41,000 people were heroically rescued by u.s. armed forces, many of them brave coast guard pilots. almost 1,800 people are dead and the storm has left an estimated $75 billion in damages throughout the gulf coast. five years later, what's changed and what hasn't? what lessons were learned? is this city's recovery moving in the right direction? joining us, two of the area's notable political leaders, louisiana senator mary landrieu and her brother, the newly elected mayor of new orleans, mitch landrieu. then my interview with actor brad pitt, founder of the make it right foundation, an effort to repair the devastated lower ninth ward. >> these people are pioneers. they're pioneers. this is now the greenest neighborhood in the world. >> plus, our special discussion with three men who worked tirelessly to bring renewal and regrowth to the city they love. new orleans native, star of the hbo hit series "treme" and president of the pontchartrain park community development corporation, wendell pierce. longtime new orleans journalist garland robinette and author of "the great deluge," historian and author douglas brinkley. but first and good morning from new orleans for this special edition of "meet the press." we should set the scene here. if you know the town, we're in the former bella luna, we're in a restaurant, a building halfway destroyed in katrina and part of the plot line here. it's come back and is back and prospering as a restaurant and in our studio space we have nothing but landrieus. with us, louisiana senior senator mary landrieu, and her brother, mayor mitch landrieu who took office almost four months ago. and mr. mayor, let's mix things up right at the top here. we've come down here so many times in these past five years. i could probably accept mail delivery by now and you pick up on the local quirks and when you say down here that katrina was the worst natural disaster ever, usually, you're not allowed to get that sentence out and you're interrupted and a new orleanian says, wait a minute, the levees broke. but then a northerner comes back and says, yeah, but you're living below sea level. why is this america's problem? that's the first question to you. why is new orleans america's problem? >> first, two things. one, it is a historical fact that this was a man-made star. it wasn't a natural disaster. the levees broke. that's the reason the disaster exists. the federal government is responsible for repairing the damage that's been done which has been not been completed. that's first of all. secondly, the city of new orleans and all of the coastal parishes along the gulf coast have been at the tip of the spear for this nation's fight for energy security, economic independence and its national security. we produce most of the oil and gas that this country uses domestically. we produce 30% to 40% of the fisheries. we produce the greatest culture this country has ever seen. it's a strange question for us when people even ask us that. and by the way, i'll make two other points, we're not the only place in america, much less the world, under sea level and we've learned how to live peacefully in those places. and finally, there are clear ways to fix the problem and we should get about it fast. >> i was at a dinner where you spoke last night and it's kind of bracing. i've seen you speak a number of times. you've used the word "dire" to describe your own city. you've said you have the worst police department in america. you raised your hand. got the justice department in here to help fix it. and in your remarks you often say, i hope we make it. i hope we make it. is that expectations adjustment by a veteran democrat and a political idea of this fine soil? >> it's a willingness to speak to the truth to this simple motion that success is not predetermined. there's nothing here broken that cannot be fixed but it requires the united states of america and people on the ground taking personal responsibility for themselves. you cannot take it as a fait accompli that the city's going to come back. we have great stories that have occurred over the past five years that would give you great hope about the resurrection and redemption of this city and we believe it's going in the right direction but we have a long way to go. >> senator landrieu, before i begin with you, i want to show you a piece of videotape of another member of your family. long time ago a newspaper columnist affectionately called the landrieu family the cajun camelot and that's the last time there was, first of all, a white mayor of the city of new orleans before the current mayor. your dad, moon landrieu, what was it, 1970 to '78, two-term mayor, former head of the conference of mayors. later, secretary of housing. senator, have you searched your own soul and conscience to make sure -- there was so much blame that went around after katrina -- that you bore none of it? have you sorted out what it was that happened here? >> first of all, no elected official could say they didn't make mistakes. we all did. it was an extremely tough time. i can say proudly that i helped to lead the effort to help the federal government respond more effectively. we still have a long way to go and to try to tell the story it wasn't a natural disaster, it was a man-made disaster and that the levees did break and that our coastal restoration efforts, while we put them under way, needed to be accelerated and the town can't just be protected by levees but by the coast. i had been doing that for quite