As we mark the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we reflect on the storm’s devastation and its unfulfilled promise of justice. Katrina exposed long‐standing racial and economic disparities in disaster relief and recovery – the hardest hit were overwhelmingly low‐income Black communities in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Today, many of those same neighborhoods still struggle with climate displacement, polluted environments, and lack of investment even as intensifying storms loom.
In this virtual fireside chat, Dr. Beverly Wright, a New Orleans sociology professor and founder of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (and a Katrina survivor herself), will explore how those historic challenges are amplified by recent policy changes. She will connect Katrina’s legacy to Trump-era rollbacks: rescinding Clinton’s environmental justice order, disbanding EPA EJ offices, furloughing hundreds of EJ staff, and cutting off grants for pollution cleanup and resilience. As Dr. Wright notes, terminating these justice and climate programs “leaves communities vulnerable and families unhealthy”. Together we will ask what it means for Katrina survivors if the federal government retreats from equity, and how grassroots advocates can hold leaders accountable. This critical conversation will probe how to ensure that recovery and rebuilding efforts prioritize the needs and rights of frontline communities, so that Katrina’s lessons are finally heeded.
