01x05 - Wake Up Call

[bunniefuu]

[reporter] The flooding in
this city is leveling off.

But 80% of New Orleans
is still underwater.

And while the mayor wants
everyone to get out of the city,

people here are still trying
to figure out how to leave.

The Superdome, which was
the shelter of last resort,

has become the last
place anyone wants to be.

[reporter] No one's allowed
just to walk out of here?

-No.

-Come on man, no.

[reporter] If you say
you want to just leave,

they've got,
what do they say?

-They tell us
there's alligators,

dead bodies, disease.

And, and you
won't make it.

-My cousin, that's the
one I picked up from home,

told me he didn't know
how much he was gonna

be able to take.

He said, I don't
think I'm gonna make it.

He was about to
break down up in there.

I said, dawg, we
gonna get out of here.

Right next to
the Superdome,

they have a ramp.

The bottom of the
ramp was flooded out.

And I seen, like, a group
of National Guardsmen were,

like, they were sitting,
like, on the back side by

the ramp just kicking
it, relaxing, chilling.

I guess they ain't
thinking nobody going

anywhere because of
the water down there.

So, I was like, I'm gonna try
to sneak up and get my truck.

We find my truck.

I'm all excited.

It just looked like
this beautiful horse

sitting on a hill.

Right, I call her Pegasus.

As a matter of fact,
it just was the most

beautiful sight
I ever seen.

My heart was beating.

Got to the truck,
put the keys in,

turned up, cranked it.

Thank God it
started up again.

We're just driving
through the water.

The waves just pushing, pushing,
and pushing.

As we passed by
the Convention Center,

I'm looking.

I'm seeing all
these people just,

they don't know what's
about to happen next.

They just want to survive.

They just want
to get out of here.

And all them people
just looking up at me like,

man, you about to get out
of here in this truck.

I'm holding on to my
crucifix and I'm praying,

I'm asking God to
get us through it.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[reporter] This is where
they're picking up some of

the refugees out
of the Superdome.

And as you can see,
these people look like

they've been here
for quite some time.

[reporter] There is one scrap
of good news from New Orleans.

More than 100 buses
evacuated thousands of

people from the
hellhole that was once

the Louisiana Superdome.

And more will be
brought out tonight.

-After a successful
bus evacuation of

the Superdome, the
National Guard organized

the people in front of
the Convention Center,

got them on buses, and
we sent them to the airport.

[soldier] Buses are loading
up on Tchoupitoulas Street.

[soldier] Put
it all in there.

Let's get the
whole family.

-When they put us on
the school buses,

under the
Interstate Bridge,

they didn't
tell us nothing.

They didn't tell you
where you were going.

-I was still out there
by the Convention Center.

I didn't feel like
I could go no more.

Like, I didn't
even feel myself.

You know?
I was just done.

And so, when they
said that the military

is taking people
to the airport and

they going
different places,

I said, man,
I don't care where I go.

I was going anywhere that
the plane was gonna fly me.

-The water had receded,
so we took our mother,

who was in a wheelchair,
and the rest of the family,

and we walked
to a vacant lot

where a helicopter landed.

[Russel Honore] That Saturday,
we had over 200 helicopters

from the 82nd Airborne
landing in New Orleans.

The idea was to
recover people and

get them evacuated and take
care of them at the airport.

[Alice Craft-Kerney]
At the airport,

we were met by
National Guardsmens with

g*ns who said we
must get on the plane.

We begged them to
let us go to our

sister who lived

in Houma, Louisiana,
which is about an hour's

drive away from New Orleans.

We had family that
was ready to receive us.

But we were forced
to get on the plane.

We had no choice.

They had g*ns.

[Russel Honore] The first
airplanes are getting loaded.

Everything seemed
to be going well.

But then, one of
the senior pilots on

the ground flying the
civilian airplane said,

well, we can't take off.

We don't have a manifest.

So, he told my major
and my major called me up

and said, hey, boss.

We got a problem.

Well, they
haven't taken off.

The people have been
sitting here for hours

because we don't
have a manifest.

I said, well,
let me talk to him.

So I talked to
him on the phone.

I said, look, a lot
of these people here

don't even have
identification.

