"About 300,000 people, displaced by Katrina, have been scattered to at least a dozen states." "Surviving Katrina was one thing." "Now people arejust trying to survive the aftermath." "Buses with New Orleans evacuees were rolling in." "It is being called the largest migration in the country since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s." "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." "For years, officials had warned that the levees could break." "I don't believe for one minute... that anybody allowed people to suffer because they were African-Americans." "Do you think the country would have had the same reaction if they were all white people?" "We've got a job to defend this country in the war on terror, and we've got a job to bring aid and comfort... to the people of the Gulf Coast, and we'll do both." "Uh, hey, Jeff, we're ready for the interview." "You got time right now?" "Yeah." "See, look." "See how you doing." "I was doing that." "Can we hook up with you in, like, 15 minutes?" "Yeah, sure." "I'll be around." "We're gonna be around front here, so, are you inside or out?" "We're about to be inside." "'Cause we about to go" "We gotta go get our phone." "But we gonna be around." "We'll probably see y'all in front." "I'll be waiting." "We'll catch up with you." "What you need to do, if you could, is, if you don't mind, just meet 'em out front, okay?" "That's my purpose in living, man, so I can tell people what I been through, man." "Yeah, man." "What I got Whoo!" "I've been saving it, 'cause I don't want to give it to nobody local, you know, for them to mess it around and put it on local stations." "This need to be worldwide." "Yeah." "'Cause all the footage I seen on TV, nobody ain't got what I got." "Yeah." "I got right there, in the hurricane." "So when y'all gonna get with me?" "Tell me your name to the camera, please." "My name is Scott Michael Roberts." "And I'm Kimberly Roberts." "And this is my wife, Kimberly Roberts." "Where you from?" "We're from New Orleans, the Ninth Ward, underwater." "Right." "Currently in our area, 88 degrees under mostly cloudy skies" "This is August 28, 2005." "We got this Hurricane Katrina coming through." "The National Weather Service" "You know me." "I'm still me." "Kimberly Rivers." "It's me, putting it down for the '05 documentary, how it really is, starting right now." "Me and my husband, we're trying to get our stuff together." "Look." "This is my cat." "Grey.!" "Grey.!" "See our barbecue stuff so we can barbecue." "Got our food." "No meat, just ice." "Something to get us through this hurricane, 'cause God knows people is afraid, man." "Everybody's scared." "Even my dogs are scared." "Tell 'em." "Tell 'em, boy." "Tell 'em." "Tell 'em." "Get down, boy." "Get down." "Good." "U.S. Army trucks and stuff." "Ya heard me." "National Guard here." "Everybody's trying to do something for theyself." "All right, big brother." "Y'all getting out ofhere, huh?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "Ain't nothing wrong with that." "If I had wheels, I'd be gone too." "Oh, yeah." "Oh, yeah." "I already know." "I'm taking my before and after shots now." "What's going on, bro?" "Huh?" "I'm gonna shut it off, bro, 'cause I don't know when I'm gonna get something next." "Right, right, right." "I'm trying to hold down for the fucking storm." "Anyhoo." "Signing off." "Off top." "It's me." "Kold Madina." "Till later." "Ready to go?" "You guys set?" "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen." "Uh, we're here for our update... on Hurricane, um, Katrina." "There's not a meteorologist or an expert that I have talked to... that says that this storm will not... impact New Orleans in a major way." "As a result of that, a mandatory evacuation order... is hereby called for all of the Parish of Orleans." "How many people do you expect will be in the city when the storm hits?" "I have no idea." "Uh, we're hoping that everyone will leave." "That's the sky." "It look pretty now, but it sure soon will change." "People leaving now." "I ain't going nowhere." "I'm gonna be here to give y'all this live... and direct footage of this here when it go down." "So what you got to say to the world?" "What you got to say to the world?" "Tell 'em your name first." "My name is Diamond Sims." "Okay." "You scared of the hurricane?" "No." "No?" "What you gonna do?" "Nothin'." "I'm going with my mama." "You going with your mama?" "Well, I'm gonna be next door." "You leaving me?" "Huh?" "You leaving me?" "Yeah." "Yes?" "That's a shame." "But I'm gonna miss you." "They said on the news that it's, like, aiming toward Mississippi, so we might get the outskirts of it." "Well, guess what." "We got the outskirts of, uh, Betsy." "Betsy's eye didn't even touch us." "Let's go see what these people over here got to talk about." "Scared?" "No, I'm from the uptown Third Ward." "Ya heard me?" "You scared?" "Who?" "I know the hurricane is coming, but" "I know it's coming, but I ain't never scared of a hurricane." "The hurricane is nothing but water." "Who's scared of water?" "Not me." "Not me." "That water is eight feet, baby!" "I'm gonna do the storm." "I'm gonna do it out." "You staying, mama?" "Yes." "You staying too?" "No." "Where you going?" "Superdome?" "I don't know where we're going." "Those who could not get out and that may be about 100,000 are still here in the city." "People who simply have no means, no transportation." "There are at least 12,000 of them in the Superdome behind me." "Uh, the people here will be in here for at least two days, but what is their alternative?" "A lot of people going to the Superdome." "I'm about to go to the store... and get something to make some beans with." "Some people stayed." "Some people left." "The majority of people left." "Seems like I'm the only stupid nigga that stayed." "Nigga's running a red light." "Some people buying all the food they can buy." "Staying for the storm, brother?" "Oh, yeah." "I'm gonna be here." "Oh, yeah, man." "Just a little doc I'm doing." "Just in case it's all gone, I got it on tape." "See?" "I'm showing the world that we did have a world before the storm come." "You scared, Earl?" "All them people gone." "You scared?" "All of them gone." "Already, right?" "Shit, I ain't never left for a storm." "I'm not leaving because I can't afford it." "But look." "Let me get, um, smoked neck bones, one pound of them." "Ya heard me?" "And cut 'em up for me." "What you looking at?" "You" "You got me on camera?" "Shit." "What's up, bro." "It's the day before the fuckin'hurricane." "You don't know no better than that?" "Oh, you taking a picture of me?" "Ain't no motherfucking picture." "Yeah." "It's the real deal here!" "Film that." "Hit that, baby." "Oh, yeah." "Hit me with it." "You want to fight now." "Put 'em up." "The police ain't gonna come, 'cause, you know, they tryin' to get out of the way for the hurricane too." "They ain't coming." "They ain't coming, brother." "Like Patti." "# On my own #" "Yeah.!" "I like that.!" "This is a nightThis is gonna be a day to remember, but it's all good." "Right." "It is gonna be a day to remember." "That why I'm recording." ""Hey." "This thing really hit us, you know. '"" "I'll be having something to show my children." "If I get some exciting shit, I might could sell it to them white folk." "Ya heard me?" " They'll be looking for shit." " Right." "And here come the motherfucking police." "You know they always gotta have the fucking police." "They're going to the store, get their snaps and chips too." "They're getting their snaps and shit too." "Hey, I ain't no motherfuckin'rat." "Mr. Larry Sims." "You can run, but you can't hide." "I'm doing it for the hurricane thing, bro." "Checking the weather, ya heard me?" "Yeah." "Oh!" "Yeah." "The weather's changing.!" "There is a shingle." "Pick 'em up, little man." "Let's walk over here to this guy, see what he's gonna be doing... on the day of the hurricane." "Excuse me." "Excuse me, sir." "Y'all see what he doing for the hurricane, huh?" "Don't do that when y'all get big." "Nat.!" "What?" "Get your ass up, man." "The hurricane's gonna take you away from right here, man." "Well, why you yelling at me?" "They are still saying that it could come ashore as a Category 5, but it could also come ashore as a Category 4." "Either one promises a significant impact for those near the eye, where the most severe winds will be." "Well, Paw Paw, it's getting darker out here." "Girl, I hear some thunder." "Right." "I'm about to go hurry up and take me a shower before it start lightning." "Be careful." "Be safe." "All right." "Well, thank you." "You're welcome." "Um" "I know you're kind of thin now." "Don't get blowed away." "If the house don't blow away, I'll still be there." "Hey, I might be around there." "God forbid, in the name ofJesus." "I'm-I'm back now." "I'm breathing and stuff, me and Scott." "We're the last two Mohicans." "Thank God." "I ain't got nobody else to thank." "Thank God." "Yeah." "We straight." "Now I'm on my way to New Orleans to get some stuff." "Yeah." "Some people I met, they're doing a documentary." "Like a real documentary." "Like, you know, on-on-on-on, um, hurricane and stuff." "And all in the same minute I'm teaching Brian how to be a director." "We're going to show our New York friends... what the N. O. Had to offer." "I sure wish we could walk 'em through the streets andjust-just... show 'em the the, uh, hurricane, before we had before Hurricane Katrina hit." "You know what I really believe?" "When we get to the neighborhood" "What's that?" "It