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♪ Do you know what it means ♪

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♪ To miss New Orleans ♪

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♪ And miss it
each night and day? ♪

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♪ I know I'm not wrong ♪

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♪ The feeling's
getting stronger ♪

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♪ The longer
I stay away... ♪

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♪ Miss the moss-covered vines ♪

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♪ The tall sugar pines ♪

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♪ Where mockingbirds
used to sing ♪

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♪ And I'd like to see ♪

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♪ The lazy Mississippi ♪

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♪ A-hurrying into spring ♪

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♪ Oh, the Mardi Gras,
the memories ♪

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♪ Of Creole tunes
that fill the air ♪

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♪ I dream of oleanders
in June ♪

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♪ And soon I'm wishing
that I were there ♪

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♪ Do you know
what it means ♪

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♪ To miss New Orleans ♪

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♪ When that's where
you left your heart? ♪

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♪ And there's
something more ♪

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♪ I miss the one
I care for ♪

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♪ More than I miss
New Orleans. ♪

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We come to you with facts.

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We come to you
with eyewitness accounts.

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We come to you
because we were there
before the storm hit,

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we were there
when the storm hit,

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we were there after the storm,
and we're still there.

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Are your teams,
is FEMA ready for this?

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Because you guys have been
pretty taxed lately, with all
the hurricanes of last year

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and this year's
busy hurricane season.

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Well, we have been taxed.

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Right now we're still
doing recovery operations
in Florida,

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and I've got
a long-term recovery
office down there.

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And some people
have been trying
to second-guess

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how FEMA responded
and recovered
in Florida.

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Well, let me say
to all those critics--

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we are ready,
we're going to respond,

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and we're going to do
exactly what we did

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in Florida, Alabama,
and the other places.

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We're going to do
whatever it takes
to help victims.

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That's why
we've already declared
an emergency.

42
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President Bush
had no reservations
about doing that.

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We're going
to lean forward
as far as possible

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and do everything
we can to help
those folks

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in Louisiana, Alabama
or Mississippi.

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<i>New Orleans In Peril,</i>

47
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<i>Friday, August 26, 2005,
1:57 p.m.</i>

48
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There were forecasters
out there--

49
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there were legitimate
meteorologists who were
saying this is a threat.

50
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And the National Hurricane
Center was saying

51
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there's a wide range
of area that could be hit
by this hurricane,

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ranging from
the Florida Panhandle
all the way over to Louisiana.

53
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So New Orleans was
within their strike target.

54
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I first heard about
Hurricane Katrina--

55
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I want to say,
because it was on the 29th...

56
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maybe the 26th--
kind of like word
that it was out there

57
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and what it was building to,
the strength it was
building to.

58
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<i>Anytime a hurricane
gets into the Gulf,</i>

59
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<i>we become very aware
here in New Orleans.</i>

60
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Friday morning I was in Detroit,

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and Saturday morning
when I saw that the hurricane

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had reached Category Five,

63
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I began to call
my family members

64
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and pretty much implored them
to leave out of town.

65
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I had flown in for the funeral
of Clarence Barney,

66
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who had run the Urban League
of Greater New Orleans.

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<i>About two-thirds
through the funeral,</i>

68
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my communications director
Michele Moore

69
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who was with me,

70
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slipped me a note
up at the front of the church,

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and the note said,
"We must leave.

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The storm is
a Category Five now."

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<i>I was living in Metairie.</i>

74
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<i>I was living there
with my ex-fiancée,</i>

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<i>her three kids,
and two grandchildren.</i>

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Saturday,
before the hurricane,

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that morning at 11:00 a.m.,

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I sent her, two cars,
all the kids, the grandkids

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and two friends that had
come down from Illinois,

80
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and sent them away
to get to a safe spot.

81
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I came down here
that Saturday for a vacation

82
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before I was going
to work in Baltimore,

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and arrived, and at the airport
everyone was just trying
to get out.

84
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There was this huge exodus
trying to happen. And I'm like,
"What's going on?"

85
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They said, "Oh, you didn't
hear about the hurricane?"

86
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And I actually hadn't
been in touch with the news
or weather or whatever.

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So I came to my parents' house
and we just said, "Look,
let's just wait."

88
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I think it was probably
about Saturday about noon,

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they really started saying that
it was going to come and hit us.

90
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And my house was
kind of unprepared.

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I had stuff in the yard,
windows needed to be boarded up,

92
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all of that.
So I just started going to it.

93
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I was here during
Hurricane Katrina

94
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because my
mother-in-law decided--

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as many
New Orleanians did--

96
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that they could weather
the storm.

97
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We haven't had a major
hurricane since 1965.

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I remember
I was five years old.
It was called Hurricane Betsy.

99
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I remember driving
and the water coming up
behind us and surviving that,

100
00:08:02,782 --> 00:08:05,151
so I have always been
afraid of hurricanes.

101
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Herbert Freeman,
<i>My mother, she had been
bedridden for a while,</i>

102
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<i>so she was
in good spirits.</i>

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I told her, I said,
"Another hurricane coming."

104
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She said, "Oh, yeah.
Well, we survived Betsy.
You remember that?"

105
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I said, "Yeah, I remember that.
But I'm going to board up
the windows and things.

106
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We're just going to try
to survive it out."

107
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You know, on the 26th,
as I recall,

108
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the governor and I
had talked a little bit

109
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about this
particular situation,

110
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and we were
already in the mode
of evacuating people.

111
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I signed a Declaration
of Emergency for the state
of Louisiana

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to begin activating
all of the assets

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that could be
brought to bear,

114
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so that
we could petition

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the federal government
to help us

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to also pay for the big things
that needed to happen.

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<i>Katrina is now
in the Gulf of Mexico</i>

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<i>and growing stronger
rapidly</i>

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<i>after leaving
at least six people dead
in South Florida.</i>

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<i>Many heavily populated
areas there</i>

121
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<i>are in deep water
and without power.</i>

122
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New computerinformation just coming in

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tells us that
now there's
a possibility

124
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of this storm
even shifting further west,

125
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perhaps even
involving the New Orleans
metropolitan area.

126
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<i>Of course, New Orleans among--
one of the most vulnerable
hurricane places,</i>

127
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<i>if not the most vulnerable
in the country.</i>

128
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I was having dinner
with my family,

129
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getting ready to evacuate them
the next morning.

130
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Got a call
from Max Mayfield.

131
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He said, "Mr. Mayor,
I am calling you.

132
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"I just finished talking
to the governor.

133
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"This is one
of the worst storms

134
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"that I've ever seen
in my 33-year history.

135
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"The conditions are
the worst I've seen,

136
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"and this storm is one
of the worst that I've seen.

137
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"If I were you, I would issue
a mandatory evacuation

138
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"and try and get
everybody out that you can,

139
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'cause this is
the real deal."

140
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This is very serious.

141
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This is the storm
that everybody
was afraid of.

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And when you get
somebody like
the head

143
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of the Hurricane
Center to say

144
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that in 33 years
they hadn't seen
anything like it,

145
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we should be--
we should take
heed to it.

146
00:10:01,100 --> 00:10:04,070
The City of New Orleans
had never in its history

147
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issued a mandatory
evacuation.

148
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There's all sorts
of legal concerns,

149
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because you have
so many residents

150
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who rely upon
public educ-- transportation,

151
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and there's a question about
whether you can really deliver

152
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on that order.

153
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I basically called
my city attorney

154
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after that Saturday night
conversation with Max Mayfield

155
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and said, "I don't care
what you have to do,

156
00:10:27,026 --> 00:10:28,594
"figure out
a way for us to order

157
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a mandatory evacuation."

158
00:10:30,363 --> 00:10:31,530
And we did that
the next morning.

159
00:10:31,597 --> 00:10:34,767
I pretty much just
disregarded the fact

160
00:10:34,834 --> 00:10:36,102
that the hurricane--

161
00:10:36,168 --> 00:10:38,337
Hurricane Katrina was headed
towards New Orleans.

162
00:10:40,673 --> 00:10:44,210
A few of my friends seemed
to be particularly worried.

163
00:10:45,978 --> 00:10:48,481
But I guess I'd been through
enough of them that I just--

164
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and I'd never particularly
been very worried about it.

165
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It was a Saturday night
at 4:00 in the morning.

166
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I went to bed that night,

167
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and my son-in-law called me
about 4:00 in the morning,

168
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said, "Well, you better
get up and watch TV,"

169
00:11:02,228 --> 00:11:05,464
and turned on Margaret Orr,
and we watched her.

170
00:11:05,531 --> 00:11:08,401
And when they showed you
what was happening--

171
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<i>that thing was
covering the Gulf.</i>

172
00:11:10,469 --> 00:11:14,106
<i>Hurricane Katrina will likely
affect the Louisiana coast</i>

173
00:11:14,173 --> 00:11:17,977
<i>with tropical-force winds
and heavy rainfall
by this evening.</i>

174
00:11:18,044 --> 00:11:20,679
<i>Governor Blanco and I,
Mayor C. Ray Nagin,</i>

175
00:11:20,746 --> 00:11:23,416
<i>have each declared
a state of emergency.</i>

176
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Every person
is hereby ordered

177
00:11:26,152 --> 00:11:29,688
to immediately evacuate
the city of New Orleans.

178
00:11:29,755 --> 00:11:31,424
Hurricane Katrina
is now designated

179
00:11:31,490 --> 00:11:33,325
a Category Five hurricane.

180
00:11:35,027 --> 00:11:38,064
We cannot stress enough
the danger this hurricane poses

181
00:11:38,130 --> 00:11:39,465
to Gulf Coast communities.

182
00:11:40,733 --> 00:11:43,602
I urge all citizens
to put their own safety

183
00:11:43,669 --> 00:11:47,840
and the safety
of their families first
by moving to safe ground.

184
00:11:47,907 --> 00:11:49,642
My name is
Tanya Harris,

185
00:11:49,708 --> 00:11:52,578
and I'm a Lower
Ninth Ward resident.

186
00:11:52,645 --> 00:11:55,648
This is-- actually,
this is three generations
of us right here.

187
00:11:55,714 --> 00:11:57,683
This is my grandmother
Josephine Butler,

188
00:11:57,750 --> 00:11:59,485
and that's my mother
Chirrie Harris.

189
00:11:59,552 --> 00:12:02,688
We evacuated the Sunday
before the storm.

190
00:12:02,755 --> 00:12:06,459
My sister's van
had broken down,

191
00:12:06,525 --> 00:12:10,496
and we all-- basically
she didn't want to leave--

192
00:12:10,563 --> 00:12:12,832
she just had
no desire to leave,
because, you know,

193
00:12:12,898 --> 00:12:14,967
evacuating can get
kind of costly.

194
00:12:15,034 --> 00:12:19,004
And a lot of times,
we'd always just leave
and nothing happens.

195
00:12:19,071 --> 00:12:21,207
So she didn't
want to leave.

196
00:12:21,273 --> 00:12:23,409
And we--
my grandmother said,
"You know,

197
00:12:23,476 --> 00:12:26,312
"I think this is going to be
a pretty strong storm.

198
00:12:26,378 --> 00:12:28,647
And so I think we ought
to get out of here."

199
00:12:28,714 --> 00:12:31,884
And my sister
still wouldn't leave.
But if one of us doesn't go,

200
00:12:31,951 --> 00:12:34,620
none of us will go.
We all stay.

201
00:12:34,687 --> 00:12:37,056
I told them-- I got a stick,
I went around there,

202
00:12:37,123 --> 00:12:39,959
I said, "Y'all going
to leave out of that house."
I said, "Right now."

203
00:12:40,025 --> 00:12:42,228
I said,
"Come on, get in the car.
If you don't have anything,

204
00:12:42,294 --> 00:12:44,263
get in the car.
Let's go. We got to go."

205
00:12:44,330 --> 00:12:47,199
So they got in the car.
We all packed up in the car
and then we left.

206
00:12:47,266 --> 00:12:49,468
We begin with two words
coastal residents

207
00:12:49,535 --> 00:12:52,138
never want to hear--
Category Five.

208
00:12:52,204 --> 00:12:55,641
Hurricane Katrina now threatens
to bring catastrophic damage

209
00:12:55,708 --> 00:12:58,077
to coastal Louisiana
and Mississippi.

210
00:12:58,144 --> 00:12:59,778
<i>This monster
of a storm is now</i>

211
00:12:59,845 --> 00:13:02,248
<i>at the most
powerful level
for a hurricane,</i>

212
00:13:02,314 --> 00:13:05,417
<i>and it's taking aim
at a wide swath
of the Gulf Coast.</i>

213
00:13:05,484 --> 00:13:07,286
<i>And thatincludes New Orleans--</i>

214
00:13:07,353 --> 00:13:09,488
<i>a city six feet
below sea level.</i>

215
00:13:09,555 --> 00:13:12,057
When I heard
the Category Five
was coming,

216
00:13:12,124 --> 00:13:15,361
I decided to evacuate.

217
00:13:15,427 --> 00:13:17,963
I took my--
you know, my entire family

218
00:13:18,030 --> 00:13:20,966
and I went
to north Louisiana,
stayed with my brother.

219
00:13:21,033 --> 00:13:25,137
They said,
"Well, we got to leave.
The hurricane coming."

220
00:13:25,204 --> 00:13:26,405
I said, "Listen, man...

221
00:13:27,673 --> 00:13:30,709
"you know,
everybody who's afraid
should leave,

222
00:13:30,776 --> 00:13:33,179
"but I-- I ain't
for that leaving.

223
00:13:33,245 --> 00:13:34,880
I'm gonna stay
right here."

224
00:13:34,947 --> 00:13:37,116
The main reason
that I decided to leave

225
00:13:37,183 --> 00:13:39,518
is I hadn't gone shopping.
I had intended to.

226
00:13:39,585 --> 00:13:40,853
So I was out of food

227
00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:43,055
and I knew the grocery stores
would be shutting down.

228
00:13:43,122 --> 00:13:46,825
I left late, once I took
a good look inside my icebox,

229
00:13:46,892 --> 00:13:48,994
and that was
Sunday evening.

230
00:13:49,061 --> 00:13:51,964
I had never evacuated
from New Orleans
for a hurricane.

231
00:13:52,031 --> 00:13:54,533
We've had others.
And we didn't know how severe

232
00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:56,435
this one was going to be.

233
00:13:56,502 --> 00:13:59,038
But my wife and my sons
convinced me--

234
00:13:59,104 --> 00:14:02,508
"Well, just leave the house
and let's go downtown
to a hotel,

235
00:14:02,575 --> 00:14:04,410
then you can
come back tomorrow."

236
00:14:04,476 --> 00:14:06,245
So I said,
"Fine, I'll do that."

237
00:14:06,312 --> 00:14:08,247
The same thing was happening
that happens with a lot

238
00:14:08,314 --> 00:14:10,816
of... hurricanes coming
to New Orleans.

239
00:14:10,883 --> 00:14:13,085
There's a group that says,
"I'm going to leave,

240
00:14:13,152 --> 00:14:15,087
you don't have
to tell me twice."

241
00:14:15,154 --> 00:14:18,090
And then there's
the other group that says,
"I rode out Betsy,

242
00:14:18,157 --> 00:14:21,227
I'm going to stay here,
and it's going to be okay."

243
00:14:21,293 --> 00:14:24,630
We left the city
that Sunday when they made it
a mandatory evacuation.

244
00:14:24,697 --> 00:14:27,166
I was at a hotel
right across the street

245
00:14:27,233 --> 00:14:28,968
from the Convention Center
and the Superdome.

246
00:14:29,034 --> 00:14:33,505
Went to get my bags,
and as I was driving back home
to pick up my parents...

247
00:14:33,572 --> 00:14:35,741
<i>...there was lines of people</i>

248
00:14:35,808 --> 00:14:37,643
<i>already going
into the Superdome.</i>

249
00:14:37,710 --> 00:14:40,613
<i>And they were holding them
back, saying, "This is a place
of last resort,</i>

250
00:14:40,679 --> 00:14:44,250
<i>so don't go yet."
So people were just
lined up like a parade,</i>

251
00:14:44,316 --> 00:14:47,886
<i>waiting for the Superdome
to open to go into it.</i>

252
00:14:47,953 --> 00:14:50,556
<i>As the storm was
bearing down on us,</i>

253
00:14:50,623 --> 00:14:53,892
<i>we had opened up the Superdome
for people with special needs,</i>

254
00:14:53,959 --> 00:14:56,462
medical needs,
which we always do.

255
00:14:56,528 --> 00:14:58,330
The Superdome is used

256
00:14:58,397 --> 00:15:00,599
because there's
no other facility

257
00:15:00,666 --> 00:15:03,035
in the New Orleans area

258
00:15:03,102 --> 00:15:05,604
that is capable
of sustaining winds

259
00:15:05,671 --> 00:15:08,507
higher than
a Category Three storm.

260
00:15:08,574 --> 00:15:12,778
We have been very fortunate

261
00:15:12,845 --> 00:15:15,114
to get food

262
00:15:15,180 --> 00:15:17,616
for you tonight.

263
00:15:23,122 --> 00:15:25,024
<i>The mood in the beginning</i>

264
00:15:25,090 --> 00:15:27,793
<i>was kind of like,
"Okay, we're okay."</i>

265
00:15:27,860 --> 00:15:30,729
<i>You know, we was cheering
when they were speaking,
you know?</i>

266
00:15:30,796 --> 00:15:33,065
It was kind of exciting
to know they had food.

267
00:15:33,132 --> 00:15:35,000
We wanted to see the TVs.

268
00:15:35,067 --> 00:15:37,670
We wanted to know
what was going on
with the news out there.

269
00:15:37,736 --> 00:15:40,372
<i>And so everybody
kind of like, was kind of,</i>

270
00:15:40,439 --> 00:15:43,175
<i>I guess, accepting,
you know,</i>

271
00:15:43,242 --> 00:15:45,177
<i>where they was at
at that particular time,</i>

272
00:15:45,244 --> 00:15:46,779
even though the storm
was coming.

273
00:15:48,881 --> 00:15:50,482
<i>At 7:38 this evening,</i>

274
00:15:50,549 --> 00:15:52,418
<i>we are continuing
to track Hurricane Katrina,</i>

275
00:15:52,484 --> 00:15:55,287
<i>as we are now starting to feel
some of the effects of Katrina.</i>

276
00:15:55,354 --> 00:15:58,390
<i>This right here is a,
well, empty street here
in New Orleans.</i>

277
00:15:58,457 --> 00:16:01,026
<i>It actually looks
a little eerie, you know?</i>

278
00:16:01,093 --> 00:16:03,062
<i>To see our city looking
like this on a Sunday evening.</i>

279
00:16:03,128 --> 00:16:05,197
<i>I started praying, a lot.</i>

280
00:16:05,264 --> 00:16:08,434
And I called my sister Cheryl
in California--

281
00:16:08,500 --> 00:16:10,436
she could see the news--
'cause we had already
lost power.

282
00:16:10,502 --> 00:16:12,638
So she could see the news
in California on CNN,

283
00:16:12,705 --> 00:16:14,640
and she was giving me
the update.

284
00:16:14,707 --> 00:16:16,875
Well, this was
before it actually
full-blown hit us.

285
00:16:16,942 --> 00:16:19,845
And she said, "Phyllis,
it's 30 minutes away."

286
00:16:19,912 --> 00:16:21,680
So I hang up, I'm praying,
I'm praying, I'm praying,

287
00:16:21,747 --> 00:16:24,216
I'm getting
my husband prayed up,
I'm getting me prayed up.

288
00:16:24,283 --> 00:16:27,019
I'm like, "Ron, you know
what I never thought about?
God's will.

289
00:16:27,086 --> 00:16:29,254
"What if this is
actually God's will

290
00:16:29,321 --> 00:16:31,123
"for us to die right now,

291
00:16:31,190 --> 00:16:33,659
for this to be the time,
for us to die like this?"

292
00:16:33,726 --> 00:16:35,427
<i>We both know how to swim,</i>

293
00:16:35,494 --> 00:16:38,197
<i>but Jahiya's a better
swimmer than I am.</i>

294
00:16:38,263 --> 00:16:41,333
And I talked to her about
if the storm starts hitting,

295
00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:44,470
we found ourselves in the water
and having to swim,

296
00:16:44,536 --> 00:16:46,739
if she could get
to safety

297
00:16:46,805 --> 00:16:48,974
and if I was trailing
behind her,

298
00:16:49,041 --> 00:16:50,542
to keep going.

299
00:16:50,609 --> 00:16:54,413
Don't worry about me.
Get herself to safety.

300
00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:58,283
And she said, "Mom, you know
I wouldn't leave you."

301
00:16:58,350 --> 00:16:59,952
You know?

302
00:17:00,018 --> 00:17:03,956
Because we knew it was
a life-or-death situation.

303
00:17:04,022 --> 00:17:05,991
The potential danger,

304
00:17:06,058 --> 00:17:08,394
the threat of the storm
was enormous.

305
00:17:08,460 --> 00:17:10,462
<i>CNN is your hurricane
headquarters.</i>

306
00:17:10,529 --> 00:17:13,899
<i>We are watching
a Category Five hurricane,
Hurricane Katrina,</i>

307
00:17:13,966 --> 00:17:17,302
<i>as it makes its way towards
the city of New Orleans,</i>

308
00:17:17,369 --> 00:17:21,440
<i>the expected landfall
about 5:00 to 8:00 a.m.
tomorrow morning.</i>

309
00:17:21,507 --> 00:17:23,342
I wasn't in good
physical condition,

310
00:17:23,409 --> 00:17:26,111
but it was about 12:00
before I left.

311
00:17:26,178 --> 00:17:27,980
And I really was--

312
00:17:28,046 --> 00:17:30,149
had anticipated
not leaving the house.

313
00:17:30,215 --> 00:17:32,684
I was going to ride
this one out.

314
00:17:32,751 --> 00:17:35,754
And so-- but then
I made a decision

315
00:17:35,821 --> 00:17:39,191
that I needed to go up
to the complex.

316
00:17:39,258 --> 00:17:43,061
So I asked my wife,
after I got in the car,

317
00:17:43,128 --> 00:17:47,099
I told her-- we only live
about a block away from...

318
00:17:48,367 --> 00:17:51,236
the levee that surrounds--

319
00:17:51,303 --> 00:17:53,405
the Chalmette Back Levee
that surrounds St. Bernard,

320
00:17:53,472 --> 00:17:55,607
and the area I live in
is Verret.

321
00:17:55,674 --> 00:17:58,644
I told my wife just
to take the back road,
and she asked me why.

322
00:17:58,710 --> 00:18:01,413
I said, "Well,
it's a scenic route."

323
00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,750
And I said, "I just want you
to look at it and just
remember," I said,

324
00:18:04,817 --> 00:18:08,854
"because if this thing hits,
that's all you going to have
is memories of this place."

325
00:18:08,921 --> 00:18:11,990
Well, everybody left.
I went out, ran 10 miles,

326
00:18:12,057 --> 00:18:14,726
came back,
boarded up my house,

327
00:18:14,793 --> 00:18:17,996
called my man,
we went to the hospital
to see my brother,

328
00:18:18,063 --> 00:18:20,999
and then we went up
to the... Hyatt,

329
00:18:21,066 --> 00:18:24,470
<i>parked the car,
went up to the 27th floor.</i>

330
00:18:24,536 --> 00:18:27,372
<i>About 11:30, a guy came
on the P.A. system,</i>

331
00:18:27,439 --> 00:18:31,643
<i>says, "Everybody place your
belongings in the bathrooms,</i>

332
00:18:31,710 --> 00:18:35,380
<i>grab your spread, your pillow,
and come to the Fourth Floor
Ballroom."</i>

333
00:18:35,447 --> 00:18:38,917
I guess about
2:30 in the morning,

334
00:18:38,984 --> 00:18:41,286
it got rough.

335
00:18:54,566 --> 00:18:56,802
<i>We started listening
to the wind,</i>

336
00:18:56,869 --> 00:19:00,105
<i>and that sound--
I'll never forget that sound,</i>

337
00:19:00,172 --> 00:19:02,908
<i>the wind hitting the glass
at the Hyatt.</i>

338
00:19:02,975 --> 00:19:05,377
<i>And those glasses
started breaking.</i>

339
00:19:05,444 --> 00:19:08,914
And that's when you could see
the true power of Mother Nature.

340
00:19:08,981 --> 00:19:11,717
The winds woke me up and I
got up and looked outside

341
00:19:11,783 --> 00:19:15,487
<i>and saw trees
in the courtyard across
from me just like swaying.</i>

342
00:19:19,391 --> 00:19:21,727
<i>You could hear the squall
through the window,</i>

343
00:19:21,793 --> 00:19:23,896
<i>going "Shh-hh,"
like a tornado.</i>

344
00:19:23,962 --> 00:19:26,765
I thought a tornado
was by the hospital,
it was so loud.

345
00:19:26,832 --> 00:19:29,968
Moved all our patients
out into the hallway,

346
00:19:30,035 --> 00:19:34,473
because we didn't want
any windows cracking on them,
any windows breaking.

347
00:19:36,808 --> 00:19:40,312
<i>This is August 29th, 2005.</i>

348
00:19:40,379 --> 00:19:42,447
<i>About 6:00 in the morning,
everybody kind of sleeping.</i>

349
00:19:42,514 --> 00:19:44,349
<i>And then, all of a sudden,
you just hear...</i>

350
00:19:50,589 --> 00:19:53,292
<i>It sounded like
a New York City subway train.</i>

351
00:19:53,358 --> 00:19:55,994
<i>Others said they
thought it was thunder
or someone hammering.</i>

352
00:19:56,061 --> 00:19:58,630
<i>And in a way, it was.
It was Katrina</i>

353
00:19:58,697 --> 00:20:01,233
<i>hammering away at the roof,
trying to get in.</i>

354
00:20:03,101 --> 00:20:06,438
<i>And then this--
the first break visible
in the roof.</i>

355
00:20:06,505 --> 00:20:09,975
<i>That is
daylight coming through,
and the rain soon followed.</i>

356
00:20:11,076 --> 00:20:13,812
<i>There are reports
about the Superdome.</i>

357
00:20:13,879 --> 00:20:17,282
<i>Some reports that we have
gotten from people in the Dome</i>

358
00:20:17,349 --> 00:20:19,685
<i>tell us that
there has been-- ahem--</i>

359
00:20:19,751 --> 00:20:23,121
<i>a portion of the roof
that is leaking.</i>

360
00:20:23,188 --> 00:20:25,190
<i>The structure is sound.</i>

361
00:20:25,257 --> 00:20:27,926
<i>Right now there is
no structural damage.</i>

362
00:20:27,993 --> 00:20:30,028
They have moved the people

363
00:20:30,095 --> 00:20:32,097
who were on the floor
of the Superdome

364
00:20:32,164 --> 00:20:34,099
in a very orderly fashion
to get them

365
00:20:34,166 --> 00:20:37,803
out of the water
that's coming through.

366
00:20:37,869 --> 00:20:41,707
<i>Now, having said that,
we have several more
hours to go,</i>

367
00:20:41,773 --> 00:20:44,209
<i>watching the situation and...</i>

368
00:20:44,276 --> 00:20:45,844
<i>the rains
are pretty heavy.</i>

369
00:20:58,423 --> 00:21:00,459
<i>The wind is rolling.</i>

370
00:21:00,525 --> 00:21:03,595
<i>It's rolling too much.
I mean, there's tin
flying off this.</i>

371
00:21:03,662 --> 00:21:07,032
<i>Everything is ripping,
the whole aluminum siding
of the building--</i>

372
00:21:07,099 --> 00:21:10,669
<i>you can actually hear it
being peeled like--</i>

373
00:21:10,736 --> 00:21:13,238
like somebody-- it's just like
that Darryl Hannah movie

374
00:21:13,305 --> 00:21:16,508
from a long time ago,
"The 50-Foot Woman" or whatever
the hell she was.

375
00:21:16,575 --> 00:21:19,311
That's what Katrina was.
She was peeling our shit apart.

376
00:21:33,792 --> 00:21:36,795
<i>And it just got worse
and worse and worse.</i>

377
00:21:36,862 --> 00:21:39,965
I mean, it was-- it was
just incredible, the sound.

378
00:21:40,032 --> 00:21:42,134
It was like having
a freight train

379
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,403
in your ear
for hours on end.

380
00:21:44,469 --> 00:21:46,938
Just this...

381
00:21:47,005 --> 00:21:48,473
<i>It's just almost--</i>

382
00:21:48,540 --> 00:21:50,308
<i>you can't describe it
'cause it's deafening.</i>

383
00:21:50,375 --> 00:21:52,878
<i>You can't even hear
yourself think after a while.</i>

384
00:22:00,719 --> 00:22:04,089
<i>All I could think of was one
word and I said it out loud.</i>

385
00:22:04,156 --> 00:22:07,459
<i>And I remember my daughter
looking at me like, "What
is she saying?"</i>

386
00:22:07,526 --> 00:22:09,795
But all I could say was,
"Stabilize."

387
00:22:10,829 --> 00:22:12,497
<i>I just wanted the winds</i>

388
00:22:12,564 --> 00:22:16,034
and the house to stop shaking
and to stabilize.

389
00:22:25,911 --> 00:22:28,146
What's up?

