Cooked: Survival by Zip Code

Cooked: Survival by Zip Code (54:00) 2019

Curator
Rajashree Ghosh
Affiliated Scholar, Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University

Teacher's Guide
Please download the teacher's guide for maps, background information, suggested subjects, questions and activities.

Why I selected this film
Throughout the film Cooked: Survival by Zip Code, filmmaker Judith Helfand argues that there is an inextricable connection between environmental injustice and racism as she explores the impact of the 1995 Chicago heat wave that caused hundreds of deaths. The people most affected, she finds, often live in zip codes that are underserved, under-resourced, and ill equipped to deal with extreme events like heat waves, hurricanes, forest fires, and, more recently, pandemics. An examination of these disasters reveals structural inequalities that make poor communities and communities of color vulnerable to these events. The film is an important teaching tool and will promote critical classroom discussions about how social location, privilege, and disadvantage intersect to create very different impacts and experiences within society.

SYNOPSIS

Cooked: Survival by Zip Code is a story about a severe example of environmental injustice. 739 citizens of Chicago died in a heat wave in a single week, most of them poor, elderly, and African American.  The film questions existing policy as it explores a slow-motion disaster that continues to disrupt and shorten the lives of Chicago residents in neighborhoods like Englewood, a district ravaged by pernicious poverty, social isolation, and racism. This is a place where one resident says, “It’s easier to buy a gun than a tomato.” One epidemiologist concludes that 3,200 people die each year from preventable illnesses in such Chicago neighborhoods. The filmmaker comes to question policies that ignore these kinds of ongoing disasters while preparing, at the same time and at great expense, for rare events like earthquakes.

The film does find reason to hope for change because of two community-based initiatives that address current inequities. Sinai Urban Health Institute actively reaches out to residents, and an organic farm that grows vegetables for residents of Englewood calls itself a “human emergency plan.”

Cooked raises key questions: Can we realign our social priorities? Can we expand the definition of “disaster” to include socially patterned deprivation? Would doing so allow us to address the slow-motion disasters that kill people every day just because they live in the wrong zip code?

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOCUS

The film was inspired by Eric Klinenberg’s book Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, which examines the July 1995 heat wave. Klinenberg and filmmaker Judith Helfand both make the case for environmental health equity as they point out the damage to communities inflicted by racially restrictive covenants, redlining by banks, a lack of safety, exclusion from political engagement in land-use planning, and inadequate health care, all of which contribute to a slow-motion environmental and social disaster created by humans and driven by systemic racism.

Download the Teacher's Guide

00:00:15.999 --> 00:00:17.999
What's the best way
to prepare for disaster?

00:00:19.134 --> 00:00:22.967
It's a question a lot of us
are asking these days,

00:00:22.967 --> 00:00:25.299
as the planet heats up
and we find ourselves

00:00:25.299 --> 00:00:29.425
facing one unprecedented
disaster after another.

00:00:29.425 --> 00:00:32.009
- One dollar. One dollar.
- Oh, my friend.

00:00:32.009 --> 00:00:34.299
You get lucky
to get it for one dollar.

00:00:34.299 --> 00:00:37.466
[solemn music]

00:00:37.466 --> 00:00:44.842
♪

00:00:47.967 --> 00:00:49.383
- Lower Manhattan.
Staten Island.

00:00:49.383 --> 00:00:52.092
[announcement continues
indistinctly over P.A. system]

00:00:52.092 --> 00:00:53.299
Mandatory.

00:00:53.299 --> 00:00:56.341
- Personally I'd never
really had to grapple

00:00:56.341 --> 00:00:57.633
with disaster preparedness

00:00:57.633 --> 00:01:01.842
'til Hurricane Sandy was
heading towards my hometown.

00:01:01.842 --> 00:01:03.299
Are you ready
for this hurricane?

00:01:03.299 --> 00:01:05.967
- I got my batteries.
I got my flashlights.

00:01:05.967 --> 00:01:07.299
I got my candles.
I'm good.

00:01:07.299 --> 00:01:10.299
- Did you fill your bathtub up?
- That I didn't do.

00:01:10.299 --> 00:01:11.009
- Do you know why

00:01:11.009 --> 00:01:12.175
we're supposed
to fill our bathtubs up?

00:01:12.175 --> 00:01:14.299
- No, I don't.
- I don't either.

00:01:14.717 --> 00:01:17.299
If ever there was a moment
for an emergency plan

00:01:17.299 --> 00:01:20.758
and a well-packed to-go kit,
this was it.

00:01:20.758 --> 00:01:22.299
But I didn't have either,

00:01:22.299 --> 00:01:25.299
so I relied
on my ability to go,

00:01:25.299 --> 00:01:27.217
to my family
in Westchester County...

00:01:27.217 --> 00:01:28.092
[knocking]
Mom?

00:01:28.092 --> 00:01:30.217
18 safe miles
from the eye of the storm,

00:01:30.217 --> 00:01:34.217
where last-minute preparedness
shopping started early.

00:01:34.217 --> 00:01:35.299
♪

00:01:35.299 --> 00:01:37.383
- I just got lucky
on the generator.

00:01:37.383 --> 00:01:39.550
I became number 99 of 100.

00:01:39.550 --> 00:01:41.299
- There's no more generators.

00:01:41.299 --> 00:01:42.842
I was here this morning
at 5:30.

00:01:42.842 --> 00:01:43.717
- What time were you there?

00:01:43.717 --> 00:01:45.383
- I was there at 7:00.
- What were you doing?

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And that's how I came
to find out

00:01:47.134 --> 00:01:48.299
that my big brother Alex,

00:01:48.299 --> 00:01:51.300
a computer engineer
and competitive sailor,

00:01:51.300 --> 00:01:54.299
was also a closet
disaster master.

00:01:54.299 --> 00:01:55.967
- The reason you have
to have a generator

00:01:55.967 --> 00:01:57.050
is so you can run
the sump pump.

00:01:57.050 --> 00:02:00.758
Without that, you might as well
just kiss your house good-bye.

00:02:00.758 --> 00:02:02.925
- How do you run it?
- On gas.

00:02:02.925 --> 00:02:04.758
- How much do you have?
- I'll show you.

00:02:04.758 --> 00:02:08.299
We have 10, 20--
we have 25 gallons.

00:02:08.299 --> 00:02:10.925
By the way,
do you like our escape?

00:02:10.925 --> 00:02:12.175
- Are you serious?

00:02:12.175 --> 00:02:13.508
Are we allowed to come to you

00:02:13.508 --> 00:02:15.299
if you have power and we don't?

00:02:15.299 --> 00:02:16.299
- We'll let you.
- Okay.

00:02:16.299 --> 00:02:18.134
- We can always come get you.
That's why the boat--

00:02:18.134 --> 00:02:19.300
- In the boat?
- Sure.

00:02:19.300 --> 00:02:21.299
- You're gonna put Mom
in that boat?

00:02:21.299 --> 00:02:22.299
- If we have to.

00:02:22.299 --> 00:02:25.883
- I'm not telling her that.
It'll freak her out.

00:02:25.883 --> 00:02:28.717
Your son, he has a boat.

00:02:28.717 --> 00:02:31.633
In case we can't get out,

00:02:31.633 --> 00:02:33.633
he could come and get us.

00:02:33.633 --> 00:02:35.425
- [laughs]

00:02:35.425 --> 00:02:36.633
He has a boat?

00:02:36.633 --> 00:02:37.550
- In the meantime,

00:02:37.550 --> 00:02:39.299
evacuations
of three buildings...

00:02:39.299 --> 00:02:42.508
- Which fortunately
we didn't need.

00:02:42.508 --> 00:02:44.299
- Four downed power lines
in Babylon

00:02:44.299 --> 00:02:45.425
with explosive results,

00:02:45.425 --> 00:02:47.299
and water poured
into the streets

00:02:47.299 --> 00:02:48.299
of Great South Bay.

00:02:48.299 --> 00:02:51.299
- Electricity was
a different story.

00:02:51.299 --> 00:02:52.299
- As Long Island got--

00:02:52.299 --> 00:02:55.800
- Mom, the lights
keep going on and off.

00:02:56.050 --> 00:02:57.550
- Mike? You okay?

00:02:57.550 --> 00:02:58.508
- Are you okay?
- Yeah.

00:02:58.508 --> 00:03:00.508
- Okay.
- And Judy's with me. I'm fine.

00:03:00.508 --> 00:03:03.050
- All right, just let us know
if you need anything.

00:03:03.050 --> 00:03:05.259
- Yeah, and Dolores
is not home,

00:03:05.259 --> 00:03:07.300
and Pat's not home either.

00:03:07.300 --> 00:03:08.717
She's in the hospital.

00:03:08.717 --> 00:03:10.466
- The water is washing...

00:03:10.466 --> 00:03:13.300
- It's your turn.
- Oh. Go, go, go.

00:03:13.300 --> 00:03:14.758
[soft piano music]

00:03:14.758 --> 00:03:17.675
- Safe, cozy,
and with very bad letters,

00:03:17.675 --> 00:03:22.383
I had plenty of time to think
about disaster preparedness.

00:03:23.299 --> 00:03:26.300
My mother had her
close-knit hallway.

00:03:26.300 --> 00:03:29.758
My brother and his family
had their generator.

00:03:31.009 --> 00:03:33.341
And I had them.

00:03:35.299 --> 00:03:36.633
But I didn't always
look at disaster

00:03:36.633 --> 00:03:40.299
through the lens of privilege
or lack of it.

00:03:40.299 --> 00:03:43.383
That all started with a book
I read about a disaster

00:03:43.383 --> 00:03:48.009
that took place in Chicago
in July 1995,

00:03:48.009 --> 00:03:49.800
one of the deadliest
heat waves

00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:52.466
in U.S. history so far.

00:03:54.217 --> 00:03:57.134
And I had no memory of it.

00:03:57.299 --> 00:03:59.883
This was a tragedy
that should have seared itself

00:03:59.883 --> 00:04:03.175
into the memory
of every American,

00:04:03.175 --> 00:04:04.299
but it didn't.

00:04:04.299 --> 00:04:07.299
And that's what shocked me
most of all.