There's no
computers out here.

We can't
create no manifest.

I said, we can get you
a yellow piece of paper.

And when they
walk on the airplane,

you take their names
down and that's gonna

be your manifest.

Now, fly the
f*cking airplane.

And the planes took off.

[Alice Craft-Kerney] We asked,
where were we going to go?

Where is this
plane gonna land?

We don't know.

I said, you don't know.

I said, everybody has to
know where they're gonna land.

Don't they have to
have a flight plan and

this kind of thing?

They said, just get
on the plane, ma'am.

-Nothing, we
didn't know anything.

We knew that we were
leaving New Orleans.

My mind was blank.

I, I didn't know
what was gonna be next.

We didn't, we didn't really
have control over our destiny.

-They tell you you're
gonna go to Houston.

They tell you you're
gonna go to Atlanta,

to Chicago,
San Francisco.

God knows where
you'll end up.

[reporter] The New Orleans
International Airport

is part of the largest
airlift ever on U.S. soil.

More than 10,000
hurricane survivors.

-Help's on the way.

Help's on the way.

-We've witnessed all
day airlifting evacuees to

the Louis Armstrong
International Airport.

Buses also arriving
to take people out of

the once great city.

[Geraldo Rivera] I tell you.

What a difference
a day makes.

this building behind me,

crowded with thousands
and thousands of the most

desperate refugees
you could imagine,

has been emptied.

God bless the
United States Army.

God bless the
United States military.

They pulled this
thing together from

chaos, confusion, anarchy.

Well, God bless you.

-Oh, I tell you what,
it's great.

That all Americans are
here to help Americans.

[Geraldo Rivera] That's it.

-Is this America?

Do I have freedom
of movement?

I, I, I thought I was
still living in America.

So you know, it
was, like, okay.

I'm gonna do what
they tell me to do.

I'm gonna cooperate.

I'm not gonna
cause a ruckus.

But I will get
back to New Orleans.

[reporter] The first
wave of hurricane refugees

from Louisiana is arriving
in Texas this morning.

They're being bused from
the New Orleans Superdome.

[Keith Craft] As we were
moving around the country,

the news media were
calling people from

New Orleans refugees.

[reporter] Dallas schools
are opening their doors

to storm refugee kids.

And Dallas is
delivering truckloads of

donations to refugees.

[Keith Craft] How can you be
a refugee in your own country?

It offended not only
me but a lot of people.

[storm victim] We are
not refugees.

We are American citizen that
got caught up in a bad way.

And we resent
that word refugees.

And they shouldn't
use that anymore.

[storm victim] We been
traveling and traveling.

We been going from one
shelter to the next shelter.

But that's okay
because we living.

The thing that's not
all right is we got

family members
scattered all around.

Where they're scattered
at, we don't know.

[reporter] With approximately
a million refugees,

are accepting evacuees

in this country's largest
migration in 70 years.

-These were internally
displaced people.

This was the forced
migration of people

because of Katrina.

And I think within
modern history that was

the first time for a lot of
Americans that that happened.

[Kevin Goodman] I had
never even heard of

Austin, Texas in my life.

But Austin, they
showed us love up there.

But I didn't know where my
life was headed from there.

[storm victim] I currently
live in Memphis, Tennessee.

However, I'm from
New Orleans, Louisiana,

I have...

[storm victim] I'm
here in Georgia.

I have lost
everything in my home.

[storm victim] I live in
Norman, Oklahoma now.

[storm victim] I came here
to Carson City.

[storm victim] Houston, Texas.

[storm victim] But I
want to go back home.

But now, I got...

[storm victim] I used to
be a New Orleanian.

I was born
and raised there.

-About a month after
leaving the Superdome,

once the water receded,
I was able to come back

to check on the house
in St. Bernard Parish.

You can see
the devastation.

[Thanh Truong] Coming back
after the city was emptied out,

it was strange, for sure.

A city that is known
for celebrating,

known for its food,
known for being loud.

It was dead quiet.

[Lucrece Phillips] When
I came back to New Orleans,

everything looked dead.

Everything smelled dead.

It was just desolate,
just oh, my God.

I could not believe.