some time. the fact of the matter is that many of us knew that katrina and the levee break was an opportunity to transform this region and transform not just the city, but st. bernard and st. tammany and jefferson and all of the coastal areas that honestly, sometimes, brian, gets overlooked by the national media that focuses on new orleans as proud as we are of this city and as extraordinary as it is, all of south louisiana and all of the gulf coast is a very special place. and the federal government has under-invested in it year after year after year, whether it's education or health care. as the mayor said, the federal government has taken so much. for the last 50 years, the federal government has taken out of the gulf coast $165 billion in taxes that came from oil and gas off of our coast that went to the federal treasury to rebuild all places in america except the place that it came from. so i have been a leading voice. i'm thrilled that mitch has joined and many others in saying, it's time, as my father said many years ago, for new orleans, the region, louisiana and the gulf coast to get its fair share and we most certainly intend to do that. >> i want to ask you about one of the many promises made after katrina. i want to roll in a piece of sound from president george w. bush after katrina speaking not far from here in jackson square. >> and tonight i also offer this pledge of the american people. throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes. we will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. >> senator, you heard it. did it turn out to be hollow? do you think he was telling the truth then? >> it turned out to be a hallow hollow promise and i'll tell you why, because the federal government didn't stay and do everything they could. the federal government didn't make it easy. they made it very, very difficult. very specifically when the mayors of new orleans and my other mayors asked for funding to help rebuild, they were offered a loan of $5 million. the city's budget is $460 million. the mayor of new orleans at the time was offered $5 million. that wouldn't buy them a loaf of bread for the week. >> and yet, it said mississippi made out like bandits just next door. >> the fact of the matter is, brian, that was not true. we will document many things. mississippi did not make out like bandits. you will hear a lot about that in the next couple of years. >> there's a couple now documentaries that are out. >> there are a couple of new documentaries that are out. the brookings institute. the fact of the matter is that we were given very small portion of the funding relative to our disaster. we did the best we could with it. the great thing is there are leaders on the ground whether it is this mayor of new orleans, st. bernard parish mayor, and others that are building schools, hospitals, and rebuilding our coast and giving leadership here, which is so important. >> mr. mayor, as long as been chronicled, you have the highest murder rate in the united states. would you, yourself, walk unaccompanied after dark in your own seventh ward? >> i do it all the time. the answer is yes. it's important that people know at some point in time that the city is going to be safe. it's also important to acknowledge, a speech i gave a couple weeks ago called eyes wide open, the only way we fix our problems is to confront them. as wonderful as some of the recovery has been in schools and health care clinics and things we'll talk about later in the program, it is also true that we have a police department that had lost its way completely. we also have one of the highest murder rates in the country. we have to deal with that problem. again, i have to say this, what new orleans is going through right now is not unique to us. katrina and rita didn't cause all of our problems. it certainly made them more evident. it certainly should be looked upon as the canary in the coal mine. we're suffering with many things that every major urban city is but the immediacy of it has been brought to bear by katrina and rita. that's why i called in the justice department. they have responded wonderfully to ask us to completely redo the police department while we're focusing on getting in front of crime with recreation programs critically important but it's something that has got to get done because if this city is not safe, it will never be free and won't grow back up. it's very important. >> the education secretary arne duncan has said it and others have said it, though it sounds perverse when you hear it, katrina was the best thing that ever happened to the school system in new orleans. post-katrina here you are with 60% charter schools. teachers union says, that's great except they tossed the teachers union out of all of those places and you can't educate kids on charter schools alone. >> let me say this. i know senator landrieu has had a lot to do with this particular movement. the fact of the matter is whether they are charter schools or public schools, in the city of new orleans we have the most innovative change going on. in public education anywhere in america. in the last three years alone, our students' scores have gone up in every category and it's an amazing story. the other day the president announced and senator landrieu changed the congressional act to allow this to happen that we got lump sum funding. first time fema has done this to physically rebuild every school in the city of new orleans. in fact, it will be one of the great