00:04:10.300 --> 00:04:12.299
So I tracked down
Eric Klinenberg,

00:04:12.299 --> 00:04:16.591
the native Chicagoan who wrote
the book about the heat wave.

00:04:16.591 --> 00:04:17.550
- Disasters are important

00:04:17.550 --> 00:04:21.967
not just because
they represent extreme cases

00:04:21.967 --> 00:04:25.175
but also because,
in looking at them closely,

00:04:25.175 --> 00:04:27.299
we learn to recognize
conditions

00:04:27.299 --> 00:04:31.425
that are always present
but difficult to perceive.

00:04:31.425 --> 00:04:34.134
♪

00:04:34.134 --> 00:04:35.217
- That was what was unique

00:04:35.217 --> 00:04:37.299
about the heat wave
in Chicago.

00:04:37.299 --> 00:04:39.299
It was a natural disaster

00:04:39.299 --> 00:04:41.299
that revealed
an unnatural one

00:04:41.299 --> 00:04:44.299
in a way
that I'd never really seen,

00:04:44.299 --> 00:04:47.800
mainly because
I didn't have to.

00:04:49.092 --> 00:04:50.800
So I went to Chicago

00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:52.758
and drove
from the iconic lakefront

00:04:52.758 --> 00:04:54.633
to the neighborhoods
that had suffered

00:04:54.633 --> 00:04:57.633
the most heat deaths in 1995.

00:04:57.633 --> 00:04:59.758
♪

00:04:59.758 --> 00:05:04.508
It was obvious something
devastating had happened here,

00:05:04.508 --> 00:05:05.717
but I was pretty sure

00:05:05.717 --> 00:05:08.299
it had nothing to do
with the weather.

00:05:09.341 --> 00:05:12.800
This disaster was man-made.

00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:20.134
♪

00:05:25.967 --> 00:05:29.675
- The sun is cooking
the center of the country.

00:05:29.675 --> 00:05:32.217
All week,
roads have been buckling.

00:05:32.217 --> 00:05:33.550
People have been baking.

00:05:33.550 --> 00:05:36.299
The mercury
is showing no mercy.

00:05:36.299 --> 00:05:37.842
[indistinct chatter]

00:05:38.717 --> 00:05:41.217
- For stores selling fans
and air conditioners,

00:05:41.217 --> 00:05:43.299
many customers are trying
to bring them home tonight

00:05:43.299 --> 00:05:44.300
to get them going in time

00:05:44.300 --> 00:05:47.508
for tomorrow's
triple-digit temperatures.

00:05:48.299 --> 00:05:50.259
- When I started
making this film,

00:05:50.259 --> 00:05:53.299
Eric Klinenberg handed me
a worn VHS tape

00:05:53.299 --> 00:05:56.758
filled with news footage
of the 1995 heat wave,

00:05:56.758 --> 00:06:02.299
and I watched it
over and over.

00:06:02.299 --> 00:06:04.675
- The sun sets tonight
on one of the hottest days

00:06:04.675 --> 00:06:07.050
in Chicago history:
an official high

00:06:07.050 --> 00:06:10.009
of 104 degrees
at O'Hare Airport.

00:06:10.009 --> 00:06:11.550
- It's hot.
It's hot out there.

00:06:11.550 --> 00:06:12.842
Let's--we all walk out there.

00:06:12.842 --> 00:06:15.842
It's very, very, very hot.

00:06:15.842 --> 00:06:17.299
We go to extremes in Chicago,

00:06:17.299 --> 00:06:19.758
and that's why people
love Chicago.

00:06:19.758 --> 00:06:20.967
We go to extremes.

00:06:20.967 --> 00:06:24.299
[siren wailing]

00:06:24.299 --> 00:06:26.800
- The mayor's clever play
on the word "extremes"

00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:28.967
took on a new meaning
the next day

00:06:28.967 --> 00:06:32.466
when, all of a sudden,
hospitals were overflowing

00:06:32.466 --> 00:06:35.259
with heat-related illnesses.

00:06:36.175 --> 00:06:38.299
And then people
started to die.

00:06:38.299 --> 00:06:40.299
[somber music]

00:06:40.299 --> 00:06:41.800
- It was a very hot night,

00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:44.299
and when I called
my grandmother,

00:06:44.299 --> 00:06:46.717
she didn't answer the phone.

00:06:47.508 --> 00:06:50.092
So I rushed right over here,

00:06:50.092 --> 00:06:51.717
and I walked into the room,

00:06:51.717 --> 00:06:56.299
and I saw my grandmother
lying across the bed faceup.

00:06:56.299 --> 00:06:58.925
♪

00:06:58.925 --> 00:07:01.591
I looked over at the window,
and it was nailed shut,

00:07:01.591 --> 00:07:04.299
and I thought,
"What would make her think

00:07:04.299 --> 00:07:06.675
"that by putting a nail
in a window

00:07:06.675 --> 00:07:08.134
"would make her feel safe?

00:07:08.134 --> 00:07:10.675
Why wasn't this window open?"

00:07:10.675 --> 00:07:13.134
♪

00:07:13.134 --> 00:07:16.675
I walked to the ambulance,
and I looked in,

00:07:16.675 --> 00:07:18.883
and I saw these bodies
in there,

00:07:18.883 --> 00:07:23.591
and they just laid her
on top of the other bodies,

00:07:23.591 --> 00:07:26.299
like she was a quart of wood.

00:07:27.217 --> 00:07:30.300
And then I thought,
"Well, does that mean

00:07:30.300 --> 00:07:31.967
"that they're gonna go get
other bodies

00:07:31.967 --> 00:07:35.299
and lay the bodies
on top of my grandmother?"

00:07:36.300 --> 00:07:38.134
[dramatic music]

00:07:38.134 --> 00:07:40.299
- Well, the chief medical
examiner tells us tonight

00:07:40.299 --> 00:07:44.299
that at least 50 more bodies
await examination tomorrow.

00:07:44.299 --> 00:07:47.009
The crush was so intense,
a refrigerated truck

00:07:47.009 --> 00:07:51.925
was brought in to store bodies
until staff could get to them.

00:07:52.050 --> 00:07:55.341
We just saw five more
refrigerated trucks go by us.

00:07:55.341 --> 00:07:57.009
Apparently the one
refrigerated truck

00:07:57.009 --> 00:07:58.550
they've got back there
is already full,

00:07:58.550 --> 00:08:01.092
but they're now discovering
the bodies that were dead

00:08:01.092 --> 00:08:04.925
on Thursday and Friday,
as they begin to decompose.

00:08:04.925 --> 00:08:08.259
♪

00:08:08.259 --> 00:08:09.800
- There had been no
announcements on the news,

00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:13.383
no discussion from the city,
no checking on people.

00:08:13.383 --> 00:08:15.050
But the minute
you see in the paper

00:08:15.050 --> 00:08:16.508
or on the news--
wherever I saw it first--

00:08:16.508 --> 00:08:18.299
that there were
refrigerated trucks,

00:08:18.299 --> 00:08:19.717
that means there's so many
dead bodies

00:08:19.717 --> 00:08:22.050
that the coroner doesn't
have room for 'em anymore.

00:08:22.050 --> 00:08:22.758
That's enough!

00:08:22.758 --> 00:08:25.925
Right there, you know
you were in trouble.

00:08:26.299 --> 00:08:29.217
- They were doing autopsies
around the clock.

00:08:29.217 --> 00:08:31.175
- You almost had to run
a gauntlet

00:08:31.175 --> 00:08:34.259
to walk through anywhere

00:08:34.259 --> 00:08:37.299
to avoid touching a body.

00:08:37.299 --> 00:08:39.842
It looked like a war zone.

00:08:40.299 --> 00:08:42.758
- I had to get up in a truck
and basically had to go through

00:08:42.758 --> 00:08:44.758
every remain,
checking toe tags,

00:08:44.758 --> 00:08:48.050
until we could find the persons
that we were coming to get.

00:08:48.050 --> 00:08:51.508
So in the event of someone
that I was picking up,

00:08:51.508 --> 00:08:54.299
it was, like, maybe a couple
of people on top,

00:08:54.299 --> 00:08:56.591
so you had to just try
to move them over.

00:08:56.591 --> 00:09:00.299
It was just--it was--
yeah, it was sad, really.

00:09:00.299 --> 00:09:02.299
It was a sight.

00:09:02.299 --> 00:09:08.466
♪

00:09:08.466 --> 00:09:11.550
- Saturday morning, I came in,
and we had 87 cases,

00:09:11.550 --> 00:09:13.550
Sunday morning,
we had 83 cases.

00:09:13.550 --> 00:09:15.217
And today we have 117.

00:09:15.217 --> 00:09:17.633
Now, our average is 17.

00:09:17.633 --> 00:09:18.758
So what we're seeing here

00:09:18.758 --> 00:09:22.299
is, we're seeing
an excess mortality.

00:09:23.842 --> 00:09:26.300
- We cannot say exactly
how many deaths

00:09:26.300 --> 00:09:28.842
are a direct result
of the heat,

00:09:28.842 --> 00:09:32.425
but we know that the number
of nonviolent deaths

00:09:32.425 --> 00:09:36.300
over the last four days
continue to climb.

00:09:36.300 --> 00:09:38.134
In the last four days--

00:09:38.134 --> 00:09:40.092
- "Nonviolent deaths"?

00:09:40.092 --> 00:09:42.800
I had to stop
and replay the mayor's comment

00:09:42.800 --> 00:09:43.633
a few times over

00:09:43.633 --> 00:09:47.383
to try and wrap my head around
what he meant by that term.

00:09:47.383 --> 00:09:50.883
- But the number of nonviolent
deaths continue to climb.

00:09:50.883 --> 00:09:53.633
- Because being cooked
to death behind closed doors

00:09:53.633 --> 00:09:58.217
seemed to me to be
a pretty violent way to die.

00:10:02.009 --> 00:10:05.425
- Oh, when you hear three--
well, when you have 339 people,

00:10:05.425 --> 00:10:06.591
there's a lot of people dead.

00:10:06.591 --> 00:10:09.134
I mean, that's a lot of people.

00:10:10.466 --> 00:10:11.299
- Mrs. Crockett?