won't be much of a difference." "'Cause we were staying in slum conditions anyway it go." "Off top." "The bottom of the barrel." "Off top." "You know, we was the season-all at the bottom of the can that don't want to shake out." "Look at that waterline." "For real.!" "Geez.!" "That's the waterline from the flood." "Flooded out here." "My God." "Look at these houses, went all the way flat." "All the way." "My God." "Man." "You know how many times I hustled through here?" "I never expect to see this." "Man, this is just like a movie, man." "This is" "This can't be real." "It's a horror movie." "'Cause there go the levee right here." "That's where the river at." "Behind us." "So all the water came this way." "Right." "All the water came here." "All the water came right here." "Do you know all the people who live on this street?" "Everybody, this is this is my neighborhood." "This is my neighborhood." "I know everybody around here." "It hurt me to my heart not to see none of my neighbors." "My old friend right here Moms used to sit on the porch all day, every day, and just talk to people as they pass by." "You know." "I miss Mom." "You know?" "I miss all of that." "You know what I'm saying?" "Right here." "The other lady." "I call her Moms." "Another old lady who own this house right here." "You know?" "I used to come over here and sit with this old lady." "She owned this house, kept the property up." "And just talk, man." "You know, and I just miss those days." "And it's hurtin' me to know that it's not gonna be the same anymore." "Oh, I knowed everybody." "I mean, right here, a friend of mine well, I knew the kids, and they were" "Golly.!" "Look at that fuckin'water, boy.!" "Whoo.!" "Lord.!" "Y'all all right over there?" "All right except for y'all roofleaking?" "No, not yet." "Mine's dripping." "Mine's dripping, and if I get something too hard, dog, mine might come down, so I've been moving my stuff out of my bedroom." "Right." "Shit." "If it get, uh, too high, y'all know we might have to... punch a hole in the roof and get on the, uh in the attic." "We got no attic." "Well, you gonna have to make a hole." "Yeah." "Make a hole." "Right." "Get your hammer." "Keep your hammer around." "Put everybody up top, if it get too bad." "Anything's better than drowning." "Come on, Baby." "Let's go in." "A hurricane for the history books... is on track to make a direct hit on the low-lying city of New Orleans... with maximum sustained winds of 165 miles an hour." "Darling, you see how high this shit is?" "Oh, geez.!" "This is my face after just opening my back door." "Ooh, be with us, Lord, please." "Man.!" "I'm talking about niggas gonna take a dip if they want." "We're going to Plan "B, '" and Plan "B'"is... we about to start stacking our furniture, uh, to try to get to the roof." "We need to get that stepladder to get up there." "Just right over my head." "I'm sorry, baby." "Here we go." "What you gonna have to do is... grab on to that and... give me your foot." "Oh, shit.!" "How How do you even begin to prepare for this, let alone, uh, long-term, plan for the continuation of this?" "Well, you've just described our lives right now at FEMA." "Uh, as theas President Bush watched the, uh, uh, noon meeting yesterday, he made the note that he was very impressed with everything that we're doing." "We're ready to respond in any way that these governors might need." "Yeah." "We're actually prepared for the worst, but hoping for the best." "We're in the attic." "As long as it doesn't start flooding up here." "Hey." "So, me and my neighbors we cold." "Yep." "It's wet." "And we'rejust doing the best we can." "I don't know how long we're gonna be up here, but hope it ain't long." "It's history." "And wejust pray to the Lord that our roof don't come off." "That's our last thing." "I got food, y'all." "Y'all welcome to everything." "Just open the ice in there." "Oh, I got some beaucoup water and cold drinks." "Make y'all Mines is yours until it's all gone." "It is, uh, just after eight, uh 8:20 in the morning eastern time, and stuff is flying down the street." "These are the hurricane-force winds." "All right." "That's it, guys." "I'm gonna come back in." "See?" "Debris goes flying." "We're gonna let it go." "All right." "Reporting from the hurricane, in New Orleans." "Come on." "Let's go for cover." "It's 10:00 something." "We're still in the attic." " This is how I'm looking now." " I wish I could go out there with a flashlight." "This how I'm looking now." "Just walk downstairs, smoke this cigarette." "Yeah." "No." "No, you don't, mama." "You all right." "You don't want to walk down these stairs." "It's not a game." "All this water, coming through the windows, flooding us in." "Yeah, man." "This is a total bummer, man." "Say, bro, what you gonna do about the dogs?" "They gonna drown, huh?" "It ain't looking good at all, for nobody, in the city of New Orleans." "I urge the citizens there in the region... to continue to listen to the local authorities." "Don't abandon your shelters until you're given clearance by the local authorities." "Take precautions, 'cause this is a dangerous storm." "When the storm passes, the federal government has got assets and resources... that we'll be deploying to help you." "In the meantime, America will pray." "This is Katrina." "She doing her thing." "Everything they said she was gonna do, she's doing it and more." "It's like an ocean out there." "It's like a straight-up ocean out there." "This water." "Look." "Waves and shit." "You could start surfing and shit if you wanted to." "For real." "Say, bro, you come floating in here on a what?" "Apunching bag?" "I came over here in a World Sporting Goods Right." "From Mobile, Alabama." "Mobile, Alabama." "Yeah." "They got two old people brought them to the third floor." "Well, that's good then, man." "You weren't out there by yourself." "People out there trying to help." "Say, bro, I'm so glad you came though, man." "Ain't gonna lie, 'cause, you know, something could have been happening with us, and you werejust right on time to come see about us." "How many more people you see out there?" "Just you by yourself?" "I don't know." "Just me by myself." "Right, right." "It bust the levee." "It bust the levee?" "Yeah." "Out here?" "Yeah, you know that levee right there?" "We under siege, truly." "Truly under siege." "Everybody done lost everything around here." "Nobody left with no valuables." "Nothing but our lives." "And I hope people living." "'Cause we barely living up here, but the Lord with us." "We barely making it." "Hey." "Last seconds of me right quick." "Hey." "Now you have seen for the '05 what Katrina has done to us." "She has stuck us in a attic." "We got a couple of items of food you can see over there." "It ain't much." "But, uh, I'm running out of juice too." "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve." "They're not gonna come out until the weather" "Sir, at this time, there's no available units for emergencies at this time." "Hey, we still need help.!" "Larry out there swimming in that water, trying to get us over here." "Got my man Larry, man." "He's truly a hero, man." "He's taking care of everybody, bro." "I just hope the Lord really bless him, 'cause he's just truly being an angel." "Hey.!" "Help us get off the roof, man.!" "We still gotta get down though, bro." "I got you." "Larry.!" "You're a real hero, boy.!" "Hold up, y'all." "Give me a cigarette, man." "No, that's Brownie, man." " What?" " That's Brownie, that other dog... from across the street." "On the ground?" "Hey, "B"!" "Come here, boy!" "That's your dog?" "Hey, boy!" "Come here, Kizzie!" "Kizzie!" "Come here, girl!" "Come here, mama." "That's your dog there?" "Yeah." " For real?" " Yeah!" "You lying." "Hey, mommy!" "Get down." "Get down." "Get down." "Get down." "Get down." "Sit down." "They were holding it down till y'all came back." "Sit down." "Let's go." "Come on." "Y'all missed us?" "I missed y'all." "We gonna get it together, y'all." "What's up, mommy?" " Where the picture at?" " Right there, boy.!" "I longed for this." "I longed for this." "This is a picture of my mom, y'all." "I been waiting to get" "And I don't know what I was gonna do without it." "It's the woman of my life, man." "You know?" "My mama died when I was 13 years old of H.I.V. Had Al DS." "And I just Only thing I have is... the memories of her, how she raised me and things she did." "Cynthia Diane Rivers." "That's my baby." "There's two tears coming out." "Tears of joy and then, you know and then tears of sorrow." "You know, but, um, it's tears of joy now, 'cause she is proud of me." "Know what I'm sayin'?" "I've been keeping myself." "It's been hard out here in New Orleans." "I've been keeping myself up, taking care of myself." "You know, I ain't let problem situations, you know, take me away from my identity." "You know, so, if nothing else, she got, you know, that to be proud of me, that, hey, I'm keeping myself." "I'm holding on, being strong, going through the hard times." "I'm try I'm-I'm-I'm trampling over tribulations." "So, hey, that's a lot to be proud of." "I'm still here, still sane, still in the flesh, healthy, strong, married, looking for a better tomorrow." "My brother Larry came along, and... he got us to higher ground, one by one, with a punching bag." "We came, set up camp over here for two nights." "And it's just like how we left it." "I don't know where we gonna go from here or what we gonna do." "But it's sure hard." "Coming through." "Well, y'all, as you can see, we're still in the