I live in Houston. I remember when everyone was arriving after the disaster in the SuperDome. People had this blank look on their faces like they had seen the depths of Hell in person. I hugged, cried, listened to and talked to people who needed it most, but I still feel like it wasn't enough. I volunteered every day that there were people at the George R. Brown Convention Center. I almost emptied my closet, drawers and bank accounts buying clothes, toys, diapers and other baby needs, specific foods for certain people I'd formed a relationship with, every time I went up there. It's a humbling feeling to see an infant with nothing on but a diaper that's been emptied out and rung dry. And that's all the mama could do because she ran outta supplies while waiting on the overpass for a bus for 4 days. It was heartbreaking listening to the stories of death, loss and destruction of their beloved home. I knoe I made a difference in the lives of two special little girls. They took a liking to me as they saw me every day. They began to come ask what they could do to help me. I asked their mom if they could hand out food with me one day and she agreed. I'd developed a relationship with her as well. And they were the best at making people smile when they were still facing starting over again. Welp, those little girls are little ladies now. One is 21 and the other 19. They became my nieces, and their mom is my sister. She list her whole family because the water came into the house so fast and her parents, brother and sister hadn't made it out in time. So my family adopted her. She's just as much a Robinson as I am. She's amazing, and I'm sonproud of how she handled everything that happened to her. She stayed in Houston, and bought a house 2 blocks from mine. I see her every day. And my girls are both in college doing great! I hate it took a disaster of such magnitude for her to come into our lives, because she's been such a blessing to us. But if that's what God had planned, I'm so thankful that a little girl pulled my shirt one day and asked for an apple because she doesn't like oranges.

I appreciate Clint sharing the personal side of this event. We need to be repeatedly reminded that in moments of history there are everyday lives being impacted.

I grew up in Houston, I remember the huge amount of Katrina refugees that suddenly enrolled in my highschool. I made a a lot of new friends and I remember them telling me how they left everything. I couldn't wrap my head around it.

I was five when Katrina hit and I remember watching coverage about it on the news, tracking its path, and how harsh the coverage could be towards those who couldn't leave. There was this idea that they were stubborn and refusing to leave instead of not being able to due to their circumstances.

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.

I was 18 and in the Coast Guard when Katrina happened. I remember having such pride in what our branch of the military was doing, while the others were off fighting unnecessary wars. I remember sleepless nights on end doing what I could to make sure the mission got done, while knowing that it was the failings of our government that caused this unnecessary crisis to begin with.

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.

I also evacuated and lost my home during hurricane Katrina. It was terrible. But what is sad is that because I lived in uptown/lake vista, I was able to recover. Neighborhoods like the Lower Ninth Ward were annihilated physically and economically by the hurricane. It’s a tragedy that those areas still haven’t fully recovered. Thank you for covering Katrina, people need to be more aware of its effects and the horrid response by the government.

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.

I didn’t even know that violence occurred against people evacuating Katrina! The issues have deniability from racism but have no excuse from being heartless and disastrous. We need to teach this in schools.

This crash course series have been so enlightening and educational. You express these tough but true matters with such poise, class and conviction. Thank you crash course for doing this series and thank you Dr.Clint for leading this much needed series.

My community on the coast of Mississippi was decimated by the hurricane (bridge destroyed, houses gone, businesses gutted, etc.) We still see the effects of it today.

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.

