Hurricane Katrina

Unfortunately it seems to take an anniversary to bring attention back to big issues here in the US, and hurricane Katrina is no different. For the last two or three years we have not heard much from the media on the progress in New Orleans. After the Saints won the Super Bowl, it was like that took care of everything, redemption was given. However, a little scratching below the surface reveals that all is not right in the Crescent City and that there is still a lot of work to do.

There were a lot of news reports from New Orleans this week, but there are two shows that are must see:

Spike Lee has just put out a great follow up to his original documentary, When the Levees Broke, called, If God is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise. He revisits many of the people in the original film and also looks forward at how the BP oil spill could further hold back the recovery. This four hour epic may be a little too far reaching, but it is amazing who Lee got access to, most amazing was the interview with Michael "Brownie" Brown. To hear his side of the FEMA story alone was worth watching.

Some residents of New Orleans will be caring literal scars as well as the mental scars they endured during the flooding. No show brings this to life better than the August 25th edition of PBS's Frontline: Law and Disorder. Frontline, ProPublica and the New Orleans Times-Picayune investigate several questionable shootings by police in the days following Hurricane Katrina, raising new questions about the actions of some officers, and their command structure, during the aftermath of the storm. I walked away from this show thinking Governor Kathleen Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagan should be tried for murder, when they gave the order that looters could be shot.