stories. now, i wouldn't have said it the way the secretary said it. some people say it was a great opportunity. i think that comes out wrong. i think it gave us the responsibility of building back something that should not have ever gotten to where it was before. it's a huge responsibility and it's one that we should take very strongly. >> now, senator, we should note that you were talking about wetlands before talking about wetlands was in vogue. perhaps, though, you can explain the very confusing relationship between louisiana and oil as we look at the once beautiful wetlands with that now characteristic oil line that's to be found on all the grass. a lot of folks elsewhere in the country just assumed that the anger down here would come out of the oil spill. the fact that three months of oil is sitting out there in that water. a lot of folks assumed that the folks in louisiana would be behind a stoppage until there could be a rule that if you can get oil a mile down, you should be able to stop it. what is the relationship between louisianaans who love the great outdoors and have some of the great outdoors in all of the world and the petroleum that comes out deep under the ground? >> please know that people are very angry about that spill and very disappointed in bp and very disappointed in the subcontractors as well and are just furious about the oil. we want to keep our waters clean. we have tried to keep our waters clean all these years. we do have a strong relationship with the oil and gas industry not just big oil but independents and the thousands of small businesses that we built that we're proud of that support that industry because the nation needs this oil. this nation consumes 20 million barrels of oil a day. it did the day before the deep horizon exploded. it does today. we're going to transition to cleaner fuels and, by the way, louisiana is well positioned to be part of the energy future and not just our past, but that's why people down here feel so strongly. we've been fishing in the same waters that we drill for oil. we've been navigating all of the commerce of not only of this country but of the world on the same waters. and, yes, brian, we recreate, we swim in those waters and we believe, with the right kind of balance and policy, we can do it. yes, the pause was necessary but a six-month moratorium put a blanket of fear and anxiety and it must be lifted as soon as possible. >> has it hurt the industry as much as you feared? >> i'm not worried about hurting the industry. as i said, i'm not worried about hurting big oil. i'm worried about hurting bill al's. a sandwich shop closed last week and that's who i'm fighting for. i'm fighting for small business. i'm not fighting for big oil. don't be confused. there are thousands of businesses in this state that are at great risk. meanwhile, the country keeps guzzling the oil but we're out of work down here. we need to get back to work to build this region and we intend to do so. and the president heard that message strongly and clearly from the people of this state. >> mr. mayor, was the administration slow off the dime when the spill happened? >> i don't think so. they were down here pretty quickly. of course, this was a much different disaster than katrina was. i can honestly say they've been working very hard at it. unfortunately, you know, the focus gets taken off of where it should be, which is on bp. the fact that spill could have occurred and this company one of the largest in the world did not have a plan to cap that well or capture the oil or clean the coast is something that is problematic. although we didn't like it, we accepted the fact that bp had the technical expertise to the extent that anybody did. we obviously feel now that the well is capped, that the federal government needs to be very aggressive and really make sure that bp honors its responsibility to repair every bit of damage that was done. >> how should ray nagin's term as mayor be remembered as history looks back on what happened here? . >> that's a very hard thing for me to opine about. >> try. >> we'll let history take care of this. you have not seen me talk much about what happened during the storm. that was a cataclysmic event. who knows how to judge people that went through those couple of days? i will say -- >> now you have his old job. >> i don't think generally that it was well done. but i would say this, that subsequent to the storm, putting the city in a position to recover as it were, i don't think he did a good job which is why i ran against him the first time and i ran the second time. i really believe the city can fick itself. just to put an exclamation point on president bush's statements a minute ago. there was huge damage. the damage was man made. it was a result of the federal government's negligence and notwithstanding the incredible things that the people of america have done for us, we have not received enough money to repair the damage that was done and, when we do, we will be able to rebuild the city faster. >> senator, a question about where you perform your day job. what does it say about our country, if anything at all, that at glenn beck's rally on the steps of the lincoln memorial yesterday, he was able to attract a crowd. i've seen estimates 500,000. nbc news estimated the crowd at 300,000. a general tone of frustration and anger with the current size, scope and activity of government and the desire to reinject god into american political discourse. what did you take from