22:36Now we're creating.
22:38We're in the midst of a retail
22:40and restaurant building boom.
22:42Can you think of any other place
22:44in the world
22:44where you can lose 100,000 people
22:45and gain 600 more restaurants
22:47than we had before Katrina?
22:48I mean, come on.
22:49You want tomatoes on that?
22:51Ladies and gentlemen,
22:51your city is changing
22:53before your eyes.
22:56I'm going to try this
22:57alligator salsa.
22:59It was a tale of two cities.
23:02The rest of the city
23:03was pulling back together.
23:07But go ask those in the night ward.
23:12Ask them who was left behind.
23:14In some instances,
23:39the city was back.
23:40But it just wasn't back
23:42equitably for everyone.
23:50Louisiana got $10 billion
23:52in federal money
23:53to create and oversee
23:54the Road Home Program.
23:56It's the largest housing recovery effort
23:58in American history.
24:00Our plan offers a fair
24:02and practical solution
24:03to return people to their homes
24:05and their communities.
24:06This is a great victory
24:08for Louisiana.
24:12The Road Home turned out
24:14to be the road to nowhere
24:16for a lot of people.
24:18The Road Home was supposed
24:19to cover the costs
24:20that insurance
24:21and other federal aid didn't.
24:23People have waited
24:24for months
24:25for clearance
24:26of the money
24:26and everything else,
24:28strangled by all this red tape.
24:30Every time you went in there,
24:31applying to the government
24:33for Road Home Assistance,
24:34it seemed like the rules changed
24:37from week to week.
24:39So now you have to expend
24:41more time and energy
24:43and you're still dealing
24:44with the mental effects
24:46of Hurricane Katrina.
24:48It's overwhelming.
24:51The Road Home had a fatal flaw.
24:54It awarded grants
24:55based on repair costs
24:56or pre-storm value,
24:58whichever was less.
25:00In the poorest neighborhoods,
25:01a home's pre-storm value
25:03tended to be less
25:04than the cost
25:05of repairing
25:06or rebuilding it.
25:07Those neighborhoods
25:08were majority black.
25:10So folks who lived
25:13in Lakeview,
25:15a predominantly white,
25:16upper, middle class
25:17to upper class area
25:19that already had
25:21the resources
25:22to rebuild,
25:23they got more money
25:25than folks
25:26that lived in,
25:28let's just say,
25:29the Lower Ninth Ward.
25:30Even though the building
25:31materials cost
25:32was the same,
25:35a two-by-four
25:36for my house
25:37cost the same
25:38as a two-by-four
25:39for another person's house.
25:41So why are you going
25:42to give me
25:42a different amount
25:43of money?
25:44It was like
25:45they were sabotaging
25:47the recovery
25:48in areas
25:49where black folk lived.
25:51Everybody wants
25:52to come home.
25:53It's just that
25:53we can't come home
25:54because the government
25:55is trying to keep
25:55us away from home.
25:56It was going to cost
26:00at least $250,000
26:02to repair my property.
26:05I was fully insured,
26:07but I had just
26:09borrowed on the building.
26:11And when I borrowed
26:12on the building,
26:13it was put for collateral.
26:15And when the storm hit
26:17and I went back,
26:19the bank took the money.
26:20They told me
26:21that they weren't
26:24giving me anything.
26:26I got zero
26:27from Road Home.
26:28Homeowners can choose
26:30repair,
26:31rebuild,
26:32accept a buyout
26:33and relocate
26:34within Louisiana,
26:35or sell
26:36and leave the state.
26:38I started looking
26:40at what they were
26:41trying to do.
26:41I'm like,
26:42you're not getting
26:42my property
26:43because I am not selling.
26:45But some folks
26:49just did give up
26:51and say,
26:52I don't want this headache.
26:53I'll take the buyout.
26:56And so what they
26:57accomplished
26:58with a lot of people
26:59was to get them out
27:01and away from the city.
27:07After like nine
27:08and a half years
27:09being in Austin,
27:10I went back
27:11to New Orleans.
27:12But when I came back,
27:13it wasn't no more
27:14affordable housing.
27:16No more houses
27:17in the hood,
27:18you know,
27:18where you can get
27:19a one-bedroom
27:21for $300
27:21and a two-bedroom
27:23for $500.
27:27Back in the day,
27:28most of the houses
27:29was doubles.
