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A Chapter of: Miles to Go: Stories of Us at 250

Hurricane Katrina鈥檚 Lessons

Katrina didn鈥檛 just devastate a region鈥攊t exposed a nation.

Editor鈥檚 note: This essay was originally published in on July 18, 2025. It has been lightly edited to adhere to house style.

I was five years old when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005. I don鈥檛 remember much鈥攎ainly, just the news headlines, the prayers for victims, and the overwhelming joy of Saints fans when the team won the Super Bowl several years later. The victory seemed larger than sports, but I didn鈥檛 understand why. It was only recently that I began to grasp what the storm showed about who we are and who we have been.听

Two decades after Katrina struck, 麻豆果冻传媒 brought together journalists, artists, and thinkers in an event called 鈥淜atrina鈥檚 America: 20 Years Since the Storm.鈥 It illustrated how Katrina didn鈥檛 just devastate a region鈥攊t exposed a nation.听

The Category 5 hurricane that ravaged New Orleans and much of the southern coast did not discriminate in its destruction, but when the winds calmed and the water receded, we could see who was left behind. Differences in preparedness, evacuation, infrastructure failures, and relief and recovery efforts meant the suffering left by Katrina was far from equal.听

City evacuation plans stranded people who relied on public transportation. Decades of disinvestment in public infrastructure in lower-income neighborhoods like the Lower Ninth Ward led to the collapse of the underfunded and poorly maintained levee system, flooding predominantly Black communities. An uncoordinated, underfunded response by the Federal Emergency Management Agency left many residents trapped for days or even weeks. As people struggled to obtain food, some news narratives painted Black residents, but not white residents, as .听

Wealthier, whiter communities were also聽advantaged in programs designed to help homeowners rebuild, such as the , which provided grants of up to $150,000 to eligible homeowners. But those grants were largely tied to the properties鈥 pre-storm value, which were higher in predominantly white communities, and not to the cost of rebuilding. Moreover, many Black residents lacked property titles and got tied up in red tape.听

The failures surrounding storm preparation and response revealed not only inequality, but a broader, structural rot in which the people who are already struggling are most likely to bear the brunt of our action and inaction.听

In a 2015 article in The Atlantic, John McQuaid discussed the lessons still unlearned 10 years after Hurricane Katrina. He wrote: 鈥淎merica is an optimistic nation. It has a short memory. Our political system and media don鈥檛 really learn very obvious lessons that unspool right in front of everyone鈥檚 faces. And so we end up repeating our errors鈥攁t least, some of them鈥攖o great sorrow.鈥澛

Optimism is not the problem鈥攖he problem is shortsightedness that prevents us from addressing long-term challenges until they鈥檙e already at our doorstep. The failures of Katrina were decades in the making, rooted in past injustices and policies of redlining, Jim Crow segregation, and environmental and infrastructure neglect.听

The systems that failed in Katrina and its aftermath still exist. In some ways, we鈥檝e incentivized them, making disaster big business. There is profit to be made from storm response. Today, private equity firms are buying up small storm response and restoration companies.听For example, one firm, Trivest Partners, invested in 14 of these companies between 2020 and 2024, according to the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a watchdog organization. That group also published a , finding that the top 21 private equity firms have 鈥渁n outsized role in accelerating the climate crisis,鈥 with their energy portfolios generating 1.17 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases per year.听This means that a growing number of companies engaged in storm response may be simultaneously contributing to the greater number and power of these storms.听

At the 麻豆果冻传媒 event, Nikole Hannah-Jones, lead creator and author of The 1619 Project, which placed slavery and its legacy at the center of our national story, delivered a sobering message. She asserted that the nation is moving into darker and more unforgiving systemic terrain, with Black people being 鈥渄isappeared from mainstream institutions.鈥 She recalled times in American history when social progress was reversed鈥攁nd said it can happen again.听

Since that day of reflection, I have been struggling to find optimism. Artificial intelligence, growing inequality, systemic injustice, the continuing corporate capture of our politics and economy: These are difficult things to ponder. Cynicism can feel more appropriate than hope.听

But perhaps we can learn something from another speaker at the event: Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, a visionary musician, composer, and cultural leader in New Orleans. He articulated the artistic expression of the people of his city, where resistance is found in art, culture, and moments of joy. The people of New Orleans resist by creating art and celebrating life and community.

That鈥檚 a lesson from Katrina. When big solutions seem out of reach and hope is hard to find, we can still remember our humanity and respond personally. We can express ourselves and find joy, community, and fellowship. We can connect beyond the political divide and work to know each other as fellow human beings.听

And there鈥檚 power in that.

A collage of four images: an elderly woman in a fur coat sitting outdoors, a young man running in a baseball uniform, a young man listening attentively in class, and an older man in a cowboy hat seated at a table.
Miles to Go: Stories of Us at 250

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Hurricane Katrina鈥檚 Lessons

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