NEW ORLEANS —  In the special report WGNO Forward: Race in Our City, WGNO’s Tamica Lee and LBJ explore race and racism in our city, asking the experts where we are, how we got here, and what we can realistically do to make it better.

In Part 1 of Episode 107, LBJ speaks with Dr. Harry Russell, who was a member of the team who developed the Storm Bridge Model after Hurricane Katrina. The Storm Bridge Model includes strategies to deal with racial disparities after disasters, like hurricanes. Dr. Russell says what they learned then can be applied today in the response to the coronavirus.

“We need to start quantifying some things,” he says. “One of the problems people have is when you say, ‘Black people do this,’ or, ‘White people do this,’ that’s not absolutely correct. The quantification is important: ‘Some people.'”

In Part 2, Tamica Lee interviews Quinten Crump, a recent graduate of the Son of a Saint program, who is preparing to vote in his first presidential election. Crump gives us a perspective of racial issues through the eyes of a member of the younger generation.

“You say it’s ‘Liberty and justice for all.’ But, what we are seeing is not liberty, not justice–disequal treatment,” says Crump. “We are going to hold you accountable for what you say you are going to do for us.”

In Part 3, LBJ has a conversation with St. Augustine High School president and CEO Kenneth St. Charles about why a school focused on educating young African American men is still relevant today.

“We are still teaching our young men that they have to be cognizant of their race and that there are people who will make judgments on them simply because of the color of their skin,” says St. Charles. “And, we teach that. We teach that to the kids, and, we teach them how to have a voice in that conversation.”

You can watch this full episode and all espisodes of WGNO Forward: Race in Our City on WGNO.com.