same situation we was in across the street." "That's my house over there with the blanket." "I was in that attic." "I'm across the street now." "See." "There go the stop sign." "We're still on a low battery, but" "Gotta give it up for my brother Larry, bro." "'Cause he's really handling his business, man." "Look at him." "Going back out there to get some more people to bring 'em up." "Larry, where the punching bag?" "Ah, it's down there." "Oh." "I still got it." "Yeah." "Look at this shit." "2005, August 29, baby." "Katrinashe's a bad chick." "I'm Julie Chen, and you're watching The Early Show online." "Today, the search for survivors." "We'll show you how rescue crews are trying to help victims... of Hurricane Katrina." "Also, how much of a wallop will the storm have on prices at the gas pump?" "Those stories arejust ahead on The Early Show online." "I can't stand being nasty and dirty." "Hmm." "And then the sun got the nerve to come out." "Yes, ma'am." "That wind blowing, mama?" "Mm-hmm." "Feel good out here." "Mm-hmm." "We all in this house together, and we're all trying to salvage what we can get... and try to make ourselves comfortable No, no." "Over here at this house until" "Uh, the rescue people come, when they come, hopefully." "They have to come." "Republicans know the disaster and response... could have enormous political consequences." "Mr. Bush dismissed calls for U.S. Troops in Iraq to be redeployed for Katrina relief." "L" " I-I just completely disagree." "We've got a job to defend this country in the war on terror, and we've got a job to bring aid and comfort... to the people of the Gulf Coast, and we'll do both." "You don't see no marks on these houses." "They ain't been in this neighborhood yet." "These houses have not been inspected yet." "There could be dead people right now, as we speak, in these houses." "'Cause the-the National Guard they have not been here." "Only thing you seewhat L.A.S.P.C.A. Or somethin'." "And it's two weeks after the hurricane?" "Somebody in there?" "Sister, you're not I'm not getting a good view out of this." "All right." "It ain't recording, my brother." "Got 30 more minutes." "Right here was the house, and the lady who was staying here she had the daughter who couldn't walk." "These people didn't have no water or lights." "That's why she That's why the woman didn't know the hurricane was comin'." "She couldn't even see on the TV, man." "Y'all inspected these houses yet?" "Hey, y'all did these houses for the dead people yet?" "Y'all don't care, huh?" "We still love y'all." "N" " Now that's one of the reasons why..." "I'm so much against this President Bush character, or whoever he is." "Look at this, man." "These people ain't been through my neighborhood yet, looking for dead bodies." "I bet ya I bet ya my uncle's still in the house, y'all, at my grandpa's house." "All right, sis." "I got you." "Yeah, he been decomposing right here." "Oh, Jesus!" "Yeah, he died up in here." "You heard me?" "Somebody in there?" " Yeah." "He was dead in the front room." "They got him out of there." " The smell is strong, huh?" "You can smell it from right here he was in there." "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah." "Yeah." "Yeah, he was dead in there." "My God." "He was a good dude." "Hejust got his little drink on, and he loved everybody." "Everybody was cool with him." "Lovable person, man." "Last time I saw him when it was on camera." "I said, "Get round the corner, man, before the hurricane come take you away from here. "" "He said, "I'm going." "I'm going. " He stumbled, and it's the house he came to." "Uh, this is the number to the Mortuary Affairs." "If you guys want the remains of, uh the remains of the body that was here." "The mortuary?" "Paw Paw?" "Hey, can I ask you a question?" "I'm at the house now on Lesseps." "The prisoners that was in Orleans Parish" "And they had got Nat out already." "What about them?" "'Cause I have a brother-in-law." "Beaucoup blood on the living room floor." "I wanna try to get him out ofjail." "Yeah." "No, I ain't in the house." "I'm standing outside in the street." "I'm gonna go back in there." "I'm gonna snatch the whole drawer out of there... and just pull everything together, and it's easier for me to do it like that." "I can't go through it and all that, 'cause it's too stank in there right now, Paw Paw." "Y'all be encouraged." "Y'all stay up." "I don't know how to salute too good, but... we thank y'all for being in the city of New Orleans." "Thank y'all for doing what y'all are doing." "God bless y'all, man." "Yeah." "Same to you, man." "And I pray that y'all don't have to go back to Iraq." "It's not our war." "Right." "This is the war, right here." "These streets gone, man." "Ain't no more New Orleans." "You can listen to it." "This don't even sound right no more." "New Orleans is through." "Ain't no more New Orleans." "If they rebuild, it ain't gonna be the same." "I'm scared to even I'm not even coming back." "I ain't coming back no more." "Who is that?" "Man, them people ain't picking us up from no fucking bridge." "We can't leave, bro." "We got too many little ones over here, bro." "Five." "About five of'em, bro." "Then we got somebody that's disabled, dog." "They do." "Everywhere across New Orleans, people are headed for higher ground... wherever they can find it." "Some are living in parking garages." "Others picked up what they could and moved to higher ground on the interstate." "How can it be that hundreds and hundreds of thousands of victims... have not received any food and water... more than a hundred hours after Katrina hit?" "Thousands of residents of New Orleans, for whom there was no transportation of any kind, simply started walking." "It was just a mass amount of people, you know, helping each other out, pulling debris out the way... so that the boats could get through in knee-deep water." "Me and Larry we already had a long boat... that we found floating past the house." "We went on ahead, picking up women, children and elderly people." "Nightfall came soon, you know." "It started raining." "And the Coast Guard went to leaving, and I asked the Coast Guard man" "I said, "So what we supposed to do, just wait here?"" "He said, "No." "Go to the U.S. Navy base, and they'll be able to house you right there. "" "It was about two nights after the storm hit." "I think the night of August 30, we had a group of people that wound up here... because, uh, this was one of the highest and driest places in the city, and they were... destitute." "So, just... the whole crowd just started coming down this way, you know." "'Cause I told everybody." ""Let's walk down to the navy base. "" "And this is one of the navy bases that Bush had planned to close down." "So they have extra rooms, you know." "We have about 200 family housing units on the base... and also over 500 evacuated rooms in the barracks." "We got the call from, uh, our folks that were standing at the gate... that there were a major issue at the front gate." "We went over there to where that little brown building is that brown checkpoint." "So I say, "Why can't we stay overnight?" "'"" "They said, "Well, we can't help you." "You on your own. '"" "So I say, "What about the women and children?"" "They said, "Get off our property, or we're gonna start shootin'."" "But I'm still just trying to talk to these people." "All of a sudden, I see the man get on his C.B., call for backup, and they had at least 20 troops that came out there, all of them with M16s." "And they loaded up the guns in front of us, cocked them and aimed them at the crowd." "There was, uh, never any hint of us... planning to use any type of force, and we weren't." "When they got their guns, put the clip in, cocked it and aimed it at the crowd, my life flashed in front of my eyes." "It was a real eerie feeling, I thought, but, uh, you know, we had to do our job, and that was to protect the interests of the government, and, uh, that's what we did in, uh, maintaining the base." "These people wasn't worrying about our safety, you know." "That's why I keep saying the government let us down." "If you can't even go to a naval base that's closed down that they'd evacuated all the rooms out of... and let people get at least a decent night's sleep... to be able to move in the morning, you know," "what good does it, uh, really serve us?" "Before it cut off." "Come on." "Quickly." "There you go." "Do your thing." "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the exact street, hundreds of me and my friends, neighbors, what have you, all together we were struggling down this same street." "In knee-deep water." "The government let us down, so we came down here to the high school." "People were held up in here, I guess, not able to get out." "And, uh, I don't know how many civilians were in here, but they were just basically had gotten their hands on whatever food they could and whatnot." "This place was a wreck." "Yeah." "They completely thrashed the inside of this building." "I mean, I have, you know No No, uh Urine and feces all over the place." "Offense to civilian people, but they have no concept of how to survive, you know." "Yep." "The same way the army people are sitting out there, there were people sitting out there, waiting for somebody to come pick 'em up." "All this open space, how come they ain't see us down here?" "They kept on flying by in their helicopters." "How y'all doin'?" "How y'all doin; fellas?" "Um, see in that classroom, where the, uh, window's busted up at?" "We was in that room, and we