Twenty years ago, while the shock and horror of Hurricane Katrina still were fresh in our minds, it occurred to me that my beloved hometown might become a modern-day Pompeii, frozen at the moment of its destruction for all eternity.
There were those who were convinced the New Orleans that I loved, that both my father and I led as mayor, never should rise again. There were those who gloated that the storm had forced poor Black families from their homes, and those who devised a plan for them never to return.
To me, the story of Katrina is a story of both betrayal and renewal.
Betrayal, by the faulty engineering and the shoddy construction of the levees that failed.
Betrayal, by the city officials whose failure to plan for such an emergency or order a timely evacuation abandoned the most vulnerable citizens.
Betrayal, by the slow and inadequate response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard.
At the same time, the spirit of renewal burned bright in the battered New Orleans that the storm left in its wake. In the face of unimaginable loss, New Orleans honored her dead in the classic second line tradition, rolled up her sleeves and rose up against the indifference, incompetence and injustice that challenged them at every turn.
The 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is a solemn reflection on the racist policies that confined poor Black peoples to the most danger-prone neighborhoods, the racist attitudes that blocked their escape from the floodwaters and the systemic racism that threw up barriers on the road to recovery.
Disaster planning experts at Texas A&M University wrote, “One of Katrina’s most important lessons is about social injustice. The disproportionate suffering in Black communities wasn’t a natural disaster but a predictable result of policies concentrating risk in marginalized neighborhoods.”
Poverty and racism continue to challenge my beloved hometown. But the strength and resilience that fueled its recovery after Katrina will always be with us, just as essential to its identity as jazz, gumbo and Mardi Gras.
Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League and was mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002. He writes a twice-monthly column for the Sun-Times.