New Orleans was also my hometown, and it's hard to describe just how deeply its history and culture impact all of us who grew up there. I was thirteen when it hit (one week and two days into eighth grade) and it's just impossible to describe how devastating it was to watch the response from my Cajun grandma's living room (in Lafayette, LA). My family actually came out okay -our house only had roof damage and my parents' jobs were still there, but both of my best friends lost everything and ended up moving. And, of course, as a white kid attending a mostly white, privileged private school, I only knew one family that didn't evacuate.** A couple of points I want to add: 1) I really don't see how Nagin was supposed to get the city out sooner. Thursday evening there was a news blip of a tropical storm in south Florida. Friday was a normal day. Saturday morning we closed our house's shutters and started packing. 2) Nagin was relatively light-skinned and had been elected by the more affluent white communities. The poorer communities had been represented by a darker-skinned man in that election. Seeing how the news covered that race was my first time witnessing colorism in "real life." 3) The storm technically didn't directly hit New Orleans. The eye passed over the Mississippi coast. Like Clint said, fully man-made disaster. 4a) The story goes that in 1965, with Hurricane Betsy, the levees protecting the 9th Ward were destroyed for the sake of preventing the French Quarter from flooding. Nothing would shock me less than to get confirmation of that. 4b) Ruby Bridges' home was flooded that year. She lost everything, including letters she saved from people she inspired around the country. 5) We KNEW that the city would face "The Big One" one day. I grew up hearing about it. A team of scientists put together a presentation in 2003 for the Bush White House begging for more funding to make sure the city was protected. They said that no one in the room, least of all the president, really paid attention while they were talking. So yeah, this video was extremely difficult to watch, but extremely important. **They stayed because their grandfather was recovering from an injury at Baptist (Memorial) Hospital when it hit, and they wanted to be able to make sure he was okay, and felt more comfortable staying somewhere with generators and food. He was more or less fine, but if anyone wants to know how that plan worked out for them, there's a crushing fictionalized series on Apple+ about what it was like at that hospital the five days after the storm.

Katrina was the state declaring that the government will not help those who aren't already well off. They will leave the poor and marginalized to die at the alter of capitalism.

This is heartbreaking. I'm so sorry to everyone who was impacted.

Just wanted to say to anyone listening thank you so much for this series. Not only has it helped with my A Levels (UK SATs) I’ve also learnt so much about my family’s history. I live in the UK but I have family in the US and this has made me feel closer to them through learning their history. Thank you so much xx

I could tell stories, both heartwarming and heartbreaking, of those days when Katrina hit; the evacuation, the aftermath, the return, and eventual exodus from New Orleans. It provided me a wider perspective on my situation and that of others in my community. And nearly 20 years after, I see the New Orleans I grew up in less and less with every visit. It's less the City that Care Forgot and much more a forgotten city. I hope there's a Renaissance, but I feel it will never be the same again.

Did not know about the cops on bridges. I live in Toronto and I was doing a week-long workshop when Katrina happened. We were pretty isolated but I remember the fourth day in just feeling this overwhelming heaviness and sadness and grief and not knowing why until I saw the newspaper headlines. I would hope that we have learned from what happened but mixed reports coming out of Florida after the hurricane Ivan show again the disproportionate effect of people not having the means to evacuate.

There is so much here that I had no idea about. Thank you so much.

It takes so much strength to share a personal story such as this one. 💜

The story of the formaldehyde shelters don't stop with Katrina. When the story broke, the government put formaldehyde danger stickers on them and called it a day. Years later, oil was discovered in northwestern North Dakota, and a housing crisis occurred trying to support all of the new workers in such a rural area. The stickers were removed and they were sold to unknowing people. They are still common in the region today.

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.

I cried this whole episode as it hits personally as well. When hurricane María hit Puerto Rico it was pretty much the same story as Katrina and New Orleans; and you have on top Trump throwing paper towel at the people. Now Fiona hit both the Caribbean AND Florida and look at the very different conditions between PR and FL in the aftermath.

Clint, man, this was a deep episode. Even while you were giving this lesson I felt the impact it left on you. There was a lot that I didn’t know happened during and after Katrina. When will this madness stop? Did the flag say “mission accomplished “?

I was there in New Orleans The Amtrak trains were giving FREE rides out of town Every bus that could be brought down town was and offered as a free ride and The Governor and the Mayor we given pre Disaster okays to fund any and all evacuation by the Federal GOV. And the Mayor DECLINED IT!!!!! Over 230 busses were left unfilled Downtown.