390
00:22:28,213 --> 00:22:31,149
How you doing, man?
I had to leave out
of my house, man.

391
00:22:31,216 --> 00:22:34,853
I don't know whether
that water's coming over
that levee or what.

392
00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,522
The storm missed us.
I can't hear you.

393
00:22:37,589 --> 00:22:40,492
The storm went east.
So you haven't heard
about that water

394
00:22:40,559 --> 00:22:42,461
coming over
that levee from the lake?

395
00:22:42,527 --> 00:22:45,564
I'll check it out.
'Cause the water
start rising so high

396
00:22:45,630 --> 00:22:47,933
in my two-story apartment,
I had to get out, man.

397
00:22:47,999 --> 00:22:51,369
Where's that at?
Right across from
Robinson's Overpass.

398
00:22:51,436 --> 00:22:53,472
Okay.
Around Clouet
and Louisa Street.

399
00:22:53,538 --> 00:22:57,042
Around 9:00, we heard
a big boom noise.

400
00:22:57,109 --> 00:23:00,946
Boom! And it was
loud, loud, loud.

401
00:23:01,012 --> 00:23:02,447
Yes, I heard
the explosion.

402
00:23:02,514 --> 00:23:04,916
We heard it first,
the echo from here.

403
00:23:06,651 --> 00:23:08,420
Then it was here.
I said, "Oh my God,

404
00:23:08,487 --> 00:23:09,855
it's the end
of the world."

405
00:23:09,921 --> 00:23:13,325
We heard some explosions--
two, three.

406
00:23:13,391 --> 00:23:19,297
We thought about--
I thought maybe it was
an electrical transformer

407
00:23:19,364 --> 00:23:22,234
or something popping
in the distance.

408
00:23:22,300 --> 00:23:25,203
First I heard one boom.
I thought it was a big
transformer.

409
00:23:25,270 --> 00:23:28,507
'Cause Fred said,
"It's a transformer."

410
00:23:28,573 --> 00:23:32,644
But I said, "We've been sitting
in the dark now for about
two hours, three hours."

411
00:23:32,711 --> 00:23:35,147
But it went again,
boom-boom.

412
00:23:35,213 --> 00:23:36,748
I think the levee cracked

413
00:23:36,815 --> 00:23:38,683
and they helped it
the rest of the way.

414
00:23:38,750 --> 00:23:40,952
They had a bomb.
They bombed that sucker.

415
00:23:41,019 --> 00:23:42,454
I didn't
only hear
the explosion,

416
00:23:42,521 --> 00:23:43,955
I felt
the explosion.

417
00:23:46,024 --> 00:23:48,126
And there should be
somebody else heard

418
00:23:48,193 --> 00:23:50,896
and felt the explosion
besides me.

419
00:24:44,983 --> 00:24:46,985
I don't believe that
the levees were blown.

420
00:24:47,052 --> 00:24:49,421
I believe that my people
heard explosions

421
00:24:49,487 --> 00:24:53,391
when the water gushed
through a... gaping hole.

422
00:24:53,458 --> 00:24:55,727
You know, you have
a crack that goes

423
00:24:55,794 --> 00:24:57,128
from being a crack
to a gaping hole,

424
00:24:57,195 --> 00:24:59,097
you're going to hear
some type of sound.

425
00:24:59,164 --> 00:25:01,032
The levees gave.

426
00:25:01,099 --> 00:25:03,301
I don't think it was blown up.
I'll be honest with you.

427
00:25:03,368 --> 00:25:06,071
I think what they heard was--
it was a possibility--

428
00:25:06,137 --> 00:25:08,673
they could have heard
the snapping of the ropes

429
00:25:08,740 --> 00:25:11,943
<i>that hold
these barges together.</i>

430
00:25:12,010 --> 00:25:14,179
<i>I almost have to believe
that they heard the barge</i>

431
00:25:14,246 --> 00:25:16,414
<i>hit that concrete wall.</i>

432
00:25:16,481 --> 00:25:18,116
<i>Because it just looks
to me like that barge</i>

433
00:25:18,183 --> 00:25:19,584
<i>was the thing that
knocked that wall down.</i>

434
00:25:19,651 --> 00:25:22,888
I'm 45 years old.
I'm a New Orleans native.

435
00:25:22,954 --> 00:25:24,890
I've been in New Orleans
all my life.

436
00:25:24,956 --> 00:25:28,226
My mother was born
in New Orleans, my father
was born in New Orleans,

437
00:25:28,293 --> 00:25:30,362
my grandmother was born
in New Orleans.

438
00:25:30,428 --> 00:25:32,564
And I was there
when Hurricane Betsy hit.

439
00:25:35,267 --> 00:25:38,470
<i>In 1965 during
Hurricane Betsy,</i>

440
00:25:38,536 --> 00:25:44,509
<i>there was an intentional
dynamite of the levees,</i>

441
00:25:44,576 --> 00:25:48,480
<i>and that caused
the Lower Ninth Ward
to flood.</i>

442
00:25:48,546 --> 00:25:50,248
<i>People were
on their roofs.</i>

443
00:25:50,315 --> 00:25:53,084
<i>Several people
lost their lives.</i>

444
00:25:53,151 --> 00:25:57,989
They dynamited the levees
and flooded the Lower
Ninth Ward

445
00:25:58,056 --> 00:26:01,259
in order to save some
of the more expensive property

446
00:26:01,326 --> 00:26:03,395
in the Lakefront area.

447
00:26:03,461 --> 00:26:05,664
They're not going to never
leave nothing happen

448
00:26:05,730 --> 00:26:07,499
to this French Quarter.
Okay?

449
00:26:07,565 --> 00:26:08,900
Nothing. It ain't gonna happen.

450
00:26:08,967 --> 00:26:10,302
If the French Quarter go,
everything go.

451
00:26:10,368 --> 00:26:12,103
<i>They blowed that levee</i>

452
00:26:12,170 --> 00:26:15,840
<i>so the water could release
on that side of the city.</i>

453
00:26:15,907 --> 00:26:19,010
<i>During Hurricane Betsy,
there were rumors,</i>

454
00:26:19,077 --> 00:26:22,247
<i>and it became almost
an article of faith</i>

455
00:26:22,314 --> 00:26:26,351
<i>with people in the community,
that the Ninth Ward flooded</i>

456
00:26:26,418 --> 00:26:28,353
<i>because there was
an intentional breach
of the levee.</i>

457
00:26:28,420 --> 00:26:30,155
<i>It was never investigated.</i>

458
00:26:30,221 --> 00:26:32,691
It was neither proven
nor disproven.

459
00:26:32,757 --> 00:26:33,925
In this case...

460
00:26:35,293 --> 00:26:38,797
for the government
and others

461
00:26:38,863 --> 00:26:42,634
to sort of dismiss it
without looking
into all of it,

462
00:26:42,701 --> 00:26:45,804
is not doing the people

463
00:26:45,870 --> 00:26:47,872
or the public a service.

464
00:26:47,939 --> 00:26:50,575
These people that live
along where it flooded,

465
00:26:50,642 --> 00:26:52,544
that believe
it was dynamited,

466
00:26:52,610 --> 00:26:55,180
have a long experience
of being ripped off.

467
00:26:55,246 --> 00:26:57,415
The 1927 flood,

468
00:26:57,482 --> 00:27:00,085
when black communities
were dynamited,

469
00:27:00,151 --> 00:27:02,654
<i>what happened during Betsy
was on their mind.</i>

470
00:27:02,721 --> 00:27:05,490
<i>It's not a far jump
to believe</i>

471
00:27:05,557 --> 00:27:08,560
<i>the urban myth
that it got dynamited.</i>

472
00:27:08,626 --> 00:27:11,563
I think there are
too many similarities

473
00:27:11,629 --> 00:27:15,266
between the 1927 flood
and Katrina.

474
00:27:15,333 --> 00:27:17,002
For one thing,

475
00:27:17,068 --> 00:27:20,605
the levee policy
of the federal government--

476
00:27:20,672 --> 00:27:23,775
the flood protection policy
of the federal government

477
00:27:23,842 --> 00:27:27,245
was directly responsible.

478
00:27:27,312 --> 00:27:30,081
I mean, it was
deeply flawed in 1927

479
00:27:30,148 --> 00:27:32,751
and had been
widely criticized.

480
00:27:32,817 --> 00:27:34,719
<i>The City of New Orleans</i>

481
00:27:34,786 --> 00:27:37,322
<i>had exercised
its political muscle</i>

482
00:27:37,389 --> 00:27:39,657
<i>and dynamited the levee
outside the city,</i>

483
00:27:39,724 --> 00:27:41,659
<i>flooded out
its neighbors.</i>

484
00:27:41,726 --> 00:27:44,662
And this wasn't about race,
it was about money.

485
00:27:44,729 --> 00:27:48,967
The people who were
flooded out of their homes

486
00:27:49,034 --> 00:27:51,136
were in
St. Bernard Parish.
They were almost

487
00:27:51,202 --> 00:27:54,873
<i>all of them, were white.
So, as I say, it had
nothing about race.</i>

488
00:27:54,939 --> 00:27:57,675
<i>It was an enormous event.</i>

489
00:27:57,742 --> 00:28:00,945
<i>It flooded the homes
of over a million people,</i>

490
00:28:01,012 --> 00:28:05,383
<i>which back then was almost
1% of the entire population
of the United States.</i>

491
00:28:05,450 --> 00:28:09,988
<i>In Louisiana alone,
there were 200,000 people</i>

492
00:28:10,055 --> 00:28:12,824
<i>who were fed
by the Red Cross</i>

493
00:28:12,891 --> 00:28:14,926
<i>for months
after the flood.</i>

494
00:28:14,993 --> 00:28:17,962
<i>More than half of them
were living in tent cities.</i>

495
00:28:18,029 --> 00:28:22,200
Until Katrina, it was
the greatest natural disaster

496
00:28:22,267 --> 00:28:24,202
the country
had ever seen.

497
00:28:24,269 --> 00:28:27,439
Two years ago, FEMA actually
funded a study called "Pam,"

498
00:28:27,505 --> 00:28:31,609
where they did a study,
a numerical study,

499
00:28:31,676 --> 00:28:33,511
computer simulation model
of what would happen

500
00:28:33,578 --> 00:28:36,247
if a hurricane five--
Category Five hit New Orleans.

501
00:28:36,314 --> 00:28:40,418
Hurricane Pam was
a fictitious hurricane

502
00:28:40,485 --> 00:28:45,056
engineers and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency designed

503
00:28:45,123 --> 00:28:50,195
to see what happens
if we flood New Orleans.

504
00:28:50,261 --> 00:28:52,297
<i>What we are
looking at here</i>

505
00:28:52,363 --> 00:28:55,800
<i>is as the storm moved
toward New Orleans,</i>

506
00:28:55,867 --> 00:28:59,537
<i>it started to flood New Orleans
from east and west,</i>

507
00:28:59,604 --> 00:29:02,841
<i>and eventually, the entire
bowl gets flooded.</i>

508
00:29:02,907 --> 00:29:06,678
Hurricane Pam
came up with some very,
very significant findings.

509
00:29:06,744 --> 00:29:09,781
And unfortunately,
these seem to have been ignored

510
00:29:09,848 --> 00:29:13,218
by many, many agencies
as we move forward.

511
00:29:13,284 --> 00:29:16,054
One of the most
significant

512
00:29:16,121 --> 00:29:20,892
was that we had identified
through our own research

513
00:29:20,959 --> 00:29:24,529
that there were 127,000 people
in New Orleans

514
00:29:24,596 --> 00:29:27,332
who didn't have access
to motor vehicles.

515
00:29:27,398 --> 00:29:30,135
In addition, there were
a large number of homeless

516
00:29:30,201 --> 00:29:32,370
and the disabled.

517
00:29:32,437 --> 00:29:35,507
So you were talking about
a significant percentage

518
00:29:35,573 --> 00:29:37,842
of the population
that couldn't evacuate.

519
00:29:37,909 --> 00:29:40,178
<i>In 1965...</i>

520
00:29:41,713 --> 00:29:43,882
<i>they started
those levees.</i>

521
00:29:43,948 --> 00:29:45,917
<i>They haven't
finished them today,</i>

522
00:29:45,984 --> 00:29:48,153
<i>and that's 40-something
years later.</i>

523
00:29:48,219 --> 00:29:51,489
<i>They haven't
put the last lift
on these levees.</i>

524
00:29:51,556 --> 00:29:53,992
It's like the guy that
used to get up there with--

525
00:29:54,058 --> 00:29:56,494
a number of years back--
hold that oil filter
in his hands,

526
00:29:56,561 --> 00:29:58,930
say, "Pay me now,
or pay me later."

527
00:29:58,997 --> 00:30:01,399
Well, this is
the "pay me later."
This is the payback.

528
00:30:01,466 --> 00:30:04,569
It's like, "Oh, it costs
too much money."

529
00:30:04,636 --> 00:30:08,072
Now they've failed
and now look how much money
they got to spend.

530
00:30:08,139 --> 00:30:11,476
You know the old saying,
"A stitch in time..."?

531
00:30:11,543 --> 00:30:14,546
Well, we don't
deal that way.

532
00:30:14,612 --> 00:30:17,415
We said,
"If we look the other way,
it'll go away."

533
00:30:17,482 --> 00:30:20,084
And now it's just coming back
home to roost, you know?

534
00:30:20,151 --> 00:30:22,720
All the stuff they've done
for the last 40 years

535
00:30:22,787 --> 00:30:24,622
came home in a big way.

536
00:30:24,689 --> 00:30:28,126
President Hoover in 1947
in a famous speech about
engineers said--

537
00:30:28,193 --> 00:30:30,728
he said that engineering
is a great profession.

538
00:30:30,795 --> 00:30:33,164
He said, but engineers,
we build stuff.

539
00:30:33,231 --> 00:30:36,834
He said politicians may put
their name on it, but we can't
deny that we did it.

540
00:30:36,901 --> 00:30:40,338
He said an engineer
is unlike a doctor who can
bury his mistakes.

541
00:30:40,405 --> 00:30:43,107
He said an engineer is not like
a politician who can blame it

542
00:30:43,174 --> 00:30:45,376
on his opponent
on the opposite side
of the aisle

543
00:30:45,443 --> 00:30:47,445
or hope that
the public forgets.

544
00:30:47,512 --> 00:30:51,182
He said a polit-- an engineer
is not like a lawyer,

545
00:30:51,249 --> 00:30:53,952
who could blame it on the judge
or try to argue it away.

546
00:30:54,018 --> 00:30:55,887
He said an engineer
is unlike an architect

547
00:30:55,954 --> 00:30:58,856
who can hide his mistakes
with trees and shrubbery.

548
00:30:58,923 --> 00:31:01,826
He said when an engineer makes
a mistake, he is damned,

549
00:31:01,893 --> 00:31:04,829
<i>because his mistake is there
for the world to see.</i>

550
00:31:04,896 --> 00:31:07,265
The engineer should have
designed those

551
00:31:07,332 --> 00:31:12,070
much better
and much stronger.

552
00:31:12,136 --> 00:31:13,471
And we haven't seen that.

553
00:31:13,538 --> 00:31:15,907
<i>As for example,
17th Street Canal--</i>

554
00:31:15,974 --> 00:31:18,710
<i>the sheet pile
was too shallow</i>

555
00:31:18,776 --> 00:31:21,446
and didn't go all the way
it should go.

556
00:31:21,512 --> 00:31:25,450
In St. Bernard Parish,
where the levees overtop,

557
00:31:25,516 --> 00:31:27,885
<i>levee material
was not strong enough,</i>

558
00:31:27,952 --> 00:31:29,754
<i>and those were
not armored.</i>

559
00:31:29,821 --> 00:31:34,325
My understanding is people
think we got hit by a hurricane.

560
00:31:34,392 --> 00:31:37,362
We got missed by a hurricane.
The hurricane went east.

561
00:31:37,428 --> 00:31:40,331
When the water
backed up the lake,

562
00:31:40,398 --> 00:31:42,934
my understanding is
the lake backed up

563
00:31:43,001 --> 00:31:46,371
a Category One
into our levees,

564
00:31:46,437 --> 00:31:49,741
and they failed.
Not a Category Three--

565
00:31:49,807 --> 00:31:53,211
Category Three came up
the Industrial Canal
and the MRGO,

566
00:31:53,278 --> 00:31:55,713
breached the levees,
topped the levees,

567
00:31:55,780 --> 00:31:58,583
but the two main ones
that broke,

568
00:31:58,650 --> 00:32:01,786
broke under Category One,
Category Two, tops.

569
00:32:01,853 --> 00:32:05,390
So we've been lied to
all these years

570
00:32:05,456 --> 00:32:07,592
by the federal
government.

571
00:32:07,659 --> 00:32:10,995
And it cost the people,
not just New Orleans
and the Ninth Ward,

572
00:32:11,062 --> 00:32:13,831
but the whole
freakin' southeast
Louisiana.

573
00:32:13,898 --> 00:32:17,001
It cost the people
their homes and
their lives.

574
00:32:17,068 --> 00:32:19,971
I hope the politicians,
whoever did this--

575
00:32:20,038 --> 00:32:22,540
the Corps of Engineers,
whoever's responsible--

576
00:32:22,607 --> 00:32:24,842
I hope that they can
sleep at night.

577
00:32:26,477 --> 00:32:28,746
I hope they can
sleep at night...

578
00:32:28,813 --> 00:32:33,117
knowing that
they're the ones
who's responsible.

579
00:32:33,184 --> 00:32:35,887
And that's not this talking,
that's the freakin' truth.

580
00:32:35,953 --> 00:32:37,822
<i>Let's go to Anita
in Uptown.</i>

581
00:32:37,889 --> 00:32:39,791
<i>Anita, are you
seeing any water</i>

582
00:32:39,857 --> 00:32:41,793
<i>in the streets
where you are now?</i>

583
00:32:41,859 --> 00:32:44,662
<i>Yes, it's actually up to
the top step, and we have--</i>

584
00:32:44,729 --> 00:32:46,664
<i>How many steps do you have?</i>

585
00:32:46,731 --> 00:32:49,801
<i>We only have four. And we
have 12 people in our house,</i>

586
00:32:49,867 --> 00:32:52,303
<i>including a senior citizen
and two babies.</i>

587
00:32:52,370 --> 00:32:54,772
<i>I walked over
to the sewer drain,</i>

588
00:32:54,839 --> 00:32:57,208
<i>the storm drains on the side
of the street,</i>

589
00:32:57,275 --> 00:33:00,545
<i>and I could hear this low,
rumbling gurgle coming at me.</i>

590
00:33:01,746 --> 00:33:03,715
<i>It sounded like...</i>

591
00:33:03,781 --> 00:33:05,950
just-- just bubble and boil.

592
00:33:06,017 --> 00:33:09,854
And it just spit out all over,
spit all over my shoes.

593
00:33:09,921 --> 00:33:13,725
Then I started hearing
"clang-clang-clang"
down the street,

594
00:33:13,791 --> 00:33:15,960
<i>and it was the manhole covers
popping off,</i>

595
00:33:16,027 --> 00:33:18,663
<i>and the water was just
blowing out the manhole covers,</i>

596
00:33:18,730 --> 00:33:20,765
and it was coming out
of the storm drains

597
00:33:20,832 --> 00:33:24,836
and it was filling up.
And you could see it coming
down the side streets.

598
00:33:24,902 --> 00:33:27,872
<i>You know, it wasn't like
a wall of water, but it
was coming out quick,</i>

599
00:33:27,939 --> 00:33:30,475
<i>and you could see it was
starting to rise up real quick.</i>

600
00:33:30,541 --> 00:33:33,911
Judy come and woke me up,
and says, "Hey, go out and look
at the street."

601
00:33:33,978 --> 00:33:36,881
When I went
and looked at the street,
the water was pouring in.

602
00:33:36,948 --> 00:33:39,217
I run back in the house,
told them

603
00:33:39,283 --> 00:33:42,754
to put on their
life jackets and everything.
We had to get out of the house.

604
00:33:42,820 --> 00:33:46,557
And Henry was trying to open
the back door for us to get
out of the house,

605
00:33:46,624 --> 00:33:50,128
because the water was
coming up so quickly.
It was up to the window.

606
00:33:50,194 --> 00:33:52,663
I got up and I went
to my front door,

607
00:33:52,730 --> 00:33:56,033
and I had water

608
00:33:56,100 --> 00:33:59,070
up over my head.
If I'd have stepped
out on my step...

609
00:33:59,137 --> 00:34:00,738
I'd have drowned.

610
00:34:00,805 --> 00:34:02,874
I'm going to throw you
a life preserver, okay?

611
00:34:04,742 --> 00:34:07,111
There it is. You see it?
Put your feet on anything.

612
00:34:07,178 --> 00:34:10,648
Go for that life preserver
right there. Don't let it
drift away from you.

613
00:34:10,715 --> 00:34:14,018
Grab that life jacket.
All right,
take the life jacket.

614
00:34:14,085 --> 00:34:16,554
Now the water's
going to be deep.
Come on, ma'am.

615
00:34:16,621 --> 00:34:20,191
Come on-- you can do it.
Let go. Let go, come on.

616
00:34:20,258 --> 00:34:22,627
I can't.
Yes, you can!

617
00:34:22,693 --> 00:34:25,263
The life preserver
will help you.

618
00:34:25,329 --> 00:34:27,265
Don't panic.
Just come to us.

619
00:34:27,331 --> 00:34:28,733
Don't make me fall.

620
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,369
Once you get to us, we can
get you into the boat.

621
00:34:31,436 --> 00:34:32,804
Come on.

622
00:34:34,272 --> 00:34:37,241
There you go.
Don't panic,
don't panic!

623
00:34:37,308 --> 00:34:40,011
Hang on, just go right
on the top of that.

624
00:34:40,077 --> 00:34:44,015
I went out on the second floor
porch to look over

625
00:34:44,081 --> 00:34:47,251
and see the water just
kept rising and kept rising.

626
00:34:47,318 --> 00:34:48,886
So I went in the room

627
00:34:48,953 --> 00:34:52,290
and I broke down, got on
my knees, and I started praying.

628
00:34:52,356 --> 00:34:56,561
I was like, "I'm not going
to let nobody die,

629
00:34:56,627 --> 00:34:59,297
"so I got to get myself together
and get my mind right

630
00:34:59,363 --> 00:35:02,366
to focus on how I'm going
to do this here."

631
00:35:02,433 --> 00:35:06,070
So I'm steady dialing
on my cell phone, 911.

632
00:35:06,137 --> 00:35:09,273
You can't get through,
you can't get through.
I got so desperate

633
00:35:09,340 --> 00:35:11,542
and lost a sense
of intelligence

634
00:35:11,609 --> 00:35:15,279
that I dialed zero
for the operator and asked her
could she transfer me to 911.

635
00:35:15,346 --> 00:35:17,415
She said, "I can't do it."
I said, "Why not?"

636
00:35:17,482 --> 00:35:19,917
She said, "Because they're
not taking any calls."

637
00:35:19,984 --> 00:35:21,586
"What do you mean
they're not taking any calls?

638
00:35:21,652 --> 00:35:23,855
"I'm dying.
I'm fucking dying in here.

639
00:35:23,921 --> 00:35:25,056
We're about
to fucking drown,"

640
00:35:25,122 --> 00:35:26,090
because I'm here
in the water--

641
00:35:26,157 --> 00:35:27,425
and I'm sorry for cursing,

642
00:35:27,492 --> 00:35:29,594
but the more I think about it,
the more angry I get.

643
00:35:29,660 --> 00:35:30,728
Because I'm like...

644
00:35:38,169 --> 00:35:39,604
"I'm here talking to you,

645
00:35:39,670 --> 00:35:41,539
"so if you can hear
my voice talking to you,

646
00:35:41,606 --> 00:35:44,242
"then you know a heart must be
beating inside of a body,

647
00:35:44,308 --> 00:35:45,676
"which means
there's a life here.

648
00:35:45,743 --> 00:35:47,345
So you mean
you can't connect me,"

649
00:35:47,411 --> 00:35:49,981
even though I know,
they told me,

650
00:35:50,047 --> 00:35:52,450
"If you stayed,
we're not gonna help you."

651
00:35:52,517 --> 00:35:56,187
They told me point-blank,
channel after channel saying,

652
00:35:56,254 --> 00:35:58,089
"Fill your tub up
with water"

653
00:35:58,155 --> 00:36:00,958
so you can
flush the damn toilet
if you survive this.

654
00:36:01,025 --> 00:36:03,027
<i>My family and I
are stranded here</i>

655
00:36:03,094 --> 00:36:06,163
<i>along with about 100 other
tenants and their families.</i>

656
00:36:06,230 --> 00:36:09,700
<i>The street water-- we have been
monitoring it all day</i>

657
00:36:09,767 --> 00:36:13,271
<i>on the front of Gravier--
is increasingly rising,</i>

658
00:36:13,337 --> 00:36:15,940
<i>and it's now coming
through the lobby door,</i>

659
00:36:16,007 --> 00:36:18,109
<i>and it's filling up
the basement.</i>

660
00:36:18,175 --> 00:36:22,213
<i>And I expect that our lobby
is going to fill up,</i>

661
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:24,682
<i>and we have
nowhere to go.</i>

662
00:36:24,749 --> 00:36:27,051
<i>This is actually the first
pumping station</i>

663
00:36:27,118 --> 00:36:29,420
<i>built in New Orleans
right here.</i>

664
00:36:29,487 --> 00:36:32,290
<i>It was built here because this
is the lowest area in the city.</i>

665
00:36:32,356 --> 00:36:34,325
<i>There are about
27 pumping stations,</i>

666
00:36:34,392 --> 00:36:36,827
<i>and we were
one of the last ones
to shut down here.</i>

667
00:36:36,894 --> 00:36:39,630
When the levee broke,
when it got to its
highest point,

668
00:36:39,697 --> 00:36:42,433
it was off the chain.
It was off the level up there.

669
00:36:42,500 --> 00:36:44,936
This is 16 feet here.
It was much higher,

670
00:36:45,002 --> 00:36:47,204
because it was
lapped around the back,

671
00:36:47,271 --> 00:36:49,273
and we could
hear it pulling.

672
00:36:49,340 --> 00:36:51,542
<i>People was getting reports</i>

673
00:36:51,609 --> 00:36:53,110
<i>that St. Bernard Parish
was underwater,</i>

674
00:36:53,177 --> 00:36:55,279
the Ninth Ward was underwater,

675
00:36:55,346 --> 00:36:57,415
New Orleans East
was underwater.

676
00:36:57,481 --> 00:36:59,550
And you could only hear stuff
over the radio.

677
00:36:59,617 --> 00:37:03,788
And you can hear the callers
calling in, like, "I'm stuck
in the attic,"

678
00:37:03,854 --> 00:37:06,257
you know, "me and my kids."
And it was kind of like,

679
00:37:06,324 --> 00:37:08,993
<i>we was almost safe
inside the Superdome,</i>

680
00:37:09,060 --> 00:37:11,696
<i>but we still felt
for the people outside.</i>

681
00:37:11,762 --> 00:37:13,631
<i>And you didn't know
what was going on.</i>

682
00:37:13,698 --> 00:37:16,367
<i>You didn't know what happened
to your family at that time.</i>

683
00:37:16,434 --> 00:37:19,737
<i>I turned on the news,
and the commentator said</i>

684
00:37:19,804 --> 00:37:22,340
<i>that 80% of New Orleans
is underwater.</i>

685
00:37:24,108 --> 00:37:26,243
<i>And they hadn't shown
any pictures yet.</i>

686
00:37:26,310 --> 00:37:28,746
<i>And I'm still thinking--
when they say</i>

687
00:37:28,813 --> 00:37:30,414
<i>80% of the city's underwater,
I'm still thinking,</i>

688
00:37:30,481 --> 00:37:33,918
<i>"Okay, they mean like
two feet of water, three feet
of water, something like that."</i>

689
00:37:33,985 --> 00:37:37,355
We're used to that. I grew up
with that. Water would come
right up to the doorsill.

690
00:37:37,421 --> 00:37:40,992
We'd sit there and look at it,
make little paper boats and
throw in it, you know?

691
00:37:41,058 --> 00:37:42,994
But, man,
I looked around

692
00:37:43,060 --> 00:37:45,863
and I saw there was a picture
of the Circle Food Store.

693
00:37:45,930 --> 00:37:49,266
And the water was
midway to the door.

694
00:37:49,333 --> 00:37:52,603
And I couldn't believe that.
And what messed me up
about that picture

695
00:37:52,670 --> 00:37:55,239
was the fact that
that was more inland.

696
00:37:55,306 --> 00:37:58,042
That wasn't near the lake,
it wasn't near the river.

697
00:37:58,109 --> 00:38:01,946
<i>If the water was that high
at the Circle Food Store,</i>

698
00:38:02,013 --> 00:38:03,748
<i>I knew we had a problem
in the city.</i>

699
00:38:03,814 --> 00:38:07,985
(playing
"St. James
Infirmary")

700
00:38:26,437 --> 00:38:28,706
What you looking at?
What you looking at?