00:10:11.299 --> 00:10:12.800
- The crisis
intervention workers

00:10:12.800 --> 00:10:14.550
respond to calls of concern.

00:10:14.550 --> 00:10:17.175
A 60-year-old woman
hadn't been heard from.

00:10:17.175 --> 00:10:21.134
- Take all this away from here,
and open this window up.

00:10:21.134 --> 00:10:22.591
- Well, I'm on the first floor.

00:10:22.591 --> 00:10:23.842
- Are you afraid of somebody

00:10:23.842 --> 00:10:25.299
throwing some bricks
or something?

00:10:25.299 --> 00:10:26.299
- They'll come in.

00:10:26.299 --> 00:10:27.633
- You have a screen here,
don't you, dear?

00:10:27.633 --> 00:10:30.259
- Yes, what will a sharp knife
do to a screen?

00:10:30.259 --> 00:10:31.550
- Yes, it will.

00:10:32.299 --> 00:10:34.758
- As I watched
this agonizing choice

00:10:34.758 --> 00:10:37.758
between staying safe
and staying cool,

00:10:37.758 --> 00:10:39.717
I thought about the nine
refrigerated trucks

00:10:39.717 --> 00:10:43.009
that were parked outside
the county morgue for weeks,

00:10:43.009 --> 00:10:46.300
filled with hundreds
of deceased Chicago residents,

00:10:46.300 --> 00:10:49.508
and how ironic it was
that they finally got

00:10:49.508 --> 00:10:51.842
the air-conditioning
they needed

00:10:51.842 --> 00:10:54.550
while awaiting autopsy.

00:10:55.300 --> 00:10:58.425
- Cooler air came rushing in
across the country today

00:10:58.425 --> 00:10:59.967
after a brutal heat wave.

00:10:59.967 --> 00:11:01.299
Many are wondering tonight,

00:11:01.299 --> 00:11:03.675
how could heat
kill so many people?

00:11:03.675 --> 00:11:06.383
- The sexiness
for the news media was,

00:11:06.383 --> 00:11:08.299
it was about the heat,

00:11:08.299 --> 00:11:09.425
but the real story is,

00:11:09.425 --> 00:11:13.175
why were people
in these neighborhoods dying?

00:11:13.175 --> 00:11:15.717
People weren't dying
on the North Side.

00:11:15.717 --> 00:11:18.300
People weren't dying
in the Gold Coast.

00:11:18.300 --> 00:11:21.800
People were dying
on the South and West Sides.

00:11:21.800 --> 00:11:26.967
♪

00:11:26.967 --> 00:11:30.299
- Why is it that people die

00:11:30.299 --> 00:11:31.883
during an extreme
weather event?

00:11:31.883 --> 00:11:35.175
- Well, I think, you know,
people die from the heat

00:11:35.175 --> 00:11:39.550
for two
highly correlated reasons.

00:11:39.550 --> 00:11:43.134
If you have
a preexisting condition

00:11:43.134 --> 00:11:45.300
that's already weakened
your body,

00:11:45.300 --> 00:11:47.092
then clearly
it's gonna be easier

00:11:47.092 --> 00:11:48.299
for the heat to kill you.

00:11:48.299 --> 00:11:52.092
And the second and intimately
related factor is,

00:11:52.092 --> 00:11:56.299
they're not able to defend
themselves against the heat,

00:11:56.299 --> 00:11:58.550
and that defense could be

00:11:58.550 --> 00:12:01.550
in terms of opening
their windows,

00:12:01.550 --> 00:12:03.383
and in poor,
vulnerable communities,

00:12:03.383 --> 00:12:05.341
people don't want
to open their windows.

00:12:05.341 --> 00:12:08.758
It could be by turning on
the air conditioner,

00:12:08.758 --> 00:12:10.175
and in vulnerable communities,

00:12:10.175 --> 00:12:12.299
people don't have
air-conditioning.

00:12:12.299 --> 00:12:16.299
And it could also be
going outside their house

00:12:16.299 --> 00:12:18.425
and going to an institution

00:12:18.425 --> 00:12:19.967
where there is
air-conditioning.

00:12:19.967 --> 00:12:21.842
For example, a public library

00:12:21.842 --> 00:12:23.050
might have air-conditioning,

00:12:23.050 --> 00:12:25.134
or even the lobby
of an apartment house

00:12:25.134 --> 00:12:26.633
might have air-conditioning.

00:12:26.633 --> 00:12:28.466
And vulnerable communities

00:12:28.466 --> 00:12:31.883
tend not to have those
as well.

00:12:31.883 --> 00:12:35.299
♪

00:12:38.299 --> 00:12:40.299
- We've offered that,
but there's not a great number

00:12:40.299 --> 00:12:43.092
of people who have come in
and taken advantage of it.

00:12:43.092 --> 00:12:46.550
There's really very little
explanation for it.

00:12:46.550 --> 00:12:48.383
- Thank you.
- Thank you.

00:12:49.299 --> 00:12:50.633
- Thank you.

00:12:51.299 --> 00:12:55.050
- Do you think this has
anything to do with race?

00:12:55.050 --> 00:12:58.092
- I think that...

00:12:58.092 --> 00:13:01.175
I have to go with--
there's a saying in Chicago

00:13:01.175 --> 00:13:03.341
that's, everything
is about race.

00:13:03.341 --> 00:13:05.591
You don't have to be poor
to be black.

00:13:05.591 --> 00:13:08.341
You don't have to be black
to be poor.

00:13:08.341 --> 00:13:10.092
But...

00:13:10.717 --> 00:13:14.217
- Just as many Chicagoans
were starting to realize

00:13:14.217 --> 00:13:15.842
that the black community
had suffered

00:13:15.842 --> 00:13:18.299
a disproportionate
number of deaths,

00:13:18.299 --> 00:13:20.633
Mayor Daley went
on the offensive.

00:13:20.633 --> 00:13:22.134
- Daley pointed
a finger of blame

00:13:22.134 --> 00:13:24.591
at some of the families
of the senior citizens

00:13:24.591 --> 00:13:27.134
who died all alone
in the hellish heat.

00:13:27.134 --> 00:13:30.217
- We have to appeal to all
the family members

00:13:30.217 --> 00:13:33.175
of seniors to call,
go over there,

00:13:33.175 --> 00:13:35.092
see their mother or father

00:13:35.092 --> 00:13:36.217
or their aunt and uncle.

00:13:36.217 --> 00:13:37.550
That is a must.

00:13:37.883 --> 00:13:39.383
- I think there was denial.

00:13:39.383 --> 00:13:44.092
A lot of the heads of state
were in denial

00:13:44.092 --> 00:13:45.967
about what was going on,
you see,

00:13:45.967 --> 00:13:49.925
because it didn't
touch them directly.

00:13:49.925 --> 00:13:53.175
- Do you think it's really
about the heat?

00:13:53.175 --> 00:13:54.299
- No.

00:13:54.299 --> 00:13:58.009
No, it's just about
the lack of--

00:13:58.009 --> 00:14:00.758
oh, God help me,
I don't want to say that.

00:14:00.758 --> 00:14:02.217
- [whispering]
Just say it.

00:14:02.217 --> 00:14:03.300
- [laughs]
"Just say it."

00:14:03.300 --> 00:14:06.466
It's about a lack of compassion
on a lot of parts.

00:14:06.466 --> 00:14:09.800
I think that there is no need
for poverty,

00:14:09.800 --> 00:14:10.842
as much poverty...

00:14:10.842 --> 00:14:12.633
- As we have.
- In our community...

00:14:12.633 --> 00:14:14.967
- Right.
- As there is.

00:14:16.383 --> 00:14:17.967
- Even after the heat broke,

00:14:17.967 --> 00:14:20.675
the death count
continued to climb.

00:14:20.675 --> 00:14:23.341
And when it reached 525,

00:14:23.341 --> 00:14:25.717
the mayor shifted
from blaming the families

00:14:25.717 --> 00:14:29.217
to questioning the medical
examiner's numbers.

00:14:29.217 --> 00:14:31.466
- Can't attribute it
all to heat.

00:14:31.466 --> 00:14:32.341
You can't!
It's impossible.

00:14:32.341 --> 00:14:35.134
- The mayor thinks these
figures should be examined.

00:14:35.134 --> 00:14:36.967
The medical examiner's office

00:14:36.967 --> 00:14:38.299
thinks that they will
withstand scrutiny.

00:14:38.299 --> 00:14:41.717
We would be delighted
to have these figures examined.

00:14:41.717 --> 00:14:45.925
♪

00:14:45.925 --> 00:14:47.425
- I knew that people

00:14:47.425 --> 00:14:49.341
would be dying
throughout the city of Chicago

00:14:49.341 --> 00:14:53.092
but dying in hospitals,
and the doctors would say,

00:14:53.092 --> 00:14:54.967
"Well, I've been treating
this guy

00:14:54.967 --> 00:14:57.050
"for heart disease
for three years,

00:14:57.050 --> 00:15:00.259
and now he died
of heart disease."

00:15:00.259 --> 00:15:02.425
And so never
would the word "heat"

00:15:02.425 --> 00:15:05.134
appear anywhere
on the death certificate.

00:15:05.134 --> 00:15:06.758
- So are you suggesting
that there were actually

00:15:06.758 --> 00:15:10.259
more deaths
than are accounted for?

00:15:10.259 --> 00:15:10.883
- Oh, yes.

00:15:10.883 --> 00:15:15.175
I couldn't see how the number
wouldn't be bigger than 525,

00:15:15.175 --> 00:15:17.009
so we added up
the total number

00:15:17.009 --> 00:15:19.299
of people who died
during July,

00:15:19.299 --> 00:15:21.050
and we subtracted
this baseline

00:15:21.050 --> 00:15:23.883
of the expected number
of deaths per day,

00:15:23.883 --> 00:15:28.299
and the number came out
to be 726.

00:15:28.299 --> 00:15:29.259
[cursor beeping]

00:15:29.259 --> 00:15:34.299
And so they're arguing
about whether 525 was too big,

00:15:34.299 --> 00:15:38.175
and I now am saying
it's much too small.

00:15:38.175 --> 00:15:40.550
- The immensity
of the death toll

00:15:40.550 --> 00:15:43.050
got summed up by this image.

