1 00:00:04,421 --> 00:00:06,673 [reporter] The flooding in this city is leveling off. 2 00:00:06,757 --> 00:00:09,885 But 80% of New Orleans is still underwater. 3 00:00:09,968 --> 00:00:12,513 And while the mayor wants everyone to get out of the city, 4 00:00:12,596 --> 00:00:15,724 people here are still trying to figure out how to leave. 5 00:00:17,809 --> 00:00:20,354 The Superdome, which was the shelter of last resort, 6 00:00:20,437 --> 00:00:22,898 has become the last place anyone wants to be. 7 00:00:23,732 --> 00:00:25,692 [reporter] No one's allowed just to walk out of here? 8 00:00:25,776 --> 00:00:26,652 -No. 9 00:00:26,777 --> 00:00:27,861 -Come on man, no. 10 00:00:28,070 --> 00:00:29,613 [reporter] If you say you want to just leave, 11 00:00:29,696 --> 00:00:30,989 they've got, what do they say? 12 00:00:31,114 --> 00:00:32,574 -They tell us there's alligators, 13 00:00:32,699 --> 00:00:33,617 dead bodies, disease. 14 00:00:33,700 --> 00:00:35,494 And, and you won't make it. 15 00:00:37,287 --> 00:00:39,623 -My cousin, that's the one I picked up from home, 16 00:00:39,915 --> 00:00:41,792 told me he didn't know how much he was gonna 17 00:00:41,875 --> 00:00:42,834 be able to take. 18 00:00:42,918 --> 00:00:44,711 He said, I don't think I'm gonna make it. 19 00:00:44,795 --> 00:00:46,296 He was about to break down up in there. 20 00:00:46,380 --> 00:00:48,590 I said, dawg, we gonna get out of here. 21 00:00:49,466 --> 00:00:51,176 Right next to the Superdome, 22 00:00:51,510 --> 00:00:53,011 they have a ramp. 23 00:00:53,637 --> 00:00:55,639 The bottom of the ramp was flooded out. 24 00:00:56,556 --> 00:00:58,934 And I seen, like, a group of National Guardsmen were, 25 00:00:59,059 --> 00:01:01,228 like, they were sitting, like, on the back side by 26 00:01:01,311 --> 00:01:03,272 the ramp just kicking it, relaxing, chilling. 27 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:05,190 I guess they ain't thinking nobody going 28 00:01:05,315 --> 00:01:07,150 anywhere because of the water down there. 29 00:01:07,693 --> 00:01:10,445 So, I was like, I'm gonna try to sneak up and get my truck. 30 00:01:13,323 --> 00:01:14,783 We find my truck. 31 00:01:14,866 --> 00:01:16,118 I'm all excited. 32 00:01:16,201 --> 00:01:18,912 It just looked like this beautiful horse 33 00:01:18,996 --> 00:01:20,330 sitting on a hill. 34 00:01:20,414 --> 00:01:22,165 Right, I call her Pegasus. 35 00:01:22,249 --> 00:01:24,001 As a matter of fact, it just was the most 36 00:01:24,084 --> 00:01:25,711 beautiful sight I ever seen. 37 00:01:26,670 --> 00:01:28,130 My heart was beating. 38 00:01:29,339 --> 00:01:30,924 Got to the truck, put the keys in, 39 00:01:31,008 --> 00:01:32,301 turned up, cranked it. 40 00:01:33,802 --> 00:01:35,721 Thank God it started up again. 41 00:01:38,098 --> 00:01:39,850 We're just driving through the water. 42 00:01:39,933 --> 00:01:42,060 The waves just pushing, pushing, and pushing. 43 00:01:44,021 --> 00:01:45,772 As we passed by the Convention Center, 44 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:47,774 I'm looking. 45 00:01:48,358 --> 00:01:49,818 I'm seeing all these people just, 46 00:01:49,901 --> 00:01:51,820 they don't know what's about to happen next. 47 00:01:52,446 --> 00:01:53,947 They just want to survive. 48 00:01:54,323 --> 00:01:55,782 They just want to get out of here. 49 00:01:56,825 --> 00:01:59,328 And all them people just looking up at me like, 50 00:01:59,870 --> 00:02:02,289 man, you about to get out of here in this truck. 51 00:02:04,791 --> 00:02:08,378 I'm holding on to my crucifix and I'm praying, 52 00:02:08,462 --> 00:02:10,547 I'm asking God to get us through it. 53 00:02:19,056 --> 00:02:24,394 [♪ dramatic music playing] 54 00:02:25,854 --> 00:02:28,065 [reporter] This is where they're picking up some of 55 00:02:28,148 --> 00:02:29,941 the refugees out of the Superdome. 56 00:02:30,025 --> 00:02:32,402 And as you can see, these people look like 57 00:02:32,486 --> 00:02:34,488 they've been here for quite some time. 58 00:02:34,780 --> 00:02:37,866 [reporter] There is one scrap of good news from New Orleans. 59 00:02:38,325 --> 00:02:41,703 More than 100 buses evacuated thousands of 60 00:02:41,953 --> 00:02:44,748 people from the hellhole that was once 61 00:02:44,831 --> 00:02:46,750 the Louisiana Superdome. 62 00:02:46,833 --> 00:02:48,418 And more will be brought out tonight. 63 00:02:51,421 --> 00:02:54,257 -After a successful bus evacuation of 64 00:02:54,341 --> 00:02:57,177 the Superdome, the National Guard organized 65 00:02:57,260 --> 00:02:59,930 the people in front of the Convention Center, 66 00:03:00,013 --> 00:03:02,599 got them on buses, and we sent them to the airport. 67 00:03:02,933 --> 00:03:05,602 [soldier] Buses are loading up on Tchoupitoulas Street. 68 00:03:07,270 --> 00:03:08,522 [soldier] Put it all in there. 69 00:03:08,605 --> 00:03:09,856 Let's get the whole family. 70 00:03:10,232 --> 00:03:11,733 -When they put us on the school buses, 71 00:03:12,317 --> 00:03:13,652 under the Interstate Bridge, 72 00:03:14,486 --> 00:03:15,737 they didn't tell us nothing. 73 00:03:16,321 --> 00:03:18,115 They didn't tell you where you were going. 74 00:03:23,078 --> 00:03:25,997 -I was still out there by the Convention Center. 75 00:03:26,164 --> 00:03:27,791 I didn't feel like I could go no more. 76 00:03:27,999 --> 00:03:29,668 Like, I didn't even feel myself. 77 00:03:30,127 --> 00:03:32,462 You know? I was just done. 78 00:03:34,464 --> 00:03:36,716 And so, when they said that the military 79 00:03:37,050 --> 00:03:38,802 is taking people to the airport and 80 00:03:38,885 --> 00:03:40,262 they going different places, 81 00:03:40,929 --> 00:03:42,597 I said, man, I don't care where I go. 82 00:03:43,265 --> 00:03:46,351 I was going anywhere that the plane was gonna fly me. 83 00:03:50,397 --> 00:03:54,443 -The water had receded, so we took our mother, 84 00:03:54,526 --> 00:03:57,487 who was in a wheelchair, and the rest of the family, 85 00:03:57,571 --> 00:03:59,656 and we walked to a vacant lot 86 00:04:00,198 --> 00:04:02,451 where a helicopter landed. 87 00:04:07,247 --> 00:04:09,207 [Russel Honore] That Saturday, we had over 200 helicopters 88 00:04:09,541 --> 00:04:12,085 from the 82nd Airborne landing in New Orleans. 89 00:04:13,336 --> 00:04:15,297 The idea was to recover people and 90 00:04:15,380 --> 00:04:18,175 get them evacuated and take care of them at the airport. 91 00:04:20,177 --> 00:04:21,678 [Alice Craft-Kerney] At the airport, 92 00:04:22,053 --> 00:04:24,514 we were met by National Guardsmens with 93 00:04:24,598 --> 00:04:28,602 guns who said we must get on the plane. 94 00:04:29,394 --> 00:04:34,316 We begged them to let us go to our 95 00:04:34,524 --> 00:04:36,985 sister who lived 96 00:04:37,068 --> 00:04:40,280 in Houma, Louisiana, which is about an hour's 97 00:04:40,447 --> 00:04:42,365 drive away from New Orleans. 98 00:04:42,657 --> 00:04:44,951 We had family that was ready to receive us. 99 00:04:46,203 --> 00:04:48,497 But we were forced to get on the plane. 100 00:04:48,872 --> 00:04:50,290 We had no choice. 101 00:04:50,415 --> 00:04:51,416 They had guns. 102 00:04:53,168 --> 00:04:55,545 [Russel Honore] The first airplanes are getting loaded. 