701
00:38:28,773 --> 00:38:31,676
This is the barge.
When it came,

702
00:38:31,742 --> 00:38:34,211
and we thought
we were going to die--

703
00:38:34,278 --> 00:38:38,783
and I remember
the number-- ING 4727.

704
00:38:38,849 --> 00:38:41,986
If they would have took
that away, I would have
remembered the number,

705
00:38:42,053 --> 00:38:44,655
because I wrote it down,
and I put it in my pocketbook.

706
00:38:44,722 --> 00:38:47,091
And the couple
that lived there,

707
00:38:47,158 --> 00:38:49,994
they couldn't get a boat
to get out either.

708
00:38:50,061 --> 00:38:53,364
They're still in there,
if they're still there.

709
00:38:53,431 --> 00:38:56,300
They had a man
that lived in here.

710
00:38:56,367 --> 00:39:00,204
He tied hisself to beer kegs.
They may still be in the yard.

711
00:39:00,271 --> 00:39:03,941
And he floated in the water
just-- for three days.

712
00:39:04,008 --> 00:39:05,943
And I just kept
talking to him

713
00:39:06,010 --> 00:39:08,713
and telling him,
"God's going to make a way.
God's going to make a way.

714
00:39:08,779 --> 00:39:10,915
You going to make it."

715
00:39:10,981 --> 00:39:15,186
And he would say,
"I'm so tired." I said,
"I know you're tired."

716
00:39:15,252 --> 00:39:18,956
And I wanted to feed him
what I had, but I couldn't
get to him

717
00:39:19,023 --> 00:39:20,558
'cause I didn't
know how to swim.

718
00:39:20,624 --> 00:39:24,328
♪ Well, I went down
to St. James Infirmary ♪

719
00:39:25,763 --> 00:39:29,166
♪ I saw my baby there ♪

720
00:39:29,233 --> 00:39:34,205
♪ Well, she was stretched out
on a long white table ♪

721
00:39:34,271 --> 00:39:38,776
♪ So cold, so sweet,
so fair ♪

722
00:39:40,377 --> 00:39:45,216
♪ Oh, let her go, let her go,
God bless her ♪

723
00:39:45,282 --> 00:39:49,353
♪ Wherever she may be ♪

724
00:39:49,420 --> 00:39:53,257
♪ Why, she could look
this whole wide world over ♪

725
00:39:53,324 --> 00:39:56,527
♪ She ain't never gonna find
another sweet, sweet man ♪

726
00:39:56,594 --> 00:39:58,863
♪ Like me ♪

727
00:40:00,598 --> 00:40:04,668
♪ When I die, Lord,
I want you to bury me ♪

728
00:40:04,735 --> 00:40:08,839
♪ In a box-back coat
and my Stetson hat ♪

729
00:40:08,906 --> 00:40:13,344
♪ Put a $20 gold piece
in my pocket ♪

730
00:40:13,410 --> 00:40:18,482
♪ So the boys will know
I died standing pat. ♪

731
00:40:22,153 --> 00:40:23,888
Yep.

732
00:40:23,954 --> 00:40:25,456
"St. James Infirmary."

733
00:40:27,124 --> 00:40:28,993
"St. James Infirmary."

734
00:40:29,059 --> 00:40:32,329
We were vacationing
in Italy at the time.

735
00:40:32,396 --> 00:40:35,065
It was on a Monday morning.
And the driver picked us up

736
00:40:35,132 --> 00:40:37,234
from our hotel
on the Amalfi coast

737
00:40:37,301 --> 00:40:40,538
and said, "Would you like
to go see the ruins
of Pompeii?"

738
00:40:40,604 --> 00:40:46,310
And we got in the limousine.
They took us over to right
up outside of Naples.

739
00:40:46,377 --> 00:40:48,712
You know, it's right across
from the Bay of Naples?

740
00:40:48,779 --> 00:40:52,149
And Mt. Vesuvius
was in the background.

741
00:40:52,216 --> 00:40:55,853
And that morning, we went in
to visit the ruins of Pompeii

742
00:40:55,920 --> 00:41:00,057
and didn't know anything
at all about the flood strike
in New Orleans.

743
00:41:00,124 --> 00:41:04,428
We saw dead people lined up
back in 66 A.D.

744
00:41:04,495 --> 00:41:06,730
<i>We learned about
6,000 people being</i>

745
00:41:06,797 --> 00:41:10,501
<i>smothered to death
with the ashes of Mt. Vesuvius.</i>

746
00:41:10,568 --> 00:41:12,603
<i>We saw all the things
that were preserved.</i>

747
00:41:12,670 --> 00:41:16,173
Walked out
of the ruins of Pompeii--
and it's most ironic--

748
00:41:16,240 --> 00:41:19,476
we sat down, having a little
lunch in the little square,

749
00:41:19,543 --> 00:41:22,413
the little town there.
And they turned on CNN,

750
00:41:22,479 --> 00:41:25,249
and I could see the flood
in New Orleans.

751
00:41:25,316 --> 00:41:29,353
And I think
the mayor said possibility
of 10,000 people drowning.

752
00:41:29,420 --> 00:41:32,489
And, you know, it's quite ironic
to be in a place like this

753
00:41:32,556 --> 00:41:36,060
where the greatest tragedy
ever happened in Europe

754
00:41:36,126 --> 00:41:38,562
and see your own city
being flooded.

755
00:41:38,629 --> 00:41:41,365
We slept that
night, and then
we decided

756
00:41:41,432 --> 00:41:44,134
to make a move
the next morning
to the Superdome.

757
00:41:44,201 --> 00:41:47,905
We walked through Tonti Street,
which is my mother's street,

758
00:41:47,972 --> 00:41:52,276
to Esplanade Avenue,
to Claiborne,

759
00:41:52,343 --> 00:41:55,079
where the Circle
Food Store is.

760
00:41:55,145 --> 00:41:57,848
<i>There's my mom,
which is 85,</i>

761
00:41:57,915 --> 00:42:01,518
<i>my daddy, which is 84,</i>

762
00:42:01,585 --> 00:42:04,555
<i>Miss Emma-- Miss Emma's
got to be in her 70s.</i>

763
00:42:04,622 --> 00:42:07,391
<i>We had... one guy--</i>

764
00:42:07,458 --> 00:42:09,593
<i>I can't think
of his name right now--</i>

765
00:42:09,660 --> 00:42:12,796
he had a colostomy bag
that needed to be changed.

766
00:42:12,863 --> 00:42:15,966
So we had all these people
with us going to the Superdome.

767
00:42:16,033 --> 00:42:18,903
Originally, the day
after the hurricane,

768
00:42:18,969 --> 00:42:23,474
I went walking around
throughout Metairie
and Kenner area.

769
00:42:23,540 --> 00:42:26,143
I went around,

770
00:42:26,210 --> 00:42:28,812
swam through water--
some of it was eight feet.

771
00:42:28,879 --> 00:42:32,316
Some of it, you couldn't
touch the bottom.

772
00:42:32,383 --> 00:42:36,520
You'd see the levels
at the malls that you knew
were more than 20 feet high,

773
00:42:36,587 --> 00:42:39,623
and the water was
higher than that.

774
00:42:39,690 --> 00:42:42,960
And I waded through to see
if there was anybody around,

775
00:42:43,027 --> 00:42:45,496
anybody anywhere,
and there was nothing.

776
00:43:19,163 --> 00:43:23,200
Right now, what we're showing
you is Memorial Hospital here,

777
00:43:23,267 --> 00:43:26,303
west of Downtown
New Orleans.

778
00:43:26,370 --> 00:43:28,639
We'll show you the parking lot
of the hospital

779
00:43:28,706 --> 00:43:30,908
and give you an idea
of how deep the water is.

780
00:43:30,975 --> 00:43:33,911
<i>We have some concerned
employees</i>

781
00:43:33,978 --> 00:43:36,280
<i>that want to check
on two locations.</i>

782
00:43:36,347 --> 00:43:39,683
<i>Okay.
What are you looking for?
Okay. The first one is</i>

783
00:43:39,750 --> 00:43:42,886
<i>the Lakefront area.
I think
there's very little doubt.</i>

784
00:43:42,953 --> 00:43:46,323
<i>Lakefront got a lot of water.
Yeah.
And especially out there</i>

785
00:43:46,390 --> 00:43:49,059
<i>in that area
by Lakefront Airport...</i>
Help! Help us, someone!

786
00:43:49,126 --> 00:43:52,129
<i>in the New Orleans East
part of the Lakefront.</i>

787
00:43:52,196 --> 00:43:56,300
<i>From what we've been hearing,
a lot of New Orleans East
has been inundated.</i>

788
00:43:56,367 --> 00:43:58,902
<i>The Heights
in Avondale?</i>

789
00:43:58,969 --> 00:44:02,172
<i>Avondale did fairly well
as far as the water.</i>

790
00:44:20,391 --> 00:44:23,327
I think the winds had just
died down to a reasonable level

791
00:44:23,394 --> 00:44:25,295
where it was
pretty safe to be out.

792
00:44:27,498 --> 00:44:29,299
And I walked
over the bridge

793
00:44:29,366 --> 00:44:33,170
and there was 10, 15,
20 feet of water everywhere.

794
00:44:33,237 --> 00:44:35,305
And you could start to hear
the people screaming

795
00:44:35,372 --> 00:44:37,775
<i>from the balconies
and rooftops.</i>

796
00:44:37,841 --> 00:44:40,911
<i>And we could actually
physically see some of them.</i>

797
00:44:40,978 --> 00:44:43,113
<i>A helicopter came by.</i>

798
00:44:43,180 --> 00:44:45,416
<i>He came in the middle
of the complex.</i>

799
00:44:45,482 --> 00:44:48,519
<i>I mean, I'm standing there
with a mop stick,</i>

800
00:44:48,585 --> 00:44:52,556
<i>with a towel
that I found somewhere,
a white towel,</i>

801
00:44:52,623 --> 00:44:55,492
<i>with "S.O.S."
and on the back of it,
"Help me please."</i>

802
00:44:55,559 --> 00:44:57,928
And I'm waving this thing
like I'm going crazy,

803
00:44:57,995 --> 00:45:00,064
and he looks at me
and he does this,

804
00:45:00,130 --> 00:45:02,833
like "Get up and go."
And they left us!

805
00:45:02,900 --> 00:45:05,602
Oh, yeah, they passed.
They were going to the
white neighborhood.

806
00:45:05,669 --> 00:45:08,238
They didn't care about me.
They were going somewhere else.

807
00:45:08,305 --> 00:45:11,975
I kept trying to flag them
down with-- man, we had lights,
everything to try and stop them.

808
00:45:12,042 --> 00:45:14,111
Them people did not come.
They came here the fourth day...

809
00:45:14,178 --> 00:45:16,013
and gave me some water.
I was in a boat--

810
00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:17,548
I went to hollering.

811
00:45:17,614 --> 00:45:20,918
They dropped the water so hard,
they tried to sink my boat.

812
00:45:20,984 --> 00:45:22,786
I asked for some water.
They gave it to me--

813
00:45:22,853 --> 00:45:24,555
bet y'all I won't ask
for no more.

814
00:45:24,621 --> 00:45:28,192
I will say, though,
in the backdrop of it all,

815
00:45:28,258 --> 00:45:32,196
and I want to say this,
is that I think that
there's one agency

816
00:45:32,262 --> 00:45:35,199
that we should single out
for a job well done,

817
00:45:35,265 --> 00:45:37,768
<i>and that's the United States
Coast Guard.</i>

818
00:45:37,835 --> 00:45:40,504
<i>They moved in very quickly.
They were in there on Tuesday.</i>

819
00:45:40,571 --> 00:45:42,806
<i>They did numerous,</i>

820
00:45:42,873 --> 00:45:45,809
<i>very difficult helicopter</i>

821
00:45:45,876 --> 00:45:48,245
<i>and boat rescue
operations.</i>

822
00:45:48,312 --> 00:45:50,948
<i>Because the Coast Guard
threw out the books.</i>

823
00:45:51,014 --> 00:45:53,851
<i>The head
of the Coast Guard said,
"There are no rules here, guys.</i>

824
00:45:53,917 --> 00:45:56,153
<i>This is all
improvisation now.
Let's go."</i>

825
00:45:56,220 --> 00:45:58,355
<i>For example,
pilots were only supposed</i>

826
00:45:58,422 --> 00:46:01,625
<i>to be able to fly
eight hours a day legally,</i>

827
00:46:01,692 --> 00:46:03,393
because you have
flight fatigue.

828
00:46:03,460 --> 00:46:04,862
<i>They said, "Screw it.</i>

829
00:46:04,928 --> 00:46:07,498
Go--go 16 hours."
People were going 16 hours,

830
00:46:07,564 --> 00:46:09,967
so the Coast Guard,
both with their helicopters

831
00:46:10,033 --> 00:46:13,337
and then with boats,
could not have done more
for their resources.

832
00:46:13,403 --> 00:46:16,173
<i>I started noticing
that I've got neighbors</i>

833
00:46:16,240 --> 00:46:18,108
<i>all over the place
on their roof.</i>

834
00:46:18,175 --> 00:46:20,410
<i>Because I'm on a second story,
I can see.</i>

835
00:46:20,477 --> 00:46:22,646
<i>I can see three or four
in front of me.</i>

836
00:46:22,713 --> 00:46:27,451
<i>I can hear people yelling
and screaming at any given
direction you want to go to.</i>

837
00:46:27,518 --> 00:46:29,953
And it was hot.
It was so hot.

838
00:46:30,020 --> 00:46:32,523
It was like, 95, 100 degrees

839
00:46:32,589 --> 00:46:34,258
in the shade.
The wind never blew.

840
00:46:34,324 --> 00:46:37,094
And they say that New Orleans

841
00:46:37,161 --> 00:46:39,129
has humidity down there
which kind of cools us off.

842
00:46:39,196 --> 00:46:41,865
That's bullshit. It was un--
It was death heat.

843
00:46:41,932 --> 00:46:45,269
Inside of the Convention Center
was so stifling hot, people
tried to stay outside.

844
00:46:45,335 --> 00:46:47,704
Hot as hell,
100-something degrees.

845
00:46:47,771 --> 00:46:50,307
It's hot.
It was very, very hot
at that time.

846
00:46:50,374 --> 00:46:54,211
It was 97, 98 degrees.
It was hot.

847
00:46:54,278 --> 00:46:56,079
The heat radiating
off the highway

848
00:46:56,146 --> 00:46:58,448
at night
was intensely hot.

849
00:46:58,515 --> 00:47:00,984
It's hot as hell.
That was the worst summer.

850
00:47:01,051 --> 00:47:05,055
I mean, that-that was--
that heat was ridiculous.

851
00:47:05,122 --> 00:47:08,292
Hot as heck in here.
It was beyond Africa heat.

852
00:47:08,358 --> 00:47:09,993
If Africa heat was
anything like that,

853
00:47:10,060 --> 00:47:12,062
like I said before
and I'll say it again,

854
00:47:12,129 --> 00:47:15,098
they keep saying,
"Go back to Africa"? Hell no.

855
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:19,636
<i>For a minute,
when I seen the water,
I knew we had to get out.</i>

856
00:47:19,703 --> 00:47:22,506
<i>And she said,
"Well, why we have to go?"
And I explained it to her</i>

857
00:47:22,573 --> 00:47:24,975
that the water was
coming up, rising up.

858
00:47:25,042 --> 00:47:28,145
Because she said we didn't have
to leave for Hurricane Betsy.

859
00:47:28,212 --> 00:47:30,681
I said, "No, we didn't,
but we got to leave now."

860
00:47:30,747 --> 00:47:35,385
<i>So I had to get a guy
that lived in the neighborhood
to get someone with a canoe,</i>

861
00:47:35,452 --> 00:47:38,555
<i>a little boat, and I took her
and put her in the boat</i>

862
00:47:38,622 --> 00:47:41,091
<i>in her wheelchair.
And I had to get her</i>

863
00:47:41,158 --> 00:47:44,027
<i>from the house all the way
till St. Charles Avenue</i>

864
00:47:44,094 --> 00:47:46,530
<i>where the water had
subsided a little bit.</i>

865
00:47:46,597 --> 00:47:49,967
I ain't seen this many boats
in the project, bro.

866
00:47:50,033 --> 00:47:52,502
<i>It was like cars, man.
I'm telling you,</i>

867
00:47:52,569 --> 00:47:54,671
<i>everybody in the project
had a boat.</i>

868
00:47:54,738 --> 00:47:56,440
<i>It was like cars, bro.</i>

869
00:47:56,506 --> 00:47:59,710
And we was just going,
get the stuff, helping
the people out.

870
00:47:59,776 --> 00:48:02,746
And day by day,
we was bringing people
to the bridge.

871
00:48:02,813 --> 00:48:05,148
We found
some refrigerators,

872
00:48:05,215 --> 00:48:07,584
opened the tops of them,
put the kids--

873
00:48:07,651 --> 00:48:09,686
we had an elderly lady
back there

874
00:48:09,753 --> 00:48:13,657
<i>and Nicholas, my nephew,
and another two kids-- I think
it was three kids altogether.</i>

875
00:48:13,724 --> 00:48:16,393
We put them
in the refrigerator
and we floated

876
00:48:16,460 --> 00:48:18,428
<i>to what's called
Hayne Boulevard,</i>

877
00:48:18,495 --> 00:48:20,163
<i>which is close
to Lake Pontchartrain.</i>

878
00:48:21,698 --> 00:48:25,769
<i>There were citizen...
first responders.</i>

879
00:48:25,836 --> 00:48:28,238
<i>There were people
in neighborhoods</i>

880
00:48:28,305 --> 00:48:30,240
<i>who were carrying children</i>

881
00:48:30,307 --> 00:48:32,843
<i>and women
and older people out</i>

882
00:48:32,909 --> 00:48:36,179
<i>on their backs,
on their shoulders,
making makeshift rafts.</i>

883
00:48:36,246 --> 00:48:41,318
The sense of sadness
and anger that I felt to see...

884
00:48:42,819 --> 00:48:46,189
the people I love so much
in my own community suffering

885
00:48:46,256 --> 00:48:49,960
and abandoned is just something
that will remain with me...

886
00:48:51,328 --> 00:48:52,829
every day of my life.

887
00:48:52,896 --> 00:48:55,032
I got you, I got you.
I got you.

888
00:48:55,098 --> 00:48:57,234
Go out that way.
Which way?

889
00:48:57,301 --> 00:48:58,869
That way.
Okay.

890
00:48:58,935 --> 00:49:02,639
<i>I remember Captain Timmy Bayard
had organized the boats</i>

891
00:49:02,706 --> 00:49:04,174
<i>because there weren't
any other boats,</i>

892
00:49:04,241 --> 00:49:06,343
<i>so police officers
were using their
personal boats</i>

893
00:49:06,410 --> 00:49:09,446
<i>and boats that we had
commandeered to start the
rescue missions immediately,</i>

894
00:49:09,513 --> 00:49:12,916
<i>because people were
out there drowning.</i>

895
00:49:12,983 --> 00:49:15,886
And we had a lot of guys
thinking on their feet.

896
00:49:15,952 --> 00:49:19,556
I mean, many people
in the police department
acted very heroically.

897
00:49:19,623 --> 00:49:22,926
Great to see you.
I'm glad you're all right.

898
00:49:22,993 --> 00:49:26,430
<i>What was inspiring
is people that stayed.</i>

899
00:49:26,496 --> 00:49:29,966
It was all citizens.
I mean, people call it
"The Cajun Navy,"

900
00:49:30,033 --> 00:49:33,837
or you call it
just the locals
stepping to the plate,

901
00:49:33,904 --> 00:49:36,540
but a lot of just everyday
people were out there,

902
00:49:36,606 --> 00:49:40,210
from all walks of life,
really puttin' their life
on the line,

903
00:49:40,277 --> 00:49:42,579
diving in water, bringing out
particularly people

904
00:49:42,646 --> 00:49:44,081
with Alzheimer's
and dementia.

905
00:49:47,517 --> 00:49:49,319
Pastor Willie Walker,
<i>That afternoon with Sean Penn,</i>

906
00:49:49,386 --> 00:49:51,421
<i>we must have pulled out
about 30 or 40 people.</i>

907
00:49:51,488 --> 00:49:54,124
<i>And everybody that we
pulled out, Sean made
a promise--</i>

908
00:49:54,191 --> 00:49:56,760
<i>"If I can just
get you out of here,
I'll take care of you."</i>

909
00:49:56,827 --> 00:49:59,363
I've never seen anything
like it before in my life.

910
00:50:00,697 --> 00:50:02,866
<i>I met Sean Penn
on my sixth day out,</i>

911
00:50:02,933 --> 00:50:04,735
went up,
boldly talked to him,

912
00:50:04,801 --> 00:50:08,305
and said, "Hey, how you doing?
Nice to meet you.

913
00:50:08,372 --> 00:50:10,273
I'm Pastor Walker.
How can I help you here?"

914
00:50:10,340 --> 00:50:12,008
He said, "Well, I'm trying
to save some people."

915
00:50:12,075 --> 00:50:16,279
He told us that-- and you'd
have to check with him

916
00:50:16,346 --> 00:50:18,615
if he was fibbing or not,
but it was a good fib,

917
00:50:18,682 --> 00:50:20,884
and I understand
why he told it.

918
00:50:20,951 --> 00:50:24,554
He told us there were
40 children stuck
in this one place,

919
00:50:24,621 --> 00:50:26,990
so we went to that place.
Really, what we were doing is

920
00:50:27,057 --> 00:50:28,592
checking out his area.
His neighborhood.

921
00:50:28,658 --> 00:50:31,094
He was concerned
about his people
in his congregation.

922
00:50:31,161 --> 00:50:33,630
We came together,
organized,

923
00:50:33,697 --> 00:50:36,333
and we drove from St. Charles
to Napoleon Avenue.

924
00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:38,635
We used that spot
as a launch spot

925
00:50:38,702 --> 00:50:41,405
to go out into the middle
of the city.

926
00:50:41,471 --> 00:50:43,907
It was only after
I took his lead

927
00:50:43,974 --> 00:50:46,510
that I was willing
to wade

928
00:50:46,576 --> 00:50:49,513
seven blocks in this stuff,
past a cemetery,

929
00:50:49,579 --> 00:50:53,350
to get to these couple--
he was very driven.

930
00:50:53,417 --> 00:50:55,419
And it was, you know,

931
00:50:55,485 --> 00:50:59,656
it just seemed so poetic
that his church was called
the Noah's Ark Church.

932
00:50:59,723 --> 00:51:02,225
I live in the Ninth Ward,
not the Lower Ninth Ward,

933
00:51:02,292 --> 00:51:04,161
but it's still a part
of the Ninth Ward.

934
00:51:04,227 --> 00:51:07,798
So the day after the storm,
the Ward had been flooded.

935
00:51:07,864 --> 00:51:10,100
Okay, so we had
to stay there...

936
00:51:10,167 --> 00:51:12,202
till the rescue boat came.

937
00:51:12,269 --> 00:51:17,541
And when the boat came,
they took us to I-10 and Louisa.

938
00:51:17,607 --> 00:51:20,076
And when we got
on the bridge on I-10,

939
00:51:20,143 --> 00:51:23,847
everybody was
telling us to walk
to the Convention Center.

940
00:51:27,384 --> 00:51:29,820
<i>No one knew everyone</i>

941
00:51:29,886 --> 00:51:32,355
<i>would gravitate
to the Convention Center.</i>

942
00:51:32,422 --> 00:51:35,192
<i>But as people started
dropping people off at
the Convention Center,</i>

943
00:51:35,258 --> 00:51:37,060
<i>then it just spread
like word of mouth,</i>

944
00:51:37,127 --> 00:51:39,763
<i>and then that area
was kind of high and dry,</i>

945
00:51:39,830 --> 00:51:42,365
as it relates to the area
around the Superdome.

946
00:51:42,432 --> 00:51:44,835
So it was easy for people to get
to the Convention Center.

947
00:51:44,901 --> 00:51:46,670
I saw a guy at
Convention Center Boulevard

948
00:51:46,736 --> 00:51:49,439
who retired from our newspaper,
disabled guy, walks with a cane,

949
00:51:49,506 --> 00:51:53,477
had diabetes, sitting there
in the hot sun for three days.

950
00:51:53,543 --> 00:51:55,078
<i>He was in bad shape.</i>

951
00:51:55,145 --> 00:51:57,380
<i>20,000, 30,000 people
just in the streets.</i>

952
00:51:57,447 --> 00:51:59,916
<i>I mean, it was everywhere.
People were everywhere.</i>

953
00:51:59,983 --> 00:52:03,086
No food, no water, I mean,
the bare necessities.

954
00:52:03,153 --> 00:52:07,023
What do we get? Nothing.
They won't even bring water.
They won't bring food.

955
00:52:07,090 --> 00:52:08,859
Where's FEMA?
Where's the mayor?

956
00:52:08,925 --> 00:52:12,496
My mother is 83 years old.
She's in dire need of
her heart medication.

957
00:52:12,562 --> 00:52:16,233
There's no
medical services here.
She's on the floor.

958
00:52:16,299 --> 00:52:19,870
She's dying right now.
She needs help to get
her out of here.

959
00:52:19,936 --> 00:52:22,038
<i>My mother kept
asking me, you know,</i>

960
00:52:22,105 --> 00:52:24,941
<i>where were we,
and I told her we was
at the Convention Center.</i>

961
00:52:25,008 --> 00:52:28,845
<i>She knew a lot of people
was around, but she didn't
know how many.</i>

962
00:52:28,912 --> 00:52:31,114
<i>So I told her, I said,
"Ooh, it's a lot of people
out there."</i>

963
00:52:31,181 --> 00:52:34,017
I said everybody's trying
to evacuate for the hurricane.

964
00:52:34,084 --> 00:52:36,586
She said, "What they going
to do with all these people?"

965
00:52:36,653 --> 00:52:38,722
I said, "They're supposed
to have buses coming,"

966
00:52:38,788 --> 00:52:40,524
I said, "but I don't see
any buses," which I didn't.

967
00:52:40,590 --> 00:52:44,027
So with all the noise--
that was kind of getting
to her, you know.

968
00:52:44,094 --> 00:52:47,731
So I kept trying to tell
the policeman what was going on.

969
00:52:47,797 --> 00:52:50,567
He told me, he said,
"Look, I'll tell you
what to do--

970
00:52:50,634 --> 00:52:54,771
take all this stuff
and we gonna roll her outside
way down to the end,"

971
00:52:54,838 --> 00:52:56,940
he said, "'cause that's
where the bus is going
to be coming.

972
00:52:57,007 --> 00:52:59,075
When the bus comes,
she'll be the first to load up."

973
00:52:59,142 --> 00:53:01,745
So I was checking on her
and checking on her,

974
00:53:01,811 --> 00:53:05,849
and last time I checked on her,
she had asked me was
the bus coming yet.

975
00:53:05,916 --> 00:53:07,918
I said, "No, the bus
hasn't came yet.

976
00:53:07,984 --> 00:53:09,953
It should be coming
any minute now."

977
00:53:10,020 --> 00:53:13,957
So I sit back down.
I was sitting on the curb.

978
00:53:14,024 --> 00:53:18,528
She was in the wheelchair.
So... after a while,

979
00:53:18,595 --> 00:53:22,432
she hadn't said nothing
for about maybe 10 minutes,
15 minutes.

980
00:53:22,499 --> 00:53:24,434
It looked like she was
asking me questions--

981
00:53:24,501 --> 00:53:27,070
looked like every five minutes,
something like that.

982
00:53:27,137 --> 00:53:29,039
So I said, "Well,
let me see," you know,

983
00:53:29,105 --> 00:53:31,775
'cause it looked like
she had done fell asleep.

984
00:53:31,841 --> 00:53:33,410
'Cause she was
nodding out, you know.

985
00:53:33,476 --> 00:53:35,512
Every so often,
she would nod out.

986
00:53:35,579 --> 00:53:37,981
So I seen her
with her head down
like she was asleep.

987
00:53:38,048 --> 00:53:41,818
So I went to go shake her
and she didn't respond.

988
00:53:41,885 --> 00:53:44,054
So I shook her again.
She didn't respond.

989
00:53:44,120 --> 00:53:47,991
And then I said, "Oh Lord,
it looks like my mom
done died out here."

990
00:53:48,058 --> 00:53:51,161
And then, you know,
I just waited till when
daylight came.

991
00:53:51,227 --> 00:53:54,831
Then another guy was
out there, and he told me,

992
00:53:54,898 --> 00:53:57,500
he said, "Man, we got to put
something over her," you know.

993
00:53:57,567 --> 00:53:59,836
'Cause I had like
a little towel over her.

994
00:53:59,903 --> 00:54:03,873
He said, "Wait a minute.
I might have a blanket
over here by me."

995
00:54:03,940 --> 00:54:07,243
So he went and found the poncho
that we throwed over her.

996
00:54:07,310 --> 00:54:09,512
And after we
throwed it over her,

997
00:54:09,579 --> 00:54:12,649
they had someone
that was working
at the Convention Center,

998
00:54:12,716 --> 00:54:16,386
said that when they was
dying like that,

999
00:54:16,453 --> 00:54:18,922
they was pushing them
to the side-- 'cause they had
another body back there,

1000
00:54:18,989 --> 00:54:20,957
by that doorway I had
pushed her at, anyway.

