Hurricane Katrina: Crash Course Black American History #49

47 Comments

1. I was living there when it happened…. I blame Ray Nagin and Blanco for that fiasco. Been better if Jindal had been governor… things may have turned out better.

2. gd

3. I did not know you were born in Nola. Good deal.

4. This is probably the best summation of the effects of Katrina. I lived in New Orleans a decade before. To borrow a concept from the Neville Bros. Once the swamp water gets in your veins, it never leaves.
   I worked at Charity Hospital. So I met and took care of the people of New Orleans. After Katrina, it was almost impossible to explain to those who didn't know, how devastating the hurricane was. They couldn't understand why people just didn't leave.
   Again, thank you for such a good Crash Course and sharing your experience as a native of New Orleans.

5. Here's some white American history: I was 14 when it hit, I was going to West Jeff in Marrero. My family and I stayed because my grandmother refused to leave her pets. Our house flew apart while we were in it. Government didn't help us, we actually didn't want the government's help because we're independent people who don't blame others for our problems. So who helped us? We did. Black people, white people, and hell, even some Chinese people, all came from down the street and helped us. We all came together and fed each other, helped each other and plan what to do. Insurance and FEMA screwed us over, not because of the color of our skin. None of that matters. We took care of ourselves and for that I'm proud.

6. NOLA native here. Chiming in to say that hurricane Katrina is still a touchy subject for my family. Both my grandmothers' homes were completely destroyed in the storm. They couldn't get any help from ANYBODY. FEMA nor Habitats for Humanity. However, several people attempted to buy their property in attempts to gentrify the area. It was honestly disgusting.

7. This seems like yesterday. I had just had my third son and watched this everyday on TV. It still heartbreaking to watch. I was 26 then. My son is now 17.

8. You forgot to talk about corruption, which as much a part of the story as racism. That would unite the victims of the flood a lot more than dividing them by race.

9. WASAAAA!!!!

10. I remember that day….what a horrible day it was…all the pain and suffering. Watching whole cities get destroyed…I wish you could have experienced what I experienced….watching it on tv from california….gave me PTSD…

11. Thanks for sharing this. I learned a lot and I was 25 in 2005.

12. My family is from New Orleans since the beginning and one of my best friends lived in the lower ninth. Before I got married we went back home from Houston. It wasn't fun, hurricane gentrification has killed New Orleans.

13. Here in the Philippines, about of 2-3 Katrinas enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility… Mostly because of our geological location

14. I remember following this closely on the news when it was happening but this is the first time hearing that people were turned away when they tried to evacuate to the suburbs. So sad!

15. Every thing that could go wrong did, levees down, Corrupt mayor, inept federal government, Cops blocking roads. A domino effect that started with disinvesment in levees had a card castle tumble down into the watery abyss

16. It was a month after Katrina before our Northshore schools reopened. We had such an influx of Katrina Babies, that even some storage closets were turned into classrooms. Many blamed the victims for not evacuating, when so many just did not have a way to get out or a place to go. Everything was made worse when the emergency funding stopped paying for shelter housing. Many of our Katrina Babies lived most of the school year in the neighboring church's gym and class rooms. Even before Katrina our school population generally averaged 90% poverty or near-poverty level black students, but those refugees had it so much worse.

17. I remember when Hurricane Katrina hit. I was 5, so some things aren't as clear as others, but I remember leaving with my entire family. And I mean multiple cars with one as the leader to drive us from New Orleans all the way to Houston, because some of us didn't know how to get there. I remember it was a long ride. I know the ride when it's not completely overtaken by traffic is around 9 hours, but this was much longer, maybe 12 to 14, but I'm not completely sure. All I remember was that the long was super long. We got there, and for us kids, which is like two of us because other than my sister who was 2 years older than me, they were pretty much adults, we were just sort of chilling. I mean, you can feel the tension, but this is example of "kids will be kids," because we didn't know what was going on. I remember seeing everything on TV, but I thought it was like… Just something from the past, something that didn't happen in my hometown, but at the same time, I don't know because I remember my cousin asking me what I wanted to post on the news website and me saying "I hope my house didn't get flooded," so I dunno.

