Public Invited to Sept. 10 Discussion About Hurricane Katrina’s Effect 20 Years Later on Houston and Nation

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August 19, 2025

Public Invited to Sept. 10 Discussion About Hurricane Katrina’s Effect 20 Years Later on Houston and Nation

Speakers Include Former CNN Anchor Soledad O’Brien, Former Houston Mayor Bill White, and Hip Hop Caucus CEO the Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr.

As the country approaches the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall from the Gulf of Mexico, the public is invited to a discussion on Wednesday, Sept. 10, at 7 p.m. CT about how the powerful and deadly storm affected Houston and the nation as a whole. The event, titled “The Lingering Storm: Climate Change, Displacement, and Action,” will be held at the Julia Ideson Building, 550 McKinney St., in Houston and is sponsored by the nonprofit news outlets Mother Jones, Capital B, and the Texas Observer and the national racial justice organization Hip Hop Caucus.

Headlining the discussion are former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien, former Houston Mayor Bill White, and Hip Hop Caucus CEO the Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr. They will be joined by local and national journalists and advocates to examine how Katrina reshaped the national conversation about climate change, how the media covers climate change, and how community-driven responses in places like Houston expedited the recovery effort.   

The hurricane killed at least 1,800 people and displaced an estimated 1.5 million people from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama—200,000 of whom resettled in Houston.

“Hurricane Katrina demonstrated in the starkest and deadliest way how climate change often disproportionately harms people of color and low-income communities,” said O’Brien, who is the host of Matter of Fact With Soledad O’Brien and reported from New Orleans in the days after Katrina. “While the memories are painful for so many people in the region, it’s also healing to discuss how Houston met the moment and supported their stressful journeys as they rebuilt their lives.”

The event on Sept. 10 will include American Sign Language interpretation, and doors will open at 6:30 p.m. CT. To register, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-lingering-storm-tickets-1501358907909?aff=oddtdtcreator.  

Event speakers include: 

  • Bill White, who served as mayor of Houston from 2004 to 2010 and received the prestigious John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his leadership in response to Katrina and a Public Official of the Year Award by Governing magazine. He also served as US deputy secretary of energy for two years during the Clinton administration.
  • The Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr., who is the president and CEO of Hip Hop Caucus, an organization he founded in 2004. After Katrina in 2005, he led a coalition of organizations to advocate for the rights of Katrina survivors and stopped early rounds of illegal evictions from temporary housing, held police and government entities accountable for injustices committed during the emergency response efforts, and promoted comprehensive federal recovery legislation.
  • Garrison Hayes, who is a video correspondent for Mother Jones and is based in Nashville. His reporting often focuses on the intersection of race, politics, and history, and a documentary he created last year about Black Republicans garnered more than 3 million views.
  • Adam Mahoney, who has been the climate and environment reporter at Capital B since 2022 and is based in New Orleans. His award-winning reporting shines a light on the disproportionate impacts of climate change on Black communities and the systemic environmental failures Black people face across the country. He previously held similar positions at Grist and the Chicago Reporter.
  • Lise Olsen, who is the investigations editor at the Texas Observer and is based in Houston. When Katrina struck, Olsen was writing for the Houston Chronicle and published several stories about the storm.