1001
00:54:21,024 --> 00:54:23,693
Said, "You have to
push her there," you know,
leave here there.

1002
00:54:23,760 --> 00:54:25,562
So I didn't want
to really do it,

1003
00:54:25,629 --> 00:54:28,331
but I had to push her
out the way, do something.

1004
00:54:28,398 --> 00:54:30,467
So what I did,
I pushed her back there,

1005
00:54:30,533 --> 00:54:32,936
and I got a piece of paper,
put her name on it,

1006
00:54:33,003 --> 00:54:35,739
my name,
my telephone number
and everything.

1007
00:54:35,805 --> 00:54:39,476
You know, letting them know
I was her son, to contact me
whenever they come.

1008
00:54:39,542 --> 00:54:41,978
'Cause I thought they was
going to put her in, like,

1009
00:54:42,045 --> 00:54:44,080
a freezer or something
they had back there.

1010
00:54:44,147 --> 00:54:47,283
The guy said that
the electric was off,
the freezer wasn't working.

1011
00:54:47,350 --> 00:54:49,552
That's why they
had them outside.
The bus never came?

1012
00:54:49,619 --> 00:54:51,788
<i>It never came--
came four days later.</i>

1013
00:54:51,855 --> 00:54:55,191
<i>There's no place where
anyone that was elderly</i>

1014
00:54:55,258 --> 00:54:58,628
<i>or sick or handicapped--
that wasn't no place to be.</i>

1015
00:54:58,695 --> 00:55:01,898
<i>Really wasn't no place
for anyone to be,
any human being.</i>

1016
00:55:03,233 --> 00:55:05,268
<i>We're asked to go to a house</i>

1017
00:55:05,335 --> 00:55:07,537
<i>where there are children
without their mother.</i>

1018
00:55:07,604 --> 00:55:10,774
<i>We pull the boat to the door.
Inside, a daughter explains</i>

1019
00:55:10,840 --> 00:55:15,745
her mother couldn't breathe.
She needed oxygen to breathe.

1020
00:55:15,812 --> 00:55:18,715
She needed oxygen.
She ain't had none.

1021
00:55:18,782 --> 00:55:21,051
She needed oxygen to breathe,
but she didn't have any.

1022
00:55:22,519 --> 00:55:25,588
<i>In a back bedroom,
we find her mother dead.</i>

1023
00:55:25,655 --> 00:55:28,358
<i>There are five children,
and a neighbor insists</i>

1024
00:55:28,425 --> 00:55:30,794
<i>they can't stay in the house
in the heavy heat.</i>

1025
00:55:30,860 --> 00:55:33,530
<i>And we agree to take
them out in our boat.</i>

1026
00:55:33,596 --> 00:55:36,399
See if you can sit
closer to the back.

1027
00:55:38,068 --> 00:55:40,136
<i>In the days after Katrina,</i>

1028
00:55:40,203 --> 00:55:42,305
<i>many, many of us cried.
I'm not afraid to say</i>

1029
00:55:42,372 --> 00:55:46,042
that I cried because I was sad
about what I was seeing.

1030
00:55:46,109 --> 00:55:48,311
And I cried because people
were losing their lives.

1031
00:55:48,378 --> 00:55:50,413
And I cried because
there was such chaos.

1032
00:55:50,480 --> 00:55:53,717
And I cried because
I felt helpless, and I didn't
know what I could do.

1033
00:55:53,783 --> 00:55:57,320
<i>That's all
I have, me and my children.
Nothing else matters.</i>

1034
00:55:57,387 --> 00:56:00,223
Clothes, all that
is materialistic things.
I can get that back.

1035
00:56:00,290 --> 00:56:04,360
My life-- I'm just glad
we got our lives.

1036
00:56:04,427 --> 00:56:07,597
That's all that matters to me,
getting out in one piece.

1037
00:56:07,664 --> 00:56:11,267
<i>When I saw that
there were people...</i>

1038
00:56:12,569 --> 00:56:15,805
<i>being treated like animals</i>

1039
00:56:15,872 --> 00:56:17,807
<i>in my city--</i>

1040
00:56:17,874 --> 00:56:19,442
<i>it could have been
in any city,</i>

1041
00:56:19,509 --> 00:56:21,811
<i>I would have been
grief-stricken and
heartbroken--</i>

1042
00:56:21,878 --> 00:56:24,447
<i>but it hurt
even more so</i>

1043
00:56:24,514 --> 00:56:28,585
that this was
from my hometown,
where all of my generations,

1044
00:56:28,651 --> 00:56:33,289
my great-grand--
great-great-great-grandparents
come from--

1045
00:56:33,356 --> 00:56:35,959
and I was so hurt
and devastated

1046
00:56:36,025 --> 00:56:40,663
to see human beings
being treated like cattle.

1047
00:56:40,730 --> 00:56:43,867
It was like--
when I grew up,

1048
00:56:43,933 --> 00:56:46,169
the nickname of New Orleans
that I knew

1049
00:56:46,236 --> 00:56:48,204
was not "The Big Easy."

1050
00:56:48,271 --> 00:56:50,974
People used to call it
"The City That Care Forgot."

1051
00:56:52,108 --> 00:56:54,144
And it was like nobody cared.

1052
00:56:54,210 --> 00:56:56,913
Look at how hot he is.
He's not waking up very easy.

1053
00:56:56,980 --> 00:57:00,216
I'm not--
this is not about
low-income.

1054
00:57:00,283 --> 00:57:03,887
It's not about rich people,
poor people, it's about people.

1055
00:57:03,953 --> 00:57:08,024
Well, I fully understand
people wanting things to have
happened yesterday.

1056
00:57:08,091 --> 00:57:11,127
I mean,
I understand the anxiety

1057
00:57:11,194 --> 00:57:14,063
of people on the ground.
I can imag-- I just
can't imagine

1058
00:57:14,130 --> 00:57:17,200
what it's like to be
waving a sign that says,
"Come and get me now."

1059
00:57:17,267 --> 00:57:21,171
So there is frustration.
But I want people to know

1060
00:57:21,237 --> 00:57:23,640
there's a lot of help coming.
I don't think anybody

1061
00:57:23,706 --> 00:57:25,508
anticipated the breach
of the levees.

1062
00:57:25,575 --> 00:57:28,411
My grandmother is a diabetic.
She's 76 years old.

1063
00:57:28,478 --> 00:57:31,047
She out of her insulin.
What is she going to do?

1064
00:57:31,114 --> 00:57:32,916
She don't know if she's going
to live or die.

1065
00:57:32,982 --> 00:57:35,552
We all don't know
what we're going to do.

1066
00:57:35,618 --> 00:57:38,788
So we just need
some help and support.

1067
00:57:38,855 --> 00:57:40,924
<i>You have to worry
about a country</i>

1068
00:57:40,990 --> 00:57:43,660
<i>that can look at...</i>

1069
00:57:45,328 --> 00:57:47,964
<i>a vast number
of mistakes</i>

1070
00:57:48,031 --> 00:57:50,633
<i>that this administration
has made</i>

1071
00:57:50,700 --> 00:57:53,670
that has directly affected
people's lives.

1072
00:57:56,206 --> 00:57:58,842
You have to worry about
a country that can look
at all of that

1073
00:57:58,908 --> 00:58:01,511
and still not see this guy
for who he is.

1074
00:58:01,578 --> 00:58:03,546
I know I'm going
to get mail,

1075
00:58:03,613 --> 00:58:05,815
I know I'm going to get
ostracized,

1076
00:58:05,882 --> 00:58:07,750
but you got to say that.

1077
00:58:07,817 --> 00:58:10,019
Because I'm worried
about the country.

1078
00:58:10,086 --> 00:58:12,622
When you look
at an organization like FEMA

1079
00:58:12,689 --> 00:58:16,359
that was passing the buck
about, you know,

1080
00:58:16,426 --> 00:58:19,963
how to just bring in
normal stuff--
water, man.

1081
00:58:20,029 --> 00:58:24,067
Water and food.
How hard could that be?

1082
00:58:24,133 --> 00:58:27,270
I still haven't heard
any answers about that

1083
00:58:27,337 --> 00:58:30,673
that-- that convinced me...

1084
00:58:30,740 --> 00:58:33,509
that it couldn't have
been done differently.

1085
00:58:33,576 --> 00:58:35,945
On the fourth day,

1086
00:58:36,012 --> 00:58:38,948
I was sitting in my office
at the refinery,

1087
00:58:39,015 --> 00:58:41,551
and in walks a guy

1088
00:58:41,618 --> 00:58:44,687
and shakes my hand,
and I shook his hand.

1089
00:58:44,754 --> 00:58:47,624
The guy said,
"Can we help you?"

1090
00:58:47,690 --> 00:58:50,560
I said, "Certainly.
Where are you from?"

1091
00:58:50,627 --> 00:58:53,363
<i>"Well," he said,
"I'm Canadian Mounted Police.</i>

1092
00:58:53,429 --> 00:58:55,698
<i>We're from Vancouver,
Canada."</i>

1093
00:58:55,765 --> 00:58:57,533
<i>I said, "How the hell
did you get here?"</i>

1094
00:58:57,600 --> 00:59:00,637
He said, "I come
across the ferry." Where was
the federal government?

1095
00:59:00,703 --> 00:59:04,474
One of the things that came
to my attention very early on

1096
00:59:04,540 --> 00:59:09,779
was how many nations had
extended their... offers

1097
00:59:09,846 --> 00:59:12,682
to step in
and make a difference,
who had resources

1098
00:59:12,749 --> 00:59:16,986
and capacities to lend
assistance immediately
to the citizens of the region.

1099
00:59:17,053 --> 00:59:20,556
One of those places
was Venezuela.

1100
00:59:20,623 --> 00:59:23,793
<i>And as a consequence,
I went with 15 of my colleagues</i>

1101
00:59:23,860 --> 00:59:27,397
<i>down to Venezuela to have
a meeting with Chavez,</i>

1102
00:59:27,463 --> 00:59:29,899
<i>which we had
to discuss particularly</i>

1103
00:59:29,966 --> 00:59:31,868
<i>what he
would be able to do</i>

1104
00:59:31,935 --> 00:59:35,238
to help specifically the people
of the region of Katrina.

1105
00:59:35,305 --> 00:59:37,907
And while we were at it,
to take a look and see

1106
00:59:37,974 --> 00:59:39,542
if there were anything else
he could do

1107
00:59:39,609 --> 00:59:42,645
for a host of needy
black people and Latino

1108
00:59:42,712 --> 00:59:45,181
and people of color
and poor people in general

1109
00:59:45,248 --> 00:59:46,983
in the United States
of America

1110
00:59:47,050 --> 00:59:49,252
who were being wholly
underattended

1111
00:59:49,319 --> 00:59:51,287
by the United States
government

1112
00:59:51,354 --> 00:59:54,657
and particularly by Bush's
will and mandate.

1113
00:59:54,724 --> 00:59:56,459
This is the center of one

1114
00:59:56,526 --> 00:59:59,062
of the great cities
of America-- New Orleans.

1115
00:59:59,128 --> 01:00:00,730
Here we have a virtual
refugee camp

1116
01:00:00,797 --> 01:00:03,633
with thousands
of people waiting
for some sort of help--

1117
01:00:03,700 --> 01:00:06,002
medical, food, water,
you name it.

1118
01:00:06,069 --> 01:00:08,271
And then, over there,
the police.

1119
01:00:08,338 --> 01:00:11,274
Scores of police officers
all concerned

1120
01:00:11,341 --> 01:00:13,876
about one looter
who's in that supermarket.

1121
01:00:13,943 --> 01:00:16,779
<i>You did have people
breaking into stores,</i>

1122
01:00:16,846 --> 01:00:20,083
<i>some for survival
and some for some
felonious deeds.</i>

1123
01:00:20,149 --> 01:00:22,885
<i>There seemed to be in general
two classes of looters.</i>

1124
01:00:22,952 --> 01:00:24,988
There were the looters
who were taking things

1125
01:00:25,054 --> 01:00:27,090
that I would think are
very understandable--

1126
01:00:27,156 --> 01:00:29,359
food, water, clothes,

1127
01:00:29,425 --> 01:00:31,427
socks, T-shirts, whatever,
what have you.

1128
01:00:31,494 --> 01:00:34,130
And then there were
people who had, like,

1129
01:00:34,197 --> 01:00:38,001
assembly-line operations
coming out of the electronics
department.

1130
01:00:38,067 --> 01:00:41,838
You had one guy who also told me
they took a 60-inch TV and they
threw it in the water.

1131
01:00:41,904 --> 01:00:44,407
They thought it would float
and it sunk to the bottom,

1132
01:00:44,474 --> 01:00:47,877
which was crazy.
You know, one of those
flat-screen TVs?

1133
01:00:47,944 --> 01:00:51,247
<i>They're not really heavy,
and I guess he thought he
could float away on it.</i>

1134
01:00:51,314 --> 01:00:53,683
<i>I mean, it was crazy.
So we get off
on Tchoupitoulas,</i>

1135
01:00:53,750 --> 01:00:55,418
<i>and Terri Troncale,
our editorial page editor,</i>

1136
01:00:55,485 --> 01:00:57,820
says, "We can go to my house."
She lives uptown. I know
where she lives.

1137
01:00:57,887 --> 01:01:00,256
"Let's go there and set up
a base and we'll report
from there."

1138
01:01:00,323 --> 01:01:02,892
<i>I head up Tchoupitoulas.
Before we even get
to her house,</i>

1139
01:01:02,959 --> 01:01:05,428
<i>I drive right into
the Walmart looting.</i>

1140
01:01:05,495 --> 01:01:08,698
<i>There was basically
traffic jams at the doors,</i>

1141
01:01:08,765 --> 01:01:11,134
with looters trying
to get out with their loot

1142
01:01:11,200 --> 01:01:13,202
and other looters
trying to get in.

1143
01:01:13,269 --> 01:01:15,471
<i>So we go in,
and we report the story,</i>

1144
01:01:15,538 --> 01:01:18,841
<i>and a couple of
my reporters, Mike Perlstein
and Brian Thevenot,</i>

1145
01:01:18,908 --> 01:01:22,845
<i>had the guts to walk
right up to these cops and say,
"What are you doing?"</i>

1146
01:01:22,912 --> 01:01:24,514
I'm doing my job.

1147
01:01:24,580 --> 01:01:26,816
<i>Our photographer
John McCusker</i>

1148
01:01:26,883 --> 01:01:29,519
<i>took a picture
of a cop coming out
with an armload of DVDs,</i>

1149
01:01:29,585 --> 01:01:32,221
which didn't strike us

1150
01:01:32,288 --> 01:01:34,624
as necessary equipment
for the hurricane.

1151
01:01:36,192 --> 01:01:38,628
<i>No doubt there was
looting going on in town,</i>

1152
01:01:38,694 --> 01:01:41,898
<i>but that is by far
the number one crime
that occurred.</i>

1153
01:01:41,964 --> 01:01:44,033
<i>But just as true is that</i>

1154
01:01:44,100 --> 01:01:46,302
<i>the vast, vast majority
of people</i>

1155
01:01:46,369 --> 01:01:47,737
<i>needed help.</i>

1156
01:01:48,905 --> 01:01:51,474
<i>Ed, if you could explain,</i>

1157
01:01:51,541 --> 01:01:53,376
<i>at what point
was it obvious</i>

1158
01:01:53,443 --> 01:01:56,612
<i>that the conditions
in the Superdome were
deteriorating</i>

1159
01:01:56,679 --> 01:01:59,916
<i>to the point that
everybody was going to have
to eventually leave?</i>

1160
01:01:59,982 --> 01:02:01,651
<i>The running water stopped,</i>

1161
01:02:01,717 --> 01:02:03,753
<i>and then--
and then no sewer,</i>

1162
01:02:03,820 --> 01:02:06,989
<i>and then with all that
humidity and heat--</i>

1163
01:02:07,056 --> 01:02:11,227
<i>body heat-- that's creating
all that internal humidity
in there.</i>

1164
01:02:11,294 --> 01:02:14,263
<i>So think of all
those things together.</i>

1165
01:02:14,330 --> 01:02:17,633
It's crazy, man.
I've seen some strange shit
up in here.

1166
01:02:17,700 --> 01:02:21,370
All the bathrooms got
shit flooding everywhere
to the top, man.

1167
01:02:21,437 --> 01:02:23,272
It's nasty already.

1168
01:02:24,640 --> 01:02:26,843
You know, it's been real
crazy up in here, man.

1169
01:02:26,909 --> 01:02:30,113
It was like being in a sewer.
It truly was like being
in a live sewer.

1170
01:02:30,179 --> 01:02:32,982
Because there was
nowhere else to go.
Everything was backed up.

1171
01:02:33,049 --> 01:02:35,118
Things were overflowing.
People were hot.

1172
01:02:35,184 --> 01:02:37,286
They were agitated.
They were irritated.

1173
01:02:37,353 --> 01:02:39,655
<i>Special needs people
were very, very sick.</i>

1174
01:02:39,722 --> 01:02:43,693
<i>As time went on, of course,
people who came in died.</i>

1175
01:02:43,759 --> 01:02:45,828
<i>It was a horrific time.</i>

1176
01:02:45,895 --> 01:02:49,198
It was something truly
that you never would think
would happen in America.

1177
01:02:49,265 --> 01:02:53,035
There was no way
for you to take a bath.

1178
01:02:54,370 --> 01:02:57,607
There was no way for you
to brush your teeth.

1179
01:02:57,673 --> 01:03:00,176
There was nowhere
to change clothes.

1180
01:03:01,577 --> 01:03:02,979
No food.

1181
01:03:04,747 --> 01:03:07,316
So over at the arena
they had those little...

1182
01:03:08,584 --> 01:03:11,654
<i>food that come in the box
for the military.</i>

1183
01:03:11,721 --> 01:03:14,357
<i>It was days
that we didn't eat.</i>

1184
01:03:14,423 --> 01:03:16,492
<i>No ice.</i>

1185
01:03:16,559 --> 01:03:18,794
<i>No nothing.</i>

1186
01:03:22,698 --> 01:03:25,668
It was deplorable
at that--

1187
01:03:25,735 --> 01:03:27,603
that Dome.

1188
01:03:27,670 --> 01:03:29,672
They had this brother
named Radio,

1189
01:03:29,739 --> 01:03:32,408
a kind of big brother,
you know,

1190
01:03:32,475 --> 01:03:34,810
he was
a spiritual brother too.

1191
01:03:34,877 --> 01:03:38,381
And he started clapping it up,
like for basketball games,

1192
01:03:38,447 --> 01:03:41,284
when the people just
clapping up and warming it up.

1193
01:03:41,350 --> 01:03:44,120
It just was a spirit,
it was a big, big, big spirit,

1194
01:03:44,187 --> 01:03:47,423
and this was one of
the proud moments for us.

1195
01:03:47,490 --> 01:03:50,560
<i>Because as he started
clapping it up,</i>

1196
01:03:50,626 --> 01:03:53,229
<i>people just started
shouting out praises.</i>

1197
01:03:53,296 --> 01:03:55,398
<i>It was like, "We have
to do something."</i>

1198
01:03:55,464 --> 01:03:57,800
♪ I'm gonna
let it shine ♪

1199
01:03:57,867 --> 01:04:01,771
♪ Oh, everywhere I go ♪

1200
01:04:01,837 --> 01:04:04,640
♪ I'm gonna
let it shine... ♪

1201
01:04:04,707 --> 01:04:07,210
<i>We went around the Dome
and we started singing</i>

1202
01:04:07,276 --> 01:04:10,279
<i>"This Little Light of Mine,
I'm Going to Let It Shine."</i>

1203
01:04:10,346 --> 01:04:13,249
<i>And to explain it--
it was powerful because
it was a sad time</i>

1204
01:04:13,316 --> 01:04:16,886
<i>and you didn't know
what was going to happen,
but you only had faith in God.</i>

1205
01:04:16,953 --> 01:04:20,623
And we gave Him the glory,
and we marched around the Dome

1206
01:04:20,690 --> 01:04:23,659
and the people was coming
from the inside of the Dome

1207
01:04:23,726 --> 01:04:26,629
and they was joining in.
And after we marched
around one time,

1208
01:04:26,696 --> 01:04:28,831
<i>we go on the outside.
At that time,</i>

1209
01:04:28,898 --> 01:04:30,733
<i>I felt the movement,</i>

1210
01:04:30,800 --> 01:04:33,202
<i>like the Civil Rights Movement.
It was real powerful.</i>

1211
01:04:33,269 --> 01:04:35,838
<i>It was, like, powerful when you
watch a movement like that.</i>

1212
01:04:35,905 --> 01:04:39,675
<i>After that march,
things kind of settled
a little bit.</i>

1213
01:04:39,742 --> 01:04:42,011
♪ I'm gonna let it shine ♪

1214
01:04:42,078 --> 01:04:45,081
<i>♪ Let it shine,
let it shine ♪</i>

1215
01:04:45,147 --> 01:04:47,516
<i>♪ Let it shine. ♪</i>

1216
01:05:32,595 --> 01:05:35,264
<i>By Wednesday, we realized
that the floodwaters</i>

1217
01:05:35,331 --> 01:05:38,134
<i>weren't going
to be going down
anytime soon.</i>

1218
01:05:38,200 --> 01:05:41,070
Meanwhile, my across-the-street
neighbor, the cab driver--

1219
01:05:41,137 --> 01:05:42,738
well, he'd run out
of food and water

1220
01:05:42,805 --> 01:05:44,707
'cause all his kitchen stuff
was downstairs,

1221
01:05:44,774 --> 01:05:47,076
so he had, like,
a half a thing.

1222
01:05:47,143 --> 01:05:48,611
He couldn't make it
anymore,

1223
01:05:48,678 --> 01:05:52,248
so he came busting out
of his house and he
swam across.

1224
01:05:52,315 --> 01:05:54,116
And he just about
didn't make it,

1225
01:05:54,183 --> 01:05:55,818
and I kind of had
to jump in a little bit

1226
01:05:55,885 --> 01:05:57,353
and grab him
and pull him out.

1227
01:05:58,854 --> 01:06:00,189
Got him hydrated

1228
01:06:00,256 --> 01:06:01,891
with the little bit
of ice I had left,

1229
01:06:01,957 --> 01:06:05,661
made a cold drink,
got him outside,

1230
01:06:05,728 --> 01:06:08,898
and we were just talking
about how crazy this all is

1231
01:06:08,964 --> 01:06:11,334
and what are
we going to do?

1232
01:06:11,400 --> 01:06:14,337
Also, on the radio
they were having reports

1233
01:06:14,403 --> 01:06:16,839
<i>that they were rescuing people,
but they were bringing them</i>

1234
01:06:16,906 --> 01:06:19,041
<i>to the Superdome
or the Convention Center</i>

1235
01:06:19,108 --> 01:06:21,677
<i>or they were sticking them
on some expressway
ramp somewhere.</i>

1236
01:06:21,744 --> 01:06:23,979
<i>I never did find out
where that was.</i>

1237
01:06:24,046 --> 01:06:26,382
<i>But they were just saying
it was god-awful.</i>

1238
01:06:26,449 --> 01:06:28,851
<i>There were thousands of people,
they have no food and water.</i>

1239
01:06:28,918 --> 01:06:31,654
<i>There's no police
or no military presence</i>

1240
01:06:31,721 --> 01:06:32,955
<i>or something
to help and all that.</i>

1241
01:06:33,022 --> 01:06:34,290
<i>These people are stranded.</i>

1242
01:06:34,357 --> 01:06:36,625
<i>I heard advertising on--</i>

1243
01:06:36,692 --> 01:06:38,361
I think it was Q93.

1244
01:06:38,427 --> 01:06:40,563
They were advertising that
they were doing pickup points

1245
01:06:40,629 --> 01:06:43,933
at various points
on I-10 and 210.

1246
01:06:43,999 --> 01:06:47,770
So I got my lantern,
a few supplies
that I needed,

1247
01:06:47,837 --> 01:06:49,739
and I started swimming
through the water

1248
01:06:49,805 --> 01:06:52,808
and wading through the water
to get out to the pickup point.

1249
01:06:52,875 --> 01:06:54,343
<i>I got to the pickup point</i>

1250
01:06:54,410 --> 01:06:57,079
<i>where the I-10/210
split was,</i>

1251
01:06:57,146 --> 01:07:00,716
<i>and they had already had
some commotions going on</i>

1252
01:07:00,783 --> 01:07:02,918
<i>with people a little
fidgety from waiting.</i>

1253
01:07:02,985 --> 01:07:04,620
There had been people
that had been waiting there

1254
01:07:04,687 --> 01:07:07,356
<i>since the day
after the hurricane.</i>

1255
01:07:07,423 --> 01:07:09,558
<i>I ended up waiting about
six and a half hours</i>

1256
01:07:09,625 --> 01:07:11,761
<i>before they finally got
the buses running</i>

1257
01:07:11,827 --> 01:07:13,829
<i>to take people
to Southern University.</i>

1258
01:07:13,896 --> 01:07:15,398
Let me tell y'all
something--

1259
01:07:15,464 --> 01:07:19,135
you know, we've been
on this bridge about
five fucking days.

1260
01:07:19,201 --> 01:07:21,670
<i>Most of them are
black and poor--</i>

1261
01:07:21,737 --> 01:07:23,572
<i>America's underclass,</i>

1262
01:07:23,639 --> 01:07:26,575
<i>the real victims of what
has become a human storm.</i>

1263
01:07:26,642 --> 01:07:28,210
Three whole days...

1264
01:07:28,277 --> 01:07:30,780
<i>During the event
or right after the event,</i>

1265
01:07:30,846 --> 01:07:32,815
<i>we were rescuing
lots of people</i>

1266
01:07:32,882 --> 01:07:35,117
<i>using lots
of different resources,</i>

1267
01:07:35,184 --> 01:07:38,354
<i>and they would leave people
on the interstates</i>

1268
01:07:38,421 --> 01:07:41,757
to go complete the rescue
missions and get other folk.

1269
01:07:41,824 --> 01:07:44,160
And for the most part,

1270
01:07:44,226 --> 01:07:46,429
individuals were left
on those interstates

1271
01:07:46,495 --> 01:07:50,199
<i>for several days
with little water,
little food.</i>

1272
01:07:50,266 --> 01:07:52,334
<i>We started
to get a sense</i>

1273
01:07:52,401 --> 01:07:54,170
<i>from people
at the Convention Center</i>

1274
01:07:54,236 --> 01:07:56,272
<i>and on those interstates</i>

1275
01:07:56,338 --> 01:07:58,674
<i>that they were getting tired
of just sitting.</i>

1276
01:07:58,741 --> 01:08:00,576
<i>So they wanted
to walk across</i>

1277
01:08:00,643 --> 01:08:02,077
<i>the Crescent City
Connection--</i>

1278
01:08:02,144 --> 01:08:04,146
<i>which is the Mississippi
River Bridge--</i>

1279
01:08:04,213 --> 01:08:06,615
<i>to meet the buses that
were supposedly coming.</i>

1280
01:08:06,682 --> 01:08:08,884
So we started
walking up the highway,

1281
01:08:08,951 --> 01:08:11,887
and we passed
all these people

1282
01:08:11,954 --> 01:08:14,356
and got up towards
the bridge.

1283
01:08:14,423 --> 01:08:18,294
And when we were
in shouting distance
of the bridge,

1284
01:08:18,360 --> 01:08:22,465
all of a sudden there
was a line of guns
across the bridge.

1285
01:08:22,531 --> 01:08:24,500
We yelled back at them
that they told us

1286
01:08:24,567 --> 01:08:26,101
we could walk
out of town.

1287
01:08:26,168 --> 01:08:27,470
And they said,
"Turn around."

1288
01:08:27,536 --> 01:08:28,971
So we're like,
"Okay, men with guns.

1289
01:08:29,038 --> 01:08:30,506
We turn around now."
Yeah.

1290
01:08:30,573 --> 01:08:32,475
It's interesting how things
kind of broke down,

1291
01:08:32,541 --> 01:08:35,010
because the President
of Jefferson Parish--

1292
01:08:35,077 --> 01:08:37,246
we've got parishes here
instead of counties--

1293
01:08:37,313 --> 01:08:41,083
declared Jefferson Parish
"Jeffersonia"

1294
01:08:41,150 --> 01:08:43,118
and blatantly said
on the radio

1295
01:08:43,185 --> 01:08:45,120
that they were not
going to allow anybody

1296
01:08:45,187 --> 01:08:47,923
from Orleans Parish to cross
the parish line to get out.

1297
01:08:47,990 --> 01:08:50,593
They were going to put
armed police there

1298
01:08:50,659 --> 01:08:52,695
and they were going to turn
you back at gunpoint.

1299
01:08:52,761 --> 01:08:54,930
This was Jefferson
Parish Police

1300
01:08:54,997 --> 01:08:57,500
lined up
with shotguns,

1301
01:08:57,566 --> 01:09:00,569
would not let us
cross that bridge,
made us go back.

1302
01:09:00,636 --> 01:09:03,172
A guy told me
that Harry Lee said that

1303
01:09:03,239 --> 01:09:05,007
that wasn't
his police officer.

