Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-08-28 Thursday

Episode Date: August 28, 2025

Democracy Now! Thursday, August 28, 2025

From New York and Tel-Yriot, Colorado, this is Democracy Now. Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church. These are kids that should be learning with their friends. The city of Minneapolis is in mourning after two children, aged 8 and 10, were shot dead and 17 others were injured when a former student fired through the windows of a church at a Catholic school.

We'll speak to the head of Brady, the leading gun control group. Then it was 20 years ago this week when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast killing 1,800 people and 4,000. forcing over a million people to evacuate. We'll look back at our coverage and go to New Orleans to speak to independent journalists, Jordan Flarity, and former Black Panther, Malik Rahim, who co-founded the Common Ground Collective. Sad part about it, it could happen today. Dejaveu is alive and well here.

Because if a hurricane would happen right now, we are ill-prepared for it, the same way we're We was ill-prepared 20 years ago. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Narmine Sheikh. A column of Israeli tanks pushed further into the outskirts of Gaza City overnight, shelling Palestinian homes and prompting terrified residents to flee. The offensive came as Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip killed at least.

17 people, while medical workers reported four more deaths from famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, including two children. That brings the total number of starvation-related deaths in Gaza to 317. This comes as new research published in the Lancet, finds nearly a third of outpatients treated by the medical charity Medsinsinsen-Saint-San Frontier in its Gaza field hospitals were children under the age of 15. MSF warns that explosive. of weapons designed to be used in open battlefields are increasingly being used to target Palestinians in urban areas. At the United Nations, 14 of the Security Council's 15 members issued a joint statement Wednesday calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all

hostages held by Amas and other groups, a surge of humanitarian aid, and for Israel to immediately and unconditionally lift all restrictions on aid delivery. Only the United States opposed a statement. Guyanese diplomat, Trishala Persod, spoke to reporters, flanked by other UN ambassadors demanding an end to Israel's siege. We note that at least 41,000 children are at heightened risk of death from malnutrition between now and June 26. This is a man-made crisis. The use of starvation as a weapon of war is clearly prohibited under international humanitarian law. Famine in Gaza must be stopped immediately. In California, police arrested 138 peaceful protesters Wednesday as they occupied the lobby of Senator Alex Padilla's offices in San Francisco

to demand an end to U.S. arms shipments to Israel. Among those arrested were rabbis, spiritual leaders, and descendants of Holocaust survivors. Elsewhere, Jewish Voice for Peace held protests in the lobby of a Sacramento hotel where Senator Padilla was attending a conference. and outside Padilla's offices in San Diego. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, dozens of Jewish peace activists held an hours-long sit-in protest in the offices of California's other senator, Adam Schiff.

Last month, Senators Padilla and Schiff voted against a resolution sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders and backed by two dozen members of the Democratic Caucus that seeks to block arms sales to Israel. A Russian missile and drone attack on Kiev overnight killed at least 15 people, including four children. It was the deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital in weeks. Russian drones also hit Ukraine's energy infrastructure in several regions, leaving more than 100,000 Ukrainian homes without power. This comes, as Ukrainian drones

have also been striking Russian oil refineries, leading to surging oil prices and fuel shortages in Russia. Meanwhile, Ukraine has acknowledged that Russian forces have captured two villages in the eastern region of Nipro for the first time in three and a half years of war. One Ukrainian official told the BBC that this is the first Russian attack on such a large scale in the region. It came as President Trump has been trying to broker a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine. On Wednesday, the Kremlin said that it will not accept NATO troops stationed in Ukraine as part of any ceasefire deal. U.S. and Russian officials discussed energy deals during recent peace talks to end the war in Ukraine.

That's according to Reuters, which reports and discussions took place during U.S. envoy Steve Whitkoff's trip to Moscow earlier this month, as well as during the Trump-Puton-Alaska summit on August 15th. One of the deals would involve ExxonMobil re-entering Russia's Sakhalin One Oil and Gas Project. Exxon left Russia shortly after it attacked Ukraine in 2022, which prompted a wave of Western sanctions against Russia. The Wall Street Journal is also reporting that Exxon's CEO has decided. discussed the company's return to Russia with President Trump in recent weeks. This comes as President Trump has hit India with tariffs of 50 percent, citing India's imports of Russian oil. In Minnesota, a shooter opened fire at a Catholic school in South Minneapolis Wednesday, killing two children and injuring 17 people.

The shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene after firing through the windows at students who were sitting in pews in the church. This is Weston Horsney, a fifth grader who described watching a friend get shot in the back. He spoke to the local TV station, Fox 9. Shot in the back. He's in the hospital right now. It was super scary because, like, we've never practiced it in the church. We've only practiced it in the main school, so we really didn't know what to do. My friend, he was, like, laying on top of me, like, making sure I was safe and he got hit. So that was really brave of him.

And you have a neck on your neck? Yeah, that was, I don't even know what it's from. It kind of looks like debris or something. Police say the attacker legally purchased weapons used in Wednesday's mass shooting, including a rifle, a pistol, and a shotgun. Prior to the attack, the gunman showed off the weapons in a video. uploaded to YouTube. The video has since been taken down. After headlines, we'll speak with Chris Brown, president of Brady, one of the oldest gun violence prevention organizations in the

U.S. The White House said late Wednesday it had fired the director of the Centers for Disease Controlled Susan Monares after she refused to resign, saying her views were, quote, not aligned with the president's agenda of making America healthy again, unquote. Monardes was confirmed by the Senate as CDC director less than a month ago. In a statement late Wednesday, her lawyers accused HHS and health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of putting millions of lives at risk by firing career experts and seasoned scientists while weaponizing public health. They write, quote, when CDC director Susan Monardis refused to rubber stamp unscientific, reckless directives, and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For

that she's been targeted, unquote. Meanwhile, three senior CDC officials resigned in protest Wednesday. Dr. Deb Houdi, Deputy Director for Program and Science and Chief Medical Officer at CDC. Dr. Dimitri Descalakis, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and Dr. Daniel Jernigan, Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. In a resignation email, Dr. Houdi wrote, quote, The good of the nation and the world, the science at CDC should never be censored or subject to political pauses or interpretations. Vaccines save lives. This is an indisputable, well-established scientific fact, unquote.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved updated COVID vaccines for the fall season, with new restrictions on who can access booster shots. Under the FDA plan, COVID shots remain authorized for people who are 65 and older, or at higher rates. risk of severe disease from an infection. Younger adults would be eligible to receive shots only if they have underlying medical conditions, putting them at higher risk. The authorization still needs the approval of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. In June, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 of the committee's members and replaced them with vaccine skeptics. COVID-19 remains a major driver of disability and mortality in the United States, with over 44,000 COVID deaths reported last year.

The Transportation Department announced Wednesday that it's taking over management of the district's union station from Amtrak. This comes after President Trump deployed thousands of National Guard troops to D.C., despite crime in the city being at its lowest level in decades. National Guard troops are reportedly conducting the duties of local park staffers due to Doge cuts. They're spreading mulch and picking up trash. Meanwhile, a grand jury declined to indict the former Justice Department employee who threw a sandwich at one of the federal officers deployed to D.C. by President Trump. And prosecutors also failed to convince a grand jury to indict a woman who was accused of assaulting an FBI agent during an immigration raid in the city last month. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C. mayor, Muriel Bowser, a Democrat on Wednesday, had praised.

for Trump's crackdown, saying it's reduced crime in the district. This federal surge has had a significant increase on crime in Washington, D.C. And we greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what MPD has been able to do in this city. Bowser's praise for the D.C. crackdown came as the mayor's office seeks to restore $1.1 billion cut from the district's budget by Congressional Republicans earlier this year, and as the White House is dangling a $2 billion infrastructure proposal for what it called the, quote, beautification of the nation's capital. Mayor Bowser said Wednesday she supported the infrastructure plan, which civil rights leaders, including Reverend Al Sharpton, have condemned

as cover for racial profiling. And the California Senate has unanimously passed a resolution that would probe the state's imports of crude oil extracted from the Amazon. The resolution also calls for an eventual end to California's reliance on these crude imports. The Amazon is not just good for the communities that live there, but our climate here in California. California is dependent on the Amazon for temperature and rainfall regulation. In other words, our faiths are linked. And I'm going to share a shocking stat. 50% of the oil exported from the Amazon ends up in California refineries.

This follows years of advocacy from indigenous groups in South America. In June, a high-level indigenous delegation from Ecuador's Amazon met with lawmakers in Sacramento and staged a protest near a Chevron refinery. Meanwhile, Ecuador and Peru are moving ahead to expand drilling in the Amazon. And those are some of the headlines that says Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Nirmine Sheikh in New York, joined by Amy Goodman in Telluride, Colorado. Hi, Amy. Hi, Nermine, and welcome to our listeners and viewers around the country and around the world. The city of Minneapolis is in mourning after two

children aged eight and ten were shot dead, 17 others injured when a former student fired dozens of shots through the stained glass church, at Annunciation Catholic School. At the time of the shooting, the students were sitting in pews at morning mass during their first week back to school. The injured include 14 children and three elderly parishioners. Police say the 23-year-old attacker died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities have described the shooter as a former student at the school who reportedly posted two videos. on YouTube, displaying handwritten journals and weapons with the names of other school shooters

written on them. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry addressed the community after the shooting. Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church. These are kids that should be learning with their friends. They should be playing on the playground.