wanted to, you know" "I wanted them to see how it was when we stayed in this school for a couple of days." "Let me, uh, see if we can get our Public Affairs officer out here." "I graduated from this school, man." "Is that right?" "Graduated, '89." "My high school also." "We're all from pretty far away." "We're all from Oregon, so, you know." "It's, uh We came a little ways to be out here." "Tell you one thing." "I appreciate y'all here now, you know." "Yeah, I really do." "Well, we got in the R.O. T.C. Room." "We got clothes, T-shirts and socks." "You got a broken window up there, probably from the storm." "No." "Probably from somebody trying to get air to breathe." "Right." "There's no storm." "Right." "That's what they was doing to these windows." "I'm gonna set this chair back, but I want to show them how me and my wife had to sleep." "Don't never let nobody tell you sleeping on wood don't hurt, 'cause it does." "But you're a survivor." "I'm a survivor." ""I had a dream. "" "And I give them an A- plus on cleaning the school up." "I think they should tear the whole building down and build them a new school." "I think that New Orleans children deserve it." "The government get enough money for it." "So" "But who am I?" "Mr. Brian." "Do you go here?" "I used to go here." "There go the boat, boy!" "Oh, that's our boat!" "They got our boat right here, boy!" "That's our boat!" "That's our boat, right here!" " Yep." " Y'all mind if I put it on the ground?" "That's the boat.!" "Bam!" "That's our boat!" "That's the boat." "I had to... just my feet going, just holding on, pushing the boat." "He can't swim." "No, I can't swim at all." "I never got this feeling inside of this boat." "Nothing but the outside." "You can feel it now." "Come sit in here with me." "Ouachita." "That's the name of it." "Ouachita." "At least let me get one sit in it." "Give me a cigarette." "Oh, yeah." "Ain't that somethin'?" "This boat will come in handy for somebody." ""Wet dream. "" "And it was a wet dream." "Right." "Not the wet dream they talk about, but" "Yo, that was a wet nightmare." "They all follow orders, and whoever sent the orders... told them to turn around, and they didn't get here fast enough." "I wish they was camped out and doing all this when we really needed them." "What's the purpose now?" "They're out here, sitting on their ass, waiting on a terrorist attack." "Or waiting on something violent to happen so they can shoot or something now." "We had to wait for the logistics to be able to get down here, because with the other operations going on, there just wasn't enough planes to get everybody down here." "You know, I told my guys that one of the first things they would hear... is, uh, somebody being angry... that we didn't get here earlier." "And basically we told them that we're here now." " We're here to help." " We need y'all here in America." "We got war on the streets." "We got war right here in Louisiana." "Right here in New Orleans's streets, man." "That's the reason why I'm leaving, man." "I don't want to see no more." "Good luck to you guys." "Stay safe." "Y'all pray for us too." "We do, every night." "All right." "Take it easy." "Thanks." "Come on." "It's going to be all right, bro." "Yeah." "It's gonna be all right, sis." "Corpses left in the streets, rescue helicopters and police gunfire, survivors battling for seats on buses out of New Orleans." "This city that has fallen into near chaos, as thousands of National Guard units... rush to try to restore some semblance of order." "I had a dream that I was gonna get me some transportation, no matter what it took, to get my people out of New Orleans." "My husband and them said, "Man, we gotta go get a truck.!" "'"" "If they call that looting;" "I looted." "Wejust loaded everybody up." "About four or five different families." "We had 25 people on that one truck." "My original plan was for me to... drive my family over to the convention center." "And I was supposed to go back and pick up a lot more people." "We rolled past Canal Street." "I said, "Man, look at all these police." "They're not by the convention center helping people, you know. '" They didn't care." "They was chilling by the Harrah's Casino." "By Harrah's Casino." "That was pitiful." "We got to the convention center." "We see the thousands of people." "People begging tojump on the truck." ""Please take us with you." "We got $50." "Just drop us off down the road. '"" "People was running up to us, you know, putting their children up here." "We were like, "No, man." "You can't You can't go. '"" "That's a hurtin'feeling just to see thousands and thousands of people, little babies and all that, just cryin;" "And they ain't never sent no help." "That-That hurt." "That was the hurtingest part, man seeing people you know and you couldn't help." "#Said I will carry you #" "# Through the hurricane waters #" "#And I'll remember you #" "#In the blue skies #" "# Until we meet again #" "# Until it's like it was #" "# Until then #" "# Until the answers start raining down #" "# Until the skies open up #" "# Until the trumpet sounds #" "# Until then #" "# Until the city and the country ain't divided #" "# Until then # # Until then #" "# Until the spirit and the mind ain't fighting'#" "# Until the scenes of tomorrow and today #" "# Will finally play #" "#Said I will carry you #" "# Through the hurricane waters #" "#And I'll remember you #" "#In the blue skies #" "#See, I will carry you ##" "Yep." "This is how we came down here, loaded with 30 people." "'Cause I knew my uncle had property nobody was staying in." "So the night we stayed here, ain't have no-no lights on or no water." "So we just stayed up in the house." "It was hot, but we was glad to have a place to stay." "And the other 25 people They was like," ""Man, y'all brung us all the way out here with a house with no lights and no water. '"" "I'm like, "I ain't know they had no lights and water." "Thought I would just bring y'all, 'cause I knew my uncle had property nobody was staying in, you know. "" "So they went to the shelter." "Hey, you." "Hello." "How's it goin'?" "Ma'am, you can't use that in here." "I can't use that?" "I'm just interviewing my family." "So come here, mama." "Come talk to the world right quick." "Hey." "Since the hurricane you had a lot to say." "So what you been doing since then?" "Boy, I was scared that day." "You miss your home?" "Did I?" "But I won't go back to New Orleans." "Why?" "It's messy around there." "Yeah, I know, huh?" "How about you, brother Larry Sims?" "Well, I thank God for that day, 'cause you know why?" "Why?" "I never thought God could use a man like me." "Show 'em what you learned, brother Larry." "Huh?" "The saving people dance?" "Oh, my saving people dance?" "Watch that footstep now." "Ah!" "Get back!" "## Thank you for your service to your country." "And God bless you and your families." "God bless America." "And I salute you." "In Alexandria, Louisiana, they welcome their soldiers home, whether they have a home or not." "So I got a lot of guys in my unit itself that lost a lot of lost everything." "They were 10,000 miles away when the storm hit, but nearly all of their lives were changed." "Our car, our jobs, our house and just his whole hometown wiped out." "L" " I can't even really explain how it feels." "To me it hurts because now it involves everyone that I care about family, friends, neighbors everybody that's in my city." "If these soldiers need a reminder ofjust what it is they've come back to, they don't have to look far." "The dome-shaped building in the background there is a Red Cross shelter." "Go step on it, and you get a feather." "Oh, right." " Oh, you're playing Mario 1." " Oh, man!" " That's 2." " Oh, that's 2?" "Where your garbage, boy, at?" "I'm telling you, he garbage." "He can't beat me." "He doing garbage right here." "Ah!" "Game over?" "For you it is!" "Let me take a turn." "Let me show you how to do this, Nathaniel." "My granddaughter knew I was in there." "She told the police that "My grandmama's down in there. "" "So he said, "You can't go in there. "" "I didn't hear nothing about the storm." "I didn't have no TV, no electric lights." "Wasn't for Larry, I'd have got drowned." "Wasn't for him, I'd have got drowned." "Can you swim?" "No, ma'am." "Can't swim at all." "And that's why I said, "I'll never go back to New Orleans. "" "So everything we did, we did it as a family." "That's right." "We did it as a family." "These two just met that day." "Me and him been knowing each other." " We always spoke, and that was it." " That was it." "But that day there brought us to a brotherhood." " Something we will never leave." " Right." "I don't like talking on camera too much, so Keep talking, baby." "Y'all be loved, you know what I'm sayin'?" "I have something to say." "Kim was the only one, in the midst of all our sorrow, that saved us, 'cause she gave us a place to stay." "She was the bravest one out of all." "She said, "Miss Pearl, you all gonna be all right." "Just pray. '"" "She came back and she said, "Mama, water goin' down." "We got it made." "We gonna quiet down, we gonna sit down and we gonna eat. "" "She gave us a lot of food." "She gave us a lot of blankets and stuff, and she rescued us too." "But she didn't tell y'all, did she?" "We ate." "We smiled at one another." "We played jokes." "We had a lot oflaughter in us." "She's a wonderful, blessed person." "She love the Lord." "Y'all should have known me before the storm hit." "Yeah, but you Yeah, but you brought us too though." "I'm glad you appreciate it, ma." "I