00:15:43.050 --> 00:15:47.050
Not what you expect to see
in a suburban cemetery

00:15:47.050 --> 00:15:48.925
in America's heartland.

00:15:48.925 --> 00:15:50.050
- 41 people were buried

00:15:50.050 --> 00:15:52.299
in a potter's field
near Chicago today,

00:15:52.299 --> 00:15:54.300
forgotten victims
of this summer's

00:15:54.300 --> 00:15:55.633
deadly heat wave.

00:15:55.633 --> 00:15:57.341
Their bodies had lain
since July

00:15:57.341 --> 00:16:00.217
in the county morgue,
unclaimed.

00:16:00.465 --> 00:16:05.006
- We had
the memorial service here.

00:16:05.006 --> 00:16:07.340
Claude Sanders.

00:16:07.340 --> 00:16:09.423
William Reedsville.

00:16:09.423 --> 00:16:10.839
Lydia Payne.

00:16:10.839 --> 00:16:13.839
John Kensinger.

00:16:13.839 --> 00:16:15.839
Joe Stone.

00:16:15.839 --> 00:16:18.048
Helen Stegman.

00:16:18.048 --> 00:16:20.215
Richard Jones.

00:16:20.215 --> 00:16:22.257
Jose Melina.

00:16:22.257 --> 00:16:23.674
Mildred...

00:16:27.215 --> 00:16:30.799
[dramatic theme music
playing]

00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:31.173
♪

00:16:31.173 --> 00:16:32.549
- There are some
stunning new figures

00:16:32.549 --> 00:16:33.674
from the Chicago
Health Department,

00:16:33.674 --> 00:16:37.173
dramatically increasing
the already tragic death toll

00:16:37.173 --> 00:16:38.048
from July's heat wave,

00:16:38.048 --> 00:16:41.131
adding more than 200
to the original total.

00:16:41.131 --> 00:16:44.549
- The final death tally: 739,

00:16:44.549 --> 00:16:49.340
the equivalent of two
jumbo jets crashing in midair.

00:16:49.340 --> 00:16:51.757
Did you feel a sense of outrage

00:16:51.757 --> 00:16:54.048
at that number
when it came out?

00:16:54.048 --> 00:16:57.590
- I want to answer this
very carefully.

00:16:57.881 --> 00:17:00.799
James Baldwin said
to be black in America

00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:04.298
is to be enraged
almost all of the time,

00:17:04.298 --> 00:17:06.549
and so in that spirit,

00:17:06.549 --> 00:17:08.839
I'm enraged
almost all of the time.

00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:11.839
I am of that generation,
so yes, I was enraged.

00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:13.839
Was I surprised or shocked?

00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:16.006
No, I know what happens
during heat waves,

00:17:16.006 --> 00:17:19.340
and I could see that the city
was not responding accordingly.

00:17:19.340 --> 00:17:21.839
And even if the city
had responded

00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:23.757
in a more appropriate way,

00:17:23.757 --> 00:17:25.839
we would have seen differences,

00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:28.839
hopefully not as great,
between poor communities

00:17:28.839 --> 00:17:31.549
that are under-resourced
and communities

00:17:31.549 --> 00:17:33.549
that are better resourced.

00:17:33.549 --> 00:17:36.507
- This is a map
that has two things

00:17:36.507 --> 00:17:38.173
going on at the same time.

00:17:38.173 --> 00:17:40.881
We've put the circles
in those communities

00:17:40.881 --> 00:17:43.549
that have the highest
poverty rates,

00:17:43.549 --> 00:17:46.382
and then we've shaded in
the communities

00:17:46.382 --> 00:17:50.839
that had the highest mortality
rates from the heat.

00:17:50.839 --> 00:17:51.839
And as you can see,

00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:53.215
they're almost perfect
overlaps.

00:17:53.215 --> 00:17:55.507
So the question is,
did people die of the heat,

00:17:55.507 --> 00:17:57.215
or did they die
of the social conditions

00:17:57.215 --> 00:17:59.839
in these neighborhoods,
and the answer is both.

00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:01.839
I mean, had the heat
not occurred,

00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:03.840
they wouldn't have died
that week.

00:18:03.840 --> 00:18:04.840
That's for sure.

00:18:04.840 --> 00:18:07.840
But they would have died
too soon anyway.

00:18:07.840 --> 00:18:13.839
♪

00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:15.173
- I mean, the beginning
of this project,

00:18:15.173 --> 00:18:18.298
I decided I was gonna
kind of adapt this phrase

00:18:18.298 --> 00:18:20.423
that the coroners use,
which is to say

00:18:20.423 --> 00:18:22.923
that we study death

00:18:22.923 --> 00:18:28.048
in order to better understand
and protect life.

00:18:28.881 --> 00:18:32.340
- While researching his book,
Eric Klinenberg discovered

00:18:32.340 --> 00:18:35.757
that Cook County had collected
the personal effects

00:18:35.757 --> 00:18:38.465
of the unclaimed heat victims.

00:18:38.465 --> 00:18:40.674
Their things are now
kept in boxes

00:18:40.674 --> 00:18:43.465
in a sprawling
storage facility.

00:18:44.340 --> 00:18:46.507
- A very small bed.

00:18:46.507 --> 00:18:48.632
I don't see any windows.

00:18:48.632 --> 00:18:51.965
You can tell
it's a very tiny room.

00:18:52.881 --> 00:18:55.839
And look at this contrast

00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:58.340
of the decorated war veteran

00:18:58.340 --> 00:19:02.090
and the 85-year-old
senior citizen.

00:19:02.090 --> 00:19:05.423
It reminds us how easy it is,
in some way,

00:19:05.423 --> 00:19:06.839
to fall through the cracks

00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:10.839
and go from being
an honored soldier

00:19:10.839 --> 00:19:13.715
or a close relative
to being someone

00:19:13.715 --> 00:19:18.590
who is discovered alone
on a hot summer day.

00:19:18.590 --> 00:19:21.757
These files are full
of stories like this.

00:19:26.839 --> 00:19:29.423
- When it came time
for Mayor Daley and his team

00:19:29.423 --> 00:19:30.674
to take
the life-and-death lessons

00:19:30.674 --> 00:19:34.465
from the 1995 heat wave,
they didn't concern themselves

00:19:34.465 --> 00:19:37.839
with human stories
or data-driven maps.

00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:42.632
Instead they created
a task force.

00:19:44.715 --> 00:19:46.090
- When the mayor organized
a commission

00:19:46.090 --> 00:19:48.632
to study the heat wave
and release a report,

00:19:48.632 --> 00:19:51.840
it said things like,
"Every neighborhood in Chicago

00:19:51.840 --> 00:19:53.923
was affected
by the heat wave."

00:19:53.923 --> 00:19:56.507
It's true,
but it's far more true

00:19:56.507 --> 00:19:58.382
for some areas than others,

00:19:58.382 --> 00:20:00.757
and that kind of language
just obscures

00:20:00.757 --> 00:20:02.131
what's happening in the city.

00:20:02.131 --> 00:20:03.340
It makes it impossible for us

00:20:03.340 --> 00:20:06.048
to understand
what happened here.

00:20:06.048 --> 00:20:09.423
It's a story about these deeper
social fault lines

00:20:09.423 --> 00:20:12.298
that make some members
of a city vulnerable

00:20:12.298 --> 00:20:16.006
and keep others protected
and blissfully ignorant

00:20:16.006 --> 00:20:17.507
about what's happening

00:20:17.507 --> 00:20:19.840
to people who live
quite close to them.

00:20:19.840 --> 00:20:23.090
[percussive music]

00:20:23.090 --> 00:20:24.423
♪

00:20:24.423 --> 00:20:27.090
- We want to make sure
that all Chicagoans

00:20:27.090 --> 00:20:28.757
take appropriate precautions

00:20:28.757 --> 00:20:31.839
for dealing with extreme heat
and humidity.

00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:33.799
[indistinct chatter]

00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:35.340
- Ever since 1995,

00:20:35.340 --> 00:20:37.048
when the temperatures
start to rise,

00:20:37.048 --> 00:20:40.173
the city rolls out
its heat emergency plan,

00:20:40.173 --> 00:20:41.965
which, over the years,
has become a model

00:20:41.965 --> 00:20:45.549
for other cities
also struggling to adapt

00:20:45.549 --> 00:20:47.382
to an ever-warming world.

00:20:47.382 --> 00:20:50.048
The plan includes
a multimillion-dollar

00:20:50.048 --> 00:20:51.923
emergency command center,

00:20:51.923 --> 00:20:55.839
reverse 911 calls,
and vigorous public messaging.

00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:58.006
- We really need
each and every neighbor.

00:20:58.006 --> 00:21:00.839
You know where
these seniors are.

00:21:00.839 --> 00:21:02.340
If you cannot
reach out to them,

00:21:02.340 --> 00:21:06.590
would you please call 311
and give us their address?

00:21:06.590 --> 00:21:08.923
You could literally
save a life.

00:21:08.923 --> 00:21:12.215
- What do you think
of the heat emergency plan?

00:21:12.215 --> 00:21:15.382
- I don't--I don't know
what I think of that.

00:21:15.382 --> 00:21:19.298
I mean, you know, I mean...

00:21:19.298 --> 00:21:21.549
[chuckles]
We could call it

00:21:21.549 --> 00:21:23.465
a poverty emergency plan
instead

00:21:23.465 --> 00:21:27.131
or, you know, a remedying
social evils plan.

00:21:27.131 --> 00:21:31.382
The underlying dynamic
in those same communities,

00:21:31.382 --> 00:21:33.965
which determined
who would live and die

00:21:33.965 --> 00:21:35.340
during the heat wave,

00:21:35.340 --> 00:21:38.423
of course continue
to exist now.

00:21:38.423 --> 00:21:40.048
- Do you think
they're addressing that?

00:21:40.048 --> 00:21:42.839
- Do I think the city
is addressing

00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:45.839
the extreme poverty
in communities of color

00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:46.839
in Chicago?

00:21:46.839 --> 00:21:49.090
Is that what you're asking me?

00:21:49.090 --> 00:21:51.006
[laughs]

00:21:51.006 --> 00:21:53.257
Don't be ridiculous.