They should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear or risk of violence, and their parents should have the same kind of assurance. These are the sort of basic assurances that every family should have, every step of the day, regardless of where they are in our country. Mayor Frye also condemned attempts to villainize the trans community after police said the shooter was transgender. anybody who is using this as an using this as an opportunity

to villainize our trans community or any other community out there has lost their sense of common humanity we should not be operating out of a place of hate for anyone we should be operating from a place of love for our kids kids died today we're joined now by

Chris Brown, the president of Brady, one of the oldest gun violence prevention organizations in the U.S. Welcome back to Democracy Now. Chris, if you could just begin by responding to this attack, you're the president of one of the oldest gun violence prevention organizations in the country. What can be done to prevent violence like what we saw yesterday, and we see basically on a quotidian basis in this country? I wish I was here under better circumstances, but thanks for having me. Not only as the president of Brady, but also as a mom, it's heartbreaking to experience days like yesterday and know so many parents that I've met who also have lost their kids in gun violence at schools.

So we are rightly looking at the kinds of things that we could do to prevent this. In this particular instance, it does appear that this individual acquired these guns lawfully, although that needs to be verified. But Minneapolis is in Minnesota, and in 2024, Governor Wall signed what's called an extreme risk protection law. That law provides the ability for firearms to be removed from individuals who are deemed by a court to be at risk to themselves or others. We're still looking at the facts and circumstances here, but I can tell you in other states with a richer history, a longer enacted, extreme risk protection law, it's exactly in these kinds of circumstances that you see the successful removal of firearms, which then also

prohibits the individual from acquiring firearms during the pendency of that order. So I think the question we have to ask ourselves is not what is the one or two things, that that we need to do to address the scourge of gun violence and this particular kind of gun violence. But what are all of the things that we need to do? Because Amy, firearms are the number one killer of our kids in America. That's a uniquely American problem.

If you live in America, you're 26 times more likely to be shot than any other industrialized country. So we need to embrace this as an issue that is solvable, and we know that it is, because in states that have better gun laws, better enforcement, we have material reductions in gun death and injury. And just like the mayor said of Minneapolis, our kids' lives are worth this investment. Chris Brown, you are the president of Brady. For those who maybe are too young to know who Brady is named for, Jim Brady, the press

secretary for President Ronald Reagan shot in the head during the attempted assassination of President Reagan. If you can talk about from Reagan now to Trump, especially under Trump's second term, how the laws are changing around guns and gun control. Yeah, thanks for that question. So yes, Brady is named after Jim and Sarah Brady. Jim was shot in the head while serving as President Ronald Reagan's press secretary. He and his wife fought for six years, and there were seven votes in Congress to pass our nation's background check system. That law has stopped more than five million purchases of firearms to individuals we all agree should not have access to them. We then passed the assault weapons ban that was

allowed to sunset, and we have, with former President Biden, accomplished a great deal in gun violence prevention. That's how, in part, we have material reductions in violent crime in cities across America, including my own city of Washington, D.C., which has a 40-year low of violent crime. President Trump, since taking office in this term, in particular, has every day attempted to reverse those gains, and that puts us at substantial risk. Let me just name a few things. First, President Biden had established the Office of Gun Violence Prevention within the White House, recognizing gun violence as a public health epidemic. On day one of President Trump's office, he dismantled that office within the White House

and created instead a Second Amendment task force to look at where and how any insurrectionist view of the Second Amendment was being infringed in any way. Then he set about reversing all of the executive actions and orders that President Biden had put in place that were working, including the zero tolerance policy by the ATF that actually ensured that gun dealers that were illegally selling firearms were shut down or reformed. He dismantled that entire program. He also redirected about 80% of the ATF agents, and the ATF is the only department. in the federal government that actually inspects our nation's gun dealers, of which we have more than McDonald's and Starbucks combined. So he's taken those agents and he's redirected them to immigration enforcement. We also, in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, passed after Yuvaldei, 16 Republicans voted yes on that, by the way, had provided unprecedented funding for community violence intervention, at least $180 million in grants. He rescinded all of those.