27:30You know,
27:31family on this side
27:32and a family
27:32on that side.
27:35But after Katrina,
27:37they started
27:38making single houses
27:40out of double houses
27:41like you see here.
27:43That's two families
27:45that's out of a house.
27:47The cost of living
27:49became so high
27:50that I made a decision
27:52to leave New Orleans.
28:05After Katrina,
28:07I knew I couldn't
28:08come back home immediately
28:09since I had to go
28:10and work
28:11and make money.
28:12My dad had been
28:13a master carpenter
28:14for many years,
28:15so I just drove
28:16all the way
28:17to California
28:18to work with him.
28:21Now I just got
28:22to see the scenery
28:22and travel
28:23where God
28:24want me to travel
28:25and go back home
28:27eventually.
28:31I just was thinking
28:32about a new beginning
28:33because I knew
28:34what I had left behind.
28:35it was a lot
28:37of devastation,
28:38a lot of pain,
28:39so I just had
28:41my moments
28:41when I'm like,
28:42you know,
28:42kind of like
28:43singing an old
28:44spiritual hymn,
28:45you know,
28:45from like my grandmother
28:47and going through
28:47the mountains.
28:50Lord, I'm climbing
28:51higher mountains
28:56trying to get home.
29:00So that was kind of
29:01like my whole thing.
29:03Like I just was like,
29:04I'm just trying
29:05to get home
29:05and I don't even
29:06know where home
29:06is just yet.
29:08Trying to get home
29:10even though I'm climbing
29:13higher mountains
29:16I want to tell you
29:17know I am
29:18getting home
29:19Well, the driving force
29:23behind me
29:24coming back
29:25to New Orleans
29:26was my mom's.
29:27My mom,
29:28my birthday was
29:28November 30th.
29:30I made 50 years old
29:32and that's a blessing.
29:33after the storm
29:35we had FEMA trailers
29:36all over the land
29:37and that's another trailer
29:39in front of my house
29:40and from that
29:41road home program
29:42she did receive
29:43some money
29:44and my mom
29:46bought this trailer
29:47and so
29:49with that money
29:50my mom finally bought
29:52like a big mobile trailer
29:53to make sure
29:54we had a place
29:55to stay
29:56but then maybe
29:57about 20 days
29:59later
30:00my mom's
30:00passed away.
30:05All I have left
30:07is these pictures.
30:11I kept remodeling.
30:13I kept working
30:14on that house.
30:15Almost completely
30:16still have somewhere
30:17to go.
30:18But as the years
30:19started going on
30:20the grants
30:21started going away.
30:24Eventually
30:25I had to move
30:25to another location
30:26make more money
30:27to be able to come back
30:28and put in resources
30:29so every now and again
30:31I would just come back
30:32try to touch up
30:33on some things.
30:36Whoa.
30:38A lot of work
30:39still left to go up
30:40in here
30:40but something
30:42that me was saying
30:43for my mom's sake
30:45and everything
30:46that she did
30:47I need to finish
30:49the house.
30:52Even though
30:53it was impossible
30:55to finish the house.
31:00Every time
31:01I come back here
31:02I got memories
31:03of my life
31:04and my mom's
31:05my stepdad
31:06all my people
31:07right there
31:08my neighbor
31:10next door
31:11she's gone
31:12everybody is gone
31:13it's depressing
31:15to come here
31:16and look around
31:16and know that
31:17none of these people
31:18who know me
31:18that know my story
31:19they are no longer here
31:21it's like
31:23pictures flashing
31:24videos
31:25flashing
31:26of what it used to be
31:28but
31:29it's no longer
31:30so when I finally
31:36felt like
31:37I did all I could do
31:39now maybe
31:40I felt like
31:43my mom's
31:45spirits
31:45was all around
31:46me saying
31:47it's time to go
31:49man
31:49you can go
31:50it's okay
31:52don't worry about it
31:53and I left
31:54hurricane Katrina
32:09hurricane Katrina
32:09laid bare
32:09the massive failures
32:10of the Corps of Engineers
32:11hurricane protection system
32:13of levees and flood walls
32:15congress gave the Corps
32:1714.6 billion dollars
32:19to make it right
32:21all of this was done
32:25after Katrina
32:26if you look at this