did." "I feel good about it." "I mean it from the bottom of my heart with you." "I didn't know y'all saw me like that." "Yes, I did too." "You think I was playing with you?" "I love you, mama." "I love you too." "Daisy?" "Was someone wanting to go to Austin?" "Oh, me!" "Well, honey, FatherJose is up here." "Oh, that's me he wanted to see!" "She ain't got no family." "It's her and her daughter in a wheelchair." "They come from New Orleans with us, and I can't leave them here." "So I got to make sure they get on their way with 'em, or they be coming with us." "I'm on my way." "Ain't that wonderful, ma?" "Yeah, it's wonderful." "You're leaving me." "You're leaving me, ma." "Well, you better give" "You better give me, uh, the address." "Address." "Yeah, I know." "You gotta call tonight and get me an address." "I'll call where you can get the address." "Right." "Right." "You know" "You know, you admit I ain't gonna forget you." "I gotta call you." "I know." "You gotta keep in contact with me, ma." "I gotta keep in contact with you." "Oh, yeah." "Yeah." "You're just like a big sister of mine." "A big sister?" "Yeah!" "You 69." "I'm 24." "I'm a big sister." "That ain't got nothing to do with it." "Yeah, 'cause you're just like a big" "You just like a big sister." "I'm glad." "What's going on?" "She leaving tomorrow." "She's supposed to meet the Father over here, and the Father gonna bring her to the bus station." "Beautiful." "Wonderful, right?" "Just wonderful." "Ma, you about to leave us." "I'm leaving this state." "When FEMA ever decides to pay us, we're moving to Memphis." "This is my UncleJerome." "I love him well." "How y'all doing?" "And he's just been real super to me." "My favorite uncle." "Yeah, for the record, he's my favorite uncle of'em all." "If you ain't know, now you know." "I looked for 'em several times, you know, to be when the storm was going on, and I got on the Internet and everywhere trying to locate them." "It was about 2:30 in the morning." "She knocked on my door." "I said, "Man, who is that?" And my wife got up." "She said, "That's your niece, Kim. "" "So I got up, and she said, "Don't worry about me." "I'm all right. "" "You should see in the truck." "They had little babies and grown-ups... and a woman that they had to carry on their back." "And I said, "Y'all don't have to go nowhere." "I got another home." "If she want it, she can have it. '"" "A lot of people was walked off and left behind Right." "Like they was trash, you know." "But, you know, my mom she was one that was in the hospital." "She was in Memorial Hospital, and they didn't evacuate her, and I lost her." "And they said that they had evacuated that Tuesday." "Come to find out, they never did move her." "I saw the images on TVof the hospital and a lot ofbodies laying there covered up." "It's hard to look at it and try to figure out which one of them is your mom." " Still today, we hadn't received her body yet, and we don't know" " How long's it been?" "It's been since Two weeks, huh?" "It's been two weeks so far." "They left her behind." "They left my mom behind." "Yeah." "Okay, so" "Thanks a lot." "You're welcome." "Bye." "Bye." "I don't want to let Louisiana play games with my life no more." "I don't want to put my life in their hands no more." "And I won't trust you" "I don't want to trust Mayor Nagin." "I don't want to trust Blanco." "I don't want to trust nobody official of Louisiana." "They failed us once." "They cutting the water back on.!" "That's a blessing from God right there." "Good Samaritan that's his name." "See?" "There you go." "See, when you just trust in God, he'll just still send miracles your way." "Look at that, man." "That's just wonderful." "See that?" "Real water." "We ain't gonna waste none though." "What happened?" "They told you to cut it off?" "Oh, man, we got happy for nothing." "All righty." "Thank you, man." "City of Pineville." "Alexandria." "Louisiana." "Where it all begins." "Katrina is still going on." "She's still trying to do damage." "But she can't get through." "Not through this heart." "I say I'm out as I'm out, and I'm out." "Bye." "Can you come get a view of this?" "This is what FEMA does for us." "Three weeks later." "Going on three weeks." "I applied September 2." "Let's go." "Let's go to FEMA." "Let's roll." "# The best thing in life is free #" "#But you can give it to the birds and bees #" "#I need some money #" "#Need some money Oh, yeah #" "Can I help you guys?" "Yeah, we trying to" "Apply for FEMA." "Yeah, FEMAJust go around the desk right there." "They'll help you out." "#Need some money #" "# Oh, yeah It's what I want #" "#I need some money, honey # How ya doing?" "#I need some money right away #" "We're still waiting!" "#Money don't get everything it's true #" "# What it don't buy, Daddy, I can't use I need some money #" "#I need money #" "# Yeah What I want ##" "Yes." "Kimberly Rivers." "Huh?" "Kimberly Rivers." "Yes." "Kimberly." "You have registered." "Yes." "Do you always have TVcameras following you?" "Yeah, usually." "Okay." "Um Yes, you should have received it by now." "But it does sound like you do need to check your files on the computer here." "Hopefully you've not somehow gone off... into some limbo land without any information." " I need the income." " Yeah, well, I don't want... to raise your expectations too high." "Did you provide them banking information, a route number?" "We don't have no bank account." "Okay, okay." "This is a little bit unusual... that your check was approved over a week ago." "So, sorry." "All right, but thanks." "Take your sheet and" "Good-bye." "Bye." "Oh!" "Oh!" "Count it, baby!" "Get him." "Nice and light." "Oh!" "Oh!" "During Katrina, my enemies helped me out." "I never thought I'd see the day that somebody that don't like me, and I don't like that person, to come together, you know, and do something positive." "Like Larry Me and Larry didn't like each other, but the storm brought us together." "Now we're brothers, you know?" "The way I was going in New Orleans, it was either gonna be in jail... or under the ground." "You know, 'cause I was selling drugs." "You know, making money the wrong ways." "You know, I wasn't doing nothing right." "Down there you don't have no other way to go but that way." "All the high-paying jobs, you have to be done graduated high school... and had a couple years of college just to get a job... that's gonna pay you at least $10 an hour, you know?" "And people are like, "Hell, why am I gonna go ahead on," ""you know, and do all that..." ""when I could just go on this corner right here, make me like $500, $600 and call it a day?"" "I hated my life down there, you know?" "I really did, 'cause... it was horrible." "I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy." "I want to start my life all over." "I want to see how it is to do it right from the beginning." "New Orleans gets hit again." "Wind and rain from Hurricane Rita's outer bands... caused water to flow over the city's already failed levees." "And this is in the Ninth Ward area Hmm." "That's New Orleans again." "This is one of the hardest hit areas." "The Ninth Ward." "And our governor was very blunt in asking people to leave, even going so far to ask them... to write their Social Security numbers on their arm or leg." "Yeah, so I don't know what Kim and them plan on doing." "They're planning on doing something." "She said she wants to get out this trailer though." "'Cause they said we're gonna have strong winds, so she's trying to get up out this trailer." "You know what I'm sayin'?" "So I think I don't know." "I think we might pull out today." "Right above Louisiana is Arkansas." "That's right above Louisiana." "Follow 165." "That put us in Wilmot in in Arkansas." "If we go this way, we might as well go get straight into Tennessee first." "Then we go holla at them." "That's what I'm sayin'." "That's what I said." "Yeah." "Now the good news is that the water is cascading... into neighborhoods that were already flooded." "And as far as we know, there has been no loss oflife." "But the water is" " So what do you think you're gonna find in Memphis?" " Go out there, start my music career." "Find me a church where I can go worship." "I'm already at the bottom." "I can't I can't go down." "I can't do nothing but go up." "Hopefully, I can put this hurricane stuff behind me." "But if not, I'm ready to face that head on, nose to nose, neck to neck too." "It don't matter to me." "But I'm at least trying to do something different." "Trying to, you know Trying." "When you try, you know, you get results, so I'm trying to better my life." "I see it now." "I couldn't see it when I was inside the city." "Now I'm on the outside looking in, and I don't want to be part of that no more." "Fear It'll control you." "## It'll stop you from getting." "It'll stop you from having." "It'll stop you from soaring, going to greater heights, to greater lengths," "all 'cause you was scared to step out. # Wade #" "#In the water #" "There goes Scott right there." "Oh, he got the hitch on the back." "That boy a beast." "That's my husband." "That's why I love him." "## Give you a chill just hearing this song, being what I've been through." "# God's gonna trouble the water #" "#Don't you know that God's gonna trouble the water #" "#I stepped in the water and the water was cold #" "#Don't you know that God's gonna trouble the water #" "#Said it chilled my body #" "#But not my soul #" "# Don't you know that God's gonna trouble #" " # The water #" " It's raining, and I gotta get in the truck." "New