18 Years Later: Untold Stories of Systemic Inequality
When Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana on August 29, 2005, it exposed cracks in America's social fabric that still resonate today. Over 1,800 lives lost. A million displaced. But for New Orleans' Black communities, the storm was just the beginning of a deeper struggle.
🗣️ 'Katrina didn't discriminate – but the recovery did,' says Edward Buckles Jr., a filmmaker raised in the city's Ninth Ward. His documentary 'Katrina Babies' reveals how racism and classism turned floodwaters into a tidal wave of systemic neglect.
Beneath the Broken Levees
Residents describe being labeled 'refugees' in their own country, watching wealthier neighborhoods receive aid first, and fighting insurance companies that undervalued Black-owned homes. Nearly two decades later, census data shows the city's Black population remains 20% smaller than pre-Katrina levels.
💡 Why it matters: Disasters magnify existing inequalities. As climate change intensifies storms worldwide, Katrina's lessons about equitable crisis response grow more urgent.