00:21:56.257 --> 00:21:59.632
[indistinct chatter]

00:22:02.839 --> 00:22:05.881
[upbeat music]

00:22:05.881 --> 00:22:13.006
♪

00:22:17.715 --> 00:22:19.839
[indistinct shouting]

00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:21.923
- What's good?
[laughs]

00:22:21.923 --> 00:22:23.839
- Here you go right here!

00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:27.549
♪

00:22:27.549 --> 00:22:28.839
- Turning it back off now.

00:22:28.839 --> 00:22:31.839
- Why y'all want
to turn it off for?

00:22:32.382 --> 00:22:35.090
[indistinct chatter]

00:22:37.715 --> 00:22:44.423
♪

00:22:46.274 --> 00:22:47.523
- A decade after
the heat wave,

00:22:47.523 --> 00:22:50.107
Eric Klinenberg was still
trying to get people

00:22:50.107 --> 00:22:53.439
to learn the core lesson
of that disaster.

00:22:53.439 --> 00:22:56.107
- Ten years ago,
more than 700 Chicagoans

00:22:56.107 --> 00:22:56.982
died in the heat wave,

00:22:56.982 --> 00:22:59.439
but you say that's not
really the entire story?

00:22:59.439 --> 00:23:01.940
What you wanted to know
were the underlying

00:23:01.940 --> 00:23:03.857
social, human dimensions
to this, right?

00:23:03.857 --> 00:23:04.982
- That's right,
we have this term,

00:23:04.982 --> 00:23:07.439
a natural disaster,
that we're all familiar with.

00:23:07.439 --> 00:23:08.731
There's certainly
nothing natural

00:23:08.731 --> 00:23:09.481
about the way they died.

00:23:09.481 --> 00:23:13.107
What I'm more concerned about
is our collective failure

00:23:13.107 --> 00:23:15.940
to address
that everyday crisis,

00:23:15.940 --> 00:23:18.149
the disaster in slow motion,
if you will.

00:23:18.149 --> 00:23:20.940
And my biggest concern now
is that if we refuse

00:23:20.940 --> 00:23:22.690
to come to terms
with this crisis,

00:23:22.690 --> 00:23:26.232
we'll doom ourselves
to experience it again.

00:23:26.232 --> 00:23:28.107
[dramatic music]

00:23:28.107 --> 00:23:29.898
- And we did.

00:23:29.898 --> 00:23:32.065
Just six weeks
after that interview,

00:23:32.065 --> 00:23:35.523
the crisis we refused to come
to terms with in Chicago

00:23:35.523 --> 00:23:41.232
repeated itself in New Orleans
and all along the Gulf Coast.

00:23:41.232 --> 00:23:45.648
♪

00:23:45.648 --> 00:23:48.731
Like millions of others,
I spent that Labor Day weekend

00:23:48.731 --> 00:23:54.315
watching whole neighborhoods
disappear underwater.

00:23:55.731 --> 00:23:57.439
- We're gonna talk
about something else

00:23:57.439 --> 00:23:58.523
before the show's over too,

00:23:58.523 --> 00:24:00.857
and that's the big elephant
in the room:

00:24:00.857 --> 00:24:03.440
the race and economic class
of most of the victims,

00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:07.065
which the media hasn't
discussed much at all.

00:24:07.439 --> 00:24:11.648
- What had seemed to me to be
a one-time tragedy in Chicago

00:24:11.648 --> 00:24:15.690
all at once became
an appalling trend.

00:24:15.690 --> 00:24:17.898
And this movie,
which started out

00:24:17.898 --> 00:24:20.439
being about one
specific heat disaster,

00:24:20.439 --> 00:24:24.773
turned into something more
complicated and uncomfortable,

00:24:24.773 --> 00:24:27.357
about the impact
of generations' worth

00:24:27.357 --> 00:24:29.523
of racism and denial.

00:24:29.523 --> 00:24:32.523
- What's the guesstimate cost
of rebuilding those levees?

00:24:32.523 --> 00:24:37.731
- The bill is $2.9 billion,
which will give us--

00:24:37.731 --> 00:24:39.274
send us a long way
to, you know,

00:24:39.274 --> 00:24:40.606
repairing and upgrading
the levees,

00:24:40.606 --> 00:24:42.315
making them real
Category 3 protection,

00:24:42.315 --> 00:24:45.439
which apparently they weren't,
we learned the hard way.

00:24:45.439 --> 00:24:51.439
♪

00:24:51.439 --> 00:24:52.439
- Back in Chicago,

00:24:52.439 --> 00:24:54.815
where it was predicted
that by 2050,

00:24:54.815 --> 00:24:57.190
the weather would feel more
like Baton Rouge,

00:24:57.190 --> 00:25:01.107
Mayor Daley inaugurated his
official climate action plan,

00:25:01.107 --> 00:25:05.023
starting with
a $2.5-million project

00:25:05.023 --> 00:25:07.523
built on top of City Hall.

00:25:07.523 --> 00:25:08.773
- So what you'll see
behind me here

00:25:08.773 --> 00:25:11.565
is actually the green roof
on City Hall.

00:25:11.565 --> 00:25:14.023
We're 12 stories
above the city,

00:25:14.023 --> 00:25:16.232
and as you can tell,
it's kind of like a prairie.

00:25:16.232 --> 00:25:17.523
I mean, you can hear
the crickets.

00:25:17.523 --> 00:25:18.940
You can see the butterflies.

00:25:18.940 --> 00:25:21.648
There are birds
that live up here.

00:25:21.648 --> 00:25:24.357
So what we've done here--
we've created

00:25:24.357 --> 00:25:26.439
an urban heat island map.

00:25:26.439 --> 00:25:28.107
We can see the hot spots,

00:25:28.107 --> 00:25:30.232
and then we plant trees
in those areas,

00:25:30.232 --> 00:25:33.149
'cause one mature tree
has the air-conditioning effect

00:25:33.149 --> 00:25:36.399
of 12 room-size
air-conditioners.

00:25:36.399 --> 00:25:41.898
So these strategies provide
real cooling of the city.

00:25:41.898 --> 00:25:49.232
♪

00:25:54.399 --> 00:25:58.399
- You know, we're pretty
far away from City Hall.

00:25:58.690 --> 00:26:01.898
You know, I don't know
about any rooftop gardens

00:26:01.898 --> 00:26:03.940
out here.

00:26:03.940 --> 00:26:07.315
♪

00:26:07.315 --> 00:26:08.731
This is the block
that I lived on

00:26:08.731 --> 00:26:14.439
from the time I was 1 or 2
years old till I was about 14.

00:26:14.439 --> 00:26:18.439
Used to be a church here
that burned down.

00:26:18.439 --> 00:26:21.065
Used to be a house here.

00:26:22.439 --> 00:26:26.565
This house was next door
to where we lived,

00:26:26.565 --> 00:26:29.481
and we lived right here.

00:26:29.982 --> 00:26:35.439
And this whole block
was full of houses.

00:26:35.439 --> 00:26:39.065
♪

00:26:39.065 --> 00:26:40.190
Summer day like today,

00:26:40.190 --> 00:26:43.149
when I was growing up
around here,

00:26:43.149 --> 00:26:46.274
would be full of people,
kids playing,

00:26:46.274 --> 00:26:48.815
adults coming
to and from work.

00:26:48.815 --> 00:26:52.357
It was just
a vibrant place to be.

00:26:54.023 --> 00:26:56.439
There were two movie theaters.

00:26:56.439 --> 00:26:58.481
There was a Sears store.

00:26:58.481 --> 00:27:00.065
Hillman's grocery store.

00:27:00.065 --> 00:27:02.399
I used to get the list
from my mom,

00:27:02.399 --> 00:27:05.690
and I'd walk up here
and get whatever she wanted.

00:27:05.690 --> 00:27:08.982
♪

00:27:08.982 --> 00:27:13.023
It's just been
an incredible 50-plus years

00:27:13.023 --> 00:27:17.232
of watching what happens
to a community.

00:27:17.232 --> 00:27:18.982
♪

00:27:18.982 --> 00:27:21.439
If the heat wave happened
when I was growing up,

00:27:21.439 --> 00:27:25.481
I think the outcome would
have been a lot different.

00:27:25.481 --> 00:27:27.773
When it got really hot,
people would sleep

00:27:27.773 --> 00:27:31.357
on the back porch
or sleep in the park.

00:27:31.565 --> 00:27:33.690
People felt much safer.

00:27:33.940 --> 00:27:35.481
I mean,
imagine going from feeling

00:27:35.481 --> 00:27:36.857
like you can go sleep
in the park

00:27:36.857 --> 00:27:41.274
to feeling like you can't even
put a fan in your window.

00:27:46.023 --> 00:27:47.440
- Yeah.

00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:51.399
Just acres of vacant land.

00:27:51.606 --> 00:27:54.274
Acres of potential.

00:28:00.399 --> 00:28:02.439
- Orrin told me
that much of the vacant land

00:28:02.439 --> 00:28:05.023
on the South and West Sides
of the city

00:28:05.023 --> 00:28:08.523
can be traced back
to another map...

00:28:08.523 --> 00:28:09.439
this one created

00:28:09.439 --> 00:28:12.149
by the Federal Housing
Administration

00:28:12.149 --> 00:28:13.439
in 1940.

00:28:13.439 --> 00:28:15.898
The neighborhoods
where black people had settled

00:28:15.898 --> 00:28:19.439
were shaded in red
and declared ineligible

00:28:19.439 --> 00:28:21.815
for federally insured loans.

00:28:21.815 --> 00:28:24.023
The only way
people could buy a home

00:28:24.023 --> 00:28:27.815
was through a practice
called contract buying.

00:28:28.898 --> 00:28:30.731
- White speculators
bought homes,

00:28:30.731 --> 00:28:33.232
then resold them
to black families

00:28:33.232 --> 00:28:35.439
for two or three times
their value,

00:28:35.439 --> 00:28:37.857
but the black family
didn't own the house

00:28:37.857 --> 00:28:40.857
until they fully paid it off.