1304
01:09:05,074 --> 01:09:07,676
If that wasn't
his police officer,
I'd like to know who it was.

1305
01:09:07,743 --> 01:09:10,045
People were walking.
There were elderly
people walking.

1306
01:09:10,112 --> 01:09:12,348
There were people
who were injured.

1307
01:09:12,414 --> 01:09:14,283
There were people
who had driven through--

1308
01:09:14,350 --> 01:09:15,885
who had been carjacked
on the way,

1309
01:09:15,951 --> 01:09:18,954
just seeking refuge,
who could not get through

1310
01:09:19,021 --> 01:09:21,123
and who were told
by their own government

1311
01:09:21,190 --> 01:09:22,858
that they were not
allowed in.

1312
01:09:22,925 --> 01:09:24,360
The Convention Center

1313
01:09:24,426 --> 01:09:27,196
was completely accessible
the whole time.

1314
01:09:27,263 --> 01:09:29,598
Come over the bridge
and it's right there.

1315
01:09:29,665 --> 01:09:31,567
It's like
the Manhattan Bridge
in New York.

1316
01:09:31,634 --> 01:09:33,869
<i>It's as if people were
at MetroTech in Brooklyn</i>

1317
01:09:33,936 --> 01:09:35,538
<i>and people were
in Manhattan saying,</i>

1318
01:09:35,604 --> 01:09:37,373
<i>"Can't we just
cross the bridge
and help those people?"</i>

1319
01:09:37,439 --> 01:09:40,309
<i>And they said,
"No, you can't,"
while people are going out.</i>

1320
01:09:40,376 --> 01:09:42,578
<i>Then when the people took
the initiative themselves</i>

1321
01:09:42,645 --> 01:09:45,214
<i>to walk out,
they were met by</i>

1322
01:09:45,281 --> 01:09:48,851
these redneck cops in Gretna
saying, "Turn back."

1323
01:09:48,918 --> 01:09:51,787
I can give you a take
on the Gretna Bridge thing.

1324
01:09:51,854 --> 01:09:53,455
It wasn't
an isolated incident.

1325
01:09:53,522 --> 01:09:55,624
I'm going to tell you
that during that storm,

1326
01:09:55,691 --> 01:09:58,394
the national media
reported rampant rumors

1327
01:09:58,460 --> 01:10:00,195
that have now turned out
not to be true.

1328
01:10:00,262 --> 01:10:03,432
They were flying all over
the place and nobody
could verify them.

1329
01:10:03,499 --> 01:10:06,702
One of the rumors was
there was a hostage crisis
at Children's Hospital.

1330
01:10:06,769 --> 01:10:08,203
That wasn't true.

1331
01:10:08,270 --> 01:10:10,773
One of the rumors was that
there was a jailbreak, right?

1332
01:10:10,839 --> 01:10:12,274
And that all the guns

1333
01:10:12,341 --> 01:10:14,677
from all the gun stores
had been looted, right?

1334
01:10:14,743 --> 01:10:16,512
So people
were terrified.

1335
01:10:16,579 --> 01:10:19,615
African-Americans and whites
were terrified on the street.

1336
01:10:19,682 --> 01:10:21,817
So in my-- in my estimation,

1337
01:10:21,884 --> 01:10:24,386
that Gretna thing
was a way overreaction

1338
01:10:24,453 --> 01:10:26,755
to rampant rumors
that were being pushed

1339
01:10:26,822 --> 01:10:28,290
in the mainstream media.

1340
01:10:28,357 --> 01:10:30,826
They were calling the people
who were trying to cross in--

1341
01:10:30,893 --> 01:10:32,328
they were
calling them "thugs."

1342
01:10:32,394 --> 01:10:35,164
And in today's language,
we know that when people

1343
01:10:35,230 --> 01:10:37,032
are referred to as "thugs"
and "looters,"

1344
01:10:37,099 --> 01:10:39,568
that they are talking--
they were clearly
talking about

1345
01:10:39,635 --> 01:10:41,737
the African-American citizens
of New Orleans

1346
01:10:41,804 --> 01:10:43,272
who were trying
to escape.

1347
01:10:43,339 --> 01:10:44,673
It was a race thing.

1348
01:10:44,740 --> 01:10:46,241
I don't know how anyone
could see it

1349
01:10:46,308 --> 01:10:47,743
as anything but that.

1350
01:10:47,810 --> 01:10:50,245
I thought that
I lived in America

1351
01:10:50,312 --> 01:10:52,181
until shortly
after Katrina

1352
01:10:52,247 --> 01:10:55,451
and the Crescent City
Connection was blocked off

1353
01:10:55,517 --> 01:10:59,855
from people being able
to walk freely

1354
01:10:59,922 --> 01:11:02,257
on United States soil.

1355
01:11:02,324 --> 01:11:05,928
Very disheartening,
unacceptable.

1356
01:11:05,995 --> 01:11:08,664
I hope that the lawsuit
is successful

1357
01:11:08,731 --> 01:11:10,466
for all of those involved.

1358
01:11:10,532 --> 01:11:12,234
There is no question

1359
01:11:12,301 --> 01:11:14,503
that the officials there
were wrong,

1360
01:11:14,570 --> 01:11:16,005
absolutely wrong,

1361
01:11:16,071 --> 01:11:18,707
and they need to be
reprimanded accordingly.

1362
01:11:18,774 --> 01:11:20,275
It was unjust.

1363
01:11:20,342 --> 01:11:23,045
It was inhumane
and unacceptable.

1364
01:11:23,112 --> 01:11:26,849
<i>Late afternoon in the sky
over New Orleans,</i>

1365
01:11:26,915 --> 01:11:29,685
<i>and a moment of life
and death is unfolding.</i>

1366
01:11:29,752 --> 01:11:33,288
<i>Here, a helicopter rescue
brings relief.</i>

1367
01:11:33,355 --> 01:11:35,691
<i>A child is plucked
from the wreckage--</i>

1368
01:11:35,758 --> 01:11:37,860
<i>one little life saved.</i>

1369
01:11:41,697 --> 01:11:43,799
<i>Today's evacuees
have survived</i>

1370
01:11:43,866 --> 01:11:46,568
<i>for three days
without food or water.</i>

1371
01:11:46,635 --> 01:11:48,771
<i>Some just stare
into space.</i>

1372
01:11:48,837 --> 01:11:51,073
<i>Everything they knew
is gone.</i>

1373
01:11:51,140 --> 01:11:53,308
<i>This is now the biggest
domestic relief operation</i>

1374
01:11:53,375 --> 01:11:56,645
<i>by the military
in America's history.</i>

1375
01:11:56,712 --> 01:11:58,847
<i>Thousands are making it
out of the city.</i>

1376
01:11:58,914 --> 01:12:00,849
<i>Many who couldn't get out
in the initial rush</i>

1377
01:12:00,916 --> 01:12:02,951
<i>have been crowding
onto buses.</i>

1378
01:12:03,018 --> 01:12:05,454
<i>We wound up underneath
that overpass</i>

1379
01:12:05,521 --> 01:12:07,723
with a handful

1380
01:12:07,790 --> 01:12:11,326
of not niggers,
but animals.

1381
01:12:11,393 --> 01:12:14,530
They were dead set on
a handful of people leaving.

1382
01:12:14,596 --> 01:12:17,599
They jammed us up against
the fences and everything else

1383
01:12:17,666 --> 01:12:19,668
to keep us
from being evacuated.

1384
01:12:19,735 --> 01:12:21,503
I really thought
I was going to die
under there.

1385
01:12:21,570 --> 01:12:23,372
I thought that
I was going to die.

1386
01:12:23,439 --> 01:12:25,974
I thought I was
going to be killed
or something else.

1387
01:12:26,041 --> 01:12:28,711
There was fighting.
There was drugs.
There was alcohol.

1388
01:12:28,777 --> 01:12:30,713
There was everything
going on there,

1389
01:12:30,779 --> 01:12:33,649
and there was not enough
people to take care
of the people.

1390
01:12:33,716 --> 01:12:35,684
The first time I came
back to New Orleans

1391
01:12:35,751 --> 01:12:37,453
was the Thursday
after Katrina.

1392
01:12:37,519 --> 01:12:40,889
And, like everyone,
we were--

1393
01:12:40,956 --> 01:12:43,058
we were not sure
what to expect,

1394
01:12:43,125 --> 01:12:44,960
so we were
sort of loaded--

1395
01:12:45,027 --> 01:12:47,563
.9mm, shotguns,
the whole thing.

1396
01:12:47,629 --> 01:12:49,998
How many guns do you have?

1397
01:12:50,065 --> 01:12:53,602
I had a .9mm
and two shotguns.

1398
01:12:53,669 --> 01:12:56,638
But all I had to do
was get to the house
and I had a couple more.

1399
01:12:56,705 --> 01:13:00,008
And--
Yo, were you looking
for bin Laden?

1400
01:13:00,075 --> 01:13:03,312
No, I wasn't,

1401
01:13:03,378 --> 01:13:05,748
but I wasn't sure what
I was going to find here.

1402
01:13:05,814 --> 01:13:09,218
I mean, it was like I drove
into shootin' and lootin'

1403
01:13:09,284 --> 01:13:11,587
<i>and carrying on
and the buildings
were burning.</i>

1404
01:13:11,653 --> 01:13:13,622
<i>I could see the Dome,
and the Dome--</i>

1405
01:13:13,689 --> 01:13:16,725
<i>the roof was ripped
off of it.</i>

1406
01:13:16,792 --> 01:13:19,461
<i>The hotels and businesses,
the high-rises</i>

1407
01:13:19,528 --> 01:13:22,264
all had the curtains
blowing out and the windows
weren't there.

1408
01:13:22,331 --> 01:13:24,933
There was
a Church's Chicken
down the corner.

1409
01:13:25,000 --> 01:13:27,402
It looked like
it was on fire.

1410
01:13:27,469 --> 01:13:29,438
I kind of stopped

1411
01:13:29,505 --> 01:13:31,306
in the middle
of the neutral ground.

1412
01:13:31,373 --> 01:13:34,176
You take that in,
because you're just
not ready for that.

1413
01:13:34,243 --> 01:13:36,211
You're just not ready
to think, you know,

1414
01:13:36,278 --> 01:13:38,247
"It's all screwed up."

1415
01:13:38,313 --> 01:13:40,315
And while I was there,

1416
01:13:40,382 --> 01:13:41,984
they had some kids
coming over,

1417
01:13:42,050 --> 01:13:43,952
and they managed to grab
the car door,

1418
01:13:44,019 --> 01:13:45,487
and they were
opening it up.

1419
01:13:45,554 --> 01:13:48,257
I didn't see it
because I was too busy
looking there,

1420
01:13:48,323 --> 01:13:50,626
but my dog saw it,
and he jumps over me,

1421
01:13:50,692 --> 01:13:53,195
and he's just flipping out--

1422
01:13:53,262 --> 01:13:55,731
complaining and barking
and growling.

1423
01:13:55,798 --> 01:13:58,667
I think it scared him,
because I turned around
and I looked

1424
01:13:58,734 --> 01:14:00,235
and it was like
four, five kids,

1425
01:14:00,302 --> 01:14:02,070
and they had pipes
and everything else.

1426
01:14:02,137 --> 01:14:04,873
I think they were getting in
on all that crazy.

1427
01:14:04,940 --> 01:14:06,708
<i>We were walking down
the street,</i>

1428
01:14:06,775 --> 01:14:08,277
<i>which is in Algiers,</i>

1429
01:14:08,343 --> 01:14:10,679
and I'm talking
to my cousin.

1430
01:14:10,746 --> 01:14:12,181
I had a bottle
of water in my hand.

1431
01:14:12,247 --> 01:14:13,682
I'm talking to him,

1432
01:14:13,749 --> 01:14:16,118
and we're talking
about different things,

1433
01:14:16,185 --> 01:14:19,922
and before you know it,
I heard a boom, a blast.

1434
01:14:19,988 --> 01:14:22,424
<i>My body
lifted up
in the air</i>

1435
01:14:22,491 --> 01:14:23,926
and I hit the ground.

1436
01:14:23,992 --> 01:14:26,662
My cousin, he was
standing over me,

1437
01:14:26,728 --> 01:14:29,031
he was hollering--

1438
01:14:29,097 --> 01:14:32,601
he was hollering my name
and asking me if I was okay.

1439
01:14:32,668 --> 01:14:35,804
He was just--
he was hysterical
at this time.

1440
01:14:35,871 --> 01:14:38,273
He looking at the blood

1441
01:14:38,340 --> 01:14:40,209
on my shirt and my arms.

1442
01:14:40,275 --> 01:14:43,846
I looked up
and I saw a white guy
with a white T-shirt

1443
01:14:43,912 --> 01:14:46,648
with a shotgun in his hand,
coming toward me.

1444
01:14:46,715 --> 01:14:49,384
So I managed to get up--
like I said,

1445
01:14:49,451 --> 01:14:51,453
by the grace of God,
I managed to get up,

1446
01:14:51,520 --> 01:14:53,789
and they had some debris
in the street.

1447
01:14:53,856 --> 01:14:56,491
So when I turned away
from the guy,

1448
01:14:56,558 --> 01:14:58,360
he coming toward me
with the shotgun.

1449
01:14:58,427 --> 01:15:00,295
Looked like he was
trying to reload.

1450
01:15:00,362 --> 01:15:03,532
So as I turned away from him,
I jumped over the debris

1451
01:15:03,599 --> 01:15:05,434
and I heard
another bang.

1452
01:15:05,500 --> 01:15:07,569
<i>Yeah, some of the buckshots</i>

1453
01:15:07,636 --> 01:15:09,671
<i>caught me in my back
and I hit the ground again.</i>

1454
01:15:09,738 --> 01:15:11,640
And, uh, this is, uh--

1455
01:15:11,707 --> 01:15:15,777
this is the buckshots
from the shotgun.

1456
01:15:15,844 --> 01:15:18,914
And this is the incision
from the surgery,

1457
01:15:18,981 --> 01:15:22,351
from the buckshots
that penetrated my neck

1458
01:15:22,417 --> 01:15:24,353
and hit my jugular vein.

1459
01:15:24,419 --> 01:15:27,022
Usually,
disasters like this

1460
01:15:27,089 --> 01:15:30,559
bring out the best
in everybody,

1461
01:15:30,626 --> 01:15:32,794
and that's what
we expected to see.

1462
01:15:32,861 --> 01:15:36,498
Now we've got people
that it's bringing out
the worst in,

1463
01:15:36,565 --> 01:15:38,767
and we're going to restore
law and order.

1464
01:15:38,834 --> 01:15:41,003
We are not
going to put up

1465
01:15:41,069 --> 01:15:43,238
with the kinds of things
that we have heard.

1466
01:15:43,305 --> 01:15:46,575
These troops know how
to shoot and kill,

1467
01:15:46,642 --> 01:15:50,279
and they are
more than willing
to do so if necessary.

1468
01:15:50,345 --> 01:15:52,514
And I expect they will.

1469
01:15:52,581 --> 01:15:55,417
<i>We never could find
clear evidence</i>

1470
01:15:55,484 --> 01:15:58,287
that the city was
totally out of control.

1471
01:15:58,353 --> 01:16:01,823
We know there was
some looting going on.

1472
01:16:01,890 --> 01:16:05,160
We knew that there was
a little bit of that activity.

1473
01:16:05,227 --> 01:16:08,096
I kept trying
to get information--

1474
01:16:08,163 --> 01:16:10,599
solid information
through the state police.

1475
01:16:10,666 --> 01:16:13,535
That's the law enforcement
agency that I depend on.

1476
01:16:13,602 --> 01:16:15,237
They were here.

1477
01:16:15,304 --> 01:16:17,406
They were working
with the city police,

1478
01:16:17,472 --> 01:16:20,609
and they could not
verify those reports.

1479
01:16:20,676 --> 01:16:23,111
We've got food and water
on the way.

1480
01:16:23,178 --> 01:16:24,880
Trust me.
I wouldn't
lie to you.

1481
01:16:24,947 --> 01:16:26,915
I've got this
food and water
here for you.

1482
01:16:26,982 --> 01:16:29,051
We've got medical
attention on the way.

1483
01:16:29,117 --> 01:16:32,087
We're gonna do
everything we can to
get you out of here safe.

1484
01:16:32,154 --> 01:16:35,857
What I'm trying to do
right now is save
people's lives.

1485
01:16:35,924 --> 01:16:38,427
I'm trying to get
these people out of
this Convention Center.

1486
01:16:38,493 --> 01:16:42,230
I don't get involved
with the bureaucracy
because I'm a police chief.

1487
01:16:42,297 --> 01:16:44,800
I am someone who tries
to protect and serve

1488
01:16:44,866 --> 01:16:46,601
the citizens
of this city.

1489
01:16:46,668 --> 01:16:50,839
I need somebody
to get me a cruise boat
or some type of boat,

1490
01:16:50,906 --> 01:16:52,874
a cruise ship
or some kind of ship,

1491
01:16:52,941 --> 01:16:56,478
so I can put my people
in some comfort, so I can
help the people--

1492
01:16:56,545 --> 01:16:59,047
we have people
in here who have
lost their families

1493
01:16:59,114 --> 01:17:00,949
and they have not
gotten out of this fight.

1494
01:17:01,016 --> 01:17:04,019
I didn't know where
my daughter was at for
two days, and we endured.

1495
01:17:04,086 --> 01:17:06,621
I'm so tired of this,
but it's finally almost over.

1496
01:17:06,688 --> 01:17:08,357
That's it. I don't want
to talk no more.

1497
01:17:08,423 --> 01:17:10,125
<i>I'll tell you about
Eddie Compass.</i>

1498
01:17:10,192 --> 01:17:12,294
<i>This dude is from
the Lafitte Housing Projects.
He's a street cop.</i>

1499
01:17:12,361 --> 01:17:13,962
And he's a
very emotional
type of dude,

1500
01:17:14,029 --> 01:17:15,998
and when you
talk to him, he
gets amped up.

1501
01:17:16,064 --> 01:17:17,866
I think
his emotions--

1502
01:17:17,933 --> 01:17:20,068
I think he was just emotional
under the circumstances.

1503
01:17:20,135 --> 01:17:22,404
This is his city.
His wife was eight
and a half months pregnant.

1504
01:17:22,471 --> 01:17:23,972
He got caught up
in the whirlwind,

1505
01:17:24,039 --> 01:17:26,174
and I guess he lost
some of his composure.

1506
01:17:26,241 --> 01:17:29,077
What Eddie was trying to do
was tell the truth

1507
01:17:29,144 --> 01:17:31,713
because there had been--
nobody trusted police.

1508
01:17:31,780 --> 01:17:34,683
His view was,
"I'll tell you everything
you want to hear."

1509
01:17:34,750 --> 01:17:36,952
Unfortunately,
he was spreading rumors

1510
01:17:37,019 --> 01:17:39,855
and started becoming
a celebrity and media star.

1511
01:17:39,921 --> 01:17:41,356
And he couldn't--
loved to be on

1512
01:17:41,423 --> 01:17:43,759
with Dr. Phil
and Oprah Winfrey,

1513
01:17:43,825 --> 01:17:46,995
and on those programs
he would exaggerate
the problems,

1514
01:17:47,062 --> 01:17:50,499
such as
hundreds of helicopters
being shot at by looters

1515
01:17:50,565 --> 01:17:52,434
and babies being raped
in the Superdome.

1516
01:17:52,501 --> 01:17:55,103
And that's the scene
they keep showing--
"They're raping babies!"

1517
01:17:55,170 --> 01:17:56,838
That just didn't happen.

1518
01:17:56,905 --> 01:17:58,640
Now, I don't know
why he was doing that.

1519
01:17:58,707 --> 01:17:59,875
Maybe it was
to draw attention

1520
01:17:59,941 --> 01:18:01,376
to how much the city
needed help,

1521
01:18:01,443 --> 01:18:04,880
but it had a very negative
impact on our city.

1522
01:18:04,946 --> 01:18:07,049
I've got family
all over the place,

1523
01:18:07,115 --> 01:18:09,051
and they're contacting me
via e-mail.

1524
01:18:09,117 --> 01:18:12,354
They think, like, this is
just the end of civilization
down there.

1525
01:18:12,421 --> 01:18:15,157
There was reports of rapes
and children being raped.

1526
01:18:15,223 --> 01:18:18,927
And I even got a report
at the Ritz-Carlton

1527
01:18:18,994 --> 01:18:20,429
where my daughter
was a concierge

1528
01:18:20,495 --> 01:18:23,131
that my daughter was raped,
and it tore me up.

1529
01:18:23,198 --> 01:18:25,767
What happened was
some individuals

1530
01:18:25,834 --> 01:18:27,836
tried to break
into the Hyatt Regency--

1531
01:18:27,903 --> 01:18:29,938
I'm sorry,
to the Ritz-Carlton,

1532
01:18:30,005 --> 01:18:32,407
but the police were there
and they fought them back,

1533
01:18:32,474 --> 01:18:34,176
and so my daughter
wasn't harmed.

1534
01:18:34,242 --> 01:18:36,378
But by the time
the word got back to me,

1535
01:18:36,445 --> 01:18:39,815
you tell one person
who tells one person
who tells one person--

1536
01:18:39,881 --> 01:18:42,684
and the person that relayed
the information to me,

1537
01:18:42,751 --> 01:18:44,553
they were so distraught
when they told me,

1538
01:18:44,619 --> 01:18:46,888
I just thought they were
telling the truth.

1539
01:18:46,955 --> 01:18:50,559
It was really difficult.
And I guess in hindsight--

1540
01:18:50,625 --> 01:18:53,428
I guess I heightened
people's fears

1541
01:18:53,495 --> 01:18:54,930
by me being
the Superintendent
of Police

1542
01:18:54,996 --> 01:18:57,365
reporting these things
that were reported to me,

1543
01:18:57,432 --> 01:19:00,702
but there was
really no way for me
to check definitively.

1544
01:19:00,769 --> 01:19:04,172
So instead of erring
on the side of caution
and saying nothing,

1545
01:19:04,239 --> 01:19:06,975
I didn't want people
to think that we were trying
to cover anything up,

1546
01:19:07,042 --> 01:19:09,544
so I reported these things
without them being
substantiated

1547
01:19:09,611 --> 01:19:11,613
<i>and it caused
a lot of problems.</i>

1548
01:19:12,747 --> 01:19:15,117
I'm not looking forward
to this trip.

1549
01:19:15,183 --> 01:19:17,719
I got a feel for it
when I flew over before.

1550
01:19:17,786 --> 01:19:20,956
For those who have not--
can't poss--

1551
01:19:21,022 --> 01:19:22,924
trying to conceive
what we're talking about,

1552
01:19:22,991 --> 01:19:27,062
it's as if the entire
Gulf Coast were obliterated

1553
01:19:27,129 --> 01:19:30,132
by the worst kind of weapon
you can imagine.

1554
01:19:30,198 --> 01:19:32,567
You had to have
your heart broken

1555
01:19:32,634 --> 01:19:37,205
if you love this country
and watched the slow federal
response to Katrina.

1556
01:19:37,272 --> 01:19:38,840
<i>You had the specter</i>

1557
01:19:38,907 --> 01:19:41,343
<i>of the President
of the United States seeming--</i>

1558
01:19:41,409 --> 01:19:43,311
<i>first off, he was totally
not curious.</i>

1559
01:19:43,378 --> 01:19:46,681
<i>He goes to San Diego
and gives a speech on Iraq</i>

1560
01:19:46,748 --> 01:19:50,285
and comparing it to Japan
after World War II,

1561
01:19:50,352 --> 01:19:52,220
and barely mentions
Katrina,

1562
01:19:52,287 --> 01:19:56,892
and then starts doing
a giddy air guitar skit
on the stage there.

1563
01:19:56,958 --> 01:19:59,995
Which is almost like
pouring salt in the wound.

1564
01:20:00,061 --> 01:20:02,664
And then when he finally
addressed it,

1565
01:20:02,731 --> 01:20:04,733
he said that he had
not been informed.

1566
01:20:04,799 --> 01:20:06,902
First of all,
the government did know--

1567
01:20:06,968 --> 01:20:10,906
had been amply warned
by... agencies,

1568
01:20:10,972 --> 01:20:13,208
by people who
are meteorologists,

1569
01:20:13,275 --> 01:20:16,311
people who study
weather patterns,

1570
01:20:16,378 --> 01:20:18,313
that this catastrophe

1571
01:20:18,380 --> 01:20:20,882
was headed towards
the Gulf region

1572
01:20:20,949 --> 01:20:23,485
and that it had
the capacity to be bigger

1573
01:20:23,552 --> 01:20:26,054
than anything else the region
had ever experienced.

1574
01:20:26,121 --> 01:20:28,323
Everyone, let's go ahead
and get started. It's noon.

1575
01:20:28,390 --> 01:20:30,358
We have a lot of business
to cover today.

1576
01:20:30,425 --> 01:20:32,727
If the really
strong winds

1577
01:20:32,794 --> 01:20:35,797
clip Lake Pontchartrain,
that's going to pile

1578
01:20:35,864 --> 01:20:37,933
some of that water
from Lake Pontchartrain

1579
01:20:37,999 --> 01:20:40,035
over on the south side
of the lake.

1580
01:20:40,101 --> 01:20:43,405
I don't think anyone
can tell you with any
confidence right now

1581
01:20:43,471 --> 01:20:45,874
whether the levees
will be topped or not,

1582
01:20:45,941 --> 01:20:49,311
but that's obviously
a very, very grave concern.

1583
01:20:49,377 --> 01:20:52,047
I do want to thank
the good folks in the offices

1584
01:20:52,113 --> 01:20:54,082
of Louisiana and Alabama
and Mississippi

1585
01:20:54,149 --> 01:20:56,218
for listening
to these warnings

1586
01:20:56,284 --> 01:20:58,954
and preparing
your citizens for

1587
01:20:59,020 --> 01:21:01,289
this, uh--

1588
01:21:01,356 --> 01:21:04,726
this, uh,
huge storm.

1589
01:21:04,793 --> 01:21:06,695
So there was
information.

1590
01:21:06,761 --> 01:21:09,030
Why the government
of the United States

1591
01:21:09,097 --> 01:21:13,134
and particularly Bush
decided not to respond

1592
01:21:13,201 --> 01:21:15,136
and not to pay attention
to that,

1593
01:21:15,203 --> 01:21:18,273
I think, was based upon
a host of reasons.

1594
01:21:18,340 --> 01:21:21,343
First of all,
the arrogance of power.

1595
01:21:21,409 --> 01:21:23,645
Huge arrogance on the part
of the government.

1596
01:21:23,712 --> 01:21:25,880
It didn't mean that much
to other things

1597
01:21:25,947 --> 01:21:28,350
that were capturing
his attention

1598
01:21:28,416 --> 01:21:30,986
and that he thought
was far more important.

1599
01:21:31,052 --> 01:21:32,787
And when it did
finally happen,

1600
01:21:32,854 --> 01:21:34,756
he just felt
that the people

1601
01:21:34,823 --> 01:21:37,492
who were caught
in this terrible tragedy

1602
01:21:37,559 --> 01:21:40,762
were, first of all,
socially of no importance

1603
01:21:40,829 --> 01:21:44,399
and certainly racially
of no importance as well.

1604
01:21:44,466 --> 01:21:47,469
There's going to be
plenty of opportunities
to help later on.

1605
01:21:47,535 --> 01:21:49,904
But right now
the immediate concern
is to save lives

1606
01:21:49,971 --> 01:21:52,140
and get food and medicine
to people,

1607
01:21:52,207 --> 01:21:54,909
so we can stabilize
the situation.

1608
01:21:54,976 --> 01:21:56,678
Again, I want to
thank you all for--

1609
01:21:56,745 --> 01:21:58,380
and, Brownie, you're doing
a heck of a job.

1610
01:21:58,446 --> 01:21:59,881
and, Brownie,
you're doing a heck
of a job.

1611
01:21:59,948 --> 01:22:01,983
and, Brownie, you're doing
a heck of a job.

1612
01:22:02,050 --> 01:22:04,853
<i>I'll never forget
turning on the television</i>

1613
01:22:04,919 --> 01:22:06,788
<i>and seeing interviews</i>

1614
01:22:06,855 --> 01:22:08,957
<i>when George Bush
was saying,</i>

1615
01:22:09,024 --> 01:22:10,158
"Good job, Brownie,"

1616
01:22:10,225 --> 01:22:12,127
<i>and then they flipped
to the screen</i>

1617
01:22:12,193 --> 01:22:15,897
<i>with George Bush flying over,
looking out of the airplane</i>

1618
01:22:15,964 --> 01:22:18,500
<i>at the devastation below.</i>

1619
01:22:18,566 --> 01:22:21,436
He needed to have put
his boot heels on the ground,

1620
01:22:21,503 --> 01:22:23,238
to have touched
the floodwaters,

1621
01:22:23,305 --> 01:22:24,873
to have smelled
the death.

