Resharing a few lessons from Hurricane Katrina as we approach the anniversary and face today's crises.

1. Disasters are Political Disasters reveal the political and social fault lines already present in our society: who is deemed worthy of rescue, who is left behind, and whose lives are considered expendable. 2. Mutual Aid is Essential: Solidarity, Not Charity In the hours and days after the storm, communities across the Gulf Coast came together to rescue and house the displaced, and to deliver medical and relief services in the gaps left behind. Mutual aid must be a deeply rooted part of our social justice organizing. 3. Disaster Capitalism is a Brutal Reality Rather than investing in recovery for the people most affected, local leaders partnered with developers and corporations to reshape the Gulf Coast in ways that deepened inequality and sidelined working-class communities. Social movement organizing must stand with frontline communities to defend against displacement: to fight for a just recovery and a right to return. 4. Media Shapes the Narrative In Katrina’s aftermath mainstream media criminalized Black survivors, fueling state brutality and vigilante attacks on Black communities. To resist such harm, movement groups must challenge corporate media and reclaim the power to tell their own stories. Our storytelling is an act of survival, defense, and strategy. It is social movement infrastructure. 5. Frontline Communities are the Experts Frontline communities are often the ones with the deepest wisdom about survival. Look to them for solutions that are grounded in people’s lived experiences and cultural histories. What Do We Do Now? We keep building! We prepare our movements to meet the disasters to come. We study movement history to learn how people resisted and fought back in the face of abandonment and violence. We mobilize people power. When systems collapse, it’s our collective action that carries us through. Our organizing shows what’s possible when we refuse to leave one another behind. This is how we survive, and this is how prepare for the next disaster and beyond: for a future rooted in liberation. We are stronger together.