And speaking of school shootings, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act also provided $1 billion to support mental health in our nation's schools. He had the Department of Education rescind all of those funds. Amy, I don't have enough time. I could go on and on and on. A lot of these are both direct activities that he is directing his agencies to undertake, and he's doing a lot behind the scenes as well, including restoring gun rights of convicted felons that has never happened. And comparing this to President Ronald Reagan, let's recall that Ronald Reagan actually supported gun violence prevention, including the Brady law. So we have a stark contrast and approach between these two individuals and the actions I fear that President Trump is undertaking

will make all of us far less safe. And according to the Washington Post, Trump's handpicked interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, former Fox News personality, Janine Piro, had instructed prosecutors to maximize criminal charges against anyone arrested during Trump's. federal takeover of Washington, D.C., law enforcement with the exception of people carrying rifles or shotguns in violation of D.C. laws. In those cases, she said prosecutors should not seek felony charges. What exactly does that mean? Your guess is as good as mine. It's the strangest and most kind of risky approach for someone who claims to be about safety, to say, well, if you're

openly carrying a firearm in violation of D.C. law, we are going to say that we will not press charges against you. To the average person, what message is that sending? It's pretty clear to me what message that's sending, and that is if you're someone who believes in a kind of vigilante sort of justice or you're a member of a militia, well, come on, come into D.C., carry firearms openly, because you won't be prosecuted for doing that. And I'm sorry, but I work in D.C., I have many friends in D.C. There's no question that the way that this is all being administered is highly racialized. And we see that happening over and over and over again.

If you happen to be a person of color driving your car near one of their many checkpoints, you are very often pulled over compared to someone who is not a person of color. And so I just think what we will see here are individuals who are potentially creating a much more dangerous environment by openly carrying firearms. We already have a situation in D.C. with the January 6th insurrection that has been studied over and over and over again, where President Trump never called the National Guard. That was a national emergency, never called the National Guard. And D.C.'s gun laws, we know the lack of open carry meant that the individuals who participated in that January 6th insurrection did not have firearms.

If they had, we would have had a potential bloodbath on our hands. It is not in anyone's interest, not the residents of D.C. or the many visitors who come to our nation's capital to permit open carry of firearms and to have Janine Piro say she won't enforce the existing law is an absolute aberration and she will have blood on her hands if as a result of that she invites people coming in with open firearms and there is any kind of violence on the streets in D.C. Chris Brown, President of Brady, one of the nation's oldest gun violence prevention organizations. Thank you for joining us. Coming up, it was 20 years ago this week when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, killing over 1,800 people and forcing over a million people to evacuate. Back in a minute. Yeah, this is the Bata!

This is the baton! Penes. The humanity. That's a lot. The humanity at a tariada, thinking just in richness. by last in Riquetado by Las Cafeteras in our Democracy Now studio. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org.

I'm Narmine Sheikh in New York with Amy Goodman in Telleride, Colorado. This week marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 storm, the devastated the Gulf Coast, killing more than 1,800 people and forcing more than a million to evacuate. The rest of the hour, looking back at Hurricane Katrina and at where New Orleans is today. We'll speak with Malik Rahim, founder of Common Ground Relief, as well as journalist Jordan Flaherty. But first, we go back to some of our coverage of Katrina from 20 years ago as we went back and forth New Orleans. It begins with then New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin. Ladies and gentlemen, I wish I had better news for you,

but we are facing a storm that most of us have feared. Every person is hereby order to immediately evacuate the city of New Orleans or if no other alternative is available to immediately move to one of the facilities within the city that will be designated as a city. a refuge of last resort. New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region remain in a state of catastrophe following the devastating Hurricane Katrina. At least 80% of New Orleans is underwater. The city has no electricity

and little drinkable water. Officials say New Orleans will be uninhabitable for weeks. On Tuesday, two levees broke flooding areas of the city that it appeared to survive the storm. This is a national disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans. That's a thinking small, man,

and this is a major, major, major deal. about tens of thousands of people who are left behind. And those are the sickest, the oldest, poorest, the youngest, the people with disabilities and the like. And the plan was that everybody should leave. Well, you can't leave if you're in a hospital. You can't leave if you're a nurse. You can't leave if you're a patient. You can't leave if you're in a nursing home.

You can't leave if you don't have a car. There are strong of people, easily in the tens of thousands, maybe 40 to 50,000 people, in my estimation, standing on this plaza trying to get to a very narrow area where they're being escorted to the buses. I haven't seen one bus leave yet. These, babe, six and eight months, there people just walking past us. No food, no water, no nothing. we had we been taking it. That's the only way we could survive. We've got the food right here. Let me show you right here. All right. Look, look, right here. Look. City won't give my shit.