1622
01:22:24,939 --> 01:22:27,575
<i>Lyndon Johnson
in 1965</i>

1623
01:22:27,642 --> 01:22:29,444
<i>came down
to the Ninth Ward,</i>

1624
01:22:29,511 --> 01:22:32,213
<i>and in the pitch-blackness
of night</i>

1625
01:22:32,280 --> 01:22:34,349
<i>in his awkward
Texas way,</i>

1626
01:22:34,416 --> 01:22:36,451
<i>had a big old
flashlight with him.</i>

1627
01:22:36,518 --> 01:22:38,353
He went out there
and put a flashlight on
and said,

1628
01:22:38,420 --> 01:22:40,922
"This is your president.
I am here."

1629
01:22:40,989 --> 01:22:43,224
In some ways,
that's a funny LBJ story,

1630
01:22:43,291 --> 01:22:45,727
but what Johnson
was saying is, "We care.

1631
01:22:45,794 --> 01:22:47,529
"I represent
the American people.

1632
01:22:47,595 --> 01:22:49,197
"You may have lost
your home,

1633
01:22:49,264 --> 01:22:52,033
"you may have lost
all your heirlooms,
but we care.

1634
01:22:52,100 --> 01:22:53,435
You mean something to us."

1635
01:22:53,501 --> 01:22:56,071
How could it be
that in a country

1636
01:22:56,137 --> 01:22:58,373
that's supposedly
the richest country
in the world,

1637
01:22:58,440 --> 01:23:00,475
where the 82nd Airborne
are prepared to be

1638
01:23:00,542 --> 01:23:04,012
anywhere in the world
in a day and a half,

1639
01:23:04,079 --> 01:23:08,016
where we were
in the region of Sri Lanka

1640
01:23:08,083 --> 01:23:10,785
where the tsunami hit
in less than two days,

1641
01:23:10,852 --> 01:23:13,521
<i>here we are--
day four, day five--</i>

1642
01:23:13,588 --> 01:23:16,091
<i>and the federal government
still had not made it
to New Orleans?</i>

1643
01:23:16,157 --> 01:23:17,859
<i>You were unaware
of the situation</i>

1644
01:23:17,926 --> 01:23:19,861
<i>at the Convention Center
till yesterday.</i>

1645
01:23:19,928 --> 01:23:22,263
<i>When yesterday
did you become aware?</i>

1646
01:23:22,330 --> 01:23:24,532
<i>I think it was
yesterday morning</i>

1647
01:23:24,599 --> 01:23:26,434
<i>when we first found out
about it.</i>

1648
01:23:26,501 --> 01:23:28,903
<i>We were just as surprised
as everybody else.</i>

1649
01:23:28,970 --> 01:23:32,340
<i>We didn't know that
the city had used that
as a staging area.</i>

1650
01:23:32,407 --> 01:23:36,044
<i>That shows how difficult
communications are.</i>

1651
01:23:36,111 --> 01:23:39,114
FEMA has been on
the ground for four days
going into the fifth day.

1652
01:23:39,180 --> 01:23:43,351
Why no massive airdrop
of food and water?

1653
01:23:43,418 --> 01:23:46,955
In Banda Aceh in Indonesia,
they got a food drop

1654
01:23:47,021 --> 01:23:48,823
two days after
the tsunami struck.

1655
01:23:48,890 --> 01:23:51,359
We're feeding those people
in the Convention Center.

1656
01:23:51,426 --> 01:23:53,895
We have fed
over 150,000 people

1657
01:23:53,962 --> 01:23:56,698
<i>as of last night.
That is happening.</i>

1658
01:23:56,765 --> 01:23:59,200
<i>The point
is as of last night--
You're witnessing--</i>

1659
01:23:59,267 --> 01:24:01,002
Forgive me, I have
to stop you here.

1660
01:24:01,069 --> 01:24:03,705
What we're hearing is that--
we're hearing people's
frustration.

1661
01:24:03,772 --> 01:24:06,341
There are people
that are beginning
to manifest themselves

1662
01:24:06,408 --> 01:24:08,643
out of the community
that we didn't know
that were there.

1663
01:24:08,710 --> 01:24:10,645
Why are you discovering
this now?

1664
01:24:10,712 --> 01:24:12,947
It's five days that FEMA's
been on the ground.

1665
01:24:13,014 --> 01:24:15,150
The head of police says
it's been five days

1666
01:24:15,216 --> 01:24:16,718
that FEMA's been there.

1667
01:24:16,785 --> 01:24:18,186
The mayor,
the former mayor,

1668
01:24:18,253 --> 01:24:20,922
putting out SOS's
on Tuesday morning,

1669
01:24:20,989 --> 01:24:22,657
crying on national
television,

1670
01:24:22,724 --> 01:24:25,427
saying, "Please send in
some troops."

1671
01:24:25,493 --> 01:24:27,529
So the idea that--
yes, I understand

1672
01:24:27,595 --> 01:24:29,030
that you're
feeding people

1673
01:24:29,097 --> 01:24:30,398
and trying to get
in there now,

1674
01:24:30,465 --> 01:24:32,300
but it's Friday.
It's Friday.

1675
01:24:32,367 --> 01:24:36,304
It was baffling
to me how you
could have

1676
01:24:36,371 --> 01:24:38,673
what was at that
point a sort of
official estimate

1677
01:24:38,740 --> 01:24:41,910
of 50,000 people
at the Convention Center

1678
01:24:41,976 --> 01:24:45,480
and not know about it
and have no idea.

1679
01:24:45,547 --> 01:24:48,483
The other thing that
was surprising to me

1680
01:24:48,550 --> 01:24:51,986
was that he seemed to have
no intelligence.

1681
01:24:52,053 --> 01:24:53,855
At one point I said,

1682
01:24:53,922 --> 01:24:56,157
"How can we have better
intel than you have?

1683
01:24:56,224 --> 01:24:59,160
"Because I have
a research file

1684
01:24:59,227 --> 01:25:02,597
"prepared by my 23-year-old
research assistant,

1685
01:25:02,664 --> 01:25:04,466
"a production assistant,

1686
01:25:04,532 --> 01:25:07,068
"and I'm getting
better intelligence
than you're getting?

1687
01:25:07,135 --> 01:25:09,504
How is that possible?"
It was really baffling.

1688
01:25:09,571 --> 01:25:12,807
It was really
one of the more
baffling interviews...

1689
01:25:14,042 --> 01:25:18,379
because they seemed
so out of touch

1690
01:25:18,446 --> 01:25:20,181
with the reality that
I think a lot of people

1691
01:25:20,248 --> 01:25:22,717
had been watching
day after day after day.

1692
01:25:22,784 --> 01:25:26,521
<i>Michael Brown is kind of
a valet for the oil lobby.</i>

1693
01:25:26,588 --> 01:25:30,859
<i>His specialty was doing
junkets for the oil crowd.</i>

1694
01:25:30,925 --> 01:25:33,261
<i>He'd get them a hunting
lodge up in Wyoming</i>

1695
01:25:33,328 --> 01:25:36,931
where they could have
two perfect weeks
to get away.

1696
01:25:36,998 --> 01:25:40,768
And so he slowly worked his way
up the ladder in that way.

1697
01:25:40,835 --> 01:25:44,138
He was given FEMA,
which is like giving somebody

1698
01:25:44,205 --> 01:25:46,207
the ambassadorship
to Luxembourg

1699
01:25:46,274 --> 01:25:48,309
or something
as a patronage.

1700
01:25:48,376 --> 01:25:50,812
<i>Who knew that Bush
had appointed the head</i>

1701
01:25:50,879 --> 01:25:54,249
<i>of the Arabian Horse
Association to run FEMA?</i>

1702
01:25:54,315 --> 01:25:55,783
<i>New Orleans
was on the hit list</i>

1703
01:25:55,850 --> 01:25:58,086
<i>of three worst
disaster zones--</i>

1704
01:25:58,152 --> 01:25:59,888
<i>a terrorist attack
in New York,</i>

1705
01:25:59,954 --> 01:26:01,289
<i>earthquake--
San Francisco,</i>

1706
01:26:01,356 --> 01:26:02,991
<i>breached levees
in New Orleans.</i>

1707
01:26:03,057 --> 01:26:05,827
Instead, FEMA
and Homeland Security

1708
01:26:05,894 --> 01:26:07,996
treated the hurricane

1709
01:26:08,062 --> 01:26:10,064
as if the levees
never breached.

1710
01:26:10,131 --> 01:26:11,866
They never understood

1711
01:26:11,933 --> 01:26:16,337
the complexities
of a city 80% underwater,

1712
01:26:16,404 --> 01:26:19,073
which is what happened
to New Orleans by the end
of that first week.

1713
01:26:19,140 --> 01:26:20,875
Michael Brown,

1714
01:26:20,942 --> 01:26:23,611
and I never thought
I'd live to see this day--

1715
01:26:23,678 --> 01:26:26,014
to defend Michael Brown--
but he was scapegoated,

1716
01:26:26,080 --> 01:26:28,283
because Michael Brown
was not the main problem.

1717
01:26:28,349 --> 01:26:30,385
<i>It was Michael Chertoff,
who was the head</i>

1718
01:26:30,451 --> 01:26:32,120
<i>of the Department
of Homeland Security.</i>

1719
01:26:32,186 --> 01:26:34,155
<i>Chertoff had
the responsibility</i>

1720
01:26:34,222 --> 01:26:36,991
<i>to name this an incident
of national significance.</i>

1721
01:26:37,058 --> 01:26:39,761
Once he did that,
that was the golden key

1722
01:26:39,827 --> 01:26:42,397
to unlock federal
resources to make sure

1723
01:26:42,463 --> 01:26:45,099
that the federal government
would respond to a disaster.

1724
01:26:45,166 --> 01:26:48,102
Since he didn't do that,
Michael Brown's hands were tied.

1725
01:26:48,169 --> 01:26:49,804
In the Bush administration,

1726
01:26:49,871 --> 01:26:51,773
if you go through
each one of them

1727
01:26:51,839 --> 01:26:54,909
and say, "Where were you
when the golden hour came?"

1728
01:26:54,976 --> 01:26:56,978
<i>Dick Cheney--
fly-fishing.</i>

1729
01:26:57,045 --> 01:26:59,781
<i>Karl Rove--
nowhere around.</i>

1730
01:26:59,847 --> 01:27:02,350
<i>You have Chertoff
going to Atlanta</i>

1731
01:27:02,417 --> 01:27:04,919
<i>on a disease
prevention kick.</i>

1732
01:27:04,986 --> 01:27:07,188
You see Condoleezza Rice
shopping.

1733
01:27:07,255 --> 01:27:09,357
<i>What was Dr. Condoleezza
Rice doing</i>

1734
01:27:09,424 --> 01:27:10,992
<i>that looked very poorly?</i>

1735
01:27:11,059 --> 01:27:14,762
<i>She was at Ferragamo's
buying shoes.</i>

1736
01:27:14,829 --> 01:27:16,497
I think a white patron
came up to her--

1737
01:27:16,564 --> 01:27:17,999
maybe a white woman--
and said,

1738
01:27:18,066 --> 01:27:21,135
"How dare you! While people
are down there drowning!"

1739
01:27:21,202 --> 01:27:23,671
It was like
the Sandman hook. Whoop!

1740
01:27:23,738 --> 01:27:25,173
She got pulled off,
brother.

1741
01:27:25,239 --> 01:27:27,141
That was
a mini-Apollo stage,

1742
01:27:27,208 --> 01:27:28,643
and she wasn't
hitting it.

1743
01:27:28,710 --> 01:27:30,478
So they pulled her
offstage.

1744
01:27:30,545 --> 01:27:32,780
Then she goes to "Spamalot"
that night.

1745
01:27:32,847 --> 01:27:35,950
And when the cameras frame
her familiar figure

1746
01:27:36,017 --> 01:27:37,719
once the lights come on

1747
01:27:37,785 --> 01:27:39,687
and they see
it's Dr. Condoleezza Rice,

1748
01:27:39,754 --> 01:27:41,689
"Boo!"
They began to boo her.

1749
01:27:41,756 --> 01:27:45,126
And then the next day,
she's hitting tennis balls

1750
01:27:45,193 --> 01:27:48,529
with Monica Seles
at a club.

1751
01:27:48,596 --> 01:27:52,467
So Blahniks,
Broadway, and balls

1752
01:27:52,533 --> 01:27:56,037
are more important
than black people
who look like her

1753
01:27:56,104 --> 01:27:57,772
for this woman
from Birmingham.

1754
01:27:57,839 --> 01:28:00,108
I am an African-American.
I'm from Alabama.

1755
01:28:00,174 --> 01:28:02,710
I can tell you
that this response

1756
01:28:02,777 --> 01:28:04,712
is not a response
about color.

1757
01:28:04,779 --> 01:28:07,248
This is a response about
Americans helping
Americans.

1758
01:28:07,315 --> 01:28:10,852
No American wants to see
another American suffer.

1759
01:28:10,918 --> 01:28:12,887
What do we want?
We want help!

1760
01:28:12,954 --> 01:28:14,889
What do
we want?
We want help!

1761
01:28:14,956 --> 01:28:17,325
What do we want?

1762
01:28:17,392 --> 01:28:20,528
We want help!
We want help!

1763
01:28:20,595 --> 01:28:22,430
<i>When you consider
the situation--</i>

1764
01:28:22,497 --> 01:28:24,599
<i>okay, if you wasn't rich,
if you wasn't middle-class,</i>

1765
01:28:24,666 --> 01:28:27,468
<i>if you didn't
have an Explorer,
if you didn't have a car--</i>

1766
01:28:27,535 --> 01:28:29,871
<i>right now, I don't know
what plan was put in place</i>

1767
01:28:29,937 --> 01:28:31,239
<i>for those people
to get out.</i>

1768
01:28:31,305 --> 01:28:32,607
<i>And, really,
that's the real question.</i>

1769
01:28:32,674 --> 01:28:36,477
If it was a mandatory
evacuation,

1770
01:28:36,544 --> 01:28:39,313
and there was
a mandatory evacuation,

1771
01:28:39,380 --> 01:28:42,316
then that means
that everyone had to leave.

1772
01:28:42,383 --> 01:28:44,118
And those people

1773
01:28:44,185 --> 01:28:46,521
<i>who could not otherwise
do for themselves</i>

1774
01:28:46,587 --> 01:28:49,290
<i>supposedly the government
was supposed to do for them.</i>

1775
01:28:49,357 --> 01:28:51,426
<i>That's the responsibility
and role of the government--</i>

1776
01:28:51,492 --> 01:28:53,728
<i>to do for those otherwise
who cannot do for themselves.</i>

1777
01:28:53,795 --> 01:28:56,164
Nobody chose to go
through what they did.

1778
01:28:56,230 --> 01:28:58,066
If anybody
would have known,

1779
01:28:58,132 --> 01:29:00,334
God knows everyone
would have left.

1780
01:29:00,401 --> 01:29:02,336
But, again, some people
don't have the means.

1781
01:29:02,403 --> 01:29:05,073
You can't keep evacuating.
People don't have the funds.

1782
01:29:05,139 --> 01:29:07,709
They don't have
the places to go.
They don't have vehicles.

1783
01:29:07,775 --> 01:29:09,377
And they say that
this was all

1784
01:29:09,444 --> 01:29:11,412
available to people.
That's crap.

1785
01:29:11,479 --> 01:29:14,449
The whole deal was
a bad experience, man.

1786
01:29:14,515 --> 01:29:17,418
But I think it could have
been done much better, okay?

1787
01:29:17,485 --> 01:29:19,487
And just to me,
you know,

1788
01:29:19,554 --> 01:29:22,390
the city on the whole
didn't do what they were
supposed to do,

1789
01:29:22,457 --> 01:29:25,727
and you've got
to... fault the mayor.

1790
01:29:25,793 --> 01:29:28,796
We want help!
All these people
you see here dying?

1791
01:29:28,863 --> 01:29:30,898
It's your fault.
No more.
We want help!

1792
01:29:30,965 --> 01:29:32,433
Yo, where the policemen at?

1793
01:29:32,500 --> 01:29:35,470
Where are the National Guard
that can control all this?

1794
01:29:35,536 --> 01:29:37,505
<i>I think we probably
have evacuated</i>

1795
01:29:37,572 --> 01:29:41,342
75% to 80% of the citizens
out of this city.

1796
01:29:41,409 --> 01:29:43,211
And normally,
people would say

1797
01:29:43,277 --> 01:29:45,079
if you can get 60%
of the people out,

1798
01:29:45,146 --> 01:29:46,581
you're doing a great job.

1799
01:29:46,647 --> 01:29:49,283
Ray Nagin was warned
on Saturday night

1800
01:29:49,350 --> 01:29:51,552
that this was
the worst storm ever.

1801
01:29:51,619 --> 01:29:53,788
The head of the National
Weather Service said,

1802
01:29:53,855 --> 01:29:55,890
"You have got to get
these people out of there."

1803
01:29:55,957 --> 01:29:59,327
<i>Ray Nagin consulted first
with the business community.</i>

1804
01:29:59,393 --> 01:30:00,995
<i>I found that remarkable.</i>

1805
01:30:01,062 --> 01:30:04,031
<i>His first instinct was not
to protect his own citizens,</i>

1806
01:30:04,098 --> 01:30:07,401
<i>but to go out and protect
the business community,
because he felt</i>

1807
01:30:07,468 --> 01:30:10,271
that if he faced the reprisals
of the business community,

1808
01:30:10,338 --> 01:30:12,006
he would lose
his economic base.

1809
01:30:12,073 --> 01:30:13,875
Understandable,
but still lamentable.

1810
01:30:13,941 --> 01:30:17,011
<i>He is supposed to be
that first line of defense</i>

1811
01:30:17,078 --> 01:30:20,481
<i>and organize
the police department,
the fire department,</i>

1812
01:30:20,548 --> 01:30:23,885
<i>and all other emergency
response folks.</i>

1813
01:30:23,951 --> 01:30:27,355
And if he didn't--
there was a plan in place,

1814
01:30:27,421 --> 01:30:30,124
but I'm not sure if he knew
what was in the plan,
to be quite honest.

1815
01:30:30,191 --> 01:30:32,160
I'm not sure if he'd ever
read it before.

1816
01:30:32,226 --> 01:30:33,795
I...
Ray Nagin.

1817
01:30:33,861 --> 01:30:35,630
...Clarence R. Nagin, Jr.,

1818
01:30:35,696 --> 01:30:37,765
otherwise known
as "C. Ray Nagin..."

1819
01:30:40,134 --> 01:30:43,070
...do solemnly swear...

1820
01:30:43,137 --> 01:30:46,541
...that I will support
the Constitution and laws
of the United States.

1821
01:30:46,607 --> 01:30:49,177
...that I will support
the Constitution and laws...

1822
01:30:49,243 --> 01:30:51,078
<i>Ray Nagin done
what he could do.</i>

1823
01:30:51,145 --> 01:30:54,582
Ray Nagin's only a mayor.
He's not no governor.

1824
01:30:54,649 --> 01:30:56,350
He's not no vice president.

1825
01:30:56,417 --> 01:30:58,319
He's not no president.

1826
01:30:58,386 --> 01:31:00,354
He only have
so much power.

1827
01:31:00,421 --> 01:31:02,824
You know,
I voted
for Nagin,

1828
01:31:02,890 --> 01:31:06,594
and I think
he was just
confounded

1829
01:31:06,661 --> 01:31:10,731
by the tremendous import
of the problem here.

1830
01:31:10,798 --> 01:31:13,968
The thing got on him,
and he should have gotten his
people out of the city faster,

1831
01:31:14,035 --> 01:31:15,770
but what else
he was going to do

1832
01:31:15,837 --> 01:31:18,005
<i>but put them in the Superdome
and the Convention Center?</i>

1833
01:31:18,072 --> 01:31:20,007
<i>The pictures
of these poor people</i>

1834
01:31:20,074 --> 01:31:21,843
<i>with nothing to eat</i>

1835
01:31:21,909 --> 01:31:24,812
<i>and without their clothes
and people looting the city,</i>

1836
01:31:24,879 --> 01:31:26,848
<i>I don't think you can
attribute all that--</i>

1837
01:31:26,914 --> 01:31:29,250
it's easy in hindsight to say
what you would have done

1838
01:31:29,317 --> 01:31:31,085
under the same
or similar circumstances.

1839
01:31:31,152 --> 01:31:34,522
If I had to grade Mayor Nagin,
I would say this--

1840
01:31:34,589 --> 01:31:37,091
I would say there has not
been a man in America

1841
01:31:37,158 --> 01:31:40,494
that has been challenged
the way he's challenged.

1842
01:31:40,561 --> 01:31:42,496
Many people want
to talk about Giuliani,

1843
01:31:42,563 --> 01:31:45,633
<i>but 9/11 was
16 square acres.</i>

1844
01:31:45,700 --> 01:31:47,168
<i>This is 90,000
square miles.</i>

1845
01:31:47,235 --> 01:31:48,936
<i>Giuliani went home
every night.</i>

1846
01:31:49,003 --> 01:31:51,939
<i>Giuliani had
his police, his firemen.
He had communication.</i>

1847
01:31:52,006 --> 01:31:54,108
That's right,
Rudy would have
tramped out there

1848
01:31:54,175 --> 01:31:57,078
in the midst of the storm
and walked on water
like Jesus.

1849
01:31:57,144 --> 01:32:00,114
<i>The reality is
is that the entire city
of New Orleans was flooded,</i>

1850
01:32:00,181 --> 01:32:03,618
so to his credit,
Mr. Nagin attempted
in the aftermath

1851
01:32:03,684 --> 01:32:05,653
to get resources available
for his city.

1852
01:32:05,720 --> 01:32:07,355
<i>I'm not trying
to be Rudy.</i>

1853
01:32:07,421 --> 01:32:09,156
<i>I don't think
I can be Rudy.</i>

1854
01:32:09,223 --> 01:32:11,192
<i>I don't get
the Giuliani pass</i>

1855
01:32:11,259 --> 01:32:15,196
for a lot of different reasons,
some good and some bad.

1856
01:32:15,263 --> 01:32:19,300
The 9/11 situation
was a very contained event.

1857
01:32:19,367 --> 01:32:22,069
<i>♪ ♪
This event in New Orleans
was totally different.</i>

1858
01:32:22,136 --> 01:32:25,773
<i>You've never had a city
totally devastated.</i>

1859
01:32:25,840 --> 01:32:29,277
<i>You've never had a city
with 80% of it underwater.</i>

1860
01:32:29,343 --> 01:32:32,346
<i>You've never had a city
with communications gone,</i>

1861
01:32:32,413 --> 01:32:34,015
<i>with electricity gone,</i>

1862
01:32:34,081 --> 01:32:37,084
<i>with the media
for the most part gone</i>

1863
01:32:37,151 --> 01:32:40,621
<i>because of fears
of what was happening
in the city.</i>

1864
01:32:48,229 --> 01:32:52,133
Well, as I was
dealing with the crisis
right after the storm,

1865
01:32:52,199 --> 01:32:54,869
there were-- there was
two major flood events.

1866
01:32:54,936 --> 01:32:57,238
<i>The first one happened
right after the storm</i>

1867
01:32:57,305 --> 01:32:59,473
<i>with the Florida Avenue.</i>

1868
01:32:59,540 --> 01:33:03,177
<i>And then,
right close thereafter,</i>

1869
01:33:03,244 --> 01:33:05,947
<i>we had breaches
at the 17th Street</i>

1870
01:33:06,013 --> 01:33:08,416
<i>and the London Avenue,</i>

1871
01:33:08,482 --> 01:33:10,551
<i>and we were in crisis.</i>

1872
01:33:10,618 --> 01:33:14,021
<i>Everything that we did
was basically</i>

1873
01:33:14,088 --> 01:33:15,790
<i>to try and get
as many people out</i>

1874
01:33:15,856 --> 01:33:19,093
<i>and then to put people
in shelters of last resort,</i>

1875
01:33:19,160 --> 01:33:22,363
<i>to basically allow them
to spend a couple of days,</i>

1876
01:33:22,430 --> 01:33:24,799
<i>and then we always thought
the cavalry would come--</i>

1877
01:33:24,865 --> 01:33:26,734
<i>the state police,</i>

1878
01:33:26,801 --> 01:33:29,170
National Guard,
the feds.

1879
01:33:29,236 --> 01:33:33,007
And then
after two or three days,
they didn't show up.

1880
01:33:42,750 --> 01:33:44,618
They've been making
promises to us

1881
01:33:44,685 --> 01:33:47,355
that they were going
to move us, move us,
and move us,

1882
01:33:47,421 --> 01:33:50,057
and we've been
believing in it,
and people just really been

1883
01:33:50,124 --> 01:33:51,659
getting frustrated
at this point.

1884
01:33:51,726 --> 01:33:53,661
No Red Cross or nothing.

1885
01:33:56,864 --> 01:34:00,334
This is terrorism
American-style.
Help us!

1886
01:34:00,401 --> 01:34:04,038
To try to figure out
why there was

1887
01:34:04,105 --> 01:34:07,508
a slow federal response
is still a puzzle to me.

1888
01:34:07,575 --> 01:34:11,746
I look at that time,
and it was so desperate.

1889
01:34:11,812 --> 01:34:14,382
And as governor,

1890
01:34:14,448 --> 01:34:17,051
I had thrown every asset
that we had

1891
01:34:17,118 --> 01:34:18,919
against the fury
of the storm

1892
01:34:18,986 --> 01:34:20,654
and the aftermath
of the storm.

1893
01:34:20,721 --> 01:34:22,556
<i>We had 400 boats</i>

1894
01:34:22,623 --> 01:34:25,226
<i>from Wildlife and Fisheries
ready to deploy--</i>

1895
01:34:25,292 --> 01:34:27,895
<i>in fact, deploying
while the winds</i>

1896
01:34:27,962 --> 01:34:30,498
<i>were still blowing
30 and 40 miles an hour.</i>

1897
01:34:30,564 --> 01:34:33,234
<i>That's not real safe.
If you're a boater,
you know that.</i>

1898
01:34:33,300 --> 01:34:36,070
<i>But they were doing that
because we understood</i>

1899
01:34:36,137 --> 01:34:38,539
<i>there was going to be
a big lifesaving mission.</i>

1900
01:34:38,606 --> 01:34:42,009
<i>We understood, though,
as events unfolded,</i>

1901
01:34:42,076 --> 01:34:45,880
<i>that that was not enough,
and we continued to ask</i>

1902
01:34:45,946 --> 01:34:49,884
<i>in every way possible
to get more help.</i>

1903
01:34:49,950 --> 01:34:53,354
What do you need right now

1904
01:34:53,421 --> 01:34:56,190
to get control
of this situation?

1905
01:34:56,257 --> 01:35:00,661
I need reinforcements.
I need troops, man.

1906
01:35:00,728 --> 01:35:05,266
I need 500 buses, man.
We ain't talking about--

1907
01:35:05,332 --> 01:35:08,202
you know, one of
the briefings we had,
they were talking about

1908
01:35:08,269 --> 01:35:11,138
getting public school
bus drivers

1909
01:35:11,205 --> 01:35:13,274
to come down here
and bus people out of here.

1910
01:35:13,340 --> 01:35:15,142
I'm like, "You've got
to be kidding me!

1911
01:35:15,209 --> 01:35:17,044
This is a national
disaster.

1912
01:35:17,111 --> 01:35:20,381
Get every doggone
Greyhound bus line
in the country

1913
01:35:20,448 --> 01:35:22,616
and get their asses
moving to New Orleans!"

1914
01:35:22,683 --> 01:35:25,953
The interview
with Mayor Nagin has
some historic proportions,

1915
01:35:26,020 --> 01:35:28,889
but primarily,
it was an accident.

1916
01:35:28,956 --> 01:35:31,058
I had broadcast
through the hurricane...

1917
01:35:32,460 --> 01:35:35,663
into the couple of days
after the hurricane

1918
01:35:35,729 --> 01:35:39,333
and then taken
a couple of days off
to go find my family.

1919
01:35:39,400 --> 01:35:42,203
And when I came back,
I hadn't been listening
to the news,

1920
01:35:42,269 --> 01:35:45,639
and I just figured
the president was here,
the army was here,

1921
01:35:45,706 --> 01:35:47,975
things were starting
to turn around.

1922
01:35:48,042 --> 01:35:51,011
And on my drive in,
I listened to

1923
01:35:51,078 --> 01:35:53,481
all of these
public officials--

1924
01:35:53,547 --> 01:35:55,516
the governor...

1925
01:35:55,583 --> 01:35:59,153
parish officials--
in hysteria.

1926
01:35:59,220 --> 01:36:01,055
And when I got
into the studio, I said,

1927
01:36:01,122 --> 01:36:02,990
"What the hell's going on?"

1928
01:36:03,057 --> 01:36:05,359
And they said,
"We don't know."

1929
01:36:05,426 --> 01:36:08,796
And the mayor
called in.