that? >> first of all, god's been a big part of this country since we began. this is a country built on faith and confidence in the almighty. you can see this region right here. glenn beck's idea is not new. it's been around a long time. one of the reasons this region is surviving is because of our faith. what i think glenn beck misses is that it's not just talking, it's actually actions. it's caring for the poor and caring for the sick. it is using the power of government in a positive way to meet the private sector and nonprofits and all of our people of faith to do right by the people. that's where glenn beck is wrong. i'll tell you another way that glenn beck's wrong. he and his whole crew said that this city could be rebuilt by private effort alone. the government was terrible. the government couldn't do anything. do you know how many houses all of the nonprofits have built? no more than 5,000 in five years. you know how many we lost? 200,000. so glenn beck has to go back and look at the facts. he's preaching a gospel that never existed, doesn't exist today and never will. we follow the gospel, mitch and i, of jesus christ. we know what to do. others follow other faiths. but the fact of the matter is, god has been all present. you can ask anyone in new orleans, when every government left, god was still here. >> mr. mayor, we can compliment you for opening train service again because that whistle will be with us for the whole hour behind us. >> i'll take credit for it. >> i have to say as a confessed new york giants fan who has come to love your city, i have learned that you can call the new orleans saints just a football team at your own personal peril. >> that's right. >> please tell -- the toughest question i will ask you will be to condense in 30 seconds what the new orleans saints and the super bowl victory mean to this city? >> resurrection and redemption. gone from worst to best. they proved to us that we could actually win. this town had been so used to losing in every aspect that when the saints won. when they went back into the superboth that night and beat the falcons, when they won the nfc championship and bon the super bowl, it was an event for the people of new orleans. they said we want to make it. >> that was the sign. >> chris ivory's run last night said it all for the fans. >> only sports fans welcome here in new orleans. to both of you, thank you very much. to both landrieus, senator and mayor, thank you for coming to our table this sunday morning. thank you for hosting "meet the press." >> thank you for everything you've done for us. >> up next here on "meet the press," my interview with brad pitt and his make it right foundation and all his work to rebuild the recovery and future of the city as we see it. we'll talk to wendell pierce. we'll talk to local new orleans radio host garland robinette and historian and author doug brinkley as "meet the press" continues after this brief commercial break. i think someone at my friend's school has this thing called autism. my friend's brother's son has autism. my neighbor's son has autism. my son has autism. announcer: autism is getting closer to home. today, 1 in 110 children is diagnosed with autism-- that's a 600% increase in the last 20 years. learn the signs at autismspeaks.org. aveeno hair shines in real life. new aveeno nourish plus shine with active naturals wheat smooths damaged cuticles for 75% more shine in one use. real shine, for real life. yours. 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[ female announcer ] walmart has low prices on not just a few things, but everything on their back-to-school list. guaranteed. save money. live better. walmart. look highway hot he is. he's not waking up very easy. >> help! help! help! >> still tough to watch. even tougher to watch after these five years. we're back with this special live edition of "meet the press" here in new orleans five years to the day that katrina touched down here. this past friday i spent some time with the actor and these days activist brad pitt. his make it right foundation is building affordable and storm resistant homes in the lower ninth ward three miles down river from the french quarter where we are. a place that five years ago really became a global icon for new orleans. it was completely flooded and destroyed. the force of the water surged through there from multiple levee breaks, literally forces houses right off their foundations. after the waters all dried up all that remained in many spots were the cement front steps of what used to be folks' homes where generations of families were raised. i started our interview by asking brad pitt what it was about this city that kept bringing him back and inspired him to help in the effort to make it recover. >> there's a feel and a smell and a sound that permeates this place. i just find it intoxicating. i love the people and i love driving through the neighborhoods and love walking around the streets at night. it's just some feeling of community and verve and excitement and color that i don't find anywhere else. >> look at this new wall which we watched go up. do you look out there and worry or, because of the design, are your worries a little bit less founded? >> this was the first we question we had to ask ourselves. are we putting people in danger? we have to make sure these things are done right. these homes are elevated above katrina floodwaters. they're stronger. they will take a category 4 and five times stronger than code and they