Soledad O’Brien Takes “In America” Series Back To New Orleans

Getting a jump start on the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Soledad O’Brien‘s latest “In America” documentary New Orleans Rising premiered this weekend – airing tonight at 8pmET (and repeated next week).

Mixing coverage from five years ago with new reporting, the doc focuses on several families and highlights the various ways red tape has stopped the reconstruction.

Wendell Pierce (Bunk from The Wire) is a main character. The actor now stars in HBO’s Treme based on post-Katrina New Orleans, but Pierce is also a local. We see his work trying to rebuild his neighborhood of Pontchartrain Park, which is both uplifting and frustrating. There is the opposition to Pierce’s plans from local residents and also the government hoops to jump through. At times, Pierce questioned why he was even doing it. But then there are the moments of celebration.

Pontchartrain Park has the second slowest rate of return, only ahead of the Ninth Ward – only 30% of the residents had returned. Also from the neighborhood? Darryl Willis, star of the BP ads, and part of this CNN documentary.

O’Brien was on the ground five years ago for CNN, and she talked to residents she had initially interviewed from when the Hurricane first came.

More coverage from CNN as well as other networks will come this week, and we’ll have more coverage as well.

Here’s the trailer for the doc:

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