Nothing. Not yourself, bro, everyone. Look. Look. Look. See what I'm going to give up nothing. We're drinking no ice water. Nothing. It's not about low-income. It's not about rich people, poor people. It's about people. Nobody wants to hurt anybody in the city. Nobody wants to hurt these people who have these businesses. A little air and a little food and water for God, and things are to it. There's nobody in charge, the National Guard, the police, there is nobody.

Somebody needs to come take charge and put organization and get these people to safety to get them closed. The basic things that they need to live from day to day. Well, we've been people being killed down here. People were just lying out in the street. They were shooting each other. The military was shooting. One of my neighbors said, and they were military guys shot. at him. So that's what made me not want to come down here.

Federal Leaf officials have played almost no role. The head of FEMA, Michael Brown, admitted on CNN last night. His agency didn't even know that thousands of hungry refugees were inside the convention center. Residents continue to break into stores in search of everything from food and water to guns to luxury items. Nobody here but us, and we just got to look out from one another. All your politicians, they want to get on TV, talking about this. feeding this point, feeding that for it. We ain't seen nothing over yet yet. The White House announced it would have zero tolerance for looters,

even for those taking essential items needed to stay alive. Well, I want zero tolerance for that kind of language being used by leaders of our government to discuss poor people, poor black people who are trying to survive under the most desperate, insane circumstances. I want zero tolerance for thousands of our troops being sent to Iraq when we need them here. I hate the way they betray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family. It says they're looking for food.

George Bush doesn't care about black people. In Biloxi, Mississippi, the first federal aid arrived only yesterday, three full days after the storm wiped out entire sections of the city. In smaller towns in Mississippi, help has still not arrived. We left for the hurricane and came back Monday night hoping that we could help some people because, I don't know, looking at the response to this storm, particularly initially, there wasn't a lot of outside help, so we decided that really it was up to the people of Jefferson Parish to take the parish back. What I saw from the federal government was a grand total of three boats, border patrol agents on three boats,

two airboats and one flat bottom boat. and I saw far more of a response from citizens who had just taken it upon themselves to go and pluck people out of their homes and they plucked about a dozen out on Saturday. We don't have any government response here. Everything that's taken place is taken place by volunteers and citizens in the area.

Why aren't there 50 inflatable boats in the water working a grid making sure all these people are out of here? Why is it just volunteers? That's the only people you see around. FEMA director Mike Brown is in charge of all federal response and recovery efforts in the field. And Brown, are you doing a heck of a job? The Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, has called for your resignation,

and I'm wondering the field response to that. The president's in charge of that, not me. Well, right at the top of you have Michael Brown, and as you mentioned, he was the commissioner of judges at the International Arabian Horse Association to give you an idea of what he did there. he spent a year investigating whether a breeder performed liposuction on a horse's rear end. This is an attempt by some in this room to engage in finger pointing and blame game,

and I'm just not going to do that. I've made it very clear. I've made it very clear, and the president spoke about him last week, and his comments stand in terms of what he said about the great work that they've been doing around the clock 24 hours a day to help people on the ground. excerpts of Democracy Now's coverage of Hurricane Katrina 20 years ago. That last speaker was Scott McLennan, who served as spokesperson for then-president George W. Bush. The massive storm struck the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. Democracy Now soon went down to report from the streets of New Orleans. One person we interviewed in the neighborhood of Algiers was Malik Rahim,

co-founder of the Common Ground Collective. On September 10th, 2005, we aired this report. When Malik took us around the corner from a community health center, he showed us how a corpse still remained on the street. It had been neglected since Hurricane Katrina hit. We asked soldiers and police why the corpse had not been picked up. Basically smell it from right here. you know and the police they pass by they'll look at it and uh but they ain't going to do nothing

you know to pick it up malik then walked us down the driveway next to the health center and lifted up a sheet of corrugated metal marked with an ex revealing the dead body underneath Now, his body been here for almost two weeks, two weeks tomorrow, all right, that this man's been body been laying here. And there's no reason for it. Look where we at. I mean, it's not flooded. There's no reason for them to be and left that body right here like this. I mean, I just totally disrespect.

You know, and I mean, two weeks, every day we ask him about come and pick it up. and they refuse to come and pick it up. And you can see it. It's literally decomposing right here, right out in the sun. Every day we sit up and we ask them about it. Because, I mean, this is closest you could get to tropical climate in America. And they won't do anything with it. Malik, do you know who this person is?