1930
01:36:08,863 --> 01:36:11,632
<i>You know the reason why the
looters got out of control?</i>

1931
01:36:11,699 --> 01:36:14,768
<i>Because we had
most of our resources
saving people,</i>

1932
01:36:14,835 --> 01:36:16,770
<i>thousands of people</i>

1933
01:36:16,837 --> 01:36:19,573
<i>that were stuck in attics,
man-- old ladies.</i>

1934
01:36:19,640 --> 01:36:22,076
<i>When you pull off
the doggone ventilator vents</i>

1935
01:36:22,143 --> 01:36:24,612
<i>and you look down there--
and they're standing in there</i>

1936
01:36:24,678 --> 01:36:27,181
<i>in water up to their
frickin' neck.</i>

1937
01:36:27,248 --> 01:36:29,750
<i>And they don't have a clue
what's going on down here.</i>

1938
01:36:29,817 --> 01:36:32,319
<i>They flew down here
one time</i>

1939
01:36:32,386 --> 01:36:34,822
two days after the doggone
event was over

1940
01:36:34,889 --> 01:36:38,592
with TV cameras,
AP reporters,

1941
01:36:38,659 --> 01:36:41,495
all kind of goddamn--
excuse my French,

1942
01:36:41,562 --> 01:36:44,565
everybody in America,
but I am pissed.

1943
01:36:45,866 --> 01:36:49,837
That was the moment
I think we started
getting help.

1944
01:36:49,904 --> 01:36:53,174
Everybody else was being
politically correct,

1945
01:36:53,240 --> 01:36:55,476
racially correct,

1946
01:36:55,543 --> 01:36:57,878
economically correct,
class correct,

1947
01:36:57,945 --> 01:37:00,848
and nobody had the balls

1948
01:37:00,915 --> 01:37:03,450
to-- to say
what was happening.

1949
01:37:03,517 --> 01:37:06,987
And until he did,
nothing did happen.

1950
01:37:07,054 --> 01:37:10,758
This is the thing
that people have
to understand--

1951
01:37:10,824 --> 01:37:13,561
that America
can no longer--

1952
01:37:22,870 --> 01:37:24,205
I'm sorry.

1953
01:37:29,310 --> 01:37:31,779
It's been a long
few months.

1954
01:37:31,845 --> 01:37:34,648
I'm sorry, um...

1955
01:37:35,683 --> 01:37:39,253
It's, uh...

1956
01:37:42,957 --> 01:37:45,960
I kind of went off, man.
After I did it...

1957
01:37:47,161 --> 01:37:49,763
I said to myself--
I was really emotional.

1958
01:37:49,830 --> 01:37:52,333
I said, "Man, I have
really screwed up.

1959
01:37:52,399 --> 01:37:54,935
"This is the end
of my business career,

1960
01:37:55,002 --> 01:37:56,704
"my political career,

1961
01:37:56,770 --> 01:37:59,340
"and maybe the CIA
is going to swoop in here

1962
01:37:59,406 --> 01:38:01,575
"and inject me with something
I don't know about

1963
01:38:01,642 --> 01:38:04,278
where in two months
I'm going to be history."

1964
01:38:04,345 --> 01:38:06,213
And I really
believed that.

1965
01:38:06,280 --> 01:38:08,782
And then, after I kind of
got over it, man,

1966
01:38:08,849 --> 01:38:10,951
it kind of started
the ball rolling.

1967
01:38:14,922 --> 01:38:17,157
<i>You know,
Air Force One was</i>

1968
01:38:17,224 --> 01:38:19,460
<i>something that was
pretty amazing.</i>

1969
01:38:19,526 --> 01:38:21,662
I've never been on...

1970
01:38:21,729 --> 01:38:23,764
what I'm calling
a pimpmobile, man.

1971
01:38:23,831 --> 01:38:25,332
This thing is incredible.

1972
01:38:25,399 --> 01:38:28,435
It's like-- it's like
nothing you've ever seen.

1973
01:38:28,502 --> 01:38:30,771
It's a penthouse
in the sky.

1974
01:38:30,838 --> 01:38:32,940
<i>They called me and said,</i>

1975
01:38:33,007 --> 01:38:35,509
<i>"Look, the president would
like to meet with you."</i>

1976
01:38:35,576 --> 01:38:37,411
<i>I said, "Look,
I haven't taken a bath.</i>

1977
01:38:37,478 --> 01:38:40,881
<i>I've been doing this
military bathing thing.
I haven't shaved."</i>

1978
01:38:40,948 --> 01:38:43,217
<i>They said, "No problem.
We're going to set you up."</i>

1979
01:38:43,284 --> 01:38:45,586
I go on Air Force One.

1980
01:38:45,653 --> 01:38:47,888
This brother from New York
takes care of everything.

1981
01:38:47,955 --> 01:38:49,890
He said, "Look, man,
we're going to hook you up."

1982
01:38:49,957 --> 01:38:52,793
Sent me to the back
in the president's quarters,

1983
01:38:52,860 --> 01:38:54,695
and I get in the shower,

1984
01:38:54,762 --> 01:38:57,064
and he knocks on the door
and says,

1985
01:38:57,131 --> 01:39:00,167
"Mr. Mayor, five minutes.
They need you."

1986
01:39:00,234 --> 01:39:02,202
And I'm like, to myself,
"There's no way I'm getting

1987
01:39:02,269 --> 01:39:04,338
"out of this warm shower
in five minutes.

1988
01:39:04,405 --> 01:39:05,839
They're going
to wait on me."

1989
01:39:05,906 --> 01:39:08,008
So he comes back
and knocks on the door again

1990
01:39:08,075 --> 01:39:10,110
and basically says,
"They need you.

1991
01:39:10,177 --> 01:39:11,712
The president
is waiting for you."

1992
01:39:11,779 --> 01:39:14,448
So I took
another five minutes
and eventually got out.

1993
01:39:14,515 --> 01:39:17,484
<i>We have lunch
on the plane</i>

1994
01:39:17,551 --> 01:39:21,822
<i>with the president,
senators, and congressmen.</i>

1995
01:39:21,889 --> 01:39:23,524
<i>Chertoff is there,</i>

1996
01:39:23,590 --> 01:39:26,694
<i>Brown was there,
the governor was there.</i>

1997
01:39:26,760 --> 01:39:29,229
Mayor Nagin was still
very upset about

1998
01:39:29,296 --> 01:39:30,864
everything going on,
very justly.

1999
01:39:30,931 --> 01:39:33,400
We were all upset.
I mean, you know, let's be
frank about it--

2000
01:39:33,467 --> 01:39:35,502
none of us were
happy and content.

2001
01:39:35,569 --> 01:39:37,571
Everybody's going
around the room

2002
01:39:37,638 --> 01:39:41,742
and they kind of get to me,
and I cut to the chase.

2003
01:39:41,809 --> 01:39:44,745
I said, "Mr. President,
with all due respect,

2004
01:39:44,812 --> 01:39:47,715
"if you and the governor
don't get on the same page,

2005
01:39:47,781 --> 01:39:50,484
"this thing is going to continue
to degrade into something

2006
01:39:50,551 --> 01:39:52,786
that's going to further
embarrass the nation."

2007
01:39:52,853 --> 01:39:55,456
<i>So he and the governor
went in another room.</i>

2008
01:39:55,522 --> 01:39:58,058
They had a meeting
for about 15 minutes.

2009
01:39:58,125 --> 01:40:01,362
Somebody came and got me
and said, "The president
would like to see you."

2010
01:40:01,428 --> 01:40:05,165
So I go in this room,
this little private room,
the governor's coming out.

2011
01:40:05,232 --> 01:40:07,668
He said, "Mr. Mayor,
the governor and I talked.

2012
01:40:07,735 --> 01:40:09,470
"I took your advice.

2013
01:40:09,536 --> 01:40:13,073
"I offered her somebody
who could run this thing

2014
01:40:13,140 --> 01:40:15,576
"and have ultimate
authority.

2015
01:40:15,642 --> 01:40:18,245
"And she did not want
to go in that direction,

2016
01:40:18,312 --> 01:40:20,447
so I gave her
two options."

2017
01:40:20,514 --> 01:40:23,817
And he basically said,
"I'm sad to say

2018
01:40:23,884 --> 01:40:25,953
that she said she needed
some time to think about it."

2019
01:40:26,019 --> 01:40:28,155
I didn't say,
"Give me 24 hours

2020
01:40:28,222 --> 01:40:30,858
to decide
if I want your help."

2021
01:40:30,924 --> 01:40:33,594
I have said--
I had said from day one,

2022
01:40:33,660 --> 01:40:35,429
"Mr. President,
I need your help."

2023
01:40:35,496 --> 01:40:37,831
<i>Well, you know,
from my perspective,</i>

2024
01:40:37,898 --> 01:40:40,834
<i>the big problem
in this catastrophe</i>

2025
01:40:40,901 --> 01:40:44,872
<i>was who ultimately
had the authority</i>

2026
01:40:44,938 --> 01:40:47,174
to make the final calls.

2027
01:40:47,241 --> 01:40:48,842
And the feds,

2028
01:40:48,909 --> 01:40:50,911
the federal government,
in my opinion,

2029
01:40:50,978 --> 01:40:55,182
<i>was dancing around
this whole issue
of state rights.</i>

2030
01:40:55,249 --> 01:40:58,552
<i>And the state
had to call the feds in</i>

2031
01:40:58,619 --> 01:41:01,021
<i>for the resources
that they needed.</i>

2032
01:41:01,088 --> 01:41:05,359
<i>And the state was kind
of hesitant in doing that,</i>

2033
01:41:05,426 --> 01:41:07,494
<i>because the governor
wanted to look like</i>

2034
01:41:07,561 --> 01:41:09,496
<i>she was in charge
and in control.</i>

2035
01:41:09,563 --> 01:41:11,565
<i>And that's what I'm
talking about when I say</i>

2036
01:41:11,632 --> 01:41:14,201
<i>there was this dance
about final authority.</i>

2037
01:41:14,268 --> 01:41:17,137
<i>And people were suffering.
It was frustrating me.</i>

2038
01:41:18,806 --> 01:41:20,474
<i>Governor Blanco, I think,</i>

2039
01:41:20,541 --> 01:41:22,476
<i>was in many ways
angry at Nagin,</i>

2040
01:41:22,543 --> 01:41:24,812
<i>because Nagin,
as a Democrat,</i>

2041
01:41:24,878 --> 01:41:27,881
<i>backed the Republican
Bobby Jindal</i>

2042
01:41:27,948 --> 01:41:29,383
when she ran for governor.

2043
01:41:29,450 --> 01:41:31,018
He didn't think she had
a chance to win,

2044
01:41:31,084 --> 01:41:33,887
and he did in politics,
which is one of those
unthinkable things--

2045
01:41:33,954 --> 01:41:36,957
he broke out and said,
"I don't want the Democratic
candidate.

2046
01:41:37,024 --> 01:41:38,792
I'm going to vote
for a Republican,"

2047
01:41:38,859 --> 01:41:41,028
who is a great friend
of the Bush administration,

2048
01:41:41,094 --> 01:41:42,629
so Nagin backed
Bobby Jindal.

2049
01:41:42,696 --> 01:41:44,898
Well, Blanco won,
and she's harbored

2050
01:41:44,965 --> 01:41:47,401
a great deal of animosity
towards Nagin ever since.

2051
01:41:47,468 --> 01:41:51,805
I don't care what
the political relationship is

2052
01:41:51,872 --> 01:41:54,141
between a governor
or a mayor.

2053
01:41:54,208 --> 01:41:57,778
When there's a crisis,
like a hurricane crisis

2054
01:41:57,845 --> 01:41:59,813
or a weather crisis,

2055
01:41:59,880 --> 01:42:02,349
all political BS

2056
01:42:02,416 --> 01:42:04,084
has to go to the side.

2057
01:42:04,151 --> 01:42:06,086
"Ray Nagin,
what-- what happened?

2058
01:42:06,153 --> 01:42:07,955
You dropped the ball."

2059
01:42:08,021 --> 01:42:10,657
Then I would say the same
thing to the governor.

2060
01:42:10,724 --> 01:42:13,694
"Ms. Blanco, what were
you thinking about?

2061
01:42:13,760 --> 01:42:15,929
What the hell
was going on?"

2062
01:42:15,996 --> 01:42:17,598
<i>Then I would ask Bush,</i>

2063
01:42:17,664 --> 01:42:20,133
<i>"You're out of touch,
and you don't have a clue."</i>

2064
01:42:20,200 --> 01:42:21,902
<i>You know,
he's the type of person</i>

2065
01:42:21,969 --> 01:42:25,572
<i>that gives "C" students
all over the world
a bad name.</i>

2066
01:42:25,639 --> 01:42:27,875
<i>And here he was in Biloxi,</i>

2067
01:42:27,941 --> 01:42:30,511
<i>feeling the pain
of some of the survivors.</i>

2068
01:42:30,577 --> 01:42:34,715
<i>He's very good at this,
but many feel he should have
done it much earlier.</i>

2069
01:42:34,781 --> 01:42:38,719
<i>Then the question that
may well come to haunt him
in his second term--</i>

2070
01:42:38,785 --> 01:42:41,388
<i>the war in Iraq
and Hurricane Katrina--</i>

2071
01:42:41,455 --> 01:42:43,290
<i>the perfect storm.</i>

2072
01:42:43,357 --> 01:42:45,392
What do you say
to the people who say

2073
01:42:45,459 --> 01:42:47,828
there's too much money
being spent on Iraq and
it's time to bring it home?

2074
01:42:47,895 --> 01:42:49,830
I-I-I just completely
disagree.

2075
01:42:49,897 --> 01:42:52,633
We've got a job
to defend this country
in the war on terror,

2076
01:42:52,699 --> 01:42:55,068
and we've got a job
to bring aid and comfort

2077
01:42:55,135 --> 01:42:57,838
to people
of the Gulf Coast,
and we'll do both.

2078
01:42:57,905 --> 01:42:59,506
I'll never forget it.

2079
01:42:59,573 --> 01:43:02,743
I went to one of the shelters
in Shreveport, Louisiana,

2080
01:43:02,809 --> 01:43:04,545
and I met a man
named Daniel Webster.

2081
01:43:04,611 --> 01:43:06,046
I will never forget him.

2082
01:43:06,113 --> 01:43:08,949
And he was sitting there,
and he said to me,

2083
01:43:09,016 --> 01:43:10,450
"You know, Reverend,

2084
01:43:10,517 --> 01:43:13,053
"my wife was
wheelchair-bound.

2085
01:43:13,120 --> 01:43:16,256
"When I heard
the storm coming,
I ran to the door.

2086
01:43:16,323 --> 01:43:18,792
"I knew I was in trouble
because I took my finger

2087
01:43:18,859 --> 01:43:21,228
"and tapped the doorknob,
and I tasted the water.

2088
01:43:21,295 --> 01:43:25,165
It was salt water,
so I knew that the waters
from the river was coming."

2089
01:43:25,232 --> 01:43:27,701
He said, "But before
I could run back

2090
01:43:27,768 --> 01:43:29,536
"to where my wife was,

2091
01:43:29,603 --> 01:43:31,972
"I looked outside
and saw my car floating.

2092
01:43:32,039 --> 01:43:33,807
"And before I could
reach my wife,

2093
01:43:33,874 --> 01:43:36,743
the door came off
the hinges and water
was everywhere."

2094
01:43:36,810 --> 01:43:38,679
He said, "I finally
grabbed her chair

2095
01:43:38,745 --> 01:43:41,148
"and pushed her up
to the roof of the house,

2096
01:43:41,214 --> 01:43:43,150
"and I held her
as long as I could.

2097
01:43:43,216 --> 01:43:44,751
"And I couldn't
hold no longer,

2098
01:43:44,818 --> 01:43:47,754
"and I watched
my wife's wheelchair
just go with the flow

2099
01:43:47,821 --> 01:43:49,256
"and watched her drown

2100
01:43:49,323 --> 01:43:51,858
as a tree branch
held me for 12 hours."

2101
01:43:51,925 --> 01:43:55,062
He said, "The only thing
I don't know is why God
didn't just let me die.

2102
01:43:55,128 --> 01:43:56,630
I have nothing
to live for."

2103
01:43:56,697 --> 01:43:59,099
These are the kinds of things
we had to listen to

2104
01:43:59,166 --> 01:44:01,068
and then turn on the news
that night

2105
01:44:01,134 --> 01:44:03,270
and George Bush
and Michael Brown

2106
01:44:03,337 --> 01:44:04,972
are talking politics.

2107
01:44:05,038 --> 01:44:06,873
They didn't have
information.

2108
01:44:06,940 --> 01:44:08,609
They were waiting
on reports.

2109
01:44:08,675 --> 01:44:10,210
They could have done
what we did--

2110
01:44:10,277 --> 01:44:12,479
go right there
and talk to the people.

2111
01:44:12,546 --> 01:44:15,449
Activate the National Guard,
activate the military.

2112
01:44:15,515 --> 01:44:17,918
Oh. I forgot.
They were in Iraq

2113
01:44:17,985 --> 01:44:21,121
making democracy free
for those abroad

2114
01:44:21,188 --> 01:44:23,724
while those at home
had nothing.

2115
01:44:25,592 --> 01:44:27,928
I'm her daughter.
How old
is your mother?

2116
01:44:27,995 --> 01:44:30,998
86. She have
a heart condition.

2117
01:44:31,064 --> 01:44:34,768
<i>The feeling that residents
had about the National Guard</i>

2118
01:44:34,835 --> 01:44:37,671
<i>and the state police
and the visiting police,</i>

2119
01:44:37,738 --> 01:44:40,874
that they were in
an armed, occupied city.

2120
01:44:42,442 --> 01:44:43,844
I can't help but believe

2121
01:44:43,910 --> 01:44:45,612
that that's the same way
they treated people

2122
01:44:45,679 --> 01:44:50,617
in any city
that we go in and invade,
you know, or...

2123
01:44:50,684 --> 01:44:53,587
Kosovo or wherever.
I don't know.

2124
01:44:55,822 --> 01:44:58,759
I guess maybe that's
the way the Iraqis
feel sometimes.

2125
01:44:58,825 --> 01:45:01,028
Good morning.

2126
01:45:01,094 --> 01:45:03,330
Yesterday was a good day.

2127
01:45:03,397 --> 01:45:06,133
We made much progress
in building our capability

2128
01:45:06,199 --> 01:45:10,270
in the area of operation,
in Mississippi

2129
01:45:10,337 --> 01:45:12,205
as well as in Louisiana.

2130
01:45:12,272 --> 01:45:15,642
<i>The next thing that happened
was I get this call.</i>

2131
01:45:15,709 --> 01:45:17,644
<i>I need to meet
this general,</i>

2132
01:45:17,711 --> 01:45:20,080
and he's at the heliport.

2133
01:45:20,147 --> 01:45:22,683
So I walk in
and I'm waiting,

2134
01:45:22,749 --> 01:45:25,552
and his-- his aircraft
was a little late.

2135
01:45:25,619 --> 01:45:27,854
And I'll never forget this
as long as I live.

2136
01:45:27,921 --> 01:45:30,624
This brother
walks in the room--
walks in the room

2137
01:45:30,691 --> 01:45:33,427
and he's got all these
military guys around,

2138
01:45:33,493 --> 01:45:36,463
and he takes-- he's got
his little tammy on,

2139
01:45:36,530 --> 01:45:38,165
and he takes
his dark shades on

2140
01:45:38,231 --> 01:45:39,933
and gets his little pad
and his pen.

2141
01:45:40,000 --> 01:45:41,468
He says, "All right.

2142
01:45:41,535 --> 01:45:43,537
<i>What are we going to do?
What's going on?"</i>

2143
01:45:43,603 --> 01:45:46,573
Weapons down!
Weapons down, damn it!

2144
01:45:46,640 --> 01:45:48,942
<i>They started
giving him a bunch of BS,</i>

2145
01:45:49,009 --> 01:45:51,912
<i>and he started cussing,
and things started happening.</i>

2146
01:45:51,978 --> 01:45:53,780
<i>And that's when
things changed.</i>

2147
01:45:53,847 --> 01:45:56,183
Put those damn
weapons down!

2148
01:45:56,249 --> 01:45:59,386
I'm not going
to tell you again,
God damn it.

2149
01:45:59,453 --> 01:46:02,055
Get those goddamn
weapons down.

2150
01:46:03,290 --> 01:46:05,358
The black
John Wayne dude--

2151
01:46:05,425 --> 01:46:08,095
General Honore,
that's a bad man.

2152
01:46:08,161 --> 01:46:10,230
He was the guy
that did it.

2153
01:46:10,297 --> 01:46:12,265
He wasn't stuck on stuck.

2154
01:46:12,332 --> 01:46:14,468
I want that on the ground,
so the trucks can go
get another load.

2155
01:46:14,534 --> 01:46:16,369
Yes, sir.
You can make that happen?

2156
01:46:16,436 --> 01:46:18,939
I can make it happen, sir.
You the man.
I'm depending on you.

2157
01:46:19,005 --> 01:46:21,208
I'm gonna make it happen.
I got something for you
at the end of this.

2158
01:46:21,274 --> 01:46:23,076
All right, sir.
Thank you.

2159
01:46:23,143 --> 01:46:25,445
<i>The next 24 hours
will be critical to us</i>

2160
01:46:25,512 --> 01:46:28,081
<i>as we are trying
to evacuate</i>

2161
01:46:28,148 --> 01:46:32,018
<i>the 25,000 people
at the Convention Center.</i>

2162
01:46:32,085 --> 01:46:33,553
<i>This will be tough work,</i>

2163
01:46:33,620 --> 01:46:35,889
<i>but we have
the conditions set,</i>

2164
01:46:35,956 --> 01:46:37,824
<i>and we will
get that done.</i>

2165
01:46:37,891 --> 01:46:40,827
<i>We'll continue
to flow forces in
and capability</i>

2166
01:46:40,894 --> 01:46:42,796
<i>so we can sustain
this operation</i>

2167
01:46:42,863 --> 01:46:46,066
<i>and continue
the enormous search
and rescue mission</i>

2168
01:46:46,133 --> 01:46:50,604
<i>that runs from
I-20 to the Gulf Coast
of Mississippi</i>

2169
01:46:50,670 --> 01:46:54,207
<i>and in and around
the Greater New Orleans area.</i>

2170
01:46:54,274 --> 01:46:56,409
So we will do our best
and continue to do that

2171
01:46:56,476 --> 01:46:58,712
over the next 24 hours.
Over.

2172
01:46:58,779 --> 01:47:00,413
Right now we're being told

2173
01:47:00,480 --> 01:47:03,550
that this is
a convoy of food,

2174
01:47:03,617 --> 01:47:07,654
possible food
and supplies coming in--

2175
01:47:07,721 --> 01:47:11,358
maybe we can slow it down
a little bit here--

2176
01:47:11,424 --> 01:47:14,995
into the area
of the Convention Center.

2177
01:47:15,061 --> 01:47:17,430
Relief is finally
arriving here

2178
01:47:17,497 --> 01:47:22,035
on large National Guard
or Army vehicles

2179
01:47:22,102 --> 01:47:23,703
around the Superdome.

2180
01:47:23,770 --> 01:47:26,206
<i>In the lines for the people</i>

2181
01:47:26,273 --> 01:47:29,676
<i>to evacuate
the Superdome,</i>

2182
01:47:29,743 --> 01:47:31,878
<i>they had no direction</i>

2183
01:47:31,945 --> 01:47:34,447
<i>or no clue of what
was going on.</i>

2184
01:47:34,514 --> 01:47:36,449
<i>You couldn't hear anything,</i>

2185
01:47:36,516 --> 01:47:38,618
<i>because there was
no sound system.</i>

2186
01:47:38,685 --> 01:47:40,387
<i>When you did get</i>

2187
01:47:40,453 --> 01:47:43,190
<i>something that somebody
was telling you--</i>

2188
01:47:43,256 --> 01:47:45,325
<i>the men in one line,</i>

2189
01:47:45,392 --> 01:47:47,127
<i>the women in one line,</i>

2190
01:47:47,194 --> 01:47:49,629
the family
in another line,

2191
01:47:49,696 --> 01:47:51,598
the elderly
in another line.

2192
01:47:51,665 --> 01:47:54,968
<i>It was just so chaotic</i>

2193
01:47:55,035 --> 01:47:57,571
<i>trying to get out
of that Dome,</i>

2194
01:47:57,637 --> 01:48:00,373
<i>because no one
had any clue</i>

2195
01:48:00,440 --> 01:48:02,909
<i>or direction
how-- how we were</i>

2196
01:48:02,976 --> 01:48:05,545
<i>to get out the Dome
at the time.</i>

2197
01:48:05,612 --> 01:48:07,614
Grab her--
grab her legs.

2198
01:48:07,681 --> 01:48:10,183
<i>The hotel--
the Hyatt is located right
next to the Superdome.</i>

2199
01:48:10,250 --> 01:48:12,185
<i>We were actually called
the Hyatt Regency New Orleans</i>

2200
01:48:12,252 --> 01:48:13,587
at Louisiana Superdome.

2201
01:48:15,789 --> 01:48:17,224
We were right
in the vicinity,

2202
01:48:17,290 --> 01:48:18,725
but it was like
being miles away,

2203
01:48:18,792 --> 01:48:21,461
because there was water
and everything else

2204
01:48:21,528 --> 01:48:24,231
separating us from
the folks at the Dome.

2205
01:48:24,297 --> 01:48:28,235
They evacuated all the folks
from the Dome,

2206
01:48:28,301 --> 01:48:31,671
probably about 40,000 people,
through the Hyatt,

2207
01:48:31,738 --> 01:48:36,743
<i>and... we had no idea
what to expect.</i>

2208
01:48:36,810 --> 01:48:38,778
The day that the folks
were going to be

2209
01:48:38,845 --> 01:48:40,914
evacuated from the Dome
through the hotel...

2210
01:48:42,382 --> 01:48:43,550
I found out about it,

2211
01:48:43,617 --> 01:48:45,785
and I was told
that I would have

2212
01:48:45,852 --> 01:48:49,456
National Guard,
state and local police
to do the security.

2213
01:48:49,522 --> 01:48:51,224
Because...

2214
01:48:51,291 --> 01:48:54,194
Gralen was afraid
that the guys

2215
01:48:54,261 --> 01:48:56,596
who were in there
doing what they weren't
supposed to do

2216
01:48:56,663 --> 01:49:00,100
would fan out into the hotel,
and it could be a problem.

2217
01:49:00,166 --> 01:49:01,768
So we were on our way

2218
01:49:01,835 --> 01:49:05,739
to go and speak to
this major-- state police,

2219
01:49:05,805 --> 01:49:09,009
when I saw this brother
in a uniform--

2220
01:49:09,075 --> 01:49:11,544
just a brother
in a uniform happened
to be walking by.

2221
01:49:11,611 --> 01:49:12,746
I said,
"Excuse me, sir.

2222
01:49:12,812 --> 01:49:15,515
Are you with
the National Guard?"

2223
01:49:15,582 --> 01:49:17,951
He said, "Yes, I am."
I said, "Listen, this is
what I need, man.

2224
01:49:18,018 --> 01:49:19,819
I got a problem, because
the state troopers--"

2225
01:49:19,886 --> 01:49:22,489
And I just started
going off, right?

2226
01:49:24,024 --> 01:49:26,793
And the brother said,
"Wait a second.

2227
01:49:26,860 --> 01:49:29,663
"Stop. Take a deep breath.

2228
01:49:29,729 --> 01:49:31,164
"Tell me what it is
you want me to do.

2229
01:49:31,231 --> 01:49:32,499
Tell me what
I can do for you."

2230
01:49:32,565 --> 01:49:36,136
Well, in the meantime,
the crew I'm with,

2231
01:49:36,202 --> 01:49:38,405
we looking
at each other like,

2232
01:49:38,471 --> 01:49:42,776
"Okay, let's get these people
out of the Dome,"

2233
01:49:42,842 --> 01:49:45,312
'cause Gralen
done cut the deal,
him and the other folk,

2234
01:49:45,378 --> 01:49:47,047
they done cut the deal.

2235
01:49:47,113 --> 01:49:50,650
And the military
created a line

2236
01:49:50,717 --> 01:49:52,953
from the entrance
of the Hyatt--

2237
01:49:53,019 --> 01:49:55,121
from the entrance
of the New Orleans Center

2238
01:49:55,188 --> 01:49:56,623
all the way
through the Hyatt,

2239
01:49:56,690 --> 01:49:59,359
all the way down
to the Loyola Street door.

2240
01:49:59,426 --> 01:50:03,096
And I mean
a physical line,
like a chute.

2241
01:50:03,163 --> 01:50:05,899
He said, "Mr. Banks,"
he said, "will this do?"

2242
01:50:05,966 --> 01:50:08,301
So I dapped him off--

2243
01:50:08,368 --> 01:50:10,236
dapped the brother off,
give him a hug,

2244
01:50:10,303 --> 01:50:12,706
and I had
to call my mom

2245
01:50:12,772 --> 01:50:15,108
because I saw
the significance.

2246
01:50:15,175 --> 01:50:18,111
I never told you his name.
You know what his name was?

2247
01:50:18,178 --> 01:50:19,312
Captain Christian.

2248
01:50:20,747 --> 01:50:22,482
His name was
Captain Christian.

2249
01:50:22,549 --> 01:50:26,519
And as they came through,
the military was good and bad.

2250
01:50:26,586 --> 01:50:30,323
Because I guess
as a trained soldier,

2251
01:50:30,390 --> 01:50:33,026
you have to see things
and act like you
don't see it.

2252
01:50:33,093 --> 01:50:35,095
You're oblivious to it.