all have egress to get out on top. none of those homeowners will suffer those horrors. the levee's an issue. i know it's better than it's been in some time. i worry about the other side. it's two feet lower. so, this one's great. what about the other side? i'm really not qualified to speak on the condition of the whole system, but safety here was one of our four main criteria, safety, and that i feel very happy and secure about. >> that's the thing. i'm less qualified than you to talk about safety of the system. unless you are a civil engineer, you're not qualified. so all of us who love the place and all of the people who live here are kind of at the mercy of the army corps and hope and prayers. >> right. right. and they've put in $15 billion to get it right. i don't know. it just, the thing that i can't get over is if they'd just done it right in the first place. if they'd just done it right in the first place. that's where this name came from. make it right. just do it right. bp oil spill. just do it right. do it right in the first place instead of this obsession with profit margins. just do it right. >> you must have been flattered that bp borrowed your slogan for the oil spill. >> yeah, i found that a bit dastardly, a dastardly marketing move. you know, it's in character. >> tell us more about the homes. they are unique. driving in today first time i've been to lower nine in a while, it's striking. it is happy. it looks prosperous. more prosperous than it was. obviously it was important to you. you've said, if we're going to do this, why don't we start with a new design? tell us about that. >> we thought we wanted them to be safe, of course. we wanted them to be -- they had to be affordable. they had to be built for a low-income family scenario. and we wanted to embed high performance and technology. we thought, if -- we got into affordable housing, and they are usually given the least -- i would say the worst materials. let's say the cheapest materials. let's say most toxic materials, cheap appliances that run up their bills. things that cause a bigger burden on the family. let's see if we can make this place that suffered such devastation, talk to the community and see if they will invest in this idea of this green technology, high performance house. and these people are pioneers. they're pioneers. and this is now the greenest neighborhood in the world. it's not bad. i want to tell you, these homes last mofrmg, these homes, every one of them but one was producing more energy than they were eating. families were getting bills that were $8, $12, processing fees to tell them they didn't owe anything for utilities. that's an amazing story. there's no reason to build any other way. there's just no reason. i think this place is a template for the future. >> our time with brad pitt on the top floor of one of the houses he is responsible for building there in the lower ninth ward. joining us now to talk more about rebuilding and recovery in the crescent city, longtime new orleans journalist, garland robinette, these days of wwl radio, the big 870, new orleans native, star of the hbo series "treme" and importantly the president of the pontchartrain park community development corporation which we'll talk more about, wendell pierce and author of "the great deluge," hurricane katrina, new orleans and the mississippi gulf coast," the definitive book on what we all witnessed happen here. historian and author, doug brinkley. welcome to you all. for folks not familiar with the power of garland robinette, if you come here to new orleans at midday and you see people just stopping and abandoning their cars. you see shipping traffic stopped on the mississippi, it's because they're listening to this guy who takes over the radio waves. garland, until we recently aired our own -- >> who's going to believe that? >> until recently, we aired our own documentary on msnbc and nbc news, you told me you have been in a dark radio studio on generators. you hadn't seen a lot of the pictures. but now, you think about this region so much, you've lived here so long, raised in the bayou south of here, four decades in new orleans, looking back, what was it we witnessed sneer what do you think went on those few days? >> to me, it was a salvador dali painting, it was just surreal. the united states of america couldn't take care of itself. i've been to bana aceh, i've been to other places. i've seen how we respond to disaster. for the very thought that for five days, they couldn't get here and do the job to this day is mind-boggling. >> too easy to throw a label on it and stamp it racism, classism? i once asked george w. bush onboard air force one, i said, mr. president, if this happened in nantucket or new york or chicago -- he interrupted me and said, can you call me anything you want, but don't call me a racist. that was his response to that. what do you think was at work here? >> i don't have the expertise, sews logical understand iing toe able to say. when i watched your report, i had never before seen the helicopters going over the convention center from day one. and at the superdome. they have two helo pads. the convention center has an empty lot. you can see those people as president of the united states or brownie or whoever you are. you can't lift in water and mres? it still didn't make any sense. >> as you look around your beloved city these days -- it's interesting to hear people answer the question, how is new orleans doing? how's the recovery coming? how