103 00:04:55,670 --> 00:04:57,422 Everything seemed to be going well. 104 00:04:58,298 --> 00:05:01,301 But then, one of the senior pilots on 105 00:05:01,384 --> 00:05:03,595 the ground flying the civilian airplane said, 106 00:05:04,679 --> 00:05:06,014 well, we can't take off. 107 00:05:06,097 --> 00:05:07,307 We don't have a manifest. 108 00:05:08,850 --> 00:05:12,854 So, he told my major and my major called me up 109 00:05:12,938 --> 00:05:13,897 and said, hey, boss. 110 00:05:13,980 --> 00:05:15,190 We got a problem. 111 00:05:15,398 --> 00:05:16,650 Well, they haven't taken off. 112 00:05:16,817 --> 00:05:18,652 The people have been sitting here for hours 113 00:05:18,735 --> 00:05:20,278 because we don't have a manifest. 114 00:05:20,403 --> 00:05:22,030 I said, well, let me talk to him. 115 00:05:22,572 --> 00:05:24,032 So I talked to him on the phone. 116 00:05:24,115 --> 00:05:25,867 I said, look, a lot of these people here 117 00:05:25,951 --> 00:05:27,369 don't even have identification. 118 00:05:27,452 --> 00:05:28,829 There's no computers out here. 119 00:05:29,287 --> 00:05:31,081 We can't create no manifest. 120 00:05:31,164 --> 00:05:33,375 I said, we can get you a yellow piece of paper. 121 00:05:33,542 --> 00:05:35,085 And when they walk on the airplane, 122 00:05:35,168 --> 00:05:37,045 you take their names down and that's gonna 123 00:05:37,128 --> 00:05:38,255 be your manifest. 124 00:05:38,797 --> 00:05:40,298 Now, fly the fucking airplane. 125 00:05:40,841 --> 00:05:42,175 And the planes took off. 126 00:05:45,262 --> 00:05:48,139 [Alice Craft-Kerney] We asked, where were we going to go? 127 00:05:48,682 --> 00:05:50,642 Where is this plane gonna land? 128 00:05:50,892 --> 00:05:52,310 We don't know. 129 00:05:53,144 --> 00:05:54,604 I said, you don't know. 130 00:05:54,896 --> 00:05:57,524 I said, everybody has to know where they're gonna land. 131 00:05:58,275 --> 00:06:00,569 Don't they have to have a flight plan and 132 00:06:00,652 --> 00:06:01,987 this kind of thing? 133 00:06:03,363 --> 00:06:06,366 They said, just get on the plane, ma'am. 134 00:06:08,076 --> 00:06:10,787 -Nothing, we didn't know anything. 135 00:06:10,871 --> 00:06:12,330 We knew that we were leaving New Orleans. 136 00:06:13,248 --> 00:06:14,457 My mind was blank. 137 00:06:14,541 --> 00:06:17,002 I, I didn't know what was gonna be next. 138 00:06:17,294 --> 00:06:20,422 We didn't, we didn't really have control over our destiny. 139 00:06:21,339 --> 00:06:23,341 -They tell you you're gonna go to Houston. 140 00:06:23,466 --> 00:06:25,218 They tell you you're gonna go to Atlanta, 141 00:06:25,302 --> 00:06:27,554 to Chicago, San Francisco. 142 00:06:27,637 --> 00:06:29,139 God knows where you'll end up. 143 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:35,604 [reporter] The New Orleans International Airport 144 00:06:35,687 --> 00:06:39,149 is part of the largest airlift ever on U.S. soil. 145 00:06:39,399 --> 00:06:41,902 More than 10,000 hurricane survivors. 146 00:06:42,068 --> 00:06:43,361 -Help's on the way. 147 00:06:43,528 --> 00:06:45,280 Help's on the way. 148 00:06:45,363 --> 00:06:48,158 -We've witnessed all day airlifting evacuees to 149 00:06:48,241 --> 00:06:50,827 the Louis Armstrong International Airport. 150 00:06:50,952 --> 00:06:52,704 Buses also arriving to take people out of 151 00:06:52,912 --> 00:06:54,497 the once great city. 152 00:06:57,709 --> 00:06:59,210 [Geraldo Rivera] I tell you. 153 00:06:59,294 --> 00:07:00,587 What a difference a day makes. 154 00:07:00,670 --> 00:07:03,214 24 hours ago, this building behind me, 155 00:07:03,298 --> 00:07:06,009 crowded with thousands and thousands of the most 156 00:07:06,092 --> 00:07:07,844 desperate refugees you could imagine, 157 00:07:07,927 --> 00:07:08,803 has been emptied. 158 00:07:09,679 --> 00:07:11,598 God bless the United States Army. 159 00:07:11,681 --> 00:07:13,141 God bless the United States military. 160 00:07:13,433 --> 00:07:15,143 They pulled this thing together from 161 00:07:15,226 --> 00:07:17,187 chaos, confusion, anarchy. 162 00:07:17,270 --> 00:07:18,938 Well, God bless you. 163 00:07:19,022 --> 00:07:20,440 -Oh, I tell you what, it's great. 164 00:07:20,523 --> 00:07:22,525 That all Americans are here to help Americans. 165 00:07:22,651 --> 00:07:23,985 [Geraldo Rivera] That's it. 166 00:07:24,819 --> 00:07:26,404 -Is this America? 167 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:29,282 Do I have freedom of movement? 168 00:07:29,949 --> 00:07:32,410 I, I, I thought I was still living in America. 169 00:07:38,375 --> 00:07:41,044 So you know, it was, like, okay. 170 00:07:41,628 --> 00:07:43,213 I'm gonna do what they tell me to do. 171 00:07:44,297 --> 00:07:45,674 I'm gonna cooperate. 172 00:07:45,799 --> 00:07:47,050 I'm not gonna cause a ruckus. 173 00:07:47,759 --> 00:07:49,427 But I will get back to New Orleans. 174 00:07:51,763 --> 00:07:53,807 [reporter] The first wave of hurricane refugees 175 00:07:53,890 --> 00:07:56,184 from Louisiana is arriving in Texas this morning. 176 00:07:56,267 --> 00:07:58,520 They're being bused from the New Orleans Superdome. 177 00:07:58,603 --> 00:08:00,772 [Keith Craft] As we were moving around the country, 178 00:08:01,523 --> 00:08:05,860 the news media were calling people from 179 00:08:05,944 --> 00:08:07,195 New Orleans refugees. 180 00:08:08,071 --> 00:08:10,115 [reporter] Dallas schools are opening their doors 181 00:08:10,198 --> 00:08:12,117 to storm refugee kids. 182 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:13,743 And Dallas is delivering truckloads of 183 00:08:13,827 --> 00:08:15,286 donations to refugees. 184 00:08:16,037 --> 00:08:18,623 [Keith Craft] How can you be a refugee in your own country? 185 00:08:19,249 --> 00:08:21,501 It offended not only me but a lot of people. 186 00:08:22,293 --> 00:08:23,837 [storm victim] We are not refugees. 187 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:26,881 We are American citizen that got caught up in a bad way. 188 00:08:27,048 --> 00:08:28,758 And we resent that word refugees. 189 00:08:28,883 --> 00:08:30,510 And they shouldn't use that anymore. 190 00:08:32,262 --> 00:08:34,639 [storm victim] We been traveling and traveling. 191 00:08:35,140 --> 00:08:38,601 We been going from one shelter to the next shelter. 192 00:08:38,852 --> 00:08:41,146 But that's okay because we living. 193 00:08:43,398 --> 00:08:45,108 The thing that's not all right is we got 194 00:08:45,567 --> 00:08:48,111 family members scattered all around. 195 00:08:49,279 --> 00:08:51,406 Where they're scattered at, we don't know. 196 00:08:54,117 --> 00:08:56,077 [reporter] With approximately a million refugees, 197 00:08:56,578 --> 00:08:59,664 30 states in all are accepting evacuees 198 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:03,334 in this country's largest migration in 70 years. 199 00:09:03,626 --> 00:09:05,962 -These were internally displaced people. 200 00:09:07,213 --> 00:09:09,799 This was the forced migration of people 201 00:09:09,966 --> 00:09:11,217 because of Katrina. 202 00:09:12,469 --> 00:09:15,388 And I think within modern history that was 203 00:09:15,472 --> 00:09:18,933 the first time for a lot of Americans that that happened. 204 00:09:21,686 --> 00:09:23,521 [Kevin Goodman] I had never even heard of 205 00:09:23,605 --> 00:09:25,106 Austin, Texas in my life. 206 00:09:25,315 --> 00:09:29,152 But Austin, they showed us love up there. 