Opening segment was powerful, God! Ashe king. Keep these treasures going!✌🏿🙏🏾👊🏿

Great course, and clearly personal to Clint. I can remember the news during this. There was all this concern about looting, riots, and crime. I specifically remember a rumor about a helicopter being shot at. We should have been hearing about the concern and rescue efforts for fellow Americans. I ponder what some of those Coast Guard rescuers would have said to the police blocking people from fleeing. Spend hours pulling people from the water, to hear that the police were restraining people from self rescuing.

I’m from New Orleans and am a Katrina survivor.

the horrific images of that day are still burned in my mind. thank you for the in-depth analysis.

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.

I felt your emotion on this segment. I'm sorry for your misfortunes. Thanks for this segment. To know that there was more than a hurricane that contributed to their tragedies

I was a part of the army Katrina relief operation. It was a mixed bag problem, slow response mixed with 90% of police abandoning the city along with most of the city government turned a bad situation into a terrible one.

Thanks for this personal account Clint, this has definitely been one of the best ever Crash Course series, I'd love to see you do more on KZfaq when this is over.

I always enjoy Clint's videos. I felt the emotion in this one. 🙏🏾

This channel has educated me so much on black history. This channel is essential to all that is open to learning about black history so we can continue to make history!!! Thank you Crash Course!!!!

Clint Smith: You were looking forward to senior year, and I was looking forward to freshman year (tulane). We both evacuated to Houston, both via contraflow traffic. Feels like yesterday. Thank you for this well done video.

I remember hearing about Katrina when I was small, but I never realized how truly devastating and tragic it was

I took a trip to New Orleans in 2019 for the New Orleans Bowl and as we were coming into the city and passing through New Orleans East it was horrifying to see what had happened to those people and how is has been 17 years and they still have tarps over their roofs to cover the holes in them from the hurricane. I am a white man from Alabama and have a very conservative background and it was harrowing to know how those people had been treated when everything they had was destroyed. Thank you for telling us about this and bring this to light, Clint.

I had no idea people were turned away on the bridges. Wow.

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

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

I have many friends from the New Orleans area - the stories they told about Katrina will never leave me. So much could’ve been prevented

My mother's people are from NOLA and I myself practically grew up there. My father spent the last 30 years of his life in Baton Rouge. I volunteered for an organization in Houston when evacuees came. This was such an impactful storm on so many levels and our inadequate and uncaring government didn't help when it was really needed. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. Katrina was devastating for many of her children. ❤

I don't know why, but there was a flip in my stomach and heart. Like it had been crushed or dropped. Even though I had knew most of these things from watching over 3+ documentaries over an hour long, this had a different feeling. Out of all the documentaries in the world, this hit me. Maybe it was because of the personal feeling to it. I wasn't born in 2005. I took an interest to New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina since my ma comes from Kenner, Louisiana, and it's pretty close to New Orleans, I believe. Along with the fact that my auntie lives in New Orleans and I loved it there, although I never really looked around because I was hopping around to my relatives' houses, visiting them. Even though my ma was born in Kenner, she visited New Orleans during her childhood and young adult years, until she had to evacuate to Jacksonville, Florida with relatives. She told me she used to play around and on the leeves with her friends, oblivious to what would happen in the up and coming years. This video made me mad and sad. The fact that they were left there stranded while the government was blind. New Orleans will never be the same again due to this mostly man-made disaster. If the government listened, New Orleans wouldn't have been so badly damaged and gentrified faster than it already was! And then after enduring this terrible disaster, people got unstable and toxic trailers after months of begging for shelter. This video made me weak in the knees. No documentary could make my stomach drop and my heart hurt like that. I appreciate this video, as it gives me more info. Thank you, Clint.

I would like to share this video on social media, please. I will forever remember Hurricane Katrina and all the people who were affected by this tragedy.😢

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

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

I recommend the Spike Lee films that he does on the oil spill and Katrina. When the Levies Broke, & , If God Is Willing and The Creek Don't Rise.

