Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time is a 5 part National Geographic documentary about what happened in New Orleans 20 years ago. The storm made landfall on August 29, 2005. The next morning, it seemed there was only minimal damage. TV reporters on location told the world the city had dodged a bullet. But then the levee system failed.
Storms happen, but much of the destruction and suffering caused by Katrina was avoidable. Much of the surrounding wetlands had been seriously damaged by the oil industry. There wasn't much effort to restore that natural buffer because it would have cost money. The levee system was poorly designed and desperately needed to be reinforced, and this was well known for decades. But nothing was done because that would have cost money. The year before, the city staged an exercise to see what would happen if a major hurricane hit. They knew then that many poor, disabled and elderly citizens had no way of getting out of the city on their own. There was a proposal it use buses to pick those people up in their own neighborhoods and transport them to shelters outside the city. But that would have cost money, so the plan wasn't implemented.
There was a lot of media attention after the flooding began and thousands were stranded in the city in hot weather without drinking water and food. Many were still stuck in their houses or on their roofs surrounded by flood water. But soon the media and officials began to focus more on looting than rescue efforts. The crime rate was greatly exaggerated. There were some bad actors doing some bad stuff, to be sure, but most of the people in the stores were there to get necessary supplies. They were looking for food, water, medication, and clean clothes and shoes. The gun shots were often calls for help. Some of those stuck on their roofs fired into the air hoping this would draw rescuers to them. But very quickly the media gave outsiders the impression New Orleans had turned into a wild, lawless and dangerous place. As a result, National Guardsmen, many of whom were recent war veterans, game into the city with the attitude they were they to put down a rebellion rather than engage in a rescue mission. 20 years later, and it still seems unreal that so many were left in that horrible situation for nearly a week while the world watched on television.
New Orleans did rebuild. It's a thriving city once more. But many of those poor people whose families had lived there for generations were unable to return. There was a lot of grant money available for several years following the storm, but the rules for getting the money made it difficult for the poor to take advantage. Most of the money went to middle class and affluent families.
One elderly man at the end warned us. He said the poor Black people of New Orleans were like canaries in a coal mine. The monied interests who have taken control of our country will quickly leave the rest of us behind and label us criminals if we ever get in their way.
The docuseries is streaming on HULU.
I remember the extreme racism in the presentation of the events that week. When black people were going into abandoned stores seeking food they were called "looters" and "thieves." When white people did the same thing they were called "people desperately struggling to survive." These video clips were shown and described as such within a minute of each other on the same new broadcast. I was stunned by the interpretations that a major nightly news program gave to people based upon their race. At the time, I believed that reporters for major outlets were aware of bias.
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