New documentary shares the stories of children who lived through Hurricane Katrina

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• Geoff Bennett:

  17 years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, the storm caused more than $100 billion in property damage, and more than 1,800 lives were lost. The hurricane also wrought a huge emotional toll. Many of those who lived through the storm were children at the time and traumatized by the experience.

• Woman:

  Sorry.

• Man:

  Just take its own this OK, like wait, so wait. So like, have you ever like talked about this before?

• Woman:

  No.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Her story and others are captured in the new HBO documentary Katrina Babies. Now as adults, they share how they've dealt with the pain and anguish caused by the storm. The inequities of the recovery since then, and Katrina is indelible mark on our nation's history. The filmmaker, Edward Buckles, Jr. is a native son of New Orleans. And he joins us now. Thanks for being with us.

  Edward Buckles, Jr., Filmmaker, "Katrina Babies": Thank you so much for having me.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Where did this idea come from to collect the stories of the youngest people affected by Katrina?

• Edward Buckles, Jr.:

  A story that I wanted to tell was, was one that drew parallels between what happened in 2005. And what was currently happening with the young people in New Orleans, which was, you know, a lot of trauma surfaces. So that's where the initial idea came from, you know, I just wanted to draw those parallels because it seemed like we were getting blamed for the way that our trauma was surfacing.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The clip, we played you talking to your friend, Meisha, and you ask her, has anyone ever asked you these questions about how you feel? And she says, No, that was pretty common among the folks that you spoke to that they really hadn't processed this ongoing trauma. How can that be? I mean, that was the question I came away with was, how can that be that this trauma has been overlooked for some 17 years now?

• Edward Buckles, Jr.:

  When you ask me how this can happen, you know, first of all, I think that children are often an afterthought, when it comes to traumas and big disasters anyway. But when it comes to black children, I think that it's just, you know, amplify, right? And, you know, I'm only left to assume that, you know, it's because of the fact that, you know, there's a lack of empathy and love for black people. Because as a child, when I'm not x, you know, about one of the deadliest, you know, disasters or hurricanes that ever, you know, came to America, it just makes me think that no one cares.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The effects of Katrina, as we mentioned, are ongoing. Following the storm, there were so many people who were displaced in New Orleans, and this comes through in the documentary, a sense of place is defining for people the neighborhood that you grew up in the ward that you come from is connected to people's identities, and so much of that now doesn't exist anymore. I mean, how does that manifest right now?

• Edward Buckles, Jr.:

  So when you strip that away from a child, as well as stripping away their neighborhoods, you know, currently we have people well, we have natives who are being displaced within New Orleans because of gentrification and because their rent is becoming so high so, you know, you're dealing with you know, children who don't even understand where he comes from because their parents have been displaced.

  And, you know, if you don't know who you are, and if you don't know, you know, where you come from, how can you possibly know where you're going? So I think that we're dealing with a big identity, you know, situation in New Orleans, when it comes to, you know, just how much we're moving around, and how much we're being displaced. You know, we're kind of all over the place right now.

• Geoff Bennett:

  How has the aftermath of the storm these past 17 years? How has it affected you?

• Edward Buckles, Jr.:

  You know, it's, it's, it's interesting, when you watch this documentary, I am all throughout of it, right? You know, I am the thread that, you know, holds it together when it comes to story. And what's interesting is that it took me seven years to make this film, but I didn't include myself in it until year six. And that was because of the fact that, you know, I was resistant. And, you know, I didn't think that I had trauma, because I was always like, well I evacuated. I didn't stay during the storm.

  But you know, what I learned by making this film was that trauma is trauma. And that, you know, I did have trauma. And I learned that recently. So when I say it was important for, you know, tools and resources to be put into place so that children can have the information to know how to deal with the trauma once it surface later in their lives. With me, it serves that 29, right. And I didn't know — I didn't really know how to deal with it on my own.

  So now I'm just in a place where I'm just being gentle with myself, I'm having graceful myself. And, you know, I'm actually learning from this film. I'm actually learning from this process, you know, that, like, I still have some healing to do from Hurricane Katrina and from, you know, just growing up in a disenfranchise black community in New Orleans. So, you know, I've acknowledged it, I've accepted it. So now it's up to me to go in, you know, seek the healing that I need.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Edward Buckles, Jr., I appreciate you, appreciate your time.

• Edward Buckles, Jr.:

  Thank you so much for having me today.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The HBO documentary film Katrina Babies is available on HBO, and HBO Max.