I'm glad you and your family were safe Clint. I volunteered in animal rescue and disaster relief in California back then, with Best Friends Animal Society, and it was just amazing at what I saw in the Jefferson Parish. I had returned a few months later to help with rehab and reunification of the animals that were rescued from homes. It was often times the only memory left behind that folks who had to evacuate could recover. So many times the animals would hear a familiar voice before we did and would go ecstatic in anticipation. It was also disheartening to hear of all the other animals that were not able to be reunited with their original families because the foster families didn't want to return them. A lot of racist blame and ignorance about the evacuated families. I am not surprised at there being cops on the Crescent City bridge.

It's crazy hearing something I lived thru be described in the context of history. I was just a preteen in Houston in 2005, and when Katrina hit, my mom went out of her way to house 3 or so families as best she could during, in our home, while the rest of us temporarily moved in with my grandma. They stayed with us until they managed to get back on their feet after having lost quite literally everything, and altho my memory is foggy, I'm fairly certain they spent a year or two with us. I was vaguely aware of most of what the video went over, and remember some of the harrowing stories the families had shared with us. Still, at the time, I was admittedly an edgy brat more miffed about the sudden lack of free space, so some of the nuances definitely didn't register back then.

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.

I remember some of our parishes schools drivers, I lived in Richland Parish at the time, got to together to help the folks down in New Orleans to get them out, but when they got down there the busses were told to turn around. Remembering that will always be a hurt and sad memory for me.

An excellent video on an important moment in recent history. Thanks for the clarity, Clint & Crash Course crew.

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

I didn't know you were born in New Orleans! See now you feel like family. I was born and raised as well...I was in middle school when Katrina happened. Changed everything...I also lived in New Orleans East. I recognize the church photo you shared and I went to a Catholic school not far from there at the time.

I started my teaching career in Atlanta in 2005. I remember having transplant families in my first grade classroom and that got me really interested in trauma-based instruction. It also made me pivot and take a gap year and go clean up NOLA in 2006. Thank you Hank for creating crash course. I'm pivoting now from education and will try to go rogue. I'm sure I'm going to use this in my practice. Found you from nerdfighter/vlogbrothers channel. Thanks!

Clint is an American treasure!

So many years later, and still much of the area is still not fully restored. The federal rebuilding efforts sort of dried up after the tourist-frequented areas were rebuilt, and many displaced never returned because there wasn't a place to return to. They just couldn't afford it on their own. (This is my perspective as a then Dallasite who was at the time in San Marcos, TX at the Job Corps campus there. We were one of the sites the Job Corps students in New Orleans were evac'd to. Even before the refugees arrived, there were a good number of us with ties to the area. We did what we could to take them in.)

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.

Was in New Orleans is past year saw the famous boat that was on top of the roof that was on a magazine cover. it's still in that person's backyard. Sad😭🤦🏿‍♂️

TFW you realize that Clint isn't really that much older than you.

Greetings from Paraguay 🇵🇾🇵🇾🇵🇾!!!

I grew up in north Louisiana, about 250 from New Orleans. It was a combination of government failures at multiple levels, plus racism on the part of people paranoid about the crime bogeyman (treating fleeing families the same as criminals, that's how paranoid the police can get). Add classism too, as wealth quickly translates into power. If NOLA were a high-wealth city, Bush wouldn't have wasted a second cutting through the red tape to getting aid to people. Add to that the "low taxes" and "cost cutting" mantra of government since the Reagan Era, which deprived money for schools and health care every bit as much as for hurricane protection. That finally proved to me just how out of touch Bush & Co are, that plus beholden to the "low taxes and small budget government" agenda.

such a vital series, thank you

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.

It’s crazy to me that this is history now. I lived near Houston and the city felt like it was in chaos as we tried to prepare for thousands of people to flee New Orleans and seek shelter in our cities. So many people lost everything and stayed in the Houston area to start over. And then we got hit by Harvey, it feels like yesterday that it happened but it’s been five years. My family decided not to evacuate and I spent my time driving through town trying to take care of animals who were left behind. And so many elderly people couldn’t evacuate so we helped them prepare their homes and visited them as the few people left watched the water rise.