do you answer that question? >> i think we're doing better than we've ever done. i'll give you two words that i think is our hope. it's called mitch landrieu. i think he's doing a terrific job. we have a police chief with a ph.d. and tons of young people, entrepreneurs coming in here. i think we're on the way. we've got a lot of problems to fight. the irony to me is i think we're the canary in the coal mine for the rest of the country. the rest of the country doesn't understand 30% of their energy sitting on wetlands. as it goes away, america, you're in much bigger trouble than we were and you refuse to look at it. >> as we introduce wendell pierce and the work he's done in this city, i want to take a look at a piece of videotape. this is wendell pierce arriving at the family home and realizing it's been flooded, decimated, looted, it's a shell of its former self. >> that's the house. we still own it. it's still our home. and we'll clean it up, rebuild it if we're allowed to. if the neighborhood is inhabitable and life goes on. >> that's from the hbo documentary "when the levees broke." wendell, pontchartrain park. it's next door just across the tracks and i'm sorry you have to look at that piece of videotape because it's tough for everybody. >> yes, it is. >> it's just across the tracks from an equal and opposite development but how are they different, the two places? >> which development? >> pontchartrain park and chantilly west that's it's right across from? >> chantilly woods? >> yes. >> it's all one area. we now call upontillie. pontchartrain park is a neighborhood that grew out of the civil rights movement. it was the only place where blacks could purchase homes after post-world war ii segregated new orleans. so out of something ugly, my parents' generation and pioneers of the civil rights created something beautiful. a neighborhood with 1,000 homes around an historic golf course. designed by joseph bartholomew who designed most of the courses because he was african-american. what they did was they made a neighborhood that everyone has desired to be in and it became an incubator for talent. >> it became a model. crime rate way below the city average. >> 97% home ownership. less than 10% poverty which in the city had like 28% poverty. incubator for talent. first black mayor. dutch morial, his son, mark morial became mayor and our own epa administrator, lisa jackson, who is around the corner from our demonstration homes which are lead certified platinum with geo they weral and solar a power. so, it was a place that my parents, the moses generation, handed off to us, the joshua generation, and gave us a foundation to go out and be successful men and women in the world. when i came home that day and saw it destroyed, i thought it was dead and gone forever. >> you come back here and you're an actor. you've got series and films going on. you're not a developer. you come back and see the inequity of the kind of scattershot recovery effort and you went to work. >> what happened, brian, and what's happening now here in new orleans, what's on display is the greatest demonstration of the american aesthetic in a generation since we rebuilt europe with the marshall plan, because we are doing it from the grassroots up and that's the story that has to be told because people are taking the time to step back, reflect on their complicity and the disfunction that was happening prior to the disaster and during the disaster and after, and they said, what is going to be my cr contribution to the dysfunctional dynamics that are here and changing the paradigm and that's been the call to action. people heard it and said, i'll step up to the plate across the city and exercise our right of self-determination and rebuild it ourselves and it's past and present residents who came together to develop their own development corporation and rebuild homes. not just infill homes to replace them, but better. we want a 21st century solution. that's why we decided to make sure they were lead certified, silver, gold and platinum, geo thermal, just like mr. pitt's homes. we dare say we put them right up next to his. >> this is how new orleans rebuilds itself. doug brinkley, you have spoken about and as i said written the definitive history of what we all witnessed here. you got into a scrape as a local columnist when you talked about the new orleans psyche and a syndrome in this city, what is new orleans when you're asked for a definition? >> we look at the fifth anniversary, you have to remember that mississippi got whacked too. >> we mentioned that at the top of the broadcast. i passed over mississippi. >> we went out to try to honor what happened out there too. mississippi river we're looking at a steamboat here nicholas roosevelt first came down. right across the street from you, louisiana purchase transfer, walt whitman conceived "leaves of grass" right here. this is a great historical city and it has to be proud of its history. but too often the politicians here have been corrupt. you had bill jefferson, congressman during katrina is in jail. edward edwards in jail. toxic superfund sites that are buried here between baton rouge and new orleans is called cancer alley. when you love your state and you love your country, you have to be good conservationists and good stewards and i feel louisiana became treated like a third-world place because people wanted to make money and they didn't do the tough things that needed to be done to save the wetlands. there's been a lot