207 00:09:33,073 --> 00:09:35,617 But I didn't know where my life was headed from there. 208 00:09:38,953 --> 00:09:41,289 [storm victim] I currently live in Memphis, Tennessee. 209 00:09:41,372 --> 00:09:43,166 However, I'm from New Orleans, Louisiana, 210 00:09:43,249 --> 00:09:44,250 I have... 211 00:09:44,334 --> 00:09:45,835 [storm victim] I'm here in Georgia. 212 00:09:45,919 --> 00:09:47,504 I have lost everything in my home. 213 00:09:47,587 --> 00:09:49,714 [storm victim] I live in Norman, Oklahoma now. 214 00:09:49,839 --> 00:09:51,674 [storm victim] I came here to Carson City. 215 00:09:51,758 --> 00:09:53,134 [storm victim] Houston, Texas. 216 00:09:53,218 --> 00:09:54,302 [storm victim] But I want to go back home. 217 00:09:54,385 --> 00:09:55,220 But now, I got... 218 00:09:55,303 --> 00:09:56,346 [storm victim] I used to be a New Orleanian. 219 00:09:56,471 --> 00:09:57,680 I was born and raised there. 220 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:09,609 -About a month after leaving the Superdome, 221 00:10:09,692 --> 00:10:12,403 once the water receded, I was able to come back 222 00:10:12,779 --> 00:10:15,657 to check on the house in St. Bernard Parish. 223 00:10:20,203 --> 00:10:21,913 You can see the devastation. 224 00:10:26,876 --> 00:10:29,712 [Thanh Truong] Coming back after the city was emptied out, 225 00:10:30,630 --> 00:10:31,965 it was strange, for sure. 226 00:10:32,090 --> 00:10:33,967 A city that is known for celebrating, 227 00:10:34,259 --> 00:10:36,636 known for its food, known for being loud. 228 00:10:37,011 --> 00:10:39,097 It was dead quiet. 229 00:10:43,309 --> 00:10:45,728 [Lucrece Phillips] When I came back to New Orleans, 230 00:10:46,229 --> 00:10:47,856 everything looked dead. 231 00:10:48,398 --> 00:10:50,024 Everything smelled dead. 232 00:10:50,775 --> 00:10:53,987 It was just desolate, just oh, my God. 233 00:10:54,529 --> 00:10:56,906 I could not believe. 234 00:10:56,990 --> 00:10:59,242 I was like, this is never gonna be put back right. 235 00:11:03,830 --> 00:11:05,790 [Shelton Alexander] The graveyard. 236 00:11:05,874 --> 00:11:07,792 This the worst thing I ever seen in my life. 237 00:11:11,296 --> 00:11:13,882 We have above-ground tombs. 238 00:11:15,008 --> 00:11:17,260 But the water saturated the earth, 239 00:11:17,886 --> 00:11:20,263 and it made a lot of the graves come up. 240 00:11:21,431 --> 00:11:23,433 We got caskets coming out, man. 241 00:11:23,808 --> 00:11:25,852 One of my cousins, we had just buried, 242 00:11:25,935 --> 00:11:29,314 like, not too long ago, her casket was actually 243 00:11:29,439 --> 00:11:32,400 sitting out in the open, exposed. 244 00:11:32,567 --> 00:11:35,111 Now my people's graves, and it's right on top of 245 00:11:35,195 --> 00:11:36,237 my people's graves. 246 00:11:38,072 --> 00:11:39,699 Just look all around. 247 00:11:39,782 --> 00:11:41,367 This, this, this not cool, man. 248 00:11:42,035 --> 00:11:44,412 I don't think anybody, after they bury their people, 249 00:11:44,495 --> 00:11:46,247 they want to see graves like this, man. 250 00:11:49,626 --> 00:11:51,211 Damn, I wasn't ready for this. 251 00:11:53,713 --> 00:11:56,174 -It's one thing to think about the loss. 252 00:11:57,842 --> 00:11:59,177 It's another thing to see it. 253 00:12:00,345 --> 00:12:02,138 When you see it, it's real. 254 00:12:05,642 --> 00:12:08,686 When I saw my home for the first time, 255 00:12:09,270 --> 00:12:10,438 I was devastated. 256 00:12:10,605 --> 00:12:12,690 The tears just kind of rolled down my face. 257 00:12:13,524 --> 00:12:17,278 Mud was still inside the home. 258 00:12:17,362 --> 00:12:19,989 It was just a muddy mess. 259 00:12:20,073 --> 00:12:22,033 All of my belongings were ruined. 260 00:12:22,116 --> 00:12:23,660 All of my pictures. 261 00:12:23,743 --> 00:12:24,869 Everything. 262 00:12:26,537 --> 00:12:28,414 [Lynette Boutte] I had mold that was, like, 263 00:12:28,581 --> 00:12:30,166 going up to the ceiling almost. 264 00:12:31,793 --> 00:12:34,337 [Lucrece Phillips] Birth certificates. Pictures. 265 00:12:35,046 --> 00:12:36,422 Everything was gone. 266 00:12:41,719 --> 00:12:45,515 -When you come back to something that has been 267 00:12:46,266 --> 00:12:51,604 your dream and you realize that it has been destroyed, 268 00:12:55,858 --> 00:12:58,236 it was, like, what do I do? 269 00:13:05,285 --> 00:13:10,540 [Shelton Alexander] Oh, man. Man, look at my crib. 270 00:13:10,915 --> 00:13:13,626 It's smashed down to the ground. 271 00:13:13,710 --> 00:13:15,712 My mama trailer. 272 00:13:15,795 --> 00:13:17,755 And look at my other crib that we just built, 273 00:13:17,839 --> 00:13:19,132 leaning to the side. 274 00:13:19,924 --> 00:13:21,426 Look at my crib. 275 00:13:23,678 --> 00:13:25,972 Man, this don't even feel like home, man. 276 00:13:27,807 --> 00:13:28,891 Hey, girl. 277 00:13:29,058 --> 00:13:30,059 Hey, Cinnamon. 278 00:13:30,143 --> 00:13:33,604 Hey. Hey, girl. Hey. 279 00:13:33,896 --> 00:13:36,441 She miss you. She miss you. 280 00:13:38,192 --> 00:13:39,902 [Shelton Alexander] My other dog... 281 00:13:45,533 --> 00:13:47,160 she was in this... 282 00:13:49,996 --> 00:13:51,706 she was in this fucking house. 283 00:13:54,584 --> 00:13:56,002 Look at it now. 284 00:14:01,632 --> 00:14:03,134 Look at my shit, man. 285 00:14:03,217 --> 00:14:04,594 My big screen. 286 00:14:04,802 --> 00:14:06,304 This is devastation. 287 00:14:06,387 --> 00:14:08,431 Martin Luther King. 288 00:14:09,849 --> 00:14:12,018 I got some of my old letters from the military. 289 00:14:13,102 --> 00:14:14,937 My military books are fine, man. 290 00:14:20,735 --> 00:14:22,779 You have to step over stuff and walk through 291 00:14:23,029 --> 00:14:25,490 stuff to get to stuff. 292 00:14:27,283 --> 00:14:28,785 I can't really get in there. 293 00:14:29,577 --> 00:14:32,789 There's so much mud and thick stuff up in there, man. 294 00:14:33,998 --> 00:14:35,416 It's gonna be enough. 295 00:14:35,541 --> 00:14:37,085 But this house is damn gutted out. 296 00:14:38,461 --> 00:14:39,921 Look how thick the mud is. 297 00:14:40,213 --> 00:14:41,380 I can't get to nothing. 298 00:14:41,631 --> 00:14:43,382 I really can't find what I'm looking for. 299 00:14:44,175 --> 00:14:48,721 But I'll say I guess whatever I got out the deal, 300 00:14:49,847 --> 00:14:50,932 guess it'll be all right. 301 00:14:51,015 --> 00:14:51,933 But. 302 00:15:03,444 --> 00:15:06,489 [Shelton Alexander] I hate to leave like this, man... 303 00:15:06,572 --> 00:15:07,740 [Shelton Alexander] Shit is so fucked up. 304 00:15:10,952 --> 00:15:12,954 Everything you ever worked for, man, 305 00:15:14,580 --> 00:15:16,040 or gain on your own. 306 00:15:16,165 --> 00:15:18,167 And you, even if you had too fucking much, man, 307 00:15:18,376 --> 00:15:20,461 this was, it was, like, this was yours. 308 00:15:20,545 --> 00:15:22,046 You know? 309 00:15:23,548 --> 00:15:29,720 (crying) 310 00:15:30,555 --> 00:15:32,306 It just leave you confused. 311 00:15:33,975 --> 00:15:35,226 What are we gonna do? 312 00:15:36,352 --> 00:15:38,479 How are we gonna fix this? 313 00:15:39,981 --> 00:15:42,567 An, and it just seemed like it was unfixable at the time. 314 00:15:48,156 --> 00:15:50,700 [reporter] Louisiana, today, officially ended the search 315 00:15:50,783 --> 00:15:53,828 for bodies of people killed by Hurricane Katrina. 316 00:15:54,203 --> 00:15:57,999 The death toll in the state now stands at 964. 