No. But regardless of who it is, I wouldn't care of it. Saddam Hussein or bin Laden. Nobody deserves to be left here. And the kids pass by here and they're seeing it. I mean, the elderly, this is what's frightening a lot of people into leaving. We don't know if he's a victim of vigilantes or what. But that's all we know is that his body have been allowed to remain out here for over two weeks. We're standing right outside the health clinic. Its doors are chained. The building is not seriously damaged. Have you reached people there? What authorities have you talked to to pick up this body?

We're going to talk to everyone from the Army to the New Orleans police, to the state troopers, to, I mean, we're going to talk to everybody who we can. I even talked to Oliver Thomas, who was the councilman at large yesterday about this body. He said he was surprised to see that this body is still there. But it's two weeks, two weeks that this man been just laying here. As Malik Rahim was speaking, as if on cue, every level of authority he mentioned drove by. There's a dead body right here. Who are you with? We're with Bravo 1-5. Which is?

The Caval. Army? Army, yes, regular army. There's a dead body right here. Can you guys pick it up? I don't think we can pick it up, but we can call the local authorities to come and pick it up. This gentleman who lives in the neighborhood said that they have been trying to get... Here, let me ask these guys to... Excuse me.

Excuse me? Hi, there's a dead body right here. Can Louisiana State Troopers, can you pick it up? You need to talk to our public information officer, ma'am. It's been here for two weeks. We filmed it last week, and a gentleman over here said he's been trying to get it picked up for two weeks and Louisiana State Troopers, the police, the army,

no one has responded. We're looking right over at it, right there. You need to talk to our public information officer and contact them at the troop. Your name is? You need to talk to our public information officer. Do you know about the body? You need to talk to our public information officer.

Sir, do you know about the body over there? Ma'am, he talked without public information officer. Do you know what they should do to get this body removed? I have no idea. I can't tell you. I don't know. There's been several people over here looking at it. That was Homeland Security that just went by

There's been several people over here looking at it But, you know, like I said, I haven't seen anybody take it Several Army guys Army, I've seen police over here looking at it Seeing ambulances looking at it That's about it To our knowledge, the body was never identified Malik Rahim is the co-founder of the Common

Ground Collective, which helped bring thousands of people from all over the world to help rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He was also one of the founders of the New Orleans chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. In 2008, he was a congressional candidate for the Green Party. He's joined us over the years since then. I recently went back to New Orleans and interviewed Malik Rahim again. Malik, we are sitting here at the Morial Convention. Center, where 20 years ago, thousands of people were taking refuge from Hurricane Katrina. Your thoughts on what happened back then and the lessons for today? Well, I would have to first, I have to thank you for this time.

When I think of what happened, not only here, I have to also think about what was happening in the hour just. and I have to think of the role that you're in democracy now played at that time most mainstream media was sold on a big lie that this city had resorted to anarchy that was taken over by thugs

and there was looting, there was murder, there was rapes that was going on. And that now, 20 years later, we know that all this was false. But it was the excuse. It was an excuse in order to rid the city out of people that was no longer tolerated. It was a difference between those who seek, safety at the Superdome than those who seek safety here because the ones at the Superdome

was there seeking safety from Hurricane Katrina but those that was here those that was the tens of thousands that were stuck up in this building wasn't as cool as it is now didn't have any air but they was fleeting a flood A known flood

They was fleeing Hurricane Corruption Hurricane Racism You know That's the hurricane that they was fleeing for And it was unable to bring supplies with them Most people that's When that flood came

That's all they had was the clothes on their back And then they had to wear these polluted clothes Because the water was polluted. The water was toxic and they had to wear this for days so I think about the condition

of those that was trapped here and especially the children you know as an elder I can understand because I'm in the twilight of my life I'll be 78 in December so I'm in the twilight of my life but for to see children trapped up in here

and dying needlessly. Remind me, this was George W. Bush's presidency. He had appointed as the head of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Michael Brown, who was, his specialty was Arabian horses. He was more concerned about the size of his cuffs on his elbows to show that he had rolled up his sleeves. And Bush said to him, what was his congratulatory message to Brown? I can't remember what did Bush. Heck of a job, Brownie?

Yeah, something like that. And what about when the FEMA head, Brown, was asked about the people here at the convention center? Well, he didn't know that was here. He said, I don't even know that they're here. He ran his operation from Baton Rouge. So everything that he was seeing was secondhand. Everything that he was saying was secondhand. He wasn't here.

He was in living a life of luxury in Baton Rouge, while people here was dying. You know, so again, it shows what we went through then, but ain't made the sad part about it. It could happen today. Deja vu is a lot. alive and wells here. Because if a hurricane would happen right now, we are ill-prepared for it the same way we was ill-prepared 20 years ago.

