Big Easy to Big Empty – The Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans
FEMA knew at eleven o’clock on Monday that the levees had breached, at 2 o’clock they flew over the 17th St. Canal and took video of the breaches, by midnight on Monday the White House knew, but none of us knew.
In this half-hour film, Greg Palast and his team travel to New Orleans to investigate what has happened since Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast last year.
On his visit, he discovers that the population of New Orleans is miniscule, the reconstruction sparse, suicide rates are climbing, and many have not, nor know how to, return to the city that care forgot.
He examines why residents had to leave, what really caused the flood and why they aren’t returning. (Excerpt from palastinvestigativefund.org)
Watch the full documentary now (playlist)
I lived in NOLA from 1979-84. I always worried about a hurricane coming and how I’d get out.
The city was poor and black then like it was in 2005. When I lived there I didn’t figure the Gov would care if the city got hit. Katrina proved I was right.
If it had happened in Miami Beach it would have been a totally different story.
New Orleans, the city no one cared about. Not then. Not now. Not ever.
Years before Katrina I remember reading a newspaper article about the danger that hurricanes posed to New Orleans and I distinctly remember thinking why the hell would so many people choose to live in a city that is surrounded by water and 8 feet below it. I feel bad for the victims, but it isn’t like nobody knew a disaster like that was imminent. It wasn’t a big secret or a conspiracy.
When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I was not a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out…
I hope that when you need help the most, that there is some one left to help you!…
@dyenamo were u not listening in part one when he says “127,000 people did NOT have cars in which to escape”? I’m sure those people that “chose” to live in a city surrounded by water and 8 feet below it, did not have much of a CHOICE at all. It’s called poverty. For people that have always depended upon public transportation in their city, it should not have come to surprise people that many of them did NOT have the means to escape a storm, let alone MOVE AWAY.