StoryBuilders Visit New Orleans- What’s Happening 10 Years After Hurricane Katrina

In April, BOP staff, members and StoryBuilder interns traveled to New Orleans to explore the impact that Hurricane Katrina has had on the city. We were particularly interested in hearing from community about the intersection of mass incarceration in education and what the Black community has to say about how things have changed in New Orleans since the hurricane.

The history of New Orleans is deeply rooted in the history of chattel slavery on this continent, a phenomenon that created the foundation of structural racism that plagues us today. Hurricane Katrina is one of the critical moments that provided context for the creation of BOP in late 2009. People across the nation watched as an entire city of Black people were left behind to fend for themselves and mainstream media perpetuated the narrative that Black people in search of food and supplies in a city devastated by flood waters, were looting rather than simply trying to survive like their white counterparts. This is a narrative that we see continuing today, where the American government takes a clear stance in devaluing Black lives and names us thugs and looters when we protest and even just try to survive.

Below is a documentary that the StoryBuilders created after the trip to New Orleans.