That's Malik Rahim. Just a few weeks ago, sitting with me in the convention center in New Orleans, where so many thousands took refuge from Hurricane Katrina. Malik co-founded the Common Ground Collective, which helped bring thousands of people from all over the world to help rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He was also one of the founders of the New Orleans chapter of the Black Panther Party. When we come back, we stay in New Orleans and speak with independent journalists, Jordan Flaherty. Back in 20 seconds. Say, big chief coming on go nowhere.

Salwater, Lou Mama. They raise in hell. They say everywhere. They're open and how you'll let them come. They're going to go. They're big chief coming. on their wrong rubble. They meet everybody with a feld in his head.

They're wearing on face, pen and his bed. Tell the water, oh, mama. They're opening up and down. That me and this big shape, we're going to climb. They be over here by the bank street. We got the suit they got to be. We got to see. We got to see.

Oh, the sun is shining. scenes of New Orleans when I don't know much. I'm going to seek this rock. Sears a little girl who hit little boy. Scenes of Mardi Gras Indians in the streets of New Orleans

when Democracy Now was there in 2006. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Narmine Sheikh in New York with Amy Goodman in Teleride, Colorado. We're continuing our coverage of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 storm.

that devastated the Gulf Coast, killing more than 1,800 people and forcing over a million people to evacuate. We're joined now in New Orleans by independent journalist Jordan Flaherty, who was in New Orleans when the hurricane hit, returned to the city soon after being evacuated to help with relief efforts and to report on what was happening in the streets, particularly to the poor black communities that were most affected by the hurricane. He's won awards for his reporting on people left behind in the New Orleans City Jail after the hurricane and is the author of Floodlines, Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Gena 6. He's joined us many times over the years.

I was just with you, Jordan, in New Orleans at Netroots Nation, where you moderate a panel on Hurricane Katrina 20 years later. can you speak now about the aftermath? Talk about what was happening then from the lack, complete lack of FEMA preparedness or the city's preparedness to climate change to what happened to this population where more than, well, close to 2,000 people died and 100,000 were evacuated. Thank you, Amy. And sitting here in this chair, I think about all the people that aren't in this chair. As you say, the people that were displaced, the people that were killed.

New Orleans right now has a population of about 360,000. Pre-Katrina, it was about 480,000. And most of that is black residents. The city has about 120,000 fewer black residents than it did pre-Katrina. And that period, right after the storm, it feels a lot like right now, the way right now we're feeling attacks on on everything, on democracy, on the social safety net. That's how it felt after Katrina. We're facing the issues. People face everywhere, housing, education, criminal justice, but it was like on hyperspeed. Overnight, you had 80% of the city,

of the seas housing, you know, unlivable. You had the entire public housing infrastructure shut down. Almost all the public housing was shut down, even that it was undisiveable. It was undivable. It was undamaged. You had our free city hospital was closed down. The entire staff of the school system was fired overnight. 7,500 teachers, the largest union in the city, that union representing the teachers, ceased to be recognized. The schools were moved from control of the school board, so under electoral control, to a mostly charter system. You had the governor say, I'm sending in National Guard troops. They're locked and loaded. They've been trained to shoot to kill. And I expect they will. And the voices of especially black New Orleans were not heard. I know that you've lifted

up voices like Norris Henderson, Monique Hardin, Tracy Washington, Sonny Patterson, people that were on the front lines of this struggle. Artists, organizers, scholars, incredible landscape of people fighting for the city. And people won real victories in that struggle. And, you know, it's hard living in the city, but I've learned so much from the grassroots organizers on the front line that we're fighting for justice for this city. And Jordan, could you talk about what happened with the domestic, the federal funding that was given to New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, more than $140 billion, which is the largest post-disaster domestic recovery effort in U.S. history. What happened to that funding? You know, it felt in that period

as if like the sky was filled with money. As you say, all this money that came from the government and also from people that were donating. It was like it flew over our heads and then got redirected so we didn't actually get to the people most in need didn't actually receive it. So much of that money went to the Bush cronies like Kellogg Brown and Root and Halliburton. of the 25 nonprofits that received the most money for Gulf Coast aid, half of them were based outside of the Gulf Coast. There was all of people giving money, the government giving money. If you look at the Louisiana Road Home Program, which was state administered and federally funded, one of the biggest sources of funding, it just went to homeowners, which were certainly

in need, but what about renters, what about the homeless? And even among homeowners, White homeowners got 35% more aid on average than black homeowners. So the people most in need, the people that were most highly victimized, the neighborhoods that were most in need received the least aid. And much of that aid that was allocated, it took years to come through, some of it through mismanagement, other reasons. Some of that money still has not come. You know, the criminalization of storm survivors.