I was like, this is never
gonna be put back right.

[Shelton Alexander]
The graveyard.

This the worst thing
I ever seen in my life.

We have
above-ground tombs.

But the water
saturated the earth,

and it made a lot
of the graves come up.

We got caskets
coming out, man.

One of my cousins,
we had just buried,

like, not too long ago,
her casket was actually

sitting out in
the open, exposed.

Now my people's graves,
and it's right on top of

my people's graves.

Just look all around.

This, this, this
not cool, man.

I don't think anybody,
after they bury their people,

they want to see
graves like this, man.

Damn, I wasn't
ready for this.

-It's one thing to
think about the loss.

It's another
thing to see it.

When you see it, it's real.

When I saw my home
for the first time,

I was devastated.

The tears just kind
of rolled down my face.

Mud was still
inside the home.

It was just a muddy mess.

All of my belongings
were ruined.

All of my pictures.

Everything.

[Lynette Boutte] I had
mold that was, like,

going up to
the ceiling almost.

[Lucrece Phillips]
Birth certificates. Pictures.

Everything was gone.

-When you come back to
something that has been

your dream and you realize
that it has been destroyed,

it was, like,
what do I do?

[Shelton Alexander] Oh, man.
Man, look at my crib.

It's smashed
down to the ground.

My mama trailer.

And look at my other
crib that we just built,

leaning to the side.

Look at my crib.

Man, this don't even
feel like home, man.

Hey, girl.

Hey, Cinnamon.

Hey. Hey, girl. Hey.

She miss you.
She miss you.

[Shelton Alexander]
My other dog...

she was in this...

she was in this
f*cking house.

Look at it now.

Look at my sh*t, man.

My big screen.

This is devastation.

Martin Luther King.

I got some of my old
letters from the military.

My military books
are fine, man.

You have to step over
stuff and walk through

stuff to get to stuff.

I can't really
get in there.

There's so much mud and
thick stuff up in there, man.

It's gonna be enough.

But this house
is damn gutted out.

Look how thick the mud is.

I can't get to nothing.

I really can't find
what I'm looking for.

But I'll say I guess
whatever I got out the deal,

guess it'll
be all right.

But.

[Shelton Alexander] I hate
to leave like this, man...

[Shelton Alexander]
sh*t is so f*cked up.

Everything you
ever worked for, man,

or gain on your own.

And you, even if you
had too f*cking much, man,

this was, it was,
like, this was yours.

You know?

[crying]

It just leave
you confused.

What are we gonna do?

How are we gonna fix this?

An, and it just seemed like
it was unfixable at the time.

[reporter] Louisiana, today,
officially ended the search

for bodies of people
k*lled by Hurricane Katrina.

The death toll in the
state now stands at 964.

[Russel Honore] Because
of the heat and the lack

of communication and the
absence of medicine,

a lot of the people
we found in homes dead

were elderly,
poor, and disabled.

And they were alone.

[Kevin Goodman] My brother,
the one that when we went

walking in the water,

kicked a stop sign
and put a big hole in his leg.

He died from a infection.

And my niece that was
walking with us, she had, uh,

she had Lupus already.

But then, she
couldn't take her medicine,

so she developed
meningitis,

and it moved up
to her brains.

So she couldn't talk.

All she could do is lay
there with her eyes open.

And so, you know, that
was one of the reasons why

I didn't want to come
back to New Orleans.

Because I didn't
want to have to, like,

relive that again.

[reporter] From
the air today,

we saw miles of
once flooded houses.

As many as 250,000 homes
may be uninhabitable.

[reporter] In New Orleans,
there was anger and

frustration today when
a sweeping new blueprint

to rebuild the
city was unveiled.

[reporter] Anyone who
lives in a neighborhood

highlighted here in
yellow, most of the city,

could be forced to move.

The plan calls for
new parks in green that

would help
control flooding.

Residents would be
resettled in areas

circled in red.

-This was a plan that
somebody had come up with

to turn
different areas into,

into green spaces for people

that would also be able to
capture water during storms.

Great, great idea.

Except that people
actually lived there.

[Eddie Compass] When he
came up with the plan

about the new New Orleans,

it angered me.