317 00:16:01,043 --> 00:16:03,254 [Russel Honore] Because of the heat and the lack 318 00:16:03,337 --> 00:16:05,339 of communication and the absence of medicine, 319 00:16:05,756 --> 00:16:07,800 a lot of the people we found in homes dead 320 00:16:08,718 --> 00:16:10,970 were elderly, poor, and disabled. 321 00:16:11,846 --> 00:16:13,014 And they were alone. 322 00:16:27,528 --> 00:16:29,864 [Kevin Goodman] My brother, the one that when we went 323 00:16:29,989 --> 00:16:30,948 walking in the water, 324 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,910 kicked a stop sign and put a big hole in his leg. 325 00:16:35,119 --> 00:16:36,871 He died from a infection. 326 00:16:37,788 --> 00:16:40,708 And my niece that was walking with us, she had, uh, 327 00:16:41,459 --> 00:16:42,501 she had Lupus already. 328 00:16:43,169 --> 00:16:44,921 But then, she couldn't take her medicine, 329 00:16:45,338 --> 00:16:47,381 so she developed meningitis, 330 00:16:47,757 --> 00:16:49,175 and it moved up to her brains. 331 00:16:50,551 --> 00:16:51,802 So she couldn't talk. 332 00:16:52,178 --> 00:16:54,430 All she could do is lay there with her eyes open. 333 00:16:56,933 --> 00:16:59,936 And so, you know, that was one of the reasons why 334 00:17:00,311 --> 00:17:03,147 I didn't want to come back to New Orleans. 335 00:17:03,272 --> 00:17:05,024 Because I didn't want to have to, like, 336 00:17:05,107 --> 00:17:06,150 relive that again. 337 00:17:10,321 --> 00:17:11,656 [reporter] From the air today, 338 00:17:11,739 --> 00:17:14,492 we saw miles of once flooded houses. 339 00:17:14,617 --> 00:17:18,079 As many as 250,000 homes may be uninhabitable. 340 00:17:18,871 --> 00:17:20,831 [reporter] In New Orleans, there was anger and 341 00:17:20,915 --> 00:17:23,251 frustration today when a sweeping new blueprint 342 00:17:23,334 --> 00:17:25,795 to rebuild the city was unveiled. 343 00:17:25,878 --> 00:17:27,004 [reporter] Anyone who lives in a neighborhood 344 00:17:27,088 --> 00:17:29,382 highlighted here in yellow, most of the city, 345 00:17:29,465 --> 00:17:30,841 could be forced to move. 346 00:17:30,925 --> 00:17:33,135 The plan calls for new parks in green that 347 00:17:33,219 --> 00:17:34,762 would help control flooding. 348 00:17:34,845 --> 00:17:36,889 Residents would be resettled in areas 349 00:17:36,973 --> 00:17:38,224 circled in red. 350 00:17:39,850 --> 00:17:42,270 -This was a plan that somebody had come up with 351 00:17:42,603 --> 00:17:44,855 to turn different areas into, 352 00:17:44,939 --> 00:17:47,441 into green spaces for people 353 00:17:47,608 --> 00:17:51,320 that would also be able to capture water during storms. 354 00:17:52,488 --> 00:17:54,198 Great, great idea. 355 00:17:54,782 --> 00:17:57,410 Except that people actually lived there. 356 00:17:58,953 --> 00:18:01,163 [Eddie Compass] When he came up with the plan 357 00:18:01,247 --> 00:18:02,999 about the new New Orleans, 358 00:18:03,082 --> 00:18:04,292 it angered me. 359 00:18:04,458 --> 00:18:07,086 Because many of the areas where the people at 360 00:18:07,211 --> 00:18:09,213 the bottom of socioeconomic scale and 361 00:18:09,297 --> 00:18:13,676 people who did not have a voice were being discounted. 362 00:18:14,719 --> 00:18:17,096 [spokesperson] Immediately, we need to identify and be, 363 00:18:17,179 --> 00:18:18,889 begin assembling properties that can 364 00:18:18,973 --> 00:18:20,433 become part of this system. 365 00:18:21,100 --> 00:18:24,145 -The Lower 9th Ward, it was supposed to be a g, green space. 366 00:18:24,979 --> 00:18:27,773 How you gonna make a g, green space out of my property? 367 00:18:29,233 --> 00:18:32,612 -When the map came out, the first thing that came 368 00:18:32,695 --> 00:18:34,322 to my mind was hell no. 369 00:18:35,448 --> 00:18:38,117 It was hell no because it goes back to the legacy 370 00:18:38,242 --> 00:18:40,828 that that house that I live in provided. 371 00:18:42,121 --> 00:18:44,206 I'm not giving up this man's property and even, 372 00:18:44,290 --> 00:18:45,625 and I'm referring to my grandfather. 373 00:18:46,542 --> 00:18:48,502 [reporter] Some worry that the Black wards of 374 00:18:48,586 --> 00:18:51,130 the city are being intentionally neglected 375 00:18:51,213 --> 00:18:53,507 and may even be bulldozed, leaving residents 376 00:18:53,591 --> 00:18:55,593 displaced and disenfranchised. 377 00:18:58,220 --> 00:19:00,097 -It did not go over well with me. 378 00:19:00,806 --> 00:19:03,726 It didn't go well with most of the citizens 379 00:19:03,893 --> 00:19:06,854 who wanted to come back and rebuild their homes 380 00:19:06,937 --> 00:19:08,314 and their life. 381 00:19:08,522 --> 00:19:11,817 And that's when, I think, folks started to think 382 00:19:11,942 --> 00:19:15,696 about how can we organize and fight back. 383 00:19:16,364 --> 00:19:19,450 -Any area of the city of New Orleans that is 384 00:19:19,617 --> 00:19:23,496 sparsely populated, they are going to want to 385 00:19:23,663 --> 00:19:26,874 use the eminent domain to take over the properties. 386 00:19:27,416 --> 00:19:29,168 -We have a resident on the phone. 387 00:19:29,251 --> 00:19:30,795 Whoever didn't hear, we have a resident on 388 00:19:30,878 --> 00:19:31,879 the phone right now. 389 00:19:31,962 --> 00:19:35,341 She's watching them at Galvez and Reynes 390 00:19:35,424 --> 00:19:37,510 bulldozing a home. 391 00:19:38,302 --> 00:19:40,805 -Get me the city attorney's number. 392 00:19:41,097 --> 00:19:42,515 -We will move the people. 393 00:19:42,598 --> 00:19:44,058 Just get your dozer stopped. 394 00:19:44,141 --> 00:19:45,935 Ain't no danger as long as they stop. 395 00:19:46,018 --> 00:19:47,478 -These are people's homes. 396 00:19:48,020 --> 00:19:49,230 -They're leaving. 397 00:19:49,355 --> 00:19:50,272 -All right. 398 00:19:50,356 --> 00:19:51,399 -Yes. 399 00:19:51,524 --> 00:19:53,025 (cheering, applause) 400 00:19:53,109 --> 00:19:56,278 -Now, you got a whole bunch of mad citizen that's in the city 401 00:19:56,362 --> 00:19:57,780 and gonna get a whole lot madder. 402 00:19:57,863 --> 00:19:59,031 -So that's a problem. 403 00:19:59,115 --> 00:20:00,491 [reporter] So mad they were screaming today at 404 00:20:00,574 --> 00:20:02,243 the commission that came up with the rebuilding plan. 405 00:20:02,326 --> 00:20:03,077 -Please. 406 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:05,162 -Don't tell me about what this fucking town deserves. 407 00:20:05,246 --> 00:20:07,456 [community member] This is a big, audacious plan. 408 00:20:07,540 --> 00:20:08,708 It was put together by, 409 00:20:08,791 --> 00:20:10,376 obviously, very brilliant people. 410 00:20:10,459 --> 00:20:11,544 But guess what? 411 00:20:11,669 --> 00:20:12,712 You missed the boat. 412 00:20:13,212 --> 00:20:15,798 [Thanh Truong] In fairness to them, there were some areas 413 00:20:15,923 --> 00:20:18,926 that you knew, because of the elevation and because 414 00:20:19,093 --> 00:20:21,429 of the amount of flooding that it may have taken on 415 00:20:21,512 --> 00:20:24,306 during the storm, it may have not made sense to, 416 00:20:24,390 --> 00:20:25,516 to rebuild there. 417 00:20:25,808 --> 00:20:28,561 But everything is personal in New Orleans. 418 00:20:28,644 --> 00:20:29,895 For people that grew up here, 419 00:20:29,979 --> 00:20:31,522 their neighborhood is everything. 