Katrina 25 Years Later: Race, Resilience and Recovery

Race

Hurricane Katrina did more than flood a city; it revealed America’s racial and class fault lines in ways the world could not ignore. On August 29, 2005, levees broke, waters surged, and over 1,800 lives were lost, while more than 1 million U.S. citizens were displaced—many called “refugees” in their own nation.

“We weren’t refugees. We were Americans. But to the world, we were treated like we didn’t belong.” — Ricky Fountain, Katrina survivor now living in Arkansas

For survivors like Angela Johnson, the neglect felt deliberate. “What hurt more was feeling like nobody cared we were drowning.” Families who tried to walk to safety across the Cresent City Connection bridge were met with armed officers in Gretna, blocked from escaping (CBS News, Los Angeles Times). At the same time, police confiscated lawfully owned firearms from citizens—an unconstitutional act later outlawed by Congress through the Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006…

Story continues

TRENDING NOW

LATEST LOCAL NEWS