32:28you can see the construction
32:30of it is different
32:31it's more stable
32:33it goes down deeper
32:35and it's fortified
32:36much better
32:37to take stress
32:38from rising water
32:40or wind
32:41since Katrina
32:44the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
32:46repaired the levees
32:48many of the repairs
32:49are quite robust
32:50however
32:52the Corps of Engineers
32:53themselves
32:54recently admitted
32:55that when they
32:56determined the heights
32:58they didn't take into account
33:00global warming
33:01no sooner
33:04did the Corps of Engineers
33:05finish the last piece
33:06of that upgrade project
33:07than it posted a notice
33:09in the Federal Register
33:10saying subsidence
33:11and sea level rise
33:12will cause levees
33:13to require future lifts
33:15within 70 odd years
33:18the water level
33:20around New Orleans
33:22is going to be
33:23four feet higher
33:25than at present
33:26in addition
33:29many of the wetlands
33:30are gone
33:31there's no friction
33:32that water can move
33:34much further
33:34and get much higher
33:35as it relates
33:39to climate change
33:41communities of color
33:43are the ones
33:44who are impacted
33:45the first
33:46and the worst
33:47many folks
33:49that live in
33:50and among
33:51these communities
33:51do not have
33:53the resources
33:54that others have
33:56and so
33:57they are
33:58at a higher risk
34:00for what's going to
34:02happen in the future
34:03tonight
34:03Maria's direct hit
34:04devastating Puerto Rico
34:05unfortunately
34:07it's not going to
34:08get any better
34:08sweeping devastation
34:11in La Haina
34:12it's just going to
34:13get worse
34:13the deadliest
34:14and most devastating
34:15storm in North Carolina
34:17history
34:18this is home
34:36I've been here
34:38all my life
34:39but what really
34:43gets me
34:43the lower
34:45ninth ward
34:46really the
34:47hardest hit area
34:48is forgotten
34:50an entire
34:55ward of this city
34:56the ninth ward
34:57appears to be
34:58up to its
34:59rooftops
35:00in water
35:00I told you
35:01earlier today
35:02I didn't think
35:03this
35:03it turned out
35:04to be Armageddon
35:05I was wrong
35:06the environmental
35:08injustice
35:09that is happening
35:12in our community
35:13this is man-made
35:16but that man also
35:23could be man-solved
35:25I can remember
35:37as a little boy
35:38we used to
35:39go back there
35:40into the swamp
35:41it was our
35:43wonderland
35:43our
35:44playground
35:46the poor
35:58started out
35:59small
35:59and he grew
36:02it's a little bit
36:15like it was before
36:17they're planting
36:22cypress trees
36:23there's an outdoor
36:25classroom
36:26you can fish
36:31I'm an ambassador
36:34to the park
36:35I welcome people
36:37I tell them
36:38as much
36:39as I can
36:41about when I was
36:42growing up
36:42in that same area
36:43and what we're
36:44trying to do
36:45because it's
36:48something that
36:49we are doing
36:50for ourselves
36:51to start over
36:54new beginning
36:57when Katrina
37:02hit
37:03and it took
37:04so many
37:05of our elders
37:06it was like
37:07losing so much
37:09of our history
37:10they celebrated
37:13together
37:14they praised
37:17the Lord
37:18together
37:19it was
37:22a true
37:23community
37:23a lot of
37:27people couldn't
37:27come back
37:28a lot of
37:28people didn't
37:29come back
37:30it's heartbreaking
37:31because New
37:32Orleans lost
37:33a whole
37:34maybe two
37:36generations
37:37of people
37:39and that
37:40took away
37:41a lot
37:42of the
37:43culture
37:44that
37:44sits in
37:45this area
37:46and so
37:53I wanted
37:54to come
37:55back
37:55into the
37:55community
37:56and do
37:57what I
37:58had to
37:58do
37:58and I
38:01was not
38:02going to
38:02stop
38:02until I
38:03got back
38:03to where
38:04I
38:04intended
38:05to be
38:06back
38:07in 2005
38:08every
38:12penny
38:12I
38:13have
38:13made
38:14since
38:15Katrina
38:16has
38:17gone
38:17into
38:18me
38:18getting
38:18back
38:18into
38:19my
38:19salon
38:20and
38:20my
38:20property
38:21it's
38:24mine