00:28:40.982 --> 00:28:46.315
- If I have you in a contract,
and things go along

00:28:46.315 --> 00:28:47.439
and you get laid off
from your job

00:28:47.439 --> 00:28:49.439
and you miss a month,
you could do it on one month--

00:28:49.439 --> 00:28:51.731
or miss two months--
then you're out of that house.

00:28:51.731 --> 00:28:53.982
I evict you,
and then I can recontract

00:28:53.982 --> 00:28:56.857
that same house
to another family.

00:28:57.440 --> 00:29:00.190
- Most people had to work
two or three jobs

00:29:00.190 --> 00:29:01.357
to meet the payments.

00:29:01.357 --> 00:29:05.815
Often they couldn't afford
to maintain the houses,

00:29:05.815 --> 00:29:11.190
so a lot of those structures
needed to be torn down.

00:29:11.439 --> 00:29:13.773
- So when the federal
government made it illegal

00:29:13.773 --> 00:29:16.565
to give mortgages
in the black communities,

00:29:16.565 --> 00:29:17.940
it was a political decision

00:29:17.940 --> 00:29:21.023
to disinvest
from those communities.

00:29:21.357 --> 00:29:22.773
You have banks
making a decision:

00:29:22.773 --> 00:29:24.940
"Your house isn't worth
replacing the windows,

00:29:24.940 --> 00:29:28.648
"so we're not gonna give you
a loan to replace your windows.

00:29:28.648 --> 00:29:30.439
"We're not gonna give
anyone a loan

00:29:30.439 --> 00:29:32.357
to buy your house from you."

00:29:32.357 --> 00:29:34.023
That's a disinvestment.

00:29:34.023 --> 00:29:36.439
"We're gonna close
these stores and move them,"

00:29:36.439 --> 00:29:39.357
and that happened
with changes in manufacturing.

00:29:39.357 --> 00:29:43.232
You don't have steelworkers
in Englewood anymore.

00:29:43.232 --> 00:29:44.315
You don't have people working

00:29:44.315 --> 00:29:47.065
at Campbell's soup factory
anymore.

00:29:47.065 --> 00:29:49.439
Then what happens is,
your community sinks.

00:29:49.439 --> 00:29:50.606
It doesn't happen overnight,

00:29:50.606 --> 00:29:56.439
but it happens,
certainly, at a pace.

00:29:59.439 --> 00:30:02.898
- Come all on in, kids.
Come on.

00:30:05.481 --> 00:30:08.648
- All right, you ready?
- Mm-hmm.

00:30:10.982 --> 00:30:13.439
- Colean and Jeremiah Scott
were not even born

00:30:13.439 --> 00:30:16.439
when the red lines were drawn
around their neighborhood,

00:30:16.439 --> 00:30:20.107
but the repercussions
are all around them.

00:30:22.149 --> 00:30:22.940
- This is the first one.

00:30:22.940 --> 00:30:24.107
- This is the first one
right here.

00:30:24.107 --> 00:30:26.315
- This is the first one.
- That's the second one.

00:30:26.315 --> 00:30:27.107
- This is the second one.

00:30:27.107 --> 00:30:28.982
- And then you can just
count 'em as you go.

00:30:28.982 --> 00:30:31.440
- That's number three.

00:30:32.648 --> 00:30:34.439
And it's right next
to the school.

00:30:34.439 --> 00:30:36.815
If my daughter
was to go to school here,

00:30:36.815 --> 00:30:38.107
she would have to walk past

00:30:38.107 --> 00:30:39.274
all these
abandoned buildings...

00:30:39.274 --> 00:30:42.107
- Just to get to school.
- Just to get to the school.

00:30:42.107 --> 00:30:42.648
Wait a minute!

00:30:42.648 --> 00:30:44.606
- This one here.
- Now, did you see that?

00:30:44.606 --> 00:30:47.149
This building right here.

00:30:47.857 --> 00:30:48.481
Come on, now!

00:30:48.481 --> 00:30:52.439
A school surrounded
by abandoned buildings?

00:30:54.606 --> 00:30:57.439
- Yeah, come on.
- Come on.

00:30:58.481 --> 00:31:02.357
- It's just,
you don't really even...

00:31:02.357 --> 00:31:03.940
think about it

00:31:03.940 --> 00:31:07.439
or really comprehend it,
I guess,

00:31:07.439 --> 00:31:11.399
until you have to explain it
to somebody else, you know?

00:31:11.399 --> 00:31:13.274
Then it's, like...

00:31:13.274 --> 00:31:16.731
it's just right
in your face, you know?

00:31:16.731 --> 00:31:20.439
And I was upset
about those right there.

00:31:20.439 --> 00:31:22.565
Look at that.

00:31:22.565 --> 00:31:24.399
Boarded up.

00:31:24.399 --> 00:31:26.606
All--the school is surrounded.

00:31:26.606 --> 00:31:29.982
What do you think about when
you see abandoned property?

00:31:29.982 --> 00:31:32.690
It's abandoned,
forgot about,

00:31:32.690 --> 00:31:35.440
left out, like...

00:31:37.857 --> 00:31:39.731
[child shouts]

00:31:45.439 --> 00:31:47.439
- None of this
is rocket science.

00:31:47.439 --> 00:31:51.690
We all know what it takes
to make a healthy neighborhood.

00:31:51.690 --> 00:31:54.439
It doesn't require you
to have mansions on the street.

00:31:54.439 --> 00:31:57.357
It requires you to have
the grocery stores,

00:31:57.357 --> 00:31:59.481
the coffee shops,
the restaurants,

00:31:59.481 --> 00:32:01.439
the beauty parlors,
the barbershops.

00:32:01.439 --> 00:32:04.439
These are all institutions
that help make streets safe.

00:32:04.439 --> 00:32:06.606
They provide places,
certainly in the wintertime

00:32:06.606 --> 00:32:09.940
and summertime,
for cooling and heating.

00:32:09.940 --> 00:32:15.690
♪

00:32:15.690 --> 00:32:20.440
- This map is, in a sense,
an exemplar or a model

00:32:20.440 --> 00:32:25.399
of all of those issues
coming together in one place.

00:32:25.399 --> 00:32:29.982
For example, communities that
have no supermarkets in them.

00:32:29.982 --> 00:32:34.606
If you map out vacant lots,
violent crime rates,

00:32:34.606 --> 00:32:38.315
diabetes, breast cancer,

00:32:38.315 --> 00:32:40.439
and on and on and on...

00:32:40.439 --> 00:32:45.439
and so map after map after map
shows the distribution

00:32:45.439 --> 00:32:48.107
of the highest
mortality and morbidity

00:32:48.107 --> 00:32:50.107
throughout the city.

00:32:50.523 --> 00:32:54.399
- Let me be really clear.
Racism is not a disaster.

00:32:54.399 --> 00:32:56.898
It's something
that human beings invented

00:32:56.898 --> 00:32:59.023
and created and keep healthy.

00:32:59.023 --> 00:33:01.857
Segregation is something
human beings invented,

00:33:01.857 --> 00:33:05.274
specific human beings,
for specific purposes.

00:33:05.274 --> 00:33:08.399
The health inequities
that exist are not accidents.

00:33:08.399 --> 00:33:10.648
They're created by people.

00:33:11.773 --> 00:33:14.606
- So the slow-motion disaster
in Chicago

00:33:14.606 --> 00:33:17.439
was the direct result
of public policies

00:33:17.439 --> 00:33:21.274
that effectively divided
the city into haves

00:33:21.274 --> 00:33:22.439
and have-nots.

00:33:22.439 --> 00:33:26.439
And it was precisely these
life-and-death inequalities

00:33:26.439 --> 00:33:30.399
that motivated Dr. Whitman
to step down from his post

00:33:30.399 --> 00:33:33.190
as the city's
chief epidemiologist

00:33:33.190 --> 00:33:36.982
to lead the Sinai
Urban Health Institute.

00:33:39.648 --> 00:33:41.857
- We've done study after study
and published it

00:33:41.857 --> 00:33:43.857
in all of our most
prestigious journals

00:33:43.857 --> 00:33:48.149
showing not only that black
people and other poor people

00:33:48.149 --> 00:33:50.315
have much worse health
but, in fact,

00:33:50.315 --> 00:33:52.399
that the differences
in measures of health

00:33:52.399 --> 00:33:55.690
are growing worse
everywhere we look in Chicago.

00:33:55.690 --> 00:33:58.439
That's happening because
the rich are getting richer,

00:33:58.439 --> 00:33:59.399
the poor are getting poorer,

00:33:59.399 --> 00:34:01.399
and the poor are not only
getting poorer,

00:34:01.399 --> 00:34:04.190
but they're getting sicker
as well.

00:34:04.190 --> 00:34:05.815
Life expectancy in the Loop,

00:34:05.815 --> 00:34:09.274
where we're sitting now,
is 81 years.

00:34:09.274 --> 00:34:12.439
And for black communities
throughout Chicago,

00:34:12.439 --> 00:34:13.523
it was 65 years.

00:34:13.523 --> 00:34:17.399
16 years' difference
in life expectancy,

00:34:17.399 --> 00:34:20.274
and you could walk from
one community to the other.

00:34:20.274 --> 00:34:22.857
One of the strongest correlates
of bad health

00:34:22.857 --> 00:34:23.898
for black people
that's been shown

00:34:23.898 --> 00:34:27.777
over and over in the literature
is segregation.

00:34:27.790 --> 00:34:30.582
We are one of the most
segregated cities

00:34:30.582 --> 00:34:32.039
in the United States.

00:34:32.039 --> 00:34:36.081
If black people in Chicago
had the same death rates

00:34:36.081 --> 00:34:40.457
as white people,
3,200 fewer black people,

00:34:40.457 --> 00:34:43.039
in just one year,
would have died.

00:34:43.039 --> 00:34:47.832
Now, just think about
our response to 9/11.

00:34:47.832 --> 00:34:48.540
Literally billions,

00:34:48.540 --> 00:34:51.081
even trillions
of dollars spent,

00:34:51.081 --> 00:34:55.498
and yet here's 3,000 deaths
in just one year.

00:34:55.498 --> 00:34:58.457
Ten years,
that's 32,000 deaths,

00:34:58.457 --> 00:35:01.290
just from racism,
in the city of Chicago.

