Traci Curry’s Hurricane Katrina Docuseries ‘Race Against Time’ Demands Justice For Black New Orleans [Exclusive] - Page 2
Episode 1 captures the eerie calm before the storm. Episode 2 reveals how fast the levees failed. By Episode 3, you’re sitting in desperation. And when Episode 4 confronts the infamous “shoot to kill” order, it becomes clear: this was a systemic disaster. In the finale of Wake Up Call, Curry and her team trace the Katrina diaspora and the long, uneven path back home for thousands displaced.
Still, Curry is not interested in spectacle. She’s interested in systems—the quiet, bureaucratic machinations that created the conditions for disaster. “I’m really interested in looking at the ways in which systems and institutions conscribe the circumstances of our lives,” she said. “There’s a tendency to ascribe the origins of race and class-based outcomes to individual actors, because the systems can be really thorny to get your hands around.”
By naming those systems—inadequate infrastructure, racialized poverty, government indifference—the series forces viewers to confront the uncomfortable truth: Katrina was not an anomaly.
Traci A. Curry’s Directorial Evolution
Curry is no stranger to hard stories. Her Oscar-nominated work on Attica already proved her skill at handling emotionally complex material, but Katrina hit differently. As a Black woman, a journalist, and a storyteller, she understood the stakes of getting this right.
Still, Curry doesn’t see Race Against Time as a departure from her past work. “I think it’s kind of on a continuum of my work,” she reflected. “I like to make the invisible visible, the implicit explicit. This series is just an evolution of the kind of things I’m interested in exploring.”
That evolution is clear in how the series is constructed. It’s a people-forward oral history. The voices of New Orleanians are not used for color or commentary. They are the backbone.
Executive producers Ryan and Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian and Jonathan and Simon Chinn, supported that vision from day one. Their combined track record—including Judas and the Black Messiah, LA 92, and Whitney—signals a deep commitment to stories that challenge historical revisionism and uplift marginalized perspectives.
Correcting the Narrative, Centering the People
“This series goes beyond the headlines,” said the Cooglers in a joint statement shared with MadameNoire. “It reveals stories of survival, heroism, and resilience. It’s a vital historical record and a call to witness, remember, and reckon with the truth of Hurricane Katrina’s legacy.”
The truth is messy and enraging, but it’s also rooted in love—the kind that shows up when systems fail. From neighbors sharing food to strangers carrying each other to safety, Race Against Time captures a radical humanity that was too often ignored in real-time coverage.
“It’s far more than a story about a storm,” added producers Simon and Jonathan Chinn. “It’s a compelling, essential reexamination of systemic failure and the enduring consequences of decisions made before, during, and after the levees broke.”
A Wake-Up Call for a New Generation
In 2025, Katrina is taught in schools. It trends on social media every anniversary, but for many, the full truth remains elusive. Race Against Time is restoring history.
With the series debuting across two nights on National Geographic, and streaming in full on Disney+ and Hulu starting July 28, Curry hopes the project serves as both a tribute and a warning. “It’s a wake-up call,” she said. “Because the systems that failed then? They haven’t gone anywhere.”
Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time dares to do something radical: tell the truth—all of it. For the people of New Orleans, that truth is long overdue.
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