420 00:20:31,647 --> 00:20:34,066 The high school where they went to is everything. 421 00:20:34,150 --> 00:20:36,277 So if the mayor says, if the city says this part 422 00:20:36,444 --> 00:20:38,362 isn't gonna come back, we're gonna make this 423 00:20:38,446 --> 00:20:41,073 green space, like, it, it's going to cut you deep. 424 00:20:41,323 --> 00:20:42,825 -I hate you. 425 00:20:42,908 --> 00:20:46,078 Because you been in the background trying to 426 00:20:46,162 --> 00:20:48,164 scheme and get our land. 427 00:20:48,247 --> 00:20:49,498 It's been happening. 428 00:20:49,582 --> 00:20:50,624 That's not happening. 429 00:20:50,833 --> 00:20:54,295 -We know that they have wildfires in California. 430 00:20:54,712 --> 00:20:58,132 They have tornadoes in the middle of America. 431 00:20:58,507 --> 00:20:59,884 They have flooding in Florida. 432 00:21:00,134 --> 00:21:02,803 But they've never told them you can't rebuild. 433 00:21:03,137 --> 00:21:04,889 -I don't think it's right that you try to 434 00:21:05,097 --> 00:21:06,390 take our property. 435 00:21:07,475 --> 00:21:10,811 Because like I said, over my dead body. 436 00:21:10,895 --> 00:21:12,146 I didn't die with Katrina. 437 00:21:12,229 --> 00:21:13,314 Bye. 438 00:21:13,856 --> 00:21:15,483 (applause). 439 00:21:17,318 --> 00:21:19,445 [Mark Schleifstein] The blowback of it was so bad 440 00:21:19,528 --> 00:21:23,657 that the mayor basically said not only we're not 441 00:21:23,741 --> 00:21:26,368 doing that, we're not gonna do anything except 442 00:21:26,702 --> 00:21:28,621 what the localities want us to do. 443 00:21:30,956 --> 00:21:32,875 [Mayor Nagin] We, as the community, 444 00:21:32,958 --> 00:21:36,170 will have the ultimate say in how we move forward. 445 00:21:38,130 --> 00:21:40,466 [Alice Craft-Kerney] If you don't have the resources, 446 00:21:40,549 --> 00:21:42,760 how can you put your life back together? 447 00:21:44,220 --> 00:21:47,306 The people who lived in these more affluent 448 00:21:47,389 --> 00:21:49,266 neighborhoods, they're up here. 449 00:21:49,725 --> 00:21:51,560 So who's gonna need the most resources? 450 00:21:51,644 --> 00:21:54,188 The people who are here or the people who are down here? 451 00:21:54,313 --> 00:21:55,773 It shouldn't be about equal. 452 00:21:55,981 --> 00:21:57,441 It should be about equity. 453 00:21:59,860 --> 00:22:02,363 [Russel Honore] How you survive a disaster is directly 454 00:22:02,488 --> 00:22:05,282 proportion to how well-prepared and 455 00:22:05,366 --> 00:22:07,201 how well you off before the disaster. 456 00:22:08,327 --> 00:22:11,539 The bottom line in that, the poor got poorer, 457 00:22:11,622 --> 00:22:13,040 and the rich got richer. 458 00:22:21,090 --> 00:22:23,092 [Mitch Landrieu] When the federal levees broke 459 00:22:23,175 --> 00:22:25,511 10 years ago, we and the world gasped at the 460 00:22:25,594 --> 00:22:29,014 possibility that in the blink of an eye New Orleans 461 00:22:29,098 --> 00:22:30,850 as we know it would be gone. 462 00:22:32,309 --> 00:22:33,686 But 10 years after Katrina, 463 00:22:33,769 --> 00:22:35,020 we're no longer recovering. 464 00:22:35,104 --> 00:22:36,063 We're not rebuilding. 465 00:22:36,146 --> 00:22:37,147 Now, we're creating. 466 00:22:37,356 --> 00:22:38,732 (crowd cheering) 467 00:22:38,899 --> 00:22:40,860 We're in the midst of a retail and 468 00:22:40,943 --> 00:22:42,194 restaurant building boom. 469 00:22:42,319 --> 00:22:44,405 Can you think of any other place in the world 470 00:22:44,488 --> 00:22:46,365 where you can lose 100,000 people and gain 471 00:22:46,448 --> 00:22:49,034 600 more restaurants than we had before Katrina? 472 00:22:49,159 --> 00:22:50,327 I mean, come on. 473 00:22:50,452 --> 00:22:51,537 -You want tomatoes on that? 474 00:22:51,620 --> 00:22:54,164 -Ladies and gentlemen, your city is changing 475 00:22:54,248 --> 00:22:55,875 before your eyes. 476 00:22:56,125 --> 00:22:57,126 -What did he order? 477 00:22:57,209 --> 00:22:59,336 -I'm gonna try this alligator sausage. 478 00:22:59,795 --> 00:23:01,755 [Malik Rahim] It was a tale of two cities. 479 00:23:02,882 --> 00:23:06,260 The rest of the city was pulling back together. 480 00:23:07,636 --> 00:23:09,805 But go ask those in the 9th Ward. 481 00:23:12,766 --> 00:23:14,476 Ask them who was left behind. 482 00:23:25,946 --> 00:23:32,703 [♪ somber music playing] 483 00:23:38,375 --> 00:23:41,545 -In some instances, the city was back. 484 00:23:41,712 --> 00:23:44,965 But it just wasn't back equitably for everyone. 485 00:23:50,179 --> 00:23:52,264 [reporter] Louisiana got ten billion dollars in 486 00:23:52,681 --> 00:23:55,976 federal money to create and oversee the Road Home Program. 487 00:23:56,518 --> 00:23:58,479 It's the largest housing recovery effort 488 00:23:58,646 --> 00:24:00,022 in American history. 489 00:24:00,814 --> 00:24:03,400 -My plan offers a fair and practical solution 490 00:24:03,567 --> 00:24:05,736 to return people to their homes 491 00:24:05,819 --> 00:24:07,363 and their communities. 492 00:24:07,446 --> 00:24:09,406 This is a great victory for Louisiana. 493 00:24:09,823 --> 00:24:12,660 (applause) 494 00:24:13,118 --> 00:24:15,579 -The Road Home turned out to be the road 495 00:24:15,704 --> 00:24:17,456 to nowhere for a lot of people. 496 00:24:18,248 --> 00:24:20,417 [reporter] The Road Home was supposed to cover the 497 00:24:20,501 --> 00:24:23,712 costs that insurance and other federal aid didn't. 498 00:24:23,837 --> 00:24:25,756 [reporter] People have waited for months for 499 00:24:25,881 --> 00:24:27,758 clearance of the money and everything else. 500 00:24:27,925 --> 00:24:29,551 Strangled by all this red tape. 501 00:24:29,885 --> 00:24:32,179 [Angela Chalk] Every time you went in there applying 502 00:24:32,346 --> 00:24:34,682 to the government for Road Home assistance, 503 00:24:35,099 --> 00:24:38,727 it seemed like the rules changed from week to week. 504 00:24:39,728 --> 00:24:42,398 So now, you have to expend more time and 505 00:24:42,606 --> 00:24:45,985 energy and you're still dealing with the mental 506 00:24:46,151 --> 00:24:48,821 effects of Hurricane Katrina. 507 00:24:49,071 --> 00:24:50,364 It's overwhelming. 508 00:24:51,448 --> 00:24:54,159 [reporter] The Road Home had a fatal flaw. 509 00:24:54,243 --> 00:24:56,412 It awarded grants based on repair costs or 510 00:24:56,495 --> 00:24:59,665 pre-storm value, whichever was less. 511 00:25:00,374 --> 00:25:02,292 In the poorest neighborhoods, 512 00:25:02,543 --> 00:25:04,920 a home's pre-storm value tended to be less 513 00:25:05,004 --> 00:25:07,047 than the cost of repairing or rebuilding it. 514 00:25:07,464 --> 00:25:09,842 Those neighborhoods were majority Black. 515 00:25:11,260 --> 00:25:14,513 [Alice Craft-Kerney] So, folks who lived in Lakeview, 516 00:25:14,930 --> 00:25:16,515 a predominantly White, 517 00:25:16,598 --> 00:25:20,644 upper middle class to upper class area that 518 00:25:20,728 --> 00:25:23,397 already had the resources to rebuild, 519 00:25:24,189 --> 00:25:27,985 they got more money than folks that lived in, 520 00:25:28,193 --> 00:25:29,945 let's just say, the Lower 9th Ward. 521 00:25:30,404 --> 00:25:34,241 Even though the building materials cost was the same. 522 00:25:35,117 --> 00:25:38,370 A 2-by-4 for my house costs the same 523 00:25:38,871 --> 00:25:41,165 as a 2-by-4 for another person's house. 