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NOI Media Review: Final Call’s Hurricane Katrina Documentary
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Posted: January 18, 2007
The following is a brief review of “The Unmasking of New Orleans,” a 2006 documentary “commissioned” by Louis Farrakhan and produced by the Nation of Islam’s newspaper, the Final Call, about the conditions and concerns faced by the African-American community in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Like many other media reports on Katrina, the film faults the government for not taking sufficient care of New Orleans’ African-American community. However, unlike past statements from Farrakhan blaming whites for purposely blowing up the dams and citing Hal Turner in doing so, the conspiratorial approach that Nation of Islam has taken to their propaganda in the past is mostly absent. The stated goal of the documentary is to “keep the issue alive.”
The major theme of the film is the African-American community’s disappointment and frustration with all levels of government for its apathy towards the needs of one of New Orleans’ most vulnerable populations both before and after the hurricane hit. It addresses various areas in which the filmmakers believe there was a lack of concern and/or urgency on the part of the government:
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ alleged proceeding with faulty levee design due to a depleted budget that may have resulted from increased military spending on the Iraq war and decreased spending on domestic natural disaster relief.
- The city, state and federal government’s slow and inefficient response to information about Katrina’s potential, and later actual, severity.
- The lack of post-Katrina attention and resources going to the restoration of the poor, primarily black areas (and the return their residents) as compared to the more affluent parts of the city.
Community members provide accounts of what they experienced, noting a breakdown in the police force, the absence of a government-sponsored recovery effort, and a subsequent need for individuals to mobilize to save one another or not be saved at all. Many of those interviewed, including authors and local activists, attribute this to a racial and political divide, claiming that the city is still doing little to help them and, if anything, is trying to ensure that black New Orleans never regains its former political and social strength.
The film mentions Nation of Islam’s destroyed mosque and shows a brief clip of Louis Farrakhan warning government officials of the potential consequences of ignoring the needs of the displaced black New Orleans residents. It mentions alleged business and political elite plans for “footprint reduction”—which would essentially eliminate the black, mostly Democratic demographic of New Orleans by building unaffordable property in their former neighborhoods—noting that opponents of the plan call it “Katrina cleansing.” One woman interviewed even hypothesizes that the government sabotaged the levees intentionally.
Still, interviewees also spoke of the progress that some local organizations and institutions have made on their own, and many say they remain hopeful that their community will return, recover, and gain strength as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
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