2253
01:50:35,161 --> 01:50:38,565
And for much pain--
I mean, people were
carrying people

2254
01:50:38,631 --> 01:50:41,468
<i>and dragging--
and dragging bags
of clothes,</i>

2255
01:50:41,534 --> 01:50:44,371
<i>and crippled people
and people bleeding.</i>

2256
01:50:44,437 --> 01:50:49,642
<i>I mean, it was just
horrific conditions.</i>

2257
01:50:49,709 --> 01:50:52,178
<i>Horrific conditions--</i>

2258
01:50:52,245 --> 01:50:55,749
<i>women, periods
was down on them,</i>

2259
01:50:55,815 --> 01:50:58,385
<i>they had shit on them,
piss on them.</i>

2260
01:50:58,451 --> 01:51:01,321
<i>Children were
by themselves.</i>

2261
01:51:01,388 --> 01:51:03,923
<i>You would have
thought we were
in the middle of a war</i>

2262
01:51:03,990 --> 01:51:07,193
<i>and everybody took out
running and hiding,</i>

2263
01:51:07,260 --> 01:51:11,131
<i>and all of a sudden
they were able to flee.</i>

2264
01:51:11,197 --> 01:51:13,600
<i>And I saw that,</i>

2265
01:51:13,666 --> 01:51:16,836
and all I could do
was cry

2266
01:51:16,903 --> 01:51:19,005
and stand up there
and feel helpless

2267
01:51:19,072 --> 01:51:21,808
until I looked
on the sidewalk and saw

2268
01:51:21,875 --> 01:51:24,511
<i>all of this water
that the military
had stacked up.</i>

2269
01:51:24,577 --> 01:51:27,914
<i>And I began to bust
the cases on the water</i>

2270
01:51:27,981 --> 01:51:30,517
<i>and put a bottle of water
in everybody's hand</i>

2271
01:51:30,583 --> 01:51:34,854
just to give it
some humanistic side.

2272
01:51:34,921 --> 01:51:37,223
Not a lot,
but something.

2273
01:51:37,290 --> 01:51:39,626
I mean, we had
to do something.

2274
01:51:39,692 --> 01:51:42,829
If he sees this,
Captain Christian,
I owe you one.

2275
01:51:42,896 --> 01:51:44,330
Thank you, brother.
Thank you.

2276
01:51:44,397 --> 01:51:46,866
He looked out, man,
and it was just the idea--

2277
01:51:46,933 --> 01:51:48,735
when I told my mom,
she said the same thing.

2278
01:51:48,802 --> 01:51:51,971
She said,
"Lord have mercy.
God is good."

2279
01:51:52,038 --> 01:51:54,507
My mother died
September the 1st,

2280
01:51:54,574 --> 01:51:58,044
and she had to
stay out there in
the heat for four days.

2281
01:51:58,111 --> 01:52:00,046
Because I left
on the 4th,

2282
01:52:00,113 --> 01:52:02,015
she was still there.

2283
01:52:02,082 --> 01:52:05,185
I wanted to go
and be with her.

2284
01:52:05,251 --> 01:52:08,455
The National Guard told me
I had to get on the bus.

2285
01:52:08,521 --> 01:52:10,356
And they all had AK-47's.

2286
01:52:10,423 --> 01:52:12,459
He told me he was
doing his job.

2287
01:52:12,525 --> 01:52:15,595
I said, "Let me
just go back there just
to see her before I leave."

2288
01:52:15,662 --> 01:52:17,363
He said, "No, you're not
going to do anything.

2289
01:52:17,430 --> 01:52:20,266
You're going
to get on this bus
and stay on this bus."

2290
01:52:20,333 --> 01:52:22,902
Just like that,
so I had to make a decision

2291
01:52:22,969 --> 01:52:26,339
whether to go
against authority
and get myself in trouble

2292
01:52:26,406 --> 01:52:29,008
or to just
leave it alone

2293
01:52:29,075 --> 01:52:31,044
and I can handle it
a little better later on.

2294
01:52:32,245 --> 01:52:34,147
So I prayed to myself,

2295
01:52:34,214 --> 01:52:36,916
and the voice
within me told me

2296
01:52:36,983 --> 01:52:39,853
just to get on the bus,
don't do anything.

2297
01:52:39,919 --> 01:52:42,355
Just stand still
and watch my salvation.

2298
01:52:52,465 --> 01:52:54,734
Here we are in what's
really the oldest part

2299
01:52:54,801 --> 01:52:57,303
of the airport terminal,
built in 1959.

2300
01:52:57,370 --> 01:52:59,339
And today it's doing
its normal function,

2301
01:52:59,405 --> 01:53:01,774
which is being
a quiet waiting area

2302
01:53:01,841 --> 01:53:03,910
before you go
through security
and go to your plane.

2303
01:53:03,977 --> 01:53:07,180
A few shops are open,
and it looks pretty normal.

2304
01:53:07,247 --> 01:53:08,681
<i>But at the height
of the evacuation,</i>

2305
01:53:08,748 --> 01:53:11,151
<i>this was an entirely
different facility.</i>

2306
01:53:11,217 --> 01:53:14,087
<i>It was filled with people,
people hoping to get out,</i>

2307
01:53:14,154 --> 01:53:17,624
<i>hoping to get away
from the disaster
that was Katrina.</i>

2308
01:53:17,690 --> 01:53:19,859
<i>When we got here, we had
blisters on our feet.</i>

2309
01:53:19,926 --> 01:53:23,229
So on top of the blisters,
we stood for 15 hours.

2310
01:53:23,296 --> 01:53:25,031
I counted them.

2311
01:53:25,098 --> 01:53:27,233
There was a group
called "The ICE Unit."

2312
01:53:27,300 --> 01:53:30,236
They weren't here
when we got here.
They were brought in.

2313
01:53:30,303 --> 01:53:32,105
And this was
to keep "order,"

2314
01:53:32,172 --> 01:53:34,107
because we were
getting out of order.

2315
01:53:34,174 --> 01:53:37,544
Because people were yelling,
"My child is dying,"
"My mother is dying,"

2316
01:53:37,610 --> 01:53:39,145
we were getting
out of order.

2317
01:53:39,212 --> 01:53:42,515
By day, the ticket lobby
was filled with evacuees
waiting,

2318
01:53:42,582 --> 01:53:44,217
<i>standing in line patiently,</i>

2319
01:53:44,284 --> 01:53:46,419
<i>hoping to make
that next flight.</i>

2320
01:53:46,486 --> 01:53:49,455
<i>But as the day
would come to an end,
each night again,</i>

2321
01:53:49,522 --> 01:53:51,524
<i>all of the folks
in this lobby--</i>

2322
01:53:51,591 --> 01:53:55,562
we estimate
in these two lobbies
at peak 8,000 people--

2323
01:53:55,628 --> 01:53:58,531
would have to find
someplace to bed down
for the night.

2324
01:53:58,598 --> 01:54:00,133
Right now,
no firm
numbers

2325
01:54:00,200 --> 01:54:01,568
on the number
of people

2326
01:54:01,634 --> 01:54:03,903
inside of
this main
terminal.

2327
01:54:03,970 --> 01:54:05,271
About 4,000
is what

2328
01:54:05,338 --> 01:54:07,440
they areguesstimating at this point.

2329
01:54:07,507 --> 01:54:09,375
<i>The first
week, we actually
were in the studio.</i>

2330
01:54:09,442 --> 01:54:11,377
<i>When the hurricane hit,
we reported on it.</i>

2331
01:54:11,444 --> 01:54:13,746
<i>We were on the air
as it was making landfall,</i>

2332
01:54:13,813 --> 01:54:16,916
<i>and then we
went to New Orleans
right after that.</i>

2333
01:54:16,983 --> 01:54:19,886
And then we got
into the airport, and that
was the real shocker.

2334
01:54:19,953 --> 01:54:22,655
<i>It was just full
and full of people.</i>

2335
01:54:22,722 --> 01:54:27,160
<i>Every hallway in this
part of the airport,
full of people.</i>

2336
01:54:27,227 --> 01:54:31,197
<i>And then upstairs was
the sort of hospital
triage area.</i>

2337
01:54:31,264 --> 01:54:33,566
<i>So what you had was
a lot of really old people</i>

2338
01:54:33,633 --> 01:54:36,002
<i>either on gurneys
or in wheelchairs</i>

2339
01:54:36,069 --> 01:54:38,705
<i>or with canes,
hooked to IVs.</i>

2340
01:54:38,771 --> 01:54:42,308
<i>The stench
was unbelievable.
It was just filthy.</i>

2341
01:54:42,375 --> 01:54:45,245
And-- and so many people.

2342
01:54:45,311 --> 01:54:46,746
It just went on
and on and on.

2343
01:54:46,813 --> 01:54:48,348
They had to...

2344
01:54:49,616 --> 01:54:52,719
basically corral us
in an area

2345
01:54:52,785 --> 01:54:54,921
where there were
children fainting.

2346
01:54:54,988 --> 01:54:56,789
I had to keep coming
in the cool area,

2347
01:54:56,856 --> 01:54:59,425
because I kept getting
what I'm thinking were
panic attacks,

2348
01:54:59,492 --> 01:55:02,061
anxiety attacks,
because there was no air.

2349
01:55:02,128 --> 01:55:06,699
People were packed
in here from this wall
to over here.

2350
01:55:06,766 --> 01:55:08,935
And when I say
"wall-to-wall"--

2351
01:55:09,002 --> 01:55:11,404
four, five times over
wall-to-wall.

2352
01:55:11,471 --> 01:55:14,741
The line was, like,
20 people wide,

2353
01:55:14,807 --> 01:55:17,610
and it was just snaking
through the entire airport--

2354
01:55:17,677 --> 01:55:20,913
from the downstairs
through the upstairs
through the security.

2355
01:55:20,980 --> 01:55:23,616
Thankfully,
despite the vast crowds,

2356
01:55:23,683 --> 01:55:26,286
despite the uncertainty,
despite all the pressure

2357
01:55:26,352 --> 01:55:29,088
on all of these folks
that all of them were feeling,

2358
01:55:29,155 --> 01:55:31,791
we did not have
any significant crime,

2359
01:55:31,858 --> 01:55:33,393
any significant violence.

2360
01:55:33,459 --> 01:55:35,895
It was
an orderly process

2361
01:55:35,962 --> 01:55:38,865
to, I think,
everyone's amazement,
and thankfully so.

2362
01:55:38,931 --> 01:55:41,501
<i>And then it's like--</i>

2363
01:55:41,567 --> 01:55:45,038
<i>at these checkout points,
you get a little sandwich</i>

2364
01:55:45,104 --> 01:55:46,539
<i>and something to drink.</i>

2365
01:55:46,606 --> 01:55:49,642
There's a cardboard box,

2366
01:55:49,709 --> 01:55:52,578
and the guards go,
"Throw your guns there.

2367
01:55:52,645 --> 01:55:55,248
No questions asked."
Yeah, guns, knives,
whatever.

2368
01:55:55,315 --> 01:55:57,417
"Just get rid
of them."

2369
01:55:57,483 --> 01:56:00,286
And all the way,
there was maybe

2370
01:56:00,353 --> 01:56:03,890
seven or eight
that kind of points,
and there were actually--

2371
01:56:03,956 --> 01:56:05,992
Yeah, they kept just yelling
out the different things

2372
01:56:06,059 --> 01:56:07,493
you couldn't take
on the airplane.

2373
01:56:07,560 --> 01:56:10,196
It was a great list,
because it covered
everything.

2374
01:56:10,263 --> 01:56:12,065
We finally got able
to go to the door.

2375
01:56:12,131 --> 01:56:14,100
Hour 15-- we walked
through the door.

2376
01:56:14,167 --> 01:56:16,936
And I'm walking through it
like, "Okay, we're finally
through this shit."

2377
01:56:17,003 --> 01:56:18,905
Metal detector for what?
We have nothing.

2378
01:56:18,971 --> 01:56:20,406
What metal detector?

2379
01:56:20,473 --> 01:56:22,208
"Do you have any drugs on you?
Do you have--"

2380
01:56:22,275 --> 01:56:25,078
If I did,
I'd smoke 'em. Fuck.

2381
01:56:25,144 --> 01:56:27,980
But at any rate,
we get through the door--

2382
01:56:28,047 --> 01:56:30,650
so I'm just-- I'm just trying
to get through the shit.

2383
01:56:30,717 --> 01:56:32,118
She's standing there
looking at me.

2384
01:56:32,185 --> 01:56:34,754
What they call--
I learned this in DC--
"gritting" on me.

2385
01:56:34,821 --> 01:56:37,256
Like she wanted to fight,
which is not a good thing.

2386
01:56:37,323 --> 01:56:39,058
I mean, already,
I don't know who I am,

2387
01:56:39,125 --> 01:56:41,861
so when I whip your ass,
I'm not going to know
who you are either.

2388
01:56:41,928 --> 01:56:44,697
So I'm like,
"What the fuck are you looking
at me like that for?" Right?

2389
01:56:44,764 --> 01:56:46,899
So she's like,
"Um, do we have a problem?"

2390
01:56:46,966 --> 01:56:49,936
"Not fucking yet,
but come here and let me
whisper something in your ear.

2391
01:56:50,002 --> 01:56:52,271
"You know what?
You're on your job,
and I'm not on my job.

2392
01:56:52,338 --> 01:56:53,973
Let's take this
fucking shit outside."

2393
01:56:54,040 --> 01:56:56,042
You whisper something
where nobody else can hear,

2394
01:56:56,109 --> 01:56:58,778
because I'm that angry
where I just want to take you
where nobody else can see you,

2395
01:56:58,845 --> 01:57:01,781
fuck you up
and go on about my business.
You know what I'm saying?

2396
01:57:01,848 --> 01:57:05,318
Because you're standing here
in air-conditioning with
a goddamn uniform on,

2397
01:57:05,385 --> 01:57:08,421
never mind how much they
pay you, but the stupid-ass
attitude behind it.

2398
01:57:08,488 --> 01:57:11,958
We're out here suffering--
and not just because your skin
is black like mine,

2399
01:57:12,024 --> 01:57:14,994
but some fucking sympathy,
some compassion, empathy,
anything.

2400
01:57:21,901 --> 01:57:25,138
<i>They told us they thought
it was going to San Antonio.</i>

2401
01:57:25,204 --> 01:57:27,740
So then we
got on the plane--
We called everyone.

2402
01:57:27,807 --> 01:57:30,810
We're trying to get--
Trying to get picked up
from San Antonio.

2403
01:57:30,877 --> 01:57:33,012
"Does anybody have
a friend in San Antonio?"

2404
01:57:33,079 --> 01:57:34,514
We wind up getting off

2405
01:57:34,580 --> 01:57:39,185
on the Dallas-Louisiana-
Shreveport Welcome Station,

2406
01:57:39,252 --> 01:57:43,289
where we got off the bus
because we was too scared
to go further.

2407
01:57:43,356 --> 01:57:45,658
Told my bus driver, said,
"Where are we going?"

2408
01:57:45,725 --> 01:57:48,227
He said, "They didn't tell us
where we're going."

2409
01:57:48,294 --> 01:57:51,998
They had 56 buses
that convoyed us to...

2410
01:57:52,064 --> 01:57:54,000
Muskogee, Oklahoma.

2411
01:57:54,066 --> 01:57:57,703
Then I realized they
were trying to ship us off
to Utah in an airplane.

2412
01:57:57,770 --> 01:58:01,307
And I was like, "No, no,
I don't want to go to Utah.
I want to go to Baton Rouge."

2413
01:58:01,374 --> 01:58:03,776
We got on a plane
and we didn't know
where we were going.

2414
01:58:03,843 --> 01:58:06,345
They didn't tell us
where we were going
until we actually got there

2415
01:58:06,412 --> 01:58:08,748
and figured out--
we saw a sign that said
"Texas," okay?

2416
01:58:08,815 --> 01:58:10,149
And San Antonio
at that.

2417
01:58:10,216 --> 01:58:12,151
So they took us up
to Oklahoma.

2418
01:58:12,218 --> 01:58:14,387
Oklahoma?
Oklahoma.

2419
01:58:14,454 --> 01:58:17,690
How long was
the bus ride?
30 hours. 30 hours.

2420
01:58:17,757 --> 01:58:19,826
Some of my family
is in Utah.

2421
01:58:19,892 --> 01:58:21,928
Some of my family
is in Colorado.

2422
01:58:21,994 --> 01:58:25,264
First place I headed,
I made it to Tennessee,

2423
01:58:25,331 --> 01:58:26,866
slept there for a night.

2424
01:58:26,933 --> 01:58:29,469
And then I went
to some relatives

2425
01:58:29,535 --> 01:58:31,471
of my girlfriend
in Evergreen.

2426
01:58:31,537 --> 01:58:32,972
Then I went--

2427
01:58:33,039 --> 01:58:34,707
Where's that?
Evergreen, Alabama.

2428
01:58:34,774 --> 01:58:36,375
We've been
to Lafayette,

2429
01:58:36,442 --> 01:58:38,611
Gonzales,
Baton Rouge,

2430
01:58:38,678 --> 01:58:40,813
South Carolina,
Orlando.

2431
01:58:40,880 --> 01:58:44,617
And some went to Eugene,
some went to Baton Rouge,

2432
01:58:44,684 --> 01:58:46,519
some went to Atlanta.

2433
01:58:46,586 --> 01:58:49,455
My mom was in Houston.

2434
01:58:49,522 --> 01:58:52,792
My sister Phyllis was
in San Antonio, Texas.

2435
01:58:52,859 --> 01:58:55,561
And then I went
to Pensacola, Florida.

2436
01:58:55,628 --> 01:58:57,930
And then I went back
to Evergreen.

2437
01:58:57,997 --> 01:58:59,665
Then I made it
to Atlanta.

2438
01:58:59,732 --> 01:59:03,236
Some of 'em
is in Houston, Texas.

2439
01:59:03,302 --> 01:59:06,606
Some of 'em
is in Fort Worth, Texas.

2440
01:59:06,672 --> 01:59:10,109
My Uncle James was
on an Army base in Utah.

2441
01:59:10,176 --> 01:59:13,513
My niece Alicia
and her mother Carla,

2442
01:59:13,579 --> 01:59:16,148
they were in Lafayette,
Louisiana.

2443
01:59:16,215 --> 01:59:17,917
Jahiya and I
were in New York.

2444
01:59:17,984 --> 01:59:20,553
They went to Lafayette,
they went to Hammond.

2445
01:59:20,620 --> 01:59:22,255
And the worst part
about that--

2446
01:59:22,321 --> 01:59:24,357
they were sending you
where they want to send you.

2447
01:59:24,423 --> 01:59:26,726
They'd tell you, "I've got
relatives in Atlanta.

2448
01:59:26,792 --> 01:59:28,728
It'd be great if I can
get to Atlanta."

2449
01:59:28,794 --> 01:59:31,998
Knowing what I knew,
knowing that if they waited
for the Atlanta plane,

2450
01:59:32,064 --> 01:59:33,633
they might be there
two or three more days.

2451
01:59:33,699 --> 01:59:36,502
And whether they got
to Dallas or Oklahoma City
or wherever,

2452
01:59:36,569 --> 01:59:39,772
they were
at least getting back
to civilization.

2453
01:59:39,839 --> 01:59:42,808
With the evacuation

2454
01:59:42,875 --> 01:59:45,011
scattering my family

2455
01:59:45,077 --> 01:59:47,980
all over
the United States,

2456
01:59:48,047 --> 01:59:51,584
I felt like it was
an ancient memory,

2457
01:59:51,651 --> 01:59:54,921
as if we had been up
on the auction block.

2458
01:59:54,987 --> 01:59:57,690
Some people suggested that
this was akin to slavery.

2459
01:59:57,757 --> 02:00:00,192
"Oh, no,
you're being hyperbolic.

2460
02:00:00,259 --> 02:00:02,461
"You're just engaging
in all forms

2461
02:00:02,528 --> 02:00:04,130
"of racial
inflammatory rhetoric.

2462
02:00:04,196 --> 02:00:05,631
Calm down."

2463
02:00:05,698 --> 02:00:08,467
Well, the fact is,
they were treating them

2464
02:00:08,534 --> 02:00:11,037
like slaves in the ship.

2465
02:00:11,103 --> 02:00:12,672
Families were
being separated.

2466
02:00:12,738 --> 02:00:16,042
Children were
being taken from their
mothers and fathers.

2467
02:00:16,108 --> 02:00:18,744
Those who were
more weary

2468
02:00:18,811 --> 02:00:21,781
and those who were
more likely to be vulnerable

2469
02:00:21,847 --> 02:00:24,050
were separated from those
who were stronger.

2470
02:00:24,116 --> 02:00:28,487
Babies literally ripped
out of the arms of their
mothers and fathers.

2471
02:00:28,554 --> 02:00:32,558
The separation
of the evacuation
where people lost sight

2472
02:00:32,625 --> 02:00:36,228
and lost sound
and lost sense
of their loved ones.

2473
02:01:45,531 --> 02:01:47,767
A lot of people
have been asking us,
"What's it like now?"

2474
02:01:47,833 --> 02:01:49,468
And it's essentially
a ghost town.

2475
02:01:49,535 --> 02:01:52,238
Choppers fly
overhead as well,
and it's relatively quiet.

2476
02:01:52,304 --> 02:01:54,640
We wanted, though,
to take a tour of a center

2477
02:01:54,707 --> 02:01:56,876
that many people heard about--
the Convention Center--

2478
02:01:56,942 --> 02:01:59,045
to show you what
it looks like right now.

2479
02:01:59,111 --> 02:02:01,981
The first thing
you notice-- the smell.

2480
02:02:02,048 --> 02:02:06,419
It smells like-- ooh!
It smells like dead bodies.

2481
02:02:06,485 --> 02:02:08,354
It smells like urine.

2482
02:02:08,421 --> 02:02:11,424
It smells like people
who've waded through sewage.

2483
02:02:11,490 --> 02:02:14,493
<i>The moment I knew
how bad it was</i>

2484
02:02:14,560 --> 02:02:16,062
<i>was when I was covering
the Convention Center.</i>

2485
02:02:16,128 --> 02:02:17,563
<i>I was doing a story there.
We walked through.</i>

2486
02:02:17,630 --> 02:02:19,632
And it's weird.
There was just nobody there.

2487
02:02:19,699 --> 02:02:21,434
It's empty,
and everything's open
and just filthy.

2488
02:02:21,500 --> 02:02:23,202
All the garbage
was still there.

2489
02:02:23,269 --> 02:02:26,005
<i>As we walked back
across the street from
the Convention Center--</i>

2490
02:02:26,072 --> 02:02:27,707
<i>which is a huge
convention center.</i>

2491
02:02:27,773 --> 02:02:30,176
<i>It goes on for blocks
and blocks and blocks--
a dead guy.</i>

2492
02:02:30,242 --> 02:02:32,178
Under this comforter--

2493
02:02:32,244 --> 02:02:35,781
someone has covered up--
it's a dead body.

2494
02:02:35,848 --> 02:02:39,885
And at some point
they'll figure it out
and move it off.

2495
02:02:39,952 --> 02:02:42,321
Two days later,
I come back to do
a stand-up--

2496
02:02:42,388 --> 02:02:46,058
same backdrop--
dead guy still there.

2497
02:02:46,125 --> 02:02:48,961
And that to me
was a sign of just
how chaotic--

2498
02:02:49,028 --> 02:02:52,565
I mean, that a dead man
in the middle of the street
in New Orleans,

2499
02:02:52,631 --> 02:02:56,102
which is a major city,
didn't merit being
cleaned up

2500
02:02:56,168 --> 02:02:58,504
and picked up
because there were so
many other priorities.

2501
02:02:58,571 --> 02:03:00,740
People stopped us
because they knew--

2502
02:03:00,806 --> 02:03:02,808
we had "Times-Picayune"
written on our truck.

2503
02:03:02,875 --> 02:03:04,744
They just wanted help.
They were pointing out stuff--

2504
02:03:04,810 --> 02:03:06,412
"There's dead bodies
up on top of the interstate.

2505
02:03:06,479 --> 02:03:08,047
<i>Is anyone going
to come and get them?"</i>

2506
02:03:08,114 --> 02:03:10,116
<i>I saw them with my own eyes.
There were dead people.</i>

2507
02:03:10,182 --> 02:03:12,351
<i>People-- family members
had taken them up
on the interstate</i>

2508
02:03:12,418 --> 02:03:14,220
<i>because they didn't want
to leave them in these houses,</i>

2509
02:03:14,286 --> 02:03:16,388
and they were laying there,
covered with blankets

2510
02:03:16,455 --> 02:03:19,024
up on I-10,
and no one's coming
to pick them up.

2511
02:03:19,091 --> 02:03:21,026
It's a mess, man.

2512
02:03:21,093 --> 02:03:22,928
I've seen a lot
of dead people floating.

2513
02:03:22,995 --> 02:03:25,498
My buddy was over the gate,
round the corner.

2514
02:03:25,564 --> 02:03:28,467
He swolled up this big, man.
His name was Eddie.

2515
02:04:47,012 --> 02:04:48,781
<i>Blessed are the ones
who sacrificed</i>

2516
02:04:48,848 --> 02:04:51,383
<i>their lives to save us--
you truly are dedicated.</i>

2517
02:04:51,450 --> 02:04:54,587
And blessed are the ones
who cried-- your tears
will not be wasted.

2518
02:04:54,653 --> 02:04:57,089
And blessed are the ones
who were lost and displaced

2519
02:04:57,156 --> 02:05:00,426
and whose houses were
knocked off its foundation
by winds and tidal waves.

2520
02:05:00,492 --> 02:05:02,361
Cemeteries turned into mazes.

2521
02:05:02,428 --> 02:05:04,763
Caskets coming
out of their graves
like they was in Texas,

2522
02:05:04,830 --> 02:05:06,298
and they was
sitting sideways.

2523
02:05:06,365 --> 02:05:08,334
Days for days, I'm seeing
skeletal remains,

2524
02:05:08,400 --> 02:05:10,669
remains scattered
and unclaimed,
that's a shame.

2525
02:05:10,736 --> 02:05:13,439
Bush said he accepted
the blame, so tell me
why they playing games

2526
02:05:13,505 --> 02:05:15,407
with the money,
trying to give us
the change?

2527
02:05:15,474 --> 02:05:17,943
Our neighborhoods are being
reconfigured to be rearranged.

2528
02:05:18,010 --> 02:05:20,779
Everything is strange.
I know you can, because I...

2529
02:05:20,846 --> 02:05:23,983
♪ Know I've been changed ♪

2530
02:05:24,049 --> 02:05:27,820
♪ The angels in heaven
done... ♪

2531
02:05:27,887 --> 02:05:30,789
...they done signed my name,
I proclaim, and Jesus
done led me

2532
02:05:30,856 --> 02:05:33,259
through the fire
in the storm, the hurricane,
and the rain.

2533
02:05:33,325 --> 02:05:36,328
Broke off the chains.
Loosen up their hands,
then kicked in the frame.

2534
02:05:36,395 --> 02:05:39,064
You don't even have
to remember my name.

2535
02:05:39,131 --> 02:05:41,500
I told you
I would be here,

2536
02:05:41,567 --> 02:05:43,535
with some partners
that I came.

2537
02:05:43,602 --> 02:05:47,773
I'm leaving,
but I'll be back again.

2538
02:05:47,840 --> 02:05:50,142
Will you be there?

2539
02:06:57,242 --> 02:07:01,113
♪ This time I'm walkin'
to New Orleans ♪

2540
02:07:04,283 --> 02:07:07,453
♪ I'm walkin'
to New Orleans ♪

2541
02:07:09,288 --> 02:07:12,491
♪ I'm gonna need
two pair of shoes ♪

2542
02:07:12,558 --> 02:07:15,961
♪ When I get through
walkin' these blues ♪

2543
02:07:16,028 --> 02:07:19,264
♪ When I get back
to New Orleans ♪

2544
02:07:21,266 --> 02:07:25,170
♪ I've got my suitcase
in my hand ♪

2545
02:07:27,806 --> 02:07:30,843
♪ Now ain't that
a shame? ♪

2546
02:07:33,846 --> 02:07:35,948
♪ I'm leavin' here today ♪

2547
02:07:36,015 --> 02:07:39,118
♪ Yes, I'm goin' back home
to stay ♪

2548
02:07:39,184 --> 02:07:43,055
♪ Yes, I'm walkin'
to New Orleans ♪

2549
02:07:45,457 --> 02:07:48,494
♪ I've got no time
for talkin' ♪

2550
02:07:51,330 --> 02:07:54,466
♪ I've got to keep a-walkin' ♪

2551
02:07:57,436 --> 02:07:59,838
♪ New Orleans is my home ♪

2552
02:07:59,905 --> 02:08:02,875
♪ That's the reason
why I'm goin' ♪

2553
02:08:02,941 --> 02:08:06,445
♪ Yes, I'm walkin'
to New Orleans ♪

2554
02:08:09,448 --> 02:08:12,851
♪ I'm walkin'
to New Orleans ♪

2555
02:08:15,154 --> 02:08:19,024
♪ I'm walkin'
to New Orleans ♪

2556
02:08:21,060 --> 02:08:24,163
♪ I'm walkin'
to New Orleans ♪