Because many of the
areas where the people at

the bottom of
socioeconomic scale and

people who did not have
a voice were being discounted.

[spokesperson] Immediately,
we need to identify and be,

begin assembling
properties that can

become part of this system.

-The Lower 9th Ward, it was
supposed to be a g, green space.

How you gonna make a g,
green space out of my property?

-When the map came out,
the first thing that came

to my mind was hell no.

It was hell no because
it goes back to the legacy

that that house
that I live in provided.

I'm not giving up this
man's property and even,

and I'm referring
to my grandfather.

[reporter] Some worry
that the Black wards of

the city are being
intentionally neglected

and may even be bulldozed,
leaving residents

displaced and
disenfranchised.

-It did not go
over well with me.

It didn't go well
with most of the citizens

who wanted to come
back and rebuild their homes

and their life.

And that's when, I think,
folks started to think

about how can we
organize and fight back.

-Any area of the city
of New Orleans that is

sparsely populated,
they are going to want to

use the eminent domain
to take over the properties.

-We have a resident
on the phone.

Whoever didn't hear,
we have a resident on

the phone right now.

She's watching them
at Galvez and Reynes

bulldozing a home.

-Get me the city
attorney's number.

-We will move the people.

Just get your
dozer stopped.

Ain't no danger
as long as they stop.

-These are people's homes.

-They're leaving.

-All right.

-Yes.

[cheering, applause]

-Now, you got a whole bunch of
mad citizen that's in the city

and gonna
get a whole lot madder.

-So that's a problem.

[reporter] So mad they
were screaming today at

the commission that came up
with the rebuilding plan.

-Please.

-Don't tell me about what
this f*cking town deserves.

[community member]
This is a big, audacious plan.

It was put
together by,

obviously, very
brilliant people.

But guess what?

You missed the boat.

[Thanh Truong] In fairness
to them, there were some areas

that you knew, because of
the elevation and because

of the amount of flooding
that it may have taken on

during the storm, it
may have not made sense to,

to rebuild there.

But everything is
personal in New Orleans.

For people that
grew up here,

their neighborhood
is everything.

The high school where
they went to is everything.

So if the mayor says,
if the city says this part

isn't gonna come back,
we're gonna make this

green space, like, it,
it's going to cut you deep.

-I hate you.

Because you been in
the background trying to

scheme and get our land.

It's been happening.

That's not happening.

-We know that they have
wildfires in California.

They have tornadoes
in the middle of America.

They have
flooding in Florida.

But they've never told
them you can't rebuild.

-I don't think it's
right that you try to

take our property.

Because like I said,
over my dead body.

I didn't die with Katrina.

Bye.

[applause].

[Mark Schleifstein] The
blowback of it was so bad

that the mayor basically
said not only we're not

doing that, we're not
gonna do anything except

what the localities
want us to do.

[Mayor Nagin] We,
as the community,

will have the ultimate
say in how we move forward.

[Alice Craft-Kerney] If
you don't have the resources,

how can you put
your life back together?

The people who lived
in these more affluent

neighborhoods,
they're up here.

So who's gonna need
the most resources?

The people who are here or
the people who are down here?

It shouldn't
be about equal.

It should be about equity.

[Russel Honore] How you
survive a disaster is directly

proportion to
how well-prepared and

how well you off
before the disaster.

The bottom line in that,
the poor got poorer,

and the rich got richer.

[Mitch Landrieu] When
the federal levees broke

the world gasped at the

possibility that in the
blink of an eye New Orleans

as we know it
would be gone.

But 10 years
after Katrina,

we're no longer
recovering.

We're not rebuilding.

Now, we're creating.

[crowd cheering]

We're in the
midst of a retail and

restaurant building boom.

Can you think of any
other place in the world

where you can lose


than we had before Katrina?

I mean, come on.

-You want
tomatoes on that?

-Ladies and gentlemen,
your city is changing

before your eyes.

-What did he order?

-I'm gonna try this
alligator sausage.

[Malik Rahim] It was
a tale of two cities.

The rest of the city
was pulling back together.

But go ask those
in the 9th Ward.

Ask them who
was left behind.