    We found out that we weren't gonna be able to go home for a while, so my mom enrolled me and my sister in school. I'm thinking about it now, and it kinda makes sense. Here me out: this was supposed to be my first year of school, and my sister has autism and ID, so if likely felt like a necessity, but well…. Despite her warnings that my sister is a runner, they managed to lose my sister. Needless to say, that was my first and last day at that school. So fast-forward, stuff happens. This is stuff I don't remember, but my mom said one of my uncles decided to stay and after the storm hit came here covered in the water. Also my other cousins were still in Louisiana, but they ended up leaving because one of them almost got bit by a snake… Dunno what happened afterwards.

    So we were in Houston, and we get another Hurricane Warning, which was Hurricane Rita. Why God decided we deserved to suffer further is beyond my understanding, but yeah… The uncle who I said was there was absolutely distressed. We all were. But we packed up and we evacuated. Again. Some of you will never understand what it's like to have to leave somewhere twice for your own safety, and I pray to God you never do, because somehow this was worse. We were just trying to get from Houston to Dallas, and I would say that that took us maybe 16 or 18 hours. We left early that morning and we didn't make it to my other auntie's house until later that night. It took us longer to get from Houston to Dallas than it took us to get from New Orleans to Houston.
    We were there for a little while longer and then we went home. There wasn't as much traffic when we came home. I would say it was August… Idk 26th maybe when we left, and I know it was October when we came back. I think it was early October, because I think we were home when we found out one of my cousins passed away.
    I would say a few days later I went to school, and all the kids turned to look at me, and the teacher asked me where I had been.

    My grandmother (r.i.p.) lost her house. Like her whole house and everything in it. Our house lost some of the roof and had a blue tarp, alongside leaking that would last for years. We lost someone and that shook the entire family even to this day. It was a mess.

    Then, as the nail in the coffin, just to make sure that this would follow me and define me for the rest of my life, I got a speech disorder due to the trauma that I spent my entire school life trying to… Well not fix, more like cover. It's likely also where my anxiety originated from, because I had been anxious ever since.

    I'm sorry I wrote a lot just now. It's just that I was cleaning the kitchen and Crash Course popped up and I decided I wanted to listen to something and then Katrina popped up.

18. I grew up in Charlotte County Florida and the year before Katrina our town was leveled by hurricane Charlie we basically begged for the hurricane to hit anywhere else. I had just started second grade when Katrina was a thing and I remember feeling so much guilt for wishing other people would be affected by the hurricane and I remember thinking it was crazy that nobody was doing anything to help people.

    Like I as a second grader living in temporary housing well most of the schools in our county had just started breaking ground on rebuilding was more aware and empathetic to the needs of New Orleans than the people in power seemed to be

19. started watching 5 days at memorial, i'm not from USA and though i've heard of this disaster before , didn't know how "lazy and slow" the govt response was

20. Katrina effected all people. This is America History.

21. tortilla

22. Damn, I had no idea Hurricane Katrina only hit black communities. I’m so sorry for those affected ❤

23. I was a 24 year old EMT in metro Atlanta when Katrina hit. Planes of evacuees would make their way to Dobbins air reserve base where we had a triage area set up. I worked with dozens of other crews from multiple agencies over a 72hr shift. During which time we would post up in a civic center parking lot a couple of miles away and wait for a plane to show up before putting together a task force of several ambulances to drive out to the triage area at the runway. We would load up with as many patients as possible and then try to find a place to take them.

    Sometimes I would start driving loaded before I fully knew where I was going, and get a destination en route.

    On day one I was transporting downtown/midtown. By hr 72 I was going 50+mi outside the city in some cases.

    We had no idea of anyone’s medical history or sometimes basic info, some patients were completely non responsive with just an MCI tag for I.d.

    Many of the patients I transported were rescued from nursing homes that had been abandoned for several days in malarial and sewage contaminated flood waters. We were in full head to foot PPE including face shields and masks for the entirely of transport.

    I remember one load of 4 patients, 3 adults and 1 infant. My partner standing in the back while I drove vaguely into the city awaiting a destination. Found out later the adults in that load were TB positive. Another load of 2 critical patients would be dead hours after we delivered them to the hospital (though I don’t remember if we found out from what).