00:35:01.290 --> 00:35:04.999
[jet engines roaring]

00:35:14.123 --> 00:35:15.457
- Watching the annual air show

00:35:15.457 --> 00:35:18.039
along Chicago's
majestic skyline

00:35:18.039 --> 00:35:20.206
celebrating
the military daredevils

00:35:20.206 --> 00:35:22.457
who are poised to protect us,

00:35:22.457 --> 00:35:25.749
I couldn't help but think
about the disparity

00:35:25.749 --> 00:35:28.331
Dr. Whitman had outlined.

00:35:28.331 --> 00:35:30.790
3,200 deaths from terrorism

00:35:30.790 --> 00:35:34.498
are considered
a national disaster,

00:35:34.498 --> 00:35:38.623
but 3,200 deaths
from treatable diseases

00:35:38.623 --> 00:35:40.040
taking place in neighborhoods

00:35:40.040 --> 00:35:42.749
just due south and west
from here

00:35:42.749 --> 00:35:45.039
are barely considered.

00:35:45.707 --> 00:35:49.498
And that's when I started
Googling "disaster"...

00:35:50.039 --> 00:35:52.874
Which led me
to disaster prevention...

00:35:52.874 --> 00:35:55.957
- To guarantee good health,
you need clean water.

00:35:55.957 --> 00:35:59.707
- It filters about a gallon
every five minutes.

00:35:59.707 --> 00:36:01.749
- To "disaster preparedness,"

00:36:01.749 --> 00:36:04.123
which I soon learned
is one of our nation's

00:36:04.123 --> 00:36:05.457
most dynamic
growth industries.

00:36:05.457 --> 00:36:08.665
- Let's start off by talking
about emergency food,

00:36:08.665 --> 00:36:11.915
packaged to last 25 years.

00:36:11.915 --> 00:36:16.039
- And finally "disaster
preparedness Chicago"...

00:36:16.039 --> 00:36:18.832
[helicopter rotors whirring]

00:36:18.832 --> 00:36:20.415
Which is how I learned
that Cook County

00:36:20.415 --> 00:36:23.039
was about to show off
its latest innovations

00:36:23.039 --> 00:36:26.039
in government-funded
disaster preparedness.

00:36:26.039 --> 00:36:30.540
- This year, Cook County
will share $47.7 million

00:36:30.540 --> 00:36:34.665
in urban area security
initiative grant funds.

00:36:34.665 --> 00:36:37.415
- What you're gonna see
is just a handful of resources

00:36:37.415 --> 00:36:40.039
that are mainly paid for
through federal grants.

00:36:40.039 --> 00:36:42.290
- Over here is a mobile
ventilation unit.

00:36:42.290 --> 00:36:45.165
We can clear an area
unbelievably efficiently

00:36:45.165 --> 00:36:46.623
using these machines.

00:36:46.623 --> 00:36:47.540
Mobile warehouse.

00:36:47.540 --> 00:36:50.331
Seven semitrailers
each with 18,000 items

00:36:50.331 --> 00:36:53.081
of things we needed
for the first 72 hours.

00:36:53.081 --> 00:36:55.665
Unified command vehicle.

00:36:55.874 --> 00:37:00.039
- I started getting into this
whole question about disaster

00:37:00.039 --> 00:37:02.123
because of the 1995 heat wave.

00:37:02.123 --> 00:37:05.165
- A lot of things
that are in place today

00:37:05.165 --> 00:37:06.373
were a result of lessons

00:37:06.373 --> 00:37:08.039
learned from the 1995
heat wave.

00:37:08.039 --> 00:37:10.957
If you remember 1995,
we were keeping bodies

00:37:10.957 --> 00:37:14.540
in refrigerated food trucks.

00:37:14.540 --> 00:37:17.665
We now have a vehicle
that's specifically made

00:37:17.665 --> 00:37:18.498
for this task.

00:37:18.498 --> 00:37:20.957
The victim would be put
into this vehicle.

00:37:20.957 --> 00:37:23.206
We can hold 27 victims.

00:37:23.206 --> 00:37:28.248
We can chill this unit
down to 32 degrees.

00:37:28.248 --> 00:37:30.039
- Which is basically
a refrigerated

00:37:30.039 --> 00:37:31.749
morgue on wheels?

00:37:31.749 --> 00:37:33.498
- Yeah, I wouldn't put that
in the press.

00:37:33.498 --> 00:37:35.999
I-I'd flower it up
a little better, but yes.

00:37:35.999 --> 00:37:37.640
- What would you say?

00:37:37.640 --> 00:37:41.639
- That's a victim
containment system.

00:37:42.015 --> 00:37:43.639
- That victim
containment system

00:37:43.639 --> 00:37:46.639
was just one of many big,
shiny new trucks

00:37:46.639 --> 00:37:48.557
at this county event.

00:37:48.557 --> 00:37:51.557
Multiply that
by 3,142 counties

00:37:51.557 --> 00:37:54.098
or county equivalents
in the United States

00:37:54.098 --> 00:37:56.973
currently gearing up
for future disasters,

00:37:56.973 --> 00:37:59.390
and you start
to get the picture.

00:37:59.390 --> 00:38:00.639
Disaster preparedness

00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:04.223
is a very well-resourced
endeavor.

00:38:05.057 --> 00:38:06.806
But what if it was possible
to repurpose

00:38:06.806 --> 00:38:10.681
this massive infrastructure,
which already operates

00:38:10.681 --> 00:38:13.890
on local, regional,
and national levels,

00:38:13.890 --> 00:38:15.848
and put it in service
of communities

00:38:15.848 --> 00:38:18.639
struck by unnatural disasters?

00:38:18.639 --> 00:38:21.973
That was the question
on my mind when I found out

00:38:21.973 --> 00:38:24.474
about a disaster
preparedness conference

00:38:24.474 --> 00:38:28.349
taking place just two states,
one floodplain,

00:38:28.349 --> 00:38:31.639
and one seismic fault line
away from Chicago,

00:38:31.639 --> 00:38:33.098
in Paducah, Kentucky.

00:38:33.098 --> 00:38:35.265
♪

00:38:35.265 --> 00:38:36.639
- It's all about
disaster preparedness.

00:38:36.639 --> 00:38:38.140
We're talking
about ice storms,

00:38:38.140 --> 00:38:39.765
a big earthquake
that could happen here

00:38:39.765 --> 00:38:40.639
on the New Madrid Fault.

00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:42.057
We've got people
from FEMA here,

00:38:42.057 --> 00:38:45.432
from the Red Cross,
from the USGS.

00:38:45.432 --> 00:38:47.890
♪

00:38:47.890 --> 00:38:50.057
- Judith Helfand.

00:38:50.973 --> 00:38:52.223
- Yes.
- All right.

00:38:52.223 --> 00:38:52.806
- [laughs]

00:38:52.806 --> 00:38:56.515
- This is the map of the area
that we were covering.

00:38:56.515 --> 00:38:58.557
It's--
- Six Midwest states,

00:38:58.557 --> 00:39:01.015
where the New Madrid
earthquake zone is.

00:39:01.015 --> 00:39:01.848
- If it was really bad,

00:39:01.848 --> 00:39:03.639
where would they get hit
on your shirt?

00:39:03.639 --> 00:39:05.639
- Oh, it'd be, like,
the whole Midwest.

00:39:05.639 --> 00:39:09.681
All the bridges you crossed
getting here will all be gone.

00:39:09.681 --> 00:39:11.474
- If you don't know
what the plan is,

00:39:11.474 --> 00:39:12.723
you may not have a plan.

00:39:12.723 --> 00:39:15.806
I'm not here
to scare you to death.

00:39:15.806 --> 00:39:18.057
I can, but I won't.

00:39:18.257 --> 00:39:20.757
- Catastrophic ice
is pretty much the worst.

00:39:20.757 --> 00:39:25.715
- Lightning has killed at least
67 people in the United States.

00:39:25.715 --> 00:39:26.839
[electricity buzzing]

00:39:26.839 --> 00:39:29.382
- After a day and a half
of lectures,

00:39:29.382 --> 00:39:33.839
keynotes, and workshops,
one thing was pretty clear.

00:39:33.839 --> 00:39:36.298
Disaster preparedness
is a luxury.

00:39:36.298 --> 00:39:38.340
It's for communities
who are stable enough

00:39:38.340 --> 00:39:41.423
in the present
to worry about the future.

00:39:41.423 --> 00:39:43.549
- I've got a preparedness kit.

00:39:43.549 --> 00:39:47.173
- But what if you can't
even conceive of a to-go kit

00:39:47.173 --> 00:39:51.048
because you need a "to get
through the week" kit?

00:39:51.048 --> 00:39:53.215
♪

00:39:53.215 --> 00:39:57.006
This is the disaster
that I started working on.

00:39:57.006 --> 00:39:59.465
It's a heat death map.

00:39:59.465 --> 00:40:01.382
These gray areas
are the poorest

00:40:01.382 --> 00:40:02.965
sort of neighborhoods
in the city.

00:40:02.965 --> 00:40:05.131
- Mm-hmm.
- So here's the big question.

00:40:05.131 --> 00:40:12.715
What if we redefine disaster
as extreme pernicious poverty?

00:40:12.715 --> 00:40:13.839
- Hmm.

00:40:15.507 --> 00:40:18.048
- I didn't want to make
anyone uncomfortable...

00:40:18.048 --> 00:40:19.131
[both chuckle]

00:40:19.131 --> 00:40:20.923
But, frankly,
who's comfortable

00:40:20.923 --> 00:40:23.465
talking about race
and class?

00:40:23.465 --> 00:40:26.006
And even though I knew
I might be putting some people

00:40:26.006 --> 00:40:30.006
on the spot,
I couldn't resist trying.

00:40:30.006 --> 00:40:33.173
Isn't there a way to just think
about economic development

00:40:33.173 --> 00:40:34.839
as disaster preparedness?

00:40:34.839 --> 00:40:37.131
- If you're asking me,
can emergency management

00:40:37.131 --> 00:40:40.839
solve the poverty issues,
I can tell you, no,

00:40:40.839 --> 00:40:43.923
'cause the systems that we have
now are all about,

00:40:43.923 --> 00:40:46.507
we've had a major disaster,
come back in,

00:40:46.507 --> 00:40:48.839
and restore that community
to like it was.