[♪ somber music playing]

-In some instances,
the city was back.

But it just wasn't back
equitably for everyone.

[reporter] Louisiana got
ten billion dollars in

federal money to create and
oversee the Road Home Program.

It's the largest
housing recovery effort

in American history.

-My plan offers a fair
and practical solution

to return
people to their homes

and their communities.

This is a great
victory for Louisiana.

[applause]

-The Road Home turned
out to be the road

to nowhere for
a lot of people.

[reporter] The Road Home
was supposed to cover the

costs that insurance and
other federal aid didn't.

[reporter] People have
waited for months for

clearance of the
money and everything else.

Strangled by all
this red tape.

[Angela Chalk] Every time
you went in there applying

to the government for
Road Home assistance,

it seemed like the rules
changed from week to week.

So now, you have to
expend more time and

energy and you're
still dealing with the mental

effects of Hurricane Katrina.

It's overwhelming.

[reporter] The Road Home
had a fatal flaw.

It awarded grants
based on repair costs or

pre-storm value,
whichever was less.

In the poorest
neighborhoods,

a home's pre-storm
value tended to be less

than the cost of
repairing or rebuilding it.

Those neighborhoods
were majority Black.

[Alice Craft-Kerney] So,
folks who lived in Lakeview,

a predominantly White,

upper middle class to
upper class area that

already had the
resources to rebuild,

they got more money
than folks that lived in,

let's just say,
the Lower 9th Ward.

Even though the building
materials cost was the same.

A 2-by-4 for my
house costs the same

as a 2-by-4 for
another person's house.

So why are you gonna give me
a different amount of money?

It was like they were
sabotaging the recovery

in areas where
Black folk lived.

-Everybody wants
to come home.

It's just that we
can't come home because

the government is trying
to keep us away from home.

[Lynette Boutte] It was
gonna cost at least $250,000 to

repair my property.

I was fully insured but

I had just borrowed
on the building.

And when I borrowed
on the building,

it was put for collateral.

And when the storm
hit and I went back,

the bank took the money.

They told me that they
weren't giving me anything.

I got zero from Road Home.

-Homeowners can
choose repair, rebuild,

accept a buyout and
relocate within Louisiana,

or sell and
leave the state.

[Lynette Boutte] I
started looking at what

they were trying to do.

I'm like, you're not
getting my property.

Because I am not selling.

[Angela Chalk] But some
folks just did give up

and say I don't
want this headache.

I'll take the buyout.

[Lynette Boutte] And so,
what they accomplished

with a lot of people
was to get them out and

away from the city.

[Kevin Goodman] After, like,
nine and a half years being

in Austin, I went
back to New Orleans.

But when I came back,
there wasn't no more

affordable housing.

No more houses in
the hood, you know,

where you can get a
one-bedroom for $300 and

a two-bedroom for $500.

Back in the day, most
of the houses was doubles.

You know, family on this side
and a family on that side.

But after Katrina,
they started making single

houses out
of double houses,

like you see here.

That's two families
that's out of a house.

The cost of living
became so high,

I made a decision
to leave New Orleans.

[♪ somber music playing]

[Shelton Alexander] After
Katrina, I knew I couldn't

come back home immediately,

since I had to go
and work and make money.

My dad been a master
carpenter for many years.

So, I just drove
all the way to California

to work with him.

Now, I just got to see
the scenery and travel

where God want
me to travel.

Then go back
home eventually.

I just was thinking
about a new beginning because

I knew what
I had left behind.

It was a lot of
devastation, lot of pain.

So, I just had my moments
when I'm like, you know,

kind of, like, singing
a old spiritual hymn,

you know, from,
like, my grandmother,

and going through
the mountains.

♪ Lord, I'm climbing
high in mountains. ♪

♪ Trying to get home. ♪

So that was kind of,
like, my, my whole thing.

Like, I was just
was, like, I'm,

I'm just trying
to get home.

And I don't even know
where home is just yet.

Trying to get home.

♪ You know I'm climbing
high mountains. ♪

♪ I want the
Lord to know I am. ♪

♪ Trying to get home. ♪

♪ Said, I'm... ♪

[Shelton Alexander] Well,
the driving force behind

me coming back to
New Orleans was my moms.