    During those days I never got rotated out to the station to shower or sleep. I stayed in my boots and caught what sleep I could in the back of the truck between planes (in a parking lot in late summer in Georgia, which wasn’t much sleep). After 3 days I was rotated out and an office worker gave me a ride a few miles down the road where I met with my cousin. He was getting married the following day and I was the best man. The effects of sleep deprivation hit me at the rehearsal dinner like a ton of bricks. It was a fun wedding.

24. The storm hit 3 days before my 11th birthday. My family was beyond shocked. We couldn’t believe what we were witnessing. Our people suffered so much. And seeing bush fly over completely not giving a damn made my blood boil. He literally did not care

25. This is exactly what is going to happen when a serious earthquake eventually hits the Pacific Northwest. With the sheer number of unreinforced buildings here, the damage will be incalculable and lives will be inevitably lost. The poor and minority groups continue to live here in areas where the risk of shaking is highest and the soil is the least stable.

26. As I sit in my home in New Orleans and watch this video, I can't stop crying. Thanks for sharing this with such a personal touch.

27. Speedily say has suitable disposal add boy. On forth doubt miles of child. Exercise joy man children rejoiced. Yet uncommonly his ten who diminution astonished.

28. Beuh

29. I remember watching the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina, I was so appalled by the pathetic response of our government. I didn’t know about the police shooting at civilians trying to flee.
    I hope they were punished!

30. Let's all appreciate the creators for this such a good work.

31. 👍

32. I was born in 2004 in the western US. I knew hurricane Katrina was bad, but I never learned precisely how devastating it was. This video was heartwrenching and informative. Thank you.

33. I lived in mid-city, near Jesuit. That was wild.

34. I'm looking forward to the Obama episode.

35. I can't believe that disaster occurred before I was born in 2006

36. More like hurricane tortilla

37. I remember watching this catastrophe on tv as a kid. No words, and learning more about the systemic issues and how most of these people have been displaced smh and they done gentrified parts of the city, it’s really the story of black America, Nola gone always have a special place in my heart

38. Completely unrelated to this amazing video, but WAS NO ONE GONNA TWLL ME JOHN GREEN IS THE AUTHOR OF THE FAULT IN OUR STARS BOOK!!?? Huh?! Did I have to figure it out myself?!

39. We continue to say that N.O. will never be the same…but it's America that will never be the same. Cultural diversification is important for human survival.

40. In years hearing about the first hand stories and how preventable it should have been. Great lesson as alway.

41. I really hope there's more videos added to this series that are modern (like post 2000).

42. what about asian history month?

43. Katrina always reminds me of “when the levee breaks”… because almost 80 years before other floods in the lower mississippi river where already making black americans cry songs of lament… and there might be better songs even before the XX century, but this was the one that was stolen and popularised by a white british band… this song and it’s history paints very well how racism has affected people from that region, there are so many levees that may break and make marginalised people have no place to stay… and most of them aren’t literal levees 😔

44. I heard about red lining and laws that forced the populations of cities to be segregated and thought “man that’s messed up.” Then I started hearing about gentrification and thought “man that’s messed up.” Now that I hear them both in used in one story, I’m left thinking that I can’t be against both. The reality can’t be that both segregation and integration are messed up. It seems one must choose between segregation and gentrification, which is the lesser evil? I lean towards gentrification but others may disagree

45. One of my high school teachers lost his mom during this disaster. Learning more about the obstacles many faced to evacuating, I think I better understand why so many don't end up fleeing from major storms like these, and come to suffer like his mother may have (I don't know/remember anything else about how my teacher lost his mom).

    I will note something that doesn't sound right, as an environmental studies major learning more about anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change: from what I've been told, storm formation rates have not increased, but storm intensity has.

46. Thank you for sharing this

47. Now New Orleans is Disney World for drunk adults and gentrifiers. And erosion will swallow the city before the streets are ever fixed. Take away the party and this city has nothing left but headache and turmoil. I deal with it every day and every day I wish I’d never come back in 2008.
    Also, Uncle Sam mixing that dangerous cocktail says so much — great touch.

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