hurricane katrina
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Lake Charles Voted to Keep a Confederate Monument Up. Hurricane Laura Had Other Plans
Since 1915, a garish statue honoring Confederate soldiers stood tall on the grounds of Lake Charles’ courthouse. This year, as Black Lives Matter movements inspired people around the world to topple statues honoring racist historical figures, the town appeared to seriously consider taking the statue down, but ultimately voted to keep the statue up. The…
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The Big Bounce Back: Hurricane Katrina Devastated Black New Orleans, but Bounce Music Helped Revive the City
“When we came back [to New Orleans], everything was all messed up. But over time, and everybody coming together—community efforts—we rebuilt New Orleans. The people have to the keep the spirit and the culture alive.” — Big Freedia, musical artist text Bounce music is the heartbeat of New Orleans. The musical genre emerged in the…
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'We Still Live in Katrina': This New Orleans Resident Lived in Life-Threatening Conditions Before the Storm
It’s been 15 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, but resident Shannon Rainey lived in a state of disaster decades before the storm ever made landfall. “We see Katrina every day. So the only thing that’s going on with us [is] we just get a new year every year. Nothing has…
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'These Intergenerational Wounds Continue': How Trauma From Hurricane Katrina and COVID-19 Are Affecting Black New Orleanians
The Black experience in America is rooted in trauma. Blacks folks have been the objects of systemic and state-sanctioned trauma beginning in 1619 and existing well into today. There’s no denying the staggering Black maternal mortality rate, effects of weathering and environmental racism on the Black body, as well as the harmful ways police brutality…
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Why Drew Brees Is the Worst Type of White Man, Explained
Tough week, huh? Man. Remember how long and shitty everyone said March was? Yup. I want to buy March an Edible Arrangement and beg it to come back. Man. I would serenade the shit out of March right now. I’d be Keith Sweat in this joint. “Who can love March like me? (Nobody). Who can…
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Extreme Heat, Flooding and Public Health Issues: How Climate Change Is an Existential Threat to Black People
We should all be pretty familiar with the term “climate change” by now. But knowing buzzwords isn’t the same as understanding how the phenomenon affects black people on a global scale in more severe ways than other groups. The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Political instability in sub-Saharan Africa. Heatwaves in Chicago. What do these…
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Fla. Secretary of State Resigns After Photo Emerges of Him in Blackface as a ‘Katrina Victim’
Another day, another person is forced to resign because he thought it would be funny to paint his skin black, tie his hair in a scarf and wear a shirt that read, “Katrina victim.” Don’t worry if the joke is lost on you, that’s because it’s not funny. On Thursday, photos Florida’s Secretary of State…
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Trial Finally Set for White Man Accused of Shooting at 3 Black Men After Hurricane Katrina
A trial date has finally been set for a 55-year-old white man who was charged with shooting at three black men in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Authorities claim that Roland Bourgeois Jr. shot at three black men, wounding one, after he and others discussed protecting the Algiers neighborhood in New Orleans after Hurricane…
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FEMA Is Garnishing This Man’s Check to Take Back Funds Given to Him After Hurricane Katrina
Imagine being a federal agency that is supposed to provide help and support for victims of natural disasters in their time of need, and when one such victim—a deserving recipient who survived Hurricane Katrina—applies for and receives such aid, you come after him 12 years later and begin garnishing his check to get the money…
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Environmental Racism Is a Special and Urgent Concern
The focus of environmental justice has been the preservation of ecologies and spaces largely uninhabited by people of color. There is grave consideration for the preservation of national parks, but not for the preservation of black life and space. The ideas of justice and environment refer to the surrounding conditions of living things, yet the…