[Shelton Alexander]
My mama's birthday was...

November 30th.

[Shelton Alexander]
November 30th.

-I made 50 years old.

Ain't that's a blessing?

[Shelton Alexander]
After the storm,

we had FEMA trailers
all over the land.

And that's another
trailer in front of my house.

And from that
Road Home Program,

she did receive
some money.

And my mom bought
this trailer.

And so, with that money,
my moms finally bought, like,

a big mobile trailer
to make sure we had

a place to stay.

But then, maybe
about 20 days later,

my moms passed away.

♪ Get home. ♪

[Shelton Alexander] And all
I have left is these pictures.

I kept remodeling.

I kept working
on that house.

Almost complete.

I still have
some work to go.

But as the years
start going on,

the grants
start going away.

Eventually, I had to
move to another location,

make more money to
be able to come back and

put in resources.

So every now and again,
I'll just come back,

try to touch up
on some things.

Ohh, lot of work still
left to go up in here.

But uh, something
in me was saying,

for my mom's sake and
everything that she did,

I need to
finish the house.

Even though it
was impossible to

finish the house.

Every time I
come back here,

I got memories
of my life,

my moms, my stepdad,
all my people right there.

My neighbor next door,

she's gone.

Everybody is gone.

It's depressing to come
here and look around and

know that none of
these people who know me,

that know my story,
they are no longer here.

It's like
pictures flashing,

videos flashing of
what it used to be.

But it's no longer.

So when I finally felt like
I did all I could do, now,

maybe, it felt like
my mom's spirit was all

around me saying,
it's time to go, man.

You can go.

It's okay.

Don't worry about it.

And I left.

[♪ somber music playing]

[reporter] Hurricane Katrina
laid bare the massive failures

of the Corps of Engineers
hurricane protection system

of levees and flood walls.

Congress gave the Corps
$14.6 billion to make it right.

-All of this was
done after Katrina.

If you look at this,

you can see the
construction of it is different.

It's more stable.

It goes down deeper.

And it's fortified much
better to take stress from

rising water or wind.

-Since Katrina,

the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers

repaired the levees.

Many of the repairs
are quite robust.

However, the
Corps of Engineers

themselves recently
admitted that

when they determined
the heights,

they didn't take into
account global warming.

[reporter] No sooner did
the Corps of Engineers

finish the last piece of
that upgrade project than

it posted a notice in
the Federal Register saying

subsidence and sea
level rise will cause levees

to require future lifts.

[Ivor Van Heerden]
Within 70-odd years,

the water level around
New Orleans is gonna be

four feet higher
than at present.

In addition, many of
the wetlands are gone.

There's no friction.

That water can move much
further and get much higher.

-As it relates
to climate change,

communities of color are
the ones who are impacted

the first and the worst.

-Many folks that
live in and among these

communities do not have
the resources that others

have, and so, they
are at a higher risk

for what's gonna
happen in the future.

[reporter] Tonight,
Maria's direct hit

devastating Puerto Rico.

-Unfortunately, it's
not gonna get any better.

[reporter] Sweeping
devastation in Lahaina.

[Marty Bahamonde] It's
just gonna get worse.

[reporter] The deadliest
and most devastating storm

that North Carolina history.

[crying]

[Keith Craft]
This is home.

I've been here
all my life.

But what really gets me,
the Lower 9th Ward,

really, the
hardest hit area.

It's forgotten.

[reporter] An entire
ward of this city,

the 9th Ward, appears
to be up to its rooftops

in water.

I told you earlier
today I didn't think this

had turned out
to be Armageddon.

I was wrong.

[Malik Rahim] The
environmental injustice that is

happening in our
community is manmade.

But that mean, also,
it could be man solved.

Yeah?

-I can remember,
as a little boy,

we used to go back
there into the swamp.

It was our wonderland,
our playground.

The park started
out small and it grew.

It's a little bit
like it was before.

They're planting
cypress trees.

There's a outdoor
classroom.

You can fish.

I'm an ambassador
to the park.

I welcome people.

I tell them as much
as I can about when I

was growing up in that
same area, you know,

and what we're
trying to do.

