How New Orleans Continues to Heal, Thrive, and Rise Above Katrina 20 Years Later

“Hello, Uncle Sam. You saw the people on the roof, on the bridge, and in the waters. News people called us refugees, but we’re the native sons and daughters of New Orleans. We are New Orleans. And no matter what they say, our ancestors say we are here to stay.”

New Orleans native and “First Lady” of No Limit Records, Mia X, sings these powerful words in the Lower Ninth Ward, adjacent to the exact site where the levees broke 20 years ago, causing what would become the costliest hurricane ever recorded in the United States. 

What was a category 3 storm when it initially made landfall on August 28, 2005 intensified into a devastating disaster that killed hundreds of New Orleanians and displaced thousands. What was perhaps most catastrophic to some was governmental agencies’ failure to adequately and equitably help citizens recover and rebuild. Yet somehow, New Orleanians continuously turn this moment of tragedy into a moment of reflection. In partnership with New Orleans Katrina Commemoration Incorporated (NOKCI) and the Hip Hop Caucus, the city gathers annually by the levees on August 29 to honor the resilience of the community and celebrate the memory of their loved ones, followed by a second line from the Lower Ninth Ward to the Seventh Ward.

“This moment is for the people of New Orleans,” says New Orleans artist and community leader Sess 4-5. “One of the reasons we do this is because of all the people who lost their lives 20 years ago and all the New Orleanians that came back when they gave us a one-way bus ticket all over America. We had to fight for the right to return.” As a co-organizer of the first community-led remembrance of Katrina’s devastation, Sess 4-5 continues to remind the people of New Orleans that what happened two decades ago was for a God-given purpose.

“Sometimes when stuff happens to us, we say, ‘God why me?’ It’s because God picked you for the struggle, for the thing you got to go through so that you, who comes out the other side of that, [become] a stronger you. So New Orleans…God picked us, and 20 years later, look at us now. It’s not all doom and gloom.”

While many infrastructural improvements have been made over the years post-Katrina, including a new, $14.6 billion Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS) by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, there is still more progress to be made, especially in more underserved neighborhoods, such as the Lower Ninth Ward.

“In the words of bell hooks: ‘The rage of the privileged is not the same as the rage of the oppressed,’” says Rev. Lennox Yearwood, president and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, during the 20th Annual Commemoration March and Second Line. “The same Hurricane Katrina that might have affected one person wasn’t the same Hurricane Katrina that affected some other folks. There were some folks back in 2005 who were able to leave New Orleans, reclaim their lives, come back, and live their lives because of privilege. Then there are folks right here whose lives [still] look exactly like it did 20 years ago. It is time for the oppressed to stand up…and say enough is enough.”

“Our city suffered on global television,” says Dr. Cassandra Shepard of Xavier University of Louisiana, a member of the New Orleans Katrina Commemoration Foundation Committee. “They had [then-President of Cuba] Fidel Castro trying to send doctors here to help us. That’s how bad the problem was.” Shepard is a New Orleans native and assistant professor of African American and Diaspora Studies. “Like a lot of people inside of the city, that moment wasdecoding="async" src="https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/EssenceK20-27-scaled.jpg" alt="How New Orleans Continues to Heal, Thrive, and Rise Above Katrina 20 Years Later" width="400" height="219" />

“Regardless of what’s going on in your life, the triumphs that you ultimately have only come when you keep swimming,” Earhart shares. “And I think that is a beautiful metaphor for our city when it comes down to Katrina. It’s like, we still kept it moving. We kept swimming, even throughout all of the flood, all the turbulence, and we’re still here.” 

“Our children were fighting. They were being bullied. They were depressed. They were living with parents who were depressed. Some of them lived four days in a house with deceased relatives, on the bridge, in the water. But through it all, some of those very children are our educators. They are doctors. They are lawyers. They are entrepreneurs. They are entertainers. Because that’s who we are,” Mia X says.From Hurricane Katrina, to the tragic Hard Rock collapse in 2019, to the catastrophic Bourbon Street attack on New Year’s Day just this year, and more, the word “resilient” has become a buzz term for many when asked to describe New Orleans in one word. But New Orleans is more than resilient. Rather than just recovering time and time again, New Orleans and its people have evolved and are becoming stronger and better than before. This community has intentionally built the capability to withstand any challenge that comes their way. That’s not resilience; that’s prosilience.

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