beginning, baby!" "# Wade #" "#In the water #" "I believe freedom exists somewhere." "There's just limitations on the freedom." "That's what it is." "This will be my first time out of the state of Louisiana." "# Went to the water #" "# One day to pray #" "Well, welcome to home for right now, till tomorrow morning." "#And my soul got happy #" "Thanks, Katrina!" "I'm out and I'm out and I'm out." "It was a disaster for most people, ya heard me?" "Luckily, we got out, ya dig?" "You think it's like a good thing in a way?" "It gives us an opportunity to meet different parts of the world." "Right." "Feel different stuff and see how other people live." "'Cause people really feeling us now." "Know what I mean?" "Like, "Oh, let's give 'em a job. " Ya heard me?" "#In the water #" "#In the water Say in the water #" " #In the water # - # Your deliverance #" "#In the water # #In the water, yeah #" "#In the water #" " #Everything that you need # - #It might get a little cold sometimes but #" "#In the water Everything that you need # #If you wait a little while #" "#He gonna bring # #In the water #" "# Oh, oh ##" "Man, this the black people area?" "Yeah." "Don't it look different from what we showed you?" "I say, "Black people live here?" "'"" "They say, "Nothing but black people live around here. '"" "They say, "There's only two white people live in the whole hood. '"" "Every house has a big old yard." "Every house." "That's my cousin!" "What's happening with ya?" "Y'all got dogs." " And a cat." " We lost everything in the hurricane." "Yeah, everything, man." "Yeah, you know me, boy." "I love the N.O." "Die-hard New Orleans." "Oh, yeah, man." "Where y'all get this truck from?" "Thank God for some shelter." "Somebody opened their heart up for us." "You know, come stay with them till we get our things situated." "Just pray that, you know, God finish leading us in the right way." "Right areas, around the right people." "I mean, it's just so hard to" "I know somebody that's a survivor." "You know what I'm sayin'?" "Right." "I went through all of that, and I just" "I mean, y'all went through all that." "Still shocked about it." "I'm just I'm just shocked." "Maybe a week or two from now, I might start crying." "I mean, I've been crying the whole time." "You know?" "I was just, like I can't believe all of what we seeing on TV." "That's the type of stuff you see, you know, in third world countries." "This is America." "It shouldn't be happening here." "They treated us like we was un-American, like we lost our citizenship." "They cannot say that they did not have the means." "Our government is supposed to be one of the greatest, but it's proven to me that, hey, if you don't have money and you don't have status, you don't have a government." "And thisYeah." "My son wanted to join the army." "I'll be damned if he does." "No." "No way." "You gonna go to college, even if I have to wash somebody's floors to make sure you go." "You are going to college." "You're not gonna fight for a country... that does not give a damn for you." "No way." "These people out here are so friendly." "It's nice." "That's what I thought it would be like, you know." "So So everything is going just right, how I planned it to go." "I feel great." "I don't know how she feels, you know." "You know how I feel." "Don't try to play me." "I feel like I'm already at home." "I smell the Freshness in the air." "Who there?" "Oh, my cousin?" "Look at that boy coming down the street.!" "Oh, y'all be bumping my CD?" "I got fans down here.!" "What's happening, boy?" "I see ya." "I smell ya." "And I taste ya, nigga!" "What's happening?" "What's up, babe?" "Hey, baby." "Glad to see your fuckin' ass, bud." "What's happening, coz?" "Come here, B." "He's a good dude, bro." "You know what I'm sayin'?" "We met him along the way." "He's been down with us." "He's real solid, bro." "What's up, big man?" "This is my cousin Brian." "Brian, this is Brian." "Brian, Brian." "You got a good name, yo." "Man, second day in Memphis, a new beginning." "But we have so many places we gotta go to." "We gotta go get these things together about getting our houses, you know, and getting everything straight." "I feel great about this day." "This is the day I've been waiting for." "Are you scared about the future?" "I know one thing." "He gonna keep me going and keep me faithful in his word." "So, nah, I'm not afraid." "Fears are the devil." "I serve a true and living God." "Last name?" "Nobles." "N-O-B-L-E-S." "Okay." "Your name?" "Kimberly Rivers." "You got I.D., Kimberly?" "Yep." "Uh, my name is Brian Nobles." "I never received any kind of FEMA assistance." "I can't talk to Blanco today?" "Governor Blanco." "If I hear her voice, I'll feel more comfortable." "Okay." "It's like one big circle." "I just can't see nothing working." "It's not my battle." "It's the Lord's battle, so I'm gonna leave it alone and let him deal with it." " Boy, you let that dog in the shed" " Where Brian at, man?" "He done went somewhere and hid?" "Brian!" "You need me to be there, you need me to talk for you, you need me to sign anything or do anything you need me to do, just let me know, Brian." "I will patiently do it, bro." "Say a scripture." "I'm listening." "Kick a scripture." "You kick one." "No, you can't get the brightening of the day." "I'm the one" "I need encouragement." "You got it." "Well, I need encouragement now." "'Cause I feel like you down, man." "You gotta, you know what I'm sayin', just lay up there and just" "I'm not down." "I can't get down." "Well, just be patient." "Do me a favor." "Just be thankful right now." "If everything is going good for us, you know it's going good for you." "You know what's up with us." "Stop being down!" "I just Sometimes I go in my secret closet." "Stop going in your secret closet around us, 'cause you make us think that we ain't doing enough, when really we're maxed out." "What if I just get down and be, like, just sad?" "Then I'm-a have to come and encourage you." "There you go." "You'll be like, "Man, what's wrong with you?"" "You're my nigga, man." "Just stay up, bro." "Andjust, you know, stay positive." "All right." "That'll make me feel better." "All right." "All right." "And the scripture you wanted?" "I'm listening." ""Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. "" "Kendall Rivers." "His alias I mean, he got a nicknameWink." "W" " I-N-K." "Yeah." "This is his band number" "Eight-zero-zero-zero-zero." "You have five zeros and six-six." "I'm talking to the bondsman." "They're searching the computer to try to find him... to see if they'll be able to post the bond." "Yes." "Good to see you." "I'm chillin; man." " What's happening, baby?" " That's what I'm talking about." "They ain't even tell us the hurricane was coming." "They didn't tell y'all?" "Y'all ain't see no TVor nothing?" "So, like" "Oh, yeah?" "Yeah." "Day before the hurricane?" "Yeah." "'Cause Sunday night, when it started storming outside, I was like," ""Damn, it's storming up something real bad. '"" "The next morning, they came up there, and he was like," ""It's a hurricane out there, and it's flooded. '"" "We like, "Where the food and stuff at?" "'" They was like, '"Uh, ain't gonna be no food. '"" "When the guards and everybody left, itjust went crazy." "We couldn't drink the water." "It's contaminated." "Ain't had nothing to eat." "Eating paper and toothpaste." "People were buggin' you know, beating on the cells." "I'm like, "Man, these boys goin'crazy.!" "'"" "And I'm like, "This can't be real." "Gotta be a dream or something." "A dream. '"" "All the deputiesgone." "Just left us for to die." "Ain't no guard to protect nobody." "I was in there on a misdemeanor." "They had some dudes, they was jumping on out the windows andjust lost." "Ya heard me?" "They got us living like animals, you heard me?" "Like coming from Africa, like some slaves." "Why they gonna do us like that?" "We humans just like them." "Some of the hardest people you see on the streets was crying, for real." "Crying." "You heard me?" "We got families." "You got most dudes that was in there missing their little children might be drowned in the storm." "Concerned where their people was." "I know I was." "I still feel kind of shocked when I wake up." "Like I don't even much sleep on account of 'cause of that." "Ya heard me?" "I still be thinking about that there, that that happened to me, ya heard me?" "And I'm kind of blessed to get out of that." "And hope I don't ever go back to that, you know what I'm sayin'?" "Because that wasn't right, bro." "They ain't do us right, bro." "They ain't treat us right." "#See, Mama took good care #" " # Of all the kids #" " All right now." "#And they all had to learn, yeah #" "#Everything she did #" "#She always taught 'em Yes, she did #" "# Taught us right from wrong #" "# Got me ready for the day #" "# That I had to leave home #" "#I can see her #" "#I can see Miss Carrie Mae smilin' Yeah #" "# Oh, yeah ##" "That storm, it not only took homes, it took people." "It took my grandmother." "She kept our family together through thick and thin." "She never closed the door on anyone." "I can tell you this." "She sure packed a wallop." "Two. 38s in her purse." "She had 12 kids, 76 grandkids... and over a hundred and some great-grandchildren one woman." "If it wasn't for Miss Carrie Mae Hall, my grandmother," "I wouldn't be here." "When I was young, I was like tripping' out." "My mama was a rock head." "My mama was a drug addict." "When she had got sick" "We were just Me and my little brother, we were just running