38:24and like I
38:25told the
38:26people that
38:27wrote home
38:27you will have
38:28to prime
38:29out of my
38:30wrinkled up
38:31little brown
38:32hands
38:32to get it
38:34there's been a lot
38:38of changes
38:39in New Orleans
38:40since Katrina
38:41you would enter
38:47by steps here
38:49and you would come
38:50into the living room
38:51the living room
38:52ran the width
38:54of the lot
38:54the kitchen
38:57would have been
38:58right up in here
39:00this is where mom
39:03did all her famous
39:04cooking
39:04you know I'm a
39:06New Orleans boy
39:07there's a certain
39:11energy that comes
39:12out of that land
39:13that house
39:17was an extension
39:18of me
39:18and
39:20the most difficult
39:21thing was to
39:22demolish the house
39:24I felt like I was
39:28taking a piece
39:28of me away
39:29I
39:33I really
39:34came back here
39:36because I
39:37couldn't stay away
39:38I wanted to be
39:39home
39:39but now it's
39:41the new
39:42New Orleans
39:42it's totally
39:44different
39:45you know it's
39:46like
39:46the roots
39:48are here
39:48but the tree
39:49has been
39:50stubbed
39:50we still have
39:52our
39:54culture
39:54and that's
39:55a good thing
39:56a lot
40:00of my friends
40:01they kept
40:02them masking
40:03and Mardi Gras
40:04going after
40:05Katrina
40:05say I talked
40:08to my daddy
40:08said son
40:09no she worried
40:10that was their
40:11life
40:12you know
40:13and it was
40:13my life too
40:14Mardi Gras
40:15morning
40:16gonna tell
40:16your story
40:17I'm in a tribe
40:18that my father
40:19started
40:19the flaming arrows
40:21my dad
40:24he was
40:24Indian chief
40:25my mom
40:26was a
40:26seamstress
40:27we're really
40:29not Mardi Gras
40:30Indians
40:30the correct name
40:33is just
40:33black
40:34masking
40:34Indians
40:35on
40:38carnival
40:38morning
40:39we wear
40:39these suits
40:40and pay
40:40homage
40:41to the real
40:42native Indians
40:43who helped
40:44our people
40:44so it's a
40:50family thing
40:51passed down
40:52through generations
40:53it's my last
40:58time putting on
40:59a suit
40:59but I have
41:00grandchildren
41:00and I'm gonna
41:01keep the tradition
41:02going
41:02we gotta
41:05pass the
41:05torch
41:06down
41:06one of my
41:11cousins
41:12who I'm
41:13turning my
41:13tribe over
41:14to
41:14he was like
41:15well
41:16you know
41:17we need you
41:18to come back
41:18home
41:19because
41:19we can't
41:20let you
41:20go out
41:20like that
41:21I still take
41:44New Orleans
41:44with me
41:44wherever I
41:45go
41:45but
41:47before Katrina
41:48I would have
41:48never thought
41:49that I would
41:49ever left
41:50New Orleans
41:50you know
41:51I just thought
41:52that I was
41:52gonna be
41:53a New
41:53Orleanian
41:53like all
41:54my life
41:54I mean
42:01I love
42:02New Orleans
42:03but it's
42:03not the same
42:04New Orleans
42:0420 years
42:07later
42:07it's totally
42:08different
42:09the talk
42:12is different
42:13the walk
42:13is different
42:14the neighborhoods
42:16that we grew
42:17up in
42:17with our
42:18families
42:18it's totally
42:19different
42:20Katrina
42:22Katrina took
42:23a lot
42:23but it
42:26didn't take
42:26my pride
42:27my dignity
42:30or my culture
42:31that's one thing
42:34I can say
42:35about New Orleans
42:36this is some
42:36surviving people
42:37we are the
42:40canaries
42:41in this coal mine
42:42called America
42:43the horrors
42:45that people
42:45went through
42:46after Katrina
42:47didn't have to
42:48happen
42:48there's no way
42:50you could justify
42:51to me
42:51why Hurricane
42:53Katrina
42:54turned from
42:56a disaster
42:57to a tragedy
42:58I guess
43:01the bottom line
43:02it shows
43:03how much
43:04we care
43:05then
43:05for the
43:06most vulnerable
43:07and how much
43:08we care
43:09right now
43:10what make
43:13America great
43:14is our ability
43:16to reach out
43:17and help
43:17others in
43:18time of need
43:19but that's where
43:22the lesson
43:22is learned
43:23it's upon us
43:26it's upon us
43:28to wake up
43:56for the
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