524 00:25:41,498 --> 00:25:44,001 So why are you gonna give me a different amount of money? 525 00:25:45,127 --> 00:25:48,756 It was like they were sabotaging the recovery 526 00:25:49,089 --> 00:25:50,883 in areas where Black folk lived. 527 00:25:51,633 --> 00:25:52,968 -Everybody wants to come home. 528 00:25:53,135 --> 00:25:54,887 It's just that we can't come home because 529 00:25:55,054 --> 00:25:57,347 the government is trying to keep us away from home. 530 00:25:59,808 --> 00:26:03,062 [Lynette Boutte] It was gonna cost at least $250,000 to 531 00:26:03,145 --> 00:26:04,188 repair my property. 532 00:26:05,105 --> 00:26:07,775 I was fully insured but 533 00:26:08,275 --> 00:26:11,195 I had just borrowed on the building. 534 00:26:11,653 --> 00:26:13,614 And when I borrowed on the building, 535 00:26:13,697 --> 00:26:15,574 it was put for collateral. 536 00:26:15,657 --> 00:26:19,203 And when the storm hit and I went back, 537 00:26:19,286 --> 00:26:21,288 the bank took the money. 538 00:26:21,371 --> 00:26:25,167 They told me that they weren't giving me anything. 539 00:26:25,918 --> 00:26:28,087 I got zero from Road Home. 540 00:26:28,670 --> 00:26:32,091 -Homeowners can choose repair, rebuild, 541 00:26:32,716 --> 00:26:35,677 accept a buyout and relocate within Louisiana, 542 00:26:35,928 --> 00:26:38,055 or sell and leave the state. 543 00:26:39,014 --> 00:26:40,849 [Lynette Boutte] I started looking at what 544 00:26:40,933 --> 00:26:42,017 they were trying to do. 545 00:26:42,101 --> 00:26:43,852 I'm like, you're not getting my property. 546 00:26:44,311 --> 00:26:45,771 Because I am not selling. 547 00:26:48,232 --> 00:26:50,651 [Angela Chalk] But some folks just did give up 548 00:26:51,068 --> 00:26:53,153 and say I don't want this headache. 549 00:26:53,779 --> 00:26:55,030 I'll take the buyout. 550 00:26:56,281 --> 00:26:58,367 [Lynette Boutte] And so, what they accomplished 551 00:26:58,659 --> 00:27:01,328 with a lot of people was to get them out and 552 00:27:01,411 --> 00:27:02,996 away from the city. 553 00:27:06,750 --> 00:27:09,294 [Kevin Goodman] After, like, nine and a half years being 554 00:27:09,419 --> 00:27:11,880 in Austin, I went back to New Orleans. 555 00:27:12,381 --> 00:27:14,716 But when I came back, there wasn't no more 556 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:16,218 affordable housing. 557 00:27:16,552 --> 00:27:18,595 No more houses in the hood, you know, 558 00:27:18,679 --> 00:27:21,765 where you can get a one-bedroom for $300 and 559 00:27:21,849 --> 00:27:24,351 a two-bedroom for $500. 560 00:27:27,145 --> 00:27:30,482 Back in the day, most of the houses was doubles. 561 00:27:30,858 --> 00:27:33,610 You know, family on this side and a family on that side. 562 00:27:35,863 --> 00:27:39,616 But after Katrina, they started making single 563 00:27:39,700 --> 00:27:41,368 houses out of double houses, 564 00:27:41,451 --> 00:27:42,744 like you see here. 565 00:27:43,745 --> 00:27:46,582 That's two families that's out of a house. 566 00:27:48,208 --> 00:27:50,669 The cost of living became so high, 567 00:27:51,044 --> 00:27:53,380 I made a decision to leave New Orleans. 568 00:28:00,929 --> 00:28:05,642 [♪ somber music playing] 569 00:28:05,809 --> 00:28:08,020 [Shelton Alexander] After Katrina, I knew I couldn't 570 00:28:08,270 --> 00:28:09,563 come back home immediately, 571 00:28:09,688 --> 00:28:11,857 since I had to go and work and make money. 572 00:28:12,900 --> 00:28:15,277 My dad been a master carpenter for many years. 573 00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:18,739 So, I just drove all the way to California 574 00:28:18,822 --> 00:28:20,115 to work with him. 575 00:28:21,241 --> 00:28:23,744 Now, I just got to see the scenery and travel 576 00:28:23,869 --> 00:28:25,621 where God want me to travel. 577 00:28:26,788 --> 00:28:28,707 Then go back home eventually. 578 00:28:31,293 --> 00:28:33,378 I just was thinking about a new beginning because 579 00:28:33,503 --> 00:28:35,923 I knew what I had left behind. 580 00:28:37,132 --> 00:28:39,301 It was a lot of devastation, lot of pain. 581 00:28:39,426 --> 00:28:42,471 So, I just had my moments when I'm like, you know, 582 00:28:42,596 --> 00:28:44,932 kind of, like, singing a old spiritual hymn, 583 00:28:45,140 --> 00:28:46,808 you know, from, like, my grandmother, 584 00:28:46,892 --> 00:28:48,477 and going through the mountains. 585 00:28:50,103 --> 00:28:56,485 ♪ Lord, I'm climbing high in mountains. ♪ 586 00:28:57,819 --> 00:29:00,030 ♪ Trying to get home. ♪ 587 00:29:00,405 --> 00:29:02,407 So that was kind of, like, my, my whole thing. 588 00:29:02,532 --> 00:29:04,076 Like, I was just was, like, I'm, 589 00:29:04,159 --> 00:29:05,452 I'm just trying to get home. 590 00:29:05,577 --> 00:29:07,496 And I don't even know where home is just yet. 591 00:29:07,746 --> 00:29:11,083 Trying to get home. 592 00:29:11,667 --> 00:29:16,004 ♪ You know I'm climbing high mountains. ♪ 593 00:29:16,213 --> 00:29:17,756 ♪ I want the Lord to know I am. ♪ 594 00:29:18,131 --> 00:29:21,051 ♪ Trying to get home. ♪ 595 00:29:21,218 --> 00:29:22,302 ♪ Said, I'm... ♪ 596 00:29:22,511 --> 00:29:24,680 [Shelton Alexander] Well, the driving force behind 597 00:29:24,763 --> 00:29:27,182 me coming back to New Orleans was my moms. 598 00:29:27,516 --> 00:29:29,476 [Shelton Alexander] My mama's birthday was... 599 00:29:29,559 --> 00:29:30,852 November 30th. 600 00:29:30,936 --> 00:29:32,396 [Shelton Alexander] November 30th. 601 00:29:32,479 --> 00:29:33,522 -I made 50 years old. 602 00:29:33,605 --> 00:29:34,731 Ain't that's a blessing? 603 00:29:34,815 --> 00:29:36,316 [Shelton Alexander] After the storm, 604 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:38,110 we had FEMA trailers all over the land. 605 00:29:38,193 --> 00:29:40,320 And that's another trailer in front of my house. 606 00:29:40,904 --> 00:29:42,364 And from that Road Home Program, 607 00:29:42,447 --> 00:29:44,616 she did receive some money. 608 00:29:45,450 --> 00:29:47,744 And my mom bought this trailer. 609 00:29:48,370 --> 00:29:52,082 And so, with that money, my moms finally bought, like, 610 00:29:52,290 --> 00:29:55,210 a big mobile trailer to make sure we had 611 00:29:55,377 --> 00:29:56,461 a place to stay. 612 00:29:56,878 --> 00:30:00,007 But then, maybe about 20 days later, 613 00:30:00,090 --> 00:30:02,050 my moms passed away. 614 00:30:02,676 --> 00:30:05,345 ♪ Get home. ♪ 615 00:30:05,679 --> 00:30:08,181 [Shelton Alexander] And all I have left is these pictures. 616 00:30:11,977 --> 00:30:13,603 I kept remodeling. 617 00:30:13,687 --> 00:30:15,272 I kept working on that house. 618 00:30:15,897 --> 00:30:17,357 Almost complete. 619 00:30:17,441 --> 00:30:19,443 I still have some work to go. 620 00:30:19,526 --> 00:30:20,944 But as the years start going on, 621 00:30:21,069 --> 00:30:22,362 the grants start going away. 622 00:30:24,406 --> 00:30:26,616 Eventually, I had to move to another location, 623 00:30:26,825 --> 00:30:28,827 make more money to be able to come back and 624 00:30:28,910 --> 00:30:30,370 put in resources. 625 00:30:30,454 --> 00:30:32,372 So every now and again, I'll just come back, 626 00:30:32,456 --> 00:30:34,249 try to touch up on some things. 