of talk for generations and i think president obama is coming here now and this community has to be loud and they can't be shy. we have to speak out and say we must save america's wetlands. if not, you're just saying, go saints, go bourbon street, and you're watching your environment collapse. >> garland, when we went to mississippi many times, waveland, it's easy to see and understand what happened there. it got swept. it got wiped clean. here we had the complication of 80% of this city under water. we have the only game in town protecting this city and that's the system of levees and flood walls. the actor and activist harry shearer coming out with a new documentary he's going to show tomorrow in selected cities around the country and then, hopefully, on cable tv all about the army corps of engineers. you've been talking about the wetlands, thinking about the wetlands for years. is it going to be perversely that bp money may fund because of oil in this water may fund this marshall plan that doug brinkley is talking about? >> personally, i think it's our only chance. with the ineptitude of government, realize, and forget louisiana and new orleans, your security, america, your gas at the pump, every time we have a slight hurricane, your fuel goes up. if we have a big one that wipes out the wetlands, you'll pay $5 to begin with. but the president doesn't pay attention to it. congress doesn't pay attention to it and the fact of the matter is, would you without us, i go back, we are the canary in the coal mine. if we go, you are in deep trouble economically and security wise. just like new orleans would not listen -- i did 16 documentaries from 1970 and 1986 and i was mr. gloom and doom. i'm mr. gloom and doom again for the country. and, once again, when you and i go to dinner, we talk to people about this, there's a dull glaze that goes over their eyes. i don't know why the human animal isn't interested in survival. >> i want to break that dull glaze. this is an essential part of this coverage, i believe, reminding people what it was like back then. here is a clip from "meet the press" the sunday after katrina that was beamed around the world. the president of jefferson parish, aaron broussard, pleading with tim russert and the authorities who might be watching television to send help. >> nobody is coming to get us. nobody is coming to get us. the secretary has promised, everybody has promised, they have had press conferences. i'm sick of the press conferences. for god's sake, shut up and send us somebody. >> aaron broussard on live television. and here's something else, a gentleman named tony zambatto, a longtime veteran nbc cameraman last in haiti with tony. we've been all over the world here with us in this city on this trip. tony went down to the convention center and just using his personal decency went on television in front of a live camera to break the news to the country what the federal government was seemingly unaware of, the fact that people were dead and dying and abandoned without food, water or care at the convention center because they did what they were told. they went there to seek shelter and help. tony zambatto on live television. >> i got to tell you, i thought i seen it all. i've never seen anything in my life like this. these people are very desperate. >> please help us. the officers pass us up. >> these are the families who listened to the authorities. they were told to go to the convention center. there's nothing offered to them. no water. no ice. nothing for the last four days. >> we have not eaten. we have not had anything to drink. >> the sanitation was unbelievable. the stench in there -- >> nobody tried to do nothing for this man of mine. >> dead people around the walls of the convention center laying in the middle of the street where they died right there in their wheelchair. >> national guard did not do nothing. >> i tell you, i couldn't take it. >> tony zambatto, at the time, five years ago. wendell, it's a tough question. it's tough to look at. it's yesterday really. it's been five years. the children and relatives of the people at this table, i'm going to go ahead and guess, would not have gone a week without water or food because their dads, their dads' companies, would have found a way, as nbc news did, as nbc news did, to get us supplies in the central business district. they found us in metairie in the parking lot of a used car dealer and made sure we had something to drink. why didn't -- good afternoon, i'm milissa rehberger. let's go live to new orleans where president barack obama fresh off of his vacation in martha's vineyard is about to speak live on the fifth anniversary at hurricane katrina at xavier university. it is a historically black college that itself was under water five years ago today. the president is shaking hands and walking to the podium. he was just introduced by a young woman, a freshman at that university by the name of jammed young, a new orleans native who fled two days before the storm hit. her family and her lived in mississippi for about five weeks before they decided to go back to their native city. as the president makes his way to the podium, let's listen in. >> hello, everybody. oh, it is, it is good to be back. it is good to be back and -- i'm glad. and due to popular demand, i decided to bring the first lady down here. we have just an extraordinary number of dedicated public servants who are here. if you will be patient with me, i want to make sure that all of