through the city, like, know what I'm sayin'?" "Being wherever we was at, like surviving, you know, on the streets, 'cause we didn't want the child protection people to get us and separate us." "I used to have to go in the stores and steal soap, steal personal hygiene things, dish-washing liquid." "All my needs, I used to have to steal 'em." "That's why I got an eye for a need." "I just see a need." "You know, I see kids in the store beggin' for change or whatever, you know, I can just see their face." "You know, I just see their need and I just want to act." "'Cause when I was little, people didn't see the need, and I had it hard." "Hoping that somebody would, you know, see my need... and help me when I was little." "When I started selling drugs, it took me out of that misery of not having." "So that made me want to continue on doing it." "Because it made me have everything I needed, everything I wanted." "I lacked not nothing." "Went without nothing." "You dig?" "And that's everybody's dream, so everybody would probably do it if they knew how." "Or knew how to do it." "You know what I'm sayin'?" "So that's the way that go, as far as that there." "I'm not proud if it." "You know what I'm sayin'?" "I'm not proud of it." "You know what I'm I don't want to do it no more, because, you know what I'm sayin', I don't want to hold nobody down." "Yeah, I lost my music in the hurricane." "So I come here to Memphis." "And my cousinwhen he came down to see my grandmother before she passed away in the hospital" "I gave him my CD." "And just so happened, he happened to have it." "So I'm gonna burn copies." "I'm gonna make that the master." "## That song right there, it's called "Amazing. "" "It's about me." "Things I been through." "And I'm telling people I don't need y'all to tell me that I'm amazing." "Just look at me." "You know what I'm sayin'?" "So let's peep this song out." "You know what I'm sayin'?" "That's what's up." "I love you for this one, sis. #Brighter day tomorrow #" " What?" " That cut." "You like that one?" "# I don't need you to tell me that I'm amazing' #" "# Come on and take a look and know that I'm amazing' #" "#Anywhere I be is where I bees, bees blazin' #" "#The nigga be tryin' to holla Broads be playa-hatin' #" "# Back in the day selling' coke on skatens #" "# Lurkin' in the bushes was that goddamn Satan #" "#Tryin' to swallow me up but I was determined to make it #" "# Had enemies everywhere but I was determined to make it #" "# Sayin', Mama, don't cry I know them rocks you takin' #" "#You've been takin' them every day That's why the lights ain't on #" "#You've been takin' them every day since my daddy's gone #" "#You've been takin' them every day and won't leave 'em alone #" "#You've been takin' them every day I'm in a danger zone #" "# Because these grown-ass niggas won't leave me alone #" "# Only 13 years old and penitentiary prone #" "#And you can ask my brother Kenny Well, he just came home #" "#Then I jack a couple niggas just to get us on #" "# See me walk for makin' groceries tryin' to make it home #" "# I was just a little girl caught up in a storm #" "#And it still amaze me now I lived to see myself grown #" "# I had a mind-set No authority, nobody's over me #" "#And only God lovin' me 'cause he protects me #" "# From evil forces that put people in their graves #" "# My mama gone so I didn't want to behave #" "# I'm 13 and I'm filled up with beaucoup rage #" "#Tryin' to stop from clicking' over to the next page #" "# Only 16 years old and made the front page #" "# Cut a nigga fuckin' face with a razor blade #" "#That same nigga got me back as we begin to age #" "#We got married as soon as I turned legal age #" "# He made me happy till that nigga got on that beige #" "# Started shootin' and quit all the way haze #" "# Eight years, the last three I think I wanted to die #" "# I didn't know who I was 'cause that nigga could lie to me #" "#With a fuckin' straight face #" "# Gimme money and I'm straight and keep a bitch with a little taste #" "#Don't need you to tell me that I'm amazing'#" "# Come on and take a look and know that I'm amazing' #" "#Anywhere I be is where I bees, bees blazin' #" "#The niggas be tryin' to holla Broads be playa-hatin' #" "#Amazing is the word Now who got my strength #" "# Eyes and ears, nose open so I could smell the scent #" "# Of a rotten cocksucker because I dealt befo' #" "#Tryin' to get me on that coke and turn me into a ho #" "# Better yet, break me down 'cause ain't no guidance around #" "# But sweetJesus keep both of my feet on the ground #" "#After the hard times oh, look the joy I found #" "#And what the world gonna do 'cause they can't stop me now # Whoo.!" "# I've been picked up and let down but I bounce right back #" "# I've got some soldier war wounds from bein' under attack #" "# I've been in some situations where y'all wouldn't come back #" "# I'm amazing' and experienced and I never would rat #" "# So when you see the Kold Madina know that this is a fact #" "# I've been tried in a fire and authentic came back #" "# So when you see the Kold Madina know that this is a fact #" "# I'm solid gold, motherfucker in the game like that #" "# I don't need you to tell me that I'm amazing' #" "Yeah." "That's what's happenin'." "Smokin;" "Smokin;" "Smokin'?" "Smokin', boy." "Smokin; baby." " I told you, boy!" " Smokin; baby." "You got to feel that." "You got to feel it." "Oh, yeah, man." "If you don't feel that, man, you ain't feeling nothing." "I wrote that song when I was depressed." "I know you wrote it I was depressed, and I said" "I said, you know what?" "I want to write something that means something." "I wanted to write a happy song." "And that's what came up." "#Amazing Amazing ##" " See those teeth?" " Mmm-mmm-mmm." "I don't know." "I don't want to know." "They got us with this eviction notice." "Damn." "We gotta go to court." "We gonna go too." "Right." "I'm gonna bring my receipt." "Man, I don't feel good when I see all this fucked-up stuff, 'cause this used to be my house, man." "I used to like this house." "Get out of there!" "You don't want me to come in, babe?" "No. 'Cause they could have snakes in here." "I don't know." "You might be able to see through, um through the window." "When I was working in Memphis, I was working at the paper factory." "When they hit me for taxes, I'd be having like maybe $25, $30 a day." "That's how I had to survive in Memphis." "You know, you have to be a graduate out there." "'Cause if you didn't graduate, you can't make no money out there." "Sit down, mommy." "Sit down." "That's one of the real reasons why I came back home to get some work." "When my girl dog had her puppies, once I sold all the puppies, that was enough money for me to make that trip back home." "Miss Kizzie Roberts." "Ten puppies." "You hear them puppies?" "Huh?" "You hear them puppies, boy?" "Yeah, I sold 10 puppies to make it back here." "I hooked a five-by-eight trailer from U-Haul up to the back of my car... and pushed." "It was just too hard to try to start all over in a strange place, basically." "Right." "You know, it was more harder than we thought it was, so I came back home." "Now that I'm back in New Orleans, I don't regret coming back." "And I ain't trying to leave no more." "This is our home, our food, our neighbors What's happening, bro?" "Our problems." "I never thought they'd come back, you dig, but, see" "Look." "All my people, Three cars of people done pass, and they all know me." "You know what I'm sayin'?" "So this is where I want to be at." "If something happened to me right around here right now, all them cars" "Somebody's gonna do something for me." "'Cause they know me." "Somebody gonna call some 911." "If I ain't got no ride, somebody's gonna give me a ride." "If I need some money, you dig, they might not loan me no money, but they'll give me some conversation." "They still treating us third world." "The sameTen months or whatever how many months, it's still the same out here." "You know?" "So how can people come back to New Orleans?" "Our research has showed us that people want to come here for a vacation." "They want to come and relax." "They don't want to constantly be reminded... about, you know, devastation when you're trying to have a good time on a vacation." "The mall looks great." "The French Quarter looks great." "It's really been cleaned up." "People have the perception that we're closed." "And while 80% of the city was devastated, that 20% where the tourists are was not." "The aquarium just came open a few weeks ago." "Harrah's Casino opened in time for Mardi Gras." "It seems like every week we're having some celebration, some reopening." "And it's just amazing, the energy in the city right now." "Everything's a celebration." "This is actually a DVD that we produced right before the storm, but everything in the DVD is perfect." "So we still use it." "# Do they play jazz in heaven #" "#In New Orleans we know they do #" "#Since Satchmo crossed those pearly gates #" "#It's been jazz and never the blues #" "# You know if there's a paradise #" "# It's an afternoon in Jackson Square #" "# 'Cause if they playjazz in heaven, darling #" "#It's standing room #" "#Standing room only up there ##" "The hood's gonna always be last to be fixed." "Right." "Long as they fix their downtown, their French Quarters and all that, they straight." "Leave the black folks or poor people off, you dig?" "Let 'em get back on their own." "I almost died last year.!" "We about to go ahead on and take us a stroll... around here on France Street." "All day." "Tell 