"Many of us stayed thinking this would be nothing compared to Hurricane Betsy in 1965," said a New Orleans native." But indeed it was."
Tuesday evening, HBO ran a four-hour documentary called When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts by Spike Lee. The story covered different aspects of Hurricane Katrina from the evacuation to the government’s involvement, or the lack thereof.
All in all, this intimate portrait of New Orleans in the wake of the destruction tells the heartbreaking personal stories of those who endured this horrible ordeal and survived to tell the tale misery, despair and triumph.
Lee chose a diverse group of New Orleans natives and government officials to give their versions of Katrina before, during and after the storm hit and the levees broke. These opinions came from people such as Governor Kathleen Blanco; Mayor Ray Nagin; resident Phyllis Montana LeBlanc; and activists Al Sharpton and Harry Belafonte to name a few.
While watching the footage, one can’t help but to shed a tear of hurt and pain for the victims of this catastrophic event. To watch mothers and fathers, grandparents and children being torn away from their homes and coming back to them without a trace is unthinkable.
"I never realized that things were as bad as they seemed until I saw children floating in the streets of the lower ninth ward," says a sophomore from Dallas, Texas.
Every story touched your heart in some way or another. I know that I never fully understood the effects of Katrina until I heard the heart-wrenching situations people went through. One of the stories that stood out the most was involving resident LeBlanc. She truly captured my attention when talking about her family and how she didn’t get the aid that her and her husband needed.
I recommend everyone to see this film and take heed to the information given, and see how you can help.
"…The fight isn’t over, …" said a resident of the lower ninth ward, "…it’s not over."