On the one hand, they're left to drown. 1,800 people died in Hurricane Katrina. When did the federal authorities come out? How were the people who were so desperate as thousands went into the convention center, into the Superdome, how were they seen? We just saw excerpts of our coverage where people were talking about black people described

as looters. white people described as desperately trying to find food for their families. The National Guard coming out being told to shoot to kill. Describe that whole scene, including the Donziger Bridge, that famous incident attack by police. Danziger Bridge, it's hard to even talk about, you know, these police came rolling up to a group of unarmed civilians. It, you know, we found out later that the police thought that they were coming on to another scene. And they just started, they just started shooting to kill. James Brissette, 17 years old, killed by police.

Ronald Madison, mentally challenged man killed. Others were there wounded. The police just, just went up open, open fire. And it was years before that story was even told by most of the media. It was, it was mostly ignored. it. And when it wasn't ignored, they just told the police's end of the story. It was finally in 2008 that we really had some federal investigations of police violence in that period after the storm. But for years, our media failed to investigate. And historically, New Orleans media has failed to

investigate issues in the black community, issues of police violence. New Orleans Times Picayune, what was once our daily paper here, did not cover these stories, did not care about these stories. We saw it over and over and over again. Many of the people working in that paper were closer to police than they were to community members. One photographer testified that he knew things about police behavior that he didn't report at the time. They did not do their responsibility to tell the story. And as I said before, the voices of black New Orleans were not heard. The people who created the culture that we feel in this whole world, the music of New Orleans, the culture, they're still living here. Their voices are not heard. People are

working for minimum wage jobs or less. They are living in a city with poor infrastructure. You know that if you live here, you will live in an amazing place, but also you will probably die sooner. You'll probably make less money. You'll probably have less educational opportunities. Several years ago was reported that one of the zip codes in New Orleans had a life expectancy of 55 years. We live right near Cancer Alley, where the chemical processing plants cause high cancer rates, especially in that area, and also right near here. Does those same oil and gas companies are responsible for coastal erosion. We're losing, for years it's been estimated about a football field of land.

Every 45 minutes, this coastal erosion, much of that caused by the oil and gas pipelines that bring the salt water into the freshwater marshes. That makes us more vulnerable to hurricanes. Of course, climate change makes us more vulnerable. And this current administration is doing everything to make us more vulnerable, including, as you've recently reported, gutting FEMA once again. And talk about the significance of that, Jordan. I mean, as Malik Rahim, who Amy Goodman spoke to, as he said,

and you've just repeated that something like Katrina could happen very easily again. And specifically, these cuts to FEMA because poor climate vulnerable states like Louisiana received the most direct assistance, sorry, direct assistance from FEMA. between January 2015, that is, so almost 10 years after Hurricane Katrina, between January 2015 and April 2024. So what will this mean for the city and for the state? It's devastating. It's devastating.

The support for the oil and gas industry, the heightened climate change, hurricanes getting bigger, hurricanes getting stronger, less land to protect us in the city, less infrastructure to support us less of a social safety net, less medical, a huge increase in policing. You know, one of the victories that organizers won here after Hurricane Katrina was shrinking the size of the city jail, was getting oversight over federal oversight, over the police department, also an independent police monitor, federal oversight over the jail. All of those kind of things are going out the window. our new governor is pushing to undue decades of reform of the policing, of the prison industrial complex in the state,

more people getting locked up, more people being criminalized, less ways to afford to live in this city, in this country. Jordan, before we go, I'm just interrupting because we have less than a minute, talk about the prisoners. People held in the parish jails, what they faced at that time, often just awaiting trial stuck in the dark in the film. Right. We're talking about many people who had just been arrested a day or two before for some minor charge like public drunkenness. The city jail before Katrina was the largest city jail in the country. 7,000 people being held there.

The New Orleans police were arresting 60,000 people every year. That's in a city of less than 500,000 people. do the math on that. You had 95% of those arrested were arrested for nonviolent offenses. When the floodwaters were rising, people were left to die. When they finally were rescued, they were shipped to maximum security prisons around the state, like Angola State Prison. Many people were lost in the system for months.

I remember nearly a year later, advocates found a woman who had been lost in the system. She didn't even know why she'd have been lost. I have to leave it there, but we will continue covering the 20-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina tomorrow. Thanks so much for joining us, Jordan Flaredi, New Orleans-based independent journalist and film producer, author of Floodlines. Thanks so much for joining us. More of our coverage tomorrow.