Because as I said,
it's something that

we are doing for ourselves,
to start over.

You know, new beginning.

[Alice Craft-Kerney]
When Katrina hit,

and it took so
many of our elders,

it was like losing
so much of our history.

They celebrated together.

They praised
the Lord together.

It was a true community.

[Lynette Boutte] A lot of
people couldn't come back.

A lot of people
didn't come back.

It's heartbreaking,
because New Orleans lost

a whole maybe two
generations of people.

And that took away
a lot of the culture that

sits in this area.

And so, I wanted to
come back into the community

and do what I had to do.

And I was not gonna
stop until I got back to

where I intended
to be back in 2005.

Every penny I have made
since Katrina has gone

into me getting back into
my salon and my property.

It's mine.

And like I told the
people at Road Home,

you will have to pry
them out of my wrinkled up,

little brown
hands to get it.

[Eric Wright] There's
been a lot of changes in

New Orleans since Katrina.

You would enter
by steps here.

And you would come
into the living room.

The living room ran
the width of the lot.

The kitchen would have
been right up in here.

This is where Mom did
all of her famous cooking.

You know, I'm a
New Orleans boy.

There's a certain energy
that comes out of that land.

That house was
an extension of me.

And the most difficult thing
was to demolish the house.

I felt like I was taking
a piece of me away.

[Lucrece Phillips] I, I
really came back here

because I, I
couldn't stay away.

I wanted to be home.

But now, it's the
new New Orleans.

It's totally different.

You know, it's like
the roots are here,

but the tree
has been stubbed.

We still have our culture
and that's a good thing.

[Kevin Goodman] A
lot of my friends,

they kept the masking and
Mardi Gras going after Katrina.

Say I talked to my daddy.

He said, son,
don't you worry.

That was their life.

You know, and it
was my life too.

♪ So on Mardi Gras morning,
gonna tell you a story. ♪

I'm in a tribe that
my father started.

The Flaming Arrows.

♪ We are the
Flaming Arrows. ♪

[Kevin Goodman] My dad,
he was a Indian chief.

My mom was a seamstress.

We really not
Mardi Gras Indians.

The correct name is the
Black Masking Indians.

On Carnival morning, we
wear these suits and pay

homage to the real native
Indians who helped our people.

♪ Mardi Gras
here we come. ♪

♪ We are the
Flaming Arrows. ♪

♪ Gonna be a morning... ♪

So it's a family thing
passed down through generations.

It's my last time
putting on a suit,

but I have grandchildren
and I'm gonna keep the

tradition going.

We got to pass
the torch down.

One of my cousins who
I'm turning my tribe over to,

he was, like,
well, you know,

we need you to come
back home because we can't

let you go out like that.

♪ Here, not just
any ol' sound. ♪

-Mardi Gras day.

♪ Gonna get on down. ♪

♪ In the
Mardi Gras sound. ♪

♪ Everybody sing! ♪

♪ Here, not
just any ol' sound. ♪

♪ Get on down, in the
Mardi Gras sound. ♪

[Kevin Goodman] I still
take New Orleans with

me wherever I go.

But before Katrina I
would have never thought

that I would
ever left New Orleans.

You know, I just
thought that I was gonna be

a New Orleanian,
like, all my life.

Say Mardi Gras morning
when I'm the telephone rings.

I mean, I love
New Orleans,

but it's not the
same New Orleans.

it's totally different.

The talk is different.

The walk is different.

The neighborhoods that we
grew up in with our families,

it's totally different.

Katrina took a lot.

But it didn't take
my pride, my dignity,

or my culture.

That's one thing I can
say about New Orleans is

this is some
surviving people.

[Malik Rahim] We are
the canaries in this coal

mine called America.

The horrors that people
done went through after

Katrina didn't
have to happen.

There's no way you
could justify to me why

Hurricane Katrina turned
from a disaster to a tragedy.

I guess the bottom line
it shows how much we cared

then for the most
vulnerable and how much

we care right now.

What make America great
is our ability to reach out

and help others
in time of need.

But that's where the
lessons is learned.

It's upon us.

It's upon us to wake up.