'em what's happening, Stink Pizzle." "So this is what's happening, bro." "It's nighttime." "Ya heard me?" "Only come out at nighttime, ya know what I'm sayin'?" "Off top." "Because it be too hot in the daytime." "Off top." "And I'm living, like, life after Katrina." "It's hard out here, ya dig?" "You gonna make it." "You gonna make it, Wink." "Okay, we all gonna make it." "Keep trying." "I'll catch up with these people." "We're about to go commemorate our house on France." "Where we going now?" "We're going on France." "Everybody on the vehicle?" "Everybody on the vehicle." "Cut the camera off?" "Wejust doing a little commemoration thing, man." "I ain't got to be looking over my shoulder." "I ain't got to be worrying about somebody looking for me with a gun." "You know, I'm just at work." "This is where I spend my time, and I spend my nights at home." "That's what I really love about it." "And then I get to do something that matters... that I always can come back and look at and say, "Man, I did that. '"" "I love myjob." "I got a cool boss." "You know?" "And then he teaching me everything I need to know." "How did you guys get hooked up?" "Oh, he had a house on Gallier, and his supplies kept coming up missing." "He wanted to really rent my dogs." "And I was like, "No, man." "I wouldn't rent 'em." "I'll just leave them over here, you know, to make sure nobody don't break into your stuff. '"" "And he said, "I'll get you a job." "Just come to work tomorrow. '"" "And that's how I started." "He was talking to a buddy of mine, and Scott said to him," ""Well, all I really want to do is work. "" "And once I heard that, I was like, you know," ""That's the kind of guy that you know you can rely on. "" "At first I wasn't even coming back." "I'm happy I did come back, 'cause now I get to rebuild my city." "I'd rather do a job that's meaningful than just, you know, doing something stupid like fixing people's drink, getting drunk all day in the French Quarter." "I come in in the morning andjump straight to work." "I love the smell of that sawdust." "It's hard right now for some people, you know, but you just got to keep going at it." "That's the only thing I can say." "Keep going at it every day, you know?" "Try to make a difference in your neighborhood... if you can't make a difference nowhere else." "#Ninth Ward New Orleans #" "#A lot of people might think this song is controversial #" "# But I don't care #" "# See your bone grizzle Put it on the sizzle #" "#Hmm See your bone grizzle Put it on the sizzle #" "# Check me Check me #" "#Now, it's actual and factual We deserve to cry #" "#And the people with the money got the hell out of Dodge #" "#And left my city New Orleans for newborn babies to die #" "#And us swimming' on Saint Claude to Frederick Douglass High #" "#Me and my people born gangstas We surviving'out here #" "# Y'all can't kill us 'cause we out the Ninth Ward, ya hear #" "# Can't let y'all get the story wrong 'cause y'all be tellin' it wrong #" "# You know they stole all the money for the levees and homes #" "#I need to see ya bone grizzle Put it on the sizzle #" "# I gotta, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta #" "#I need to see ya bone grizzle Put it on the sizzle #" "# I got a hundred-round drum to make sure I don't miss you #" "# You got your payday comin' 'cause I'm from the Ninth Ward #" "#And when my kids get big they gonna stomp you hard #" "#Put your kids on interstates amongst the rapists and thieves #" "# Thirsty like a damn dog tryin'to get somethin'to eat #" "# While Bush ass smilin' 'cause his situation's better #" "#All the taxes that we pay y'all say y'all had the cheddar #" "#All the satellites that's in space y'all say y'all knowing'the weather #" "#But thank you, God Through me myJesus make things better #" "# With 27 other people on the back of a truck #" "#Five whole families Nobody left, no one stuck #" "#After walking'through the water I think it cleared out my eyes #" "# They tried to kill us in Katrina but the Ninth Ward will rise #" "#I need to see your bone grizzle Put it on the sizzle #" "#Man, somebody gotta be held responsible for this shit #" "#I need to see your bone grizzle Put it on the sizzle #" "#Man, somebody gotta be held accountable for this shit ##" "Katrina is not over." "We're still being affected right now... by not educating us, robbing us out of the opportunity to be the next whoever." "## We got to go see how other people was living." "It opened up our eyes." "I mean, it's like they preparing them for the future." "Here in New Orleans, it's like they preparing us for prison." "I'm here to represent the people who wasn't able to make it." "Miss Daisy Stewart." "Her daughter, Miss Jean." "I'm here for Larry Sims, Brian Nobles." "I'm here for my Uncle Nat, 'cause he died in the storm." "#That water That muddy, muddy water #" "I'm here for my grandmother who died... and myself also, 'cause I'm a citizen of New Orleans." "## # Ooh Yeah, yeah, yeah #" "## # Ooh Yeah, yeah, yeah #" "#Hey #" "# Way, way down in the water, water #" "#Black Kold Madina in this mug #" "# Trouble the water # #Miss T The Ninth Ward in this mother #" "#Ninth Ward # # Ya heard me #" "# Check it out We down south hustlin;" "they gon'# # Trouble the waters #" "#I got that heat for they ass They gon'# # Trouble the waters #" "#And we ain't taking'no orders They slippin; trippin'#" "#And forgot survival's # #All that it taught us #" "#Escalade on rollers 'cause they # # Trouble the waters #" "# Yeah, they know we been ballin' That's why they # # Trouble the waters #" "#Put it in, shot callin' 'cause they # # Trouble the waters #" "# Yeah, we bounce back open when ya #" "# Yeah, we hustle nonstop We hustle till we get rich #" "# Yeah, was weighing'in the water Twenty grounds for six #" "#Ninth Ward Born Hustlers # # We swimming' Fuck them tricks #" "#Me and my neighbor and them been sharing'clothes and kicks # # Okay #" "#If you a man, feed your family or you might as well leave 'em #" "# Yours truly, first responder Black Kold Madina #" "# Come on down if you gon'trouble my water #" "#Me and some poverty-stricken daughters Yeah, we down for the order #" "#Just like a nursing home Boy, don't wanna give me a quarter #" "# Yeah, you think that's all we know is sellin'pounds and quarters #" "#But that's how work at White House And whatever the cost #" "# We reaching'back for our people You ain't spittin'insults #" "# That's just how blessed I feel Y'all ain't knowing'the deal #" "# On 20 '06 'Cause we didn't get killed #" "#A nigga wounds won't heal I still don't fuck with the bills #" "# We down south hustlin; they gon'# # Trouble the waters #" "#I got that heat for they ass They gon'# # Trouble the waters #" "#And we ain't taking'no orders They slippin; trippin'#" "#And forgot survival's # #All that it taught us #" "#Escalade on rollers 'cause they # # Trouble the waters #" "# Yeah, they know we been ballin' That's why they # # Trouble the waters #" "#Put it in, shot callin' 'cause they # # Trouble the waters #" "# Yeah, we bounce back open when ya #" "#Even though a storm hittin' and it wet our feet #" "#Real gangstas been surviving'beats been ducking'white sheets for sheezy # #Damn #" "#Been pumping'cocaine leaves People died in the storm Commemorate with a wreath #" "#Ninth Ward # #I ain't mad that's all you're givin' 'cause we rockin'gold teeth #" "#And we ain't been havin'shit That's why we deep in these streets # # Okay, okay #" "#New Orleans, known forjazz All we know is black mass #" "#Hit the gas real fast Bust a brain in the dash #" "#It ain't our fault we graduated from the street pharmacy #" "#Because the nappy-na president been harming'me #" "#And everywhere that I get the color gumbo will be #" "#I'm inspired by these streets # #Black Madina, bring the threat #" "# We down south hustlin; they gon'# # Trouble the waters #" "#I got that heat for they ass They gon'# # Trouble the waters #" "#And we ain't taking'no orders They slippin; trippin'#" "#And forgot survival's # #All that it taught us #" "#Escalade on rollers 'cause they # # Trouble the waters #" "# Yeah, they know we been ballin' That's why they # # Trouble the waters #" "#Put it in, shot callin' 'cause they # # Trouble the waters #" "# Yeah, we bounce back open when ya #" "#Straight up, we gon'bring ya more trouble than a fat woman's seat #" "# Yeah, bring your money in my hood then get the hell off the street #" "#All the gangstas, if ya feel me lean and rock to the beat #" "#Kimberly down low 20 '06 is just for trouble # #Down south, down south #" "# We down south hustlin; they gon'# # Trouble the waters #" "#I got that heat for they ass They gon'# # Trouble the waters #" "# Ooh, don't come around, yeah if you try to trouble the waters #" "# Trouble the waters #" "# We don't need ya out here if you try to trouble the waters #" "# Trouble the waters # # Okay #" "#Don't come to our town if you try to trouble the waters #" "#Ninth Ward, Ninth Ward # # Trouble the waters #" "# Yeah, we hustlin'the Sixth # #In the water #" "#New Orleans worldwide, baby #" "# Troubles # # We done bounced back you know what I mean #" "#In the water, water # # We makin'money #" "# Water, water Troubles #" "#Regardless Ha, ha # #In the water #" "# Yeah # # Water, water #" "# Okay #" "# Troubles in the water #" "# Water, water #" "#In the water #" "#Don't come, don't come don't come around #" "# Yeah, yeah, yeah #" "#In the water #" "#In the water # # We straight Ya heard me, ya heard me #" "#In the water #" "# Trouble in the water # #Ninth Ward ##"