Hurricane Katrina
August 2005
In 2005 Hurricane Katrina set off a chain of events that would wreak havoc throughout the Gulf South, and especially New Orleans. The forces of racial capitalism acted quickly:
Isolating New Orleanians through harmful evacuation and return policies
Blaming Black New Orleanians for the state of the city and the nation’s appalling recovery efforts
Criminalizing New Orleanians for their survival efforts including sex work and the seizure of things like food, water, diapers, and formula from big box stores
Destabilizing whole communities through the closing of public housing projects
Erasing generations of Black culture, history, and whole communities by making it nearly impossible for thousands of Black folks to return
Taking away the homes and land of thousands of native Black New Orleanians through policies that intentionally ignored familial transfer of property
Women With A Vision used our counter playbook to respond to the man-made disasters created in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. To learn more about how WWAV responded to the criminalization of its communities following Hurricane Katrina visit the NO Justice Project page.
“WWAV made space for our community to belong to one another, to grieve together, and to heal in concert, and to nurture our visions for a New Orleans “otherwise.”