them are acknowledged. first of all, you've got the governor of the great state of louisiana, bobby jindal is here. we have the outstanding mayor of new orleans, mitch landrieu. we have the better looking and younger senator from louisiana, mary landrieu. i believe that senator david vitter is here. david, right here. we have -- hold on a second now -- we've got congressman joe gow is here. congress man charlie malan chant is here. congressman steve saleeds is here. secretary of housing and urban development who has been working tirelessly down here in louisiana, shean donovan. we've got our epa administrator, lisa jackson here. home girl. administrator of fema, craig fugate is here. the person who's heading up our community service efforts all across the country, patrick corvington is here. louisiana's own regina benneman, the surgeon general, a xavier grad, i might add. we are very proud to have all of these terrific public servants here. it is wonderful to be back in new orleans. and it is a great honor -- it is a great honor -- you can see me now? okay. it is a great honor to be back at xavier university. and i -- it's just inspiring to spend time with people who have demonstrated what it means to persevere in the face of tragedy, to rebuild in the face of ruin. i'm grateful to jade for her introduction and congratulate you on being crowned miss xavier. i hope everybody heard during the introduction, she was a junior at ben franklin high school five years ago. when the storm came. and after katrina, ben franklin high was terribly damaged by wind and water. millions of dollars were needed to rebuild the school. many feared it would take years to re-open, if it could be re-opened at all. but something remarkable happened. parents, teachers, students, volunteers, they all got to work making repairs. and donations came in from across new orleans and around the world. and soon, those silent and darkened corridors, they were bright and they were filled with the sounds of young men and women, including jade, who were going back to class. and then, jade committed to xavier. a university that, likewise, refused to succumb to despair. so, jade, like so many students here at this university, embody ho hope, that sense of hope in difficult times. that's what i came to talk about today. it's been five years since katrina ravaged the gulf coast. there's no need to dwell on what you experienced and what the world witnessed. we all remember it keenly. water pouring through broken levees, mothers holding their children above the water line, people stranded on rooftops begging for help. bodies lying in the streets of a great american city. it was a natural disaster, but also a man-made catastrophe. a shameful breakdown in government that left countless men and women and children abandoned and alone. and shol after the storm, i came down to houston to spend time with some of the folks who had taken shelter there and i'll never forget what one woman told me. she said, we had nothing before the hurricane and now, we've got less than nothing. in the years that followed, new orleans could have remained a symbol of destruction and decay, of the storm that came and the inadequate response that followed. it was not hard to imagine a day when we'd tell our children that a once vibrant and wonderful city had been laid low by indifference and neglect. but that's not what happened. that's not what happened at ben franklin. it's not what happened here at xavier. it's not what happened across new orleans and across the gulf coast. instead, the city has become a symbol of resilience and of community and of the fundamental responsibility to we have to one another. we see that here at xavier. less than a month after the storm struck, amidst debris and flood-damaged buildings, president francis promised that this university would re-open in a matter of months. some said he was crazy. some said it couldn't happen. but they didn't count on what happens when one force of nature meets another, and by january, four months later, class was in session. less than a year after the storm, i had the privilege of delivering a commentment address to the largest graduating class in xavier's history. that is a symbol of what new orleans is all about. we see new orleans in the efforts of jocelyn heintz who is here today. katrina left her house 14 feet under water. but after volunteers helped her rebuild, she joined americorps to serve the community herself, part of a wave of americorps members who have been critical to the rebirth of this city and the rebuilding of this region. so today, she manages a local center for mental health and wellness. we see the symbol that this city has become in the st. bernard project, whose founder, liz mccartney, is with us. this endeavor has drawn volunteers from across the country to rebuild hundreds of homes throughout st. bernard parish and the lower ninth ward. i've seen the sense of purpose people felt after the storm when i visited musicians village in the nine ward back in 2006. volunteers were not only constructing houses, they were coming together to preserve the culture of music and art that's part of the soul of this city. and the soul of this country. and today, more than 70 homes are complete and construction's under way on the ellis marsalis center for music. we see -- we see the dedication to the community in the efforts of xavier grad dr. regina benjamin, who mortgaged her home, maxed out her credit cards, so she could re-open her bayo