627 00:30:36,209 --> 00:30:40,505 Ohh, lot of work still left to go up in here. 628 00:30:40,922 --> 00:30:43,467 But uh, something in me was saying, 629 00:30:44,634 --> 00:30:47,512 for my mom's sake and everything that she did, 630 00:30:48,722 --> 00:30:50,265 I need to finish the house. 631 00:30:52,517 --> 00:30:56,104 Even though it was impossible to 632 00:30:56,188 --> 00:30:57,606 finish the house. 633 00:31:00,358 --> 00:31:02,110 Every time I come back here, 634 00:31:02,903 --> 00:31:04,237 I got memories of my life, 635 00:31:04,571 --> 00:31:08,283 my moms, my stepdad, all my people right there. 636 00:31:09,618 --> 00:31:11,453 My neighbor next door, 637 00:31:11,578 --> 00:31:12,579 she's gone. 638 00:31:12,662 --> 00:31:13,872 Everybody is gone. 639 00:31:14,956 --> 00:31:17,167 It's depressing to come here and look around and 640 00:31:17,292 --> 00:31:19,336 know that none of these people who know me, 641 00:31:19,419 --> 00:31:21,463 that know my story, they are no longer here. 642 00:31:22,589 --> 00:31:24,925 It's like pictures flashing, 643 00:31:25,092 --> 00:31:28,512 videos flashing of what it used to be. 644 00:31:28,595 --> 00:31:30,972 But it's no longer. 645 00:31:35,977 --> 00:31:39,481 So when I finally felt like I did all I could do, now, 646 00:31:39,689 --> 00:31:46,613 maybe, it felt like my mom's spirit was all 647 00:31:46,696 --> 00:31:50,492 around me saying, it's time to go, man. 648 00:31:50,575 --> 00:31:51,868 You can go. 649 00:31:51,952 --> 00:31:52,994 It's okay. 650 00:31:53,078 --> 00:31:54,162 Don't worry about it. 651 00:31:54,246 --> 00:31:55,622 And I left. 652 00:32:03,547 --> 00:32:07,384 [♪ somber music playing] 653 00:32:08,009 --> 00:32:10,762 [reporter] Hurricane Katrina laid bare the massive failures 654 00:32:11,054 --> 00:32:13,682 of the Corps of Engineers hurricane protection system 655 00:32:13,765 --> 00:32:15,058 of levees and flood walls. 656 00:32:16,643 --> 00:32:20,856 Congress gave the Corps $14.6 billion to make it right. 657 00:32:24,526 --> 00:32:26,319 -All of this was done after Katrina. 658 00:32:27,487 --> 00:32:28,572 If you look at this, 659 00:32:29,281 --> 00:32:32,534 you can see the construction of it is different. 660 00:32:32,617 --> 00:32:34,119 It's more stable. 661 00:32:34,202 --> 00:32:35,996 It goes down deeper. 662 00:32:36,079 --> 00:32:39,457 And it's fortified much better to take stress from 663 00:32:39,541 --> 00:32:41,501 rising water or wind. 664 00:32:44,087 --> 00:32:45,463 -Since Katrina, 665 00:32:45,547 --> 00:32:47,299 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 666 00:32:47,382 --> 00:32:48,383 repaired the levees. 667 00:32:48,466 --> 00:32:51,970 Many of the repairs are quite robust. 668 00:32:52,053 --> 00:32:54,097 However, the Corps of Engineers 669 00:32:54,181 --> 00:32:55,974 themselves recently admitted that 670 00:32:56,057 --> 00:32:58,768 when they determined the heights, 671 00:32:58,894 --> 00:33:01,021 they didn't take into account global warming. 672 00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:05,525 [reporter] No sooner did the Corps of Engineers 673 00:33:05,609 --> 00:33:08,153 finish the last piece of that upgrade project than 674 00:33:08,236 --> 00:33:10,697 it posted a notice in the Federal Register saying 675 00:33:10,780 --> 00:33:13,617 subsidence and sea level rise will cause levees 676 00:33:13,783 --> 00:33:15,327 to require future lifts. 677 00:33:16,369 --> 00:33:18,538 [Ivor Van Heerden] Within 70-odd years, 678 00:33:19,331 --> 00:33:22,334 the water level around New Orleans is gonna be 679 00:33:22,667 --> 00:33:26,338 four feet higher than at present. 680 00:33:28,757 --> 00:33:31,384 In addition, many of the wetlands are gone. 681 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:33,220 There's no friction. 682 00:33:33,303 --> 00:33:35,889 That water can move much further and get much higher. 683 00:33:39,059 --> 00:33:41,770 -As it relates to climate change, 684 00:33:42,354 --> 00:33:45,815 communities of color are the ones who are impacted 685 00:33:45,941 --> 00:33:47,359 the first and the worst. 686 00:33:48,652 --> 00:33:51,154 -Many folks that live in and among these 687 00:33:51,363 --> 00:33:55,533 communities do not have the resources that others 688 00:33:55,617 --> 00:34:00,038 have, and so, they are at a higher risk 689 00:34:01,081 --> 00:34:03,291 for what's gonna happen in the future. 690 00:34:03,375 --> 00:34:05,085 [reporter] Tonight, Maria's direct hit 691 00:34:05,210 --> 00:34:06,711 devastating Puerto Rico. 692 00:34:06,836 --> 00:34:09,506 -Unfortunately, it's not gonna get any better. 693 00:34:09,965 --> 00:34:12,133 [reporter] Sweeping devastation in Lahaina. 694 00:34:12,384 --> 00:34:14,344 [Marty Bahamonde] It's just gonna get worse. 695 00:34:14,552 --> 00:34:16,930 [reporter] The deadliest and most devastating storm 696 00:34:17,222 --> 00:34:18,640 that North Carolina history. 697 00:34:21,351 --> 00:34:24,854 (crying) 698 00:34:35,573 --> 00:34:36,908 [Keith Craft] This is home. 699 00:34:37,742 --> 00:34:39,202 I've been here all my life. 700 00:34:42,289 --> 00:34:46,084 But what really gets me, the Lower 9th Ward, 701 00:34:47,168 --> 00:34:48,962 really, the hardest hit area. 702 00:34:50,046 --> 00:34:51,214 It's forgotten. 703 00:34:54,259 --> 00:34:56,594 [reporter] An entire ward of this city, 704 00:34:56,678 --> 00:35:00,223 the 9th Ward, appears to be up to its rooftops 705 00:35:00,307 --> 00:35:01,474 in water. 706 00:35:01,558 --> 00:35:03,560 I told you earlier today I didn't think this 707 00:35:03,643 --> 00:35:05,353 had turned out to be Armageddon. 708 00:35:05,437 --> 00:35:06,563 I was wrong. 709 00:35:07,147 --> 00:35:09,733 [Malik Rahim] The environmental injustice that is 710 00:35:10,984 --> 00:35:15,989 happening in our community is manmade. 711 00:35:22,162 --> 00:35:25,540 But that mean, also, it could be man solved. 712 00:35:27,083 --> 00:35:28,335 Yeah? 713 00:35:36,801 --> 00:35:39,095 -I can remember, as a little boy, 714 00:35:39,179 --> 00:35:41,181 we used to go back there into the swamp. 715 00:35:42,307 --> 00:35:46,144 It was our wonderland, our playground. 716 00:35:58,615 --> 00:36:02,202 The park started out small and it grew. 717 00:36:13,630 --> 00:36:17,217 It's a little bit like it was before. 718 00:36:21,763 --> 00:36:23,390 They're planting cypress trees. 719 00:36:24,808 --> 00:36:26,768 There's a outdoor classroom. 720 00:36:30,522 --> 00:36:31,898 You can fish. 721 00:36:33,858 --> 00:36:35,568 I'm an ambassador to the park. 722 00:36:36,569 --> 00:36:37,821 I welcome people. 723 00:36:38,196 --> 00:36:40,907 I tell them as much as I can about when I 724 00:36:41,116 --> 00:36:43,576 was growing up in that same area, you know, 725 00:36:43,743 --> 00:36:45,245 and what we're trying to do. 726 00:36:47,831 --> 00:36:50,375 Because as I said, it's something that 727 00:36:50,458 --> 00:36:54,546 we are doing for ourselves, to start over. 728 00:36:56,297 --> 00:36:58,216 You know, new beginning. 729 00:37:00,969 --> 00:37:03,096 [Alice Craft-Kerney] When Katrina hit, 730 00:37:03,888 --> 00:37:06,391 and it took so many of our elders, 731 00:37:06,599 --> 00:37:10,103 it was like losing so much of our history. 732 00:37:12,772 --> 00:37:14,441 They celebrated together. 733 00:37:16,776 --> 00:37:19,446 They praised the Lord together. 734 00:37:21,614 --> 00:37:23,825 It was a true community. 