Always look forward to these videos. It is indeed amazing how our lives are impacted by not just natural disasters and events, but also how people impact others negatively. Thanks for sharing your story Clint. Climate change is definitely wreaking havoc on many places. Caribbean countries like St. Vincent and the Grenadines, my home, is disproportionately affected by climate change, yet lack the funding to effectively mitigate against climate events like hurricanes, floodings, droughts etc. All in all, great episode. Keep up the good work. Side note: Mottley is spelt with 2 T's, not one.

37yr old East Texan here. That event was catastrophic and my heart still goes out to Louisiana, some parts of the New Orleans area never recovered and likely never will.

Thank you for sharing this

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!

I remember seeing that on the news when I was a teen, mind blowing to see 😢

My aunt went to Xavier and had to evacuate when I was little. It was very scary

Thanks for sharing.

OMG! I remember civilians being rescued from rooftops BUT the news channels NEVER-that I ever saw-showed people on bridges being sent back from safety to danger! New Orleans has a long tainted history of its law enforcement agencies filled with racism and corruption and violence. But, all we ‘saw’ was a community working together. Thanks Clint for sharing your painful story and setting the record straight and clearing up misconceptions.

Thank you for sharing this history with your perspective mixed in. History isn’t far behind us, especially this

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

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.

I remember when FEMA sent a bunch of trailers, about 20,000, to the airport in Hope, AR to be sent to people in New Orleans who lost their homes to Katrina. They stayed there for like 6 years.

Great information

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!

Thank you for sharing your story ❤️

Really hope they'll devote an entire episode to housing discrimination, something Clint briefly touched on here.

I grew up in the Faubourg Marigny and I've never gone back since Katrina

It's things like this that I get mad at people complaining about taxes being too high. If so many wealthy people didn't dodge taxes, there'd be more money to maintain things like levees & other infrastructure. Tragedy could've been mitigated here, but people who already have everything got greedy.

As someone who has been affected by hurricanes and tropical storms my entire life, who has lost so much due to disasters both natural and man made, I can't imagine having to deal with all of that with the filter of racism overlaid as well. I remember being around 9 or 10 when Katrina hit, having evacuated myself. It's heartbreaking enough to lose your home and everything that made it up without also having to fight against systemic oppression. Tropical Storm Imelda uprooted my entire life 2 weeks before we were supposed to leave and the scars left by that event are still there today. Thank you for informing us on this topic and as a Gulf Coast native, I'm so sorry your community has suffered so much more on top of an already life changing and soul crushing circumstance.

I love this channel.

I was 23, I had planned to go to my first Mardi Gras the following February before Katrina hit. For all the news I consumed, i never formed a picture like Clint described. Heard the stadium wasn't a good place to be and FEMA bungled, but 20 feet of water and sewage and cops on bridges and thousands dead by drowning... until now these were simply not part of my conceptualization. Thank you, Clint, for shining a light on the history they still don't teach. Yall help me be a little less blind to my biases. I've lost my home, I know how hard that is, I'd have given 17 year old you a firm shoulder squeeze of fellowship.

I didn't hear about people being turned away violently on that bridge. What the hell was that BS?

Thanks for what you've said, I can feel your feelings when you mention it.

Excellent Video.

We had to read City of Refuge by Tom Piazza for our freshman year of college. It showed both the perspectives of a white family and a black family during Katrina and the fallout afterward.

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

Please make a crash course series on mentalism.

Thank you for this lesson.

When it happen I was living in Dallas, and we went a donated a ton of stuff like diapers at the Dallas stadium. It was just as packed as Saints stadium.

thank you so much for these videos

Love from Chattanooga 💙💙💙

Thank you for this video.

I should also say that I taught high school this year and this truly is history to today's kids. As my students weren't born yet and that threw me for a loop.