735 00:37:26,536 --> 00:37:28,830 [Lynette Boutte] A lot of people couldn't come back. 736 00:37:28,913 --> 00:37:30,540 A lot of people didn't come back. 737 00:37:30,957 --> 00:37:33,293 It's heartbreaking, because New Orleans lost 738 00:37:33,585 --> 00:37:39,132 a whole maybe two generations of people. 739 00:37:39,549 --> 00:37:44,846 And that took away a lot of the culture that 740 00:37:44,929 --> 00:37:46,765 sits in this area. 741 00:37:53,021 --> 00:37:56,357 And so, I wanted to come back into the community 742 00:37:56,649 --> 00:37:59,027 and do what I had to do. 743 00:38:00,695 --> 00:38:03,281 And I was not gonna stop until I got back to 744 00:38:03,406 --> 00:38:09,078 where I intended to be back in 2005. 745 00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:16,878 Every penny I have made since Katrina has gone 746 00:38:17,045 --> 00:38:21,132 into me getting back into my salon and my property. 747 00:38:24,093 --> 00:38:25,470 It's mine. 748 00:38:25,553 --> 00:38:28,223 And like I told the people at Road Home, 749 00:38:28,306 --> 00:38:31,351 you will have to pry them out of my wrinkled up, 750 00:38:31,434 --> 00:38:34,938 little brown hands to get it. 751 00:38:37,482 --> 00:38:39,526 [Eric Wright] There's been a lot of changes in 752 00:38:39,734 --> 00:38:41,569 New Orleans since Katrina. 753 00:38:46,908 --> 00:38:49,202 You would enter by steps here. 754 00:38:49,869 --> 00:38:51,788 And you would come into the living room. 755 00:38:51,955 --> 00:38:54,666 The living room ran the width of the lot. 756 00:38:56,584 --> 00:38:59,963 The kitchen would have been right up in here. 757 00:39:02,590 --> 00:39:04,884 This is where Mom did all of her famous cooking. 758 00:39:05,885 --> 00:39:07,887 You know, I'm a New Orleans boy. 759 00:39:11,057 --> 00:39:13,726 There's a certain energy that comes out of that land. 760 00:39:16,062 --> 00:39:18,439 That house was an extension of me. 761 00:39:19,983 --> 00:39:24,028 And the most difficult thing was to demolish the house. 762 00:39:27,156 --> 00:39:29,158 I felt like I was taking a piece of me away. 763 00:39:33,454 --> 00:39:36,791 [Lucrece Phillips] I, I really came back here 764 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:38,459 because I, I couldn't stay away. 765 00:39:38,918 --> 00:39:40,461 I wanted to be home. 766 00:39:40,753 --> 00:39:43,172 But now, it's the new New Orleans. 767 00:39:44,090 --> 00:39:45,633 It's totally different. 768 00:39:45,884 --> 00:39:48,553 You know, it's like the roots are here, 769 00:39:49,387 --> 00:39:50,805 but the tree has been stubbed. 770 00:39:51,598 --> 00:39:56,227 We still have our culture and that's a good thing. 771 00:40:00,023 --> 00:40:01,733 [Kevin Goodman] A lot of my friends, 772 00:40:01,816 --> 00:40:05,904 they kept the masking and Mardi Gras going after Katrina. 773 00:40:07,405 --> 00:40:09,115 Say I talked to my daddy. 774 00:40:09,240 --> 00:40:11,618 He said, son, don't you worry. 775 00:40:11,701 --> 00:40:12,869 That was their life. 776 00:40:12,952 --> 00:40:14,704 You know, and it was my life too. 777 00:40:14,787 --> 00:40:18,082 ♪ So on Mardi Gras morning, gonna tell you a story. ♪ 778 00:40:18,166 --> 00:40:20,710 I'm in a tribe that my father started. 779 00:40:20,793 --> 00:40:22,337 The Flaming Arrows. 780 00:40:22,545 --> 00:40:24,213 ♪ We are the Flaming Arrows. ♪ 781 00:40:24,297 --> 00:40:26,299 [Kevin Goodman] My dad, he was a Indian chief. 782 00:40:26,382 --> 00:40:27,675 My mom was a seamstress. 783 00:40:28,635 --> 00:40:30,511 We really not Mardi Gras Indians. 784 00:40:32,388 --> 00:40:35,183 The correct name is the Black Masking Indians. 785 00:40:37,894 --> 00:40:40,396 On Carnival morning, we wear these suits and pay 786 00:40:40,605 --> 00:40:44,567 homage to the real native Indians who helped our people. 787 00:40:44,776 --> 00:40:46,653 ♪ Mardi Gras here we come. ♪ 788 00:40:46,945 --> 00:40:48,571 ♪ We are the Flaming Arrows. ♪ 789 00:40:48,655 --> 00:40:50,365 ♪ Gonna be a morning... ♪ 790 00:40:50,448 --> 00:40:53,326 So it's a family thing passed down through generations. 791 00:40:57,997 --> 00:40:59,999 It's my last time putting on a suit, 792 00:41:00,083 --> 00:41:02,126 but I have grandchildren and I'm gonna keep the 793 00:41:02,251 --> 00:41:03,544 tradition going. 794 00:41:04,712 --> 00:41:06,631 We got to pass the torch down. 795 00:41:11,135 --> 00:41:14,806 One of my cousins who I'm turning my tribe over to, 796 00:41:14,889 --> 00:41:17,433 he was, like, well, you know, 797 00:41:17,517 --> 00:41:19,978 we need you to come back home because we can't 798 00:41:20,061 --> 00:41:22,146 let you go out like that. 799 00:41:22,730 --> 00:41:25,191 ♪ Here, not just any ol' sound. ♪ 800 00:41:25,441 --> 00:41:26,693 -Mardi Gras day. 801 00:41:26,776 --> 00:41:28,820 ♪ Gonna get on down. ♪ 802 00:41:28,945 --> 00:41:31,364 ♪ In the Mardi Gras sound. ♪ 803 00:41:31,489 --> 00:41:32,657 ♪ Everybody sing! ♪ 804 00:41:32,740 --> 00:41:36,786 ♪ Here, not just any ol' sound. ♪ 805 00:41:36,911 --> 00:41:40,999 ♪ Get on down, in the Mardi Gras sound. ♪ 806 00:41:43,126 --> 00:41:45,169 [Kevin Goodman] I still take New Orleans with 807 00:41:45,294 --> 00:41:46,379 me wherever I go. 808 00:41:46,921 --> 00:41:49,507 But before Katrina I would have never thought 809 00:41:49,590 --> 00:41:51,801 that I would ever left New Orleans. 810 00:41:51,884 --> 00:41:53,845 You know, I just thought that I was gonna be 811 00:41:53,928 --> 00:41:55,346 a New Orleanian, like, all my life. 812 00:41:55,430 --> 00:41:57,682 Say Mardi Gras morning when I'm the telephone rings. 813 00:42:01,019 --> 00:42:03,354 I mean, I love New Orleans, 814 00:42:03,438 --> 00:42:05,148 but it's not the same New Orleans. 815 00:42:06,524 --> 00:42:09,485 20 years later, it's totally different. 816 00:42:10,945 --> 00:42:13,156 The talk is different. 817 00:42:13,406 --> 00:42:14,782 The walk is different. 818 00:42:15,533 --> 00:42:18,661 The neighborhoods that we grew up in with our families, 819 00:42:19,495 --> 00:42:20,830 it's totally different. 820 00:42:22,373 --> 00:42:23,791 Katrina took a lot. 821 00:42:25,334 --> 00:42:30,089 But it didn't take my pride, my dignity, 822 00:42:30,548 --> 00:42:31,966 or my culture. 823 00:42:33,968 --> 00:42:36,304 That's one thing I can say about New Orleans is 824 00:42:36,596 --> 00:42:38,014 this is some surviving people. 825 00:42:39,974 --> 00:42:42,226 [Malik Rahim] We are the canaries in this coal 826 00:42:42,351 --> 00:42:43,728 mine called America. 827 00:42:44,312 --> 00:42:46,355 The horrors that people done went through after 828 00:42:46,481 --> 00:42:48,608 Katrina didn't have to happen. 829 00:42:49,609 --> 00:42:52,987 There's no way you could justify to me why 830 00:42:53,154 --> 00:42:58,701 Hurricane Katrina turned from a disaster to a tragedy. 831 00:43:00,661 --> 00:43:05,500 I guess the bottom line it shows how much we cared 832 00:43:05,625 --> 00:43:08,711 then for the most vulnerable and how much 833 00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:10,379 we care right now. 834 00:43:12,256 --> 00:43:16,594 What make America great is our ability to reach out 835 00:43:16,719 --> 00:43:18,888 and help others in time of need. 836 00:43:21,516 --> 00:43:23,643 But that's where the lessons is learned. 837 00:43:25,895 --> 00:43:27,313 It's upon us. 838 00:43:27,939 --> 00:43:29,273 It's upon us to wake up.