00:40:48.839 --> 00:40:52.423
In fact, the FEMA regulations
say, "Like it was."

00:40:52.423 --> 00:40:54.465
Empty lots,
this mile of abandoned...

00:40:54.465 --> 00:40:56.507
- I wondered about that term,
"like it was."

00:40:56.507 --> 00:41:01.840
Why not "better than before"
or "prepared for the future"?

00:41:01.923 --> 00:41:03.839
So when General Heltzel
invited me

00:41:03.839 --> 00:41:06.257
to a federally funded
seven-state

00:41:06.257 --> 00:41:10.006
weeklong disaster preparedness
exercise,

00:41:10.006 --> 00:41:11.632
I went.

00:41:13.340 --> 00:41:14.674
Oy.

00:41:14.674 --> 00:41:15.215
♪

00:41:15.215 --> 00:41:18.382
The mission: to be ready
for the massive earthquake

00:41:18.382 --> 00:41:20.340
that's expected
to hit the Midwest

00:41:20.340 --> 00:41:24.131
and simulate
a coordinated response.

00:41:24.839 --> 00:41:29.006
The last major earthquake?
1812.

00:41:29.090 --> 00:41:31.632
- Kilo Yankee four
hotel Charlie.

00:41:31.632 --> 00:41:32.090
K-Y-4-E-O-C.

00:41:32.090 --> 00:41:35.757
- Kentucky, KF alpha foxtrot
alpha four zero whiskey, over.

00:41:35.757 --> 00:41:38.465
- We've had a 7.7
Richter scale earthquake.

00:41:38.465 --> 00:41:41.839
You can see the damage
is particularly intensive

00:41:41.839 --> 00:41:44.215
here in the Jackson
Purchase region.

00:41:44.215 --> 00:41:46.340
- We had 625 casualties.

00:41:46.340 --> 00:41:48.839
275,000 seeking shelter.

00:41:48.839 --> 00:41:50.632
- So we're sending down
a million MREs

00:41:50.632 --> 00:41:51.839
and a million bottles of water.

00:41:51.839 --> 00:41:52.881
- Medical supplies,

00:41:52.881 --> 00:41:56.257
food, water, tentage,
whatever the civilians need.

00:41:56.257 --> 00:41:58.799
- We got a notification
from one of our operators

00:41:58.799 --> 00:42:01.923
saying that there was
a lot of damage in Memphis.

00:42:02.839 --> 00:42:04.340
- Exercise message.

00:42:05.048 --> 00:42:07.173
- Exercise message.

00:42:07.173 --> 00:42:08.215
- I did forget.

00:42:08.215 --> 00:42:10.839
I was too busy marveling
at our nation's ability

00:42:10.839 --> 00:42:13.257
and seemingly unconditional
commitment

00:42:13.257 --> 00:42:16.674
to marshal resources,
rebuild infrastructure,

00:42:16.674 --> 00:42:19.965
and ensure that citizens
are fed, housed,

00:42:19.965 --> 00:42:22.298
and provided medical care...

00:42:22.298 --> 00:42:24.382
that is,
as long as it's in the wake

00:42:24.382 --> 00:42:26.090
of a natural disaster.

00:42:26.090 --> 00:42:29.340
- We had more than 10,000
people participate

00:42:29.340 --> 00:42:31.382
in this exercise yesterday.

00:42:31.382 --> 00:42:34.298
[applause]

00:42:34.298 --> 00:42:38.131
- My idea wasn't to send in
the National Guard,

00:42:38.131 --> 00:42:40.840
but with a minor tweak
to the term "disaster,"

00:42:40.840 --> 00:42:44.549
maybe this well-funded
federal agency could invest

00:42:44.549 --> 00:42:48.006
in the long-term resilience
of the vulnerable communities

00:42:48.006 --> 00:42:50.923
they're actually preparing
to rescue.

00:42:50.923 --> 00:42:53.298
- The trick ends up being not
what you're chasing here

00:42:53.298 --> 00:42:56.006
by turning that into
a disaster, 'cause it's not--

00:42:56.006 --> 00:42:58.839
- Well, it is a disaster.
- No, it's a crisis.

00:42:58.839 --> 00:43:04.839
And it's one of the negative
parts of the real world,

00:43:04.839 --> 00:43:06.090
and where I come from,

00:43:06.090 --> 00:43:07.590
you know,
nobody gets a free pass.

00:43:07.590 --> 00:43:09.382
You have to take--
you reach down,

00:43:09.382 --> 00:43:11.006
grab yourself
by the bootstraps,

00:43:11.006 --> 00:43:11.839
and let's go.

00:43:11.839 --> 00:43:13.173
I will say
you've piqued my interest.

00:43:13.173 --> 00:43:14.674
I'm thinking--
my brain is trying

00:43:14.674 --> 00:43:17.839
to connect some dots,
but I can't get to where

00:43:17.839 --> 00:43:20.757
you want to mobilize
this agency

00:43:20.757 --> 00:43:24.423
or this organization
in advance.

00:43:24.423 --> 00:43:25.465
It just doesn't work that way.

00:43:25.465 --> 00:43:28.423
Now, if you change the laws
and we get people to agree

00:43:28.423 --> 00:43:31.881
that we want to change
the world we live in?

00:43:32.090 --> 00:43:33.839
Kind of the holy grail, right?

00:43:33.839 --> 00:43:37.632
Go for it.
I'm right behind you.

00:43:38.340 --> 00:43:39.839
[solemn music]

00:43:39.839 --> 00:43:43.173
- I left Frankfort, Kentucky,
and headed south

00:43:43.173 --> 00:43:44.632
towards the Tennessee border

00:43:44.632 --> 00:43:48.131
to get a good look
at the New Madrid fault line:

00:43:48.131 --> 00:43:50.757
a disaster in waiting
that might not,

00:43:50.757 --> 00:43:52.840
despite all
of this preparation,

00:43:52.840 --> 00:43:55.632
even happen in our lifetime.

00:43:55.632 --> 00:43:59.674
But of course,
I couldn't see anything.

00:44:00.773 --> 00:44:02.731
How did we get here,
to a place

00:44:02.731 --> 00:44:05.565
where so many people believe
that if you're poor,

00:44:05.565 --> 00:44:08.399
it's because you didn't
pull hard enough

00:44:08.399 --> 00:44:11.023
on your own bootstraps?

00:44:11.023 --> 00:44:13.565
♪

00:44:13.565 --> 00:44:15.232
- So what you're
struggling with is,

00:44:15.232 --> 00:44:17.815
why are we spending
so much money

00:44:17.815 --> 00:44:20.773
on these low-probability events

00:44:20.773 --> 00:44:23.606
when we have people dying
like flies all around us

00:44:23.606 --> 00:44:26.565
and that money could be
helping people now?

00:44:26.565 --> 00:44:27.690
- Right.
- Is that it?

00:44:27.690 --> 00:44:29.190
- Yes.
- Yeah.

00:44:29.190 --> 00:44:32.232
Well...right.

00:44:32.439 --> 00:44:35.190
Yeah, I mean,
you're right to see that

00:44:35.190 --> 00:44:38.606
as an unreasonable

00:44:38.606 --> 00:44:40.982
allocation of resources,
'cause it is.

00:44:40.982 --> 00:44:43.023
In order to get help
from the federal government,

00:44:43.023 --> 00:44:47.315
you typically have to make some
showing that whatever it is

00:44:47.315 --> 00:44:49.690
that has happened to you
is not your fault.

00:44:49.690 --> 00:44:52.857
And as a result of that,

00:44:52.857 --> 00:44:54.731
we pay a lot of attention
in this country

00:44:54.731 --> 00:44:58.439
to how people came to be
in need in the first place.

00:44:58.439 --> 00:45:02.439
And their claims
are discredited in our system

00:45:02.439 --> 00:45:04.648
by the sense
that they could have

00:45:04.648 --> 00:45:08.357
or should have
helped themselves.

00:45:08.898 --> 00:45:12.857
But that is our history
and our tradition.

00:45:12.857 --> 00:45:17.439
♪

00:45:17.439 --> 00:45:20.439
[indistinct chatter]

00:45:20.439 --> 00:45:21.690
- What happened to number one?

00:45:21.690 --> 00:45:23.773
- Number one is right here.
- Oh.

00:45:23.773 --> 00:45:26.439
- Watching this group
of Englewood elders

00:45:26.439 --> 00:45:28.439
line up at 7:00 a.m.
to get help

00:45:28.439 --> 00:45:29.982
with their energy bills

00:45:29.982 --> 00:45:31.857
made our history
and our tradition

00:45:31.857 --> 00:45:36.315
seem not only absurd to me
but criminal.

00:45:37.190 --> 00:45:38.648
- Take your time.

00:45:38.648 --> 00:45:41.982
- Every year, a onetime
federally funded subsidy

00:45:41.982 --> 00:45:46.439
of $150 is available
for those who qualify...

00:45:46.439 --> 00:45:49.439
as long as the money
doesn't run out.

00:45:49.439 --> 00:45:50.065
- Number ten.

00:45:50.065 --> 00:45:53.815
- You need your light bill,
your gas bill,

00:45:53.815 --> 00:45:56.439
and take those documents out.

00:45:56.439 --> 00:45:57.982
Hold them in your hand now.

00:45:57.982 --> 00:46:01.982
- They had a cooling program,
and then they ran out of money,

00:46:01.982 --> 00:46:06.606
so that cooling program lasted
about two or three days.

00:46:06.606 --> 00:46:09.773
Many people did not get help
who needed it.

00:46:09.773 --> 00:46:12.648
But there are more
than a hundred intake sites

00:46:12.648 --> 00:46:14.232
in the city like ours here,

00:46:14.232 --> 00:46:18.439
so there's hundreds of people
applying at the same time.

00:46:18.439 --> 00:46:21.565
So that money just goes
like that.

00:46:28.399 --> 00:46:30.399
- How old was he?

00:46:31.439 --> 00:46:34.815
- He was 58.
He was 58.

00:46:34.815 --> 00:46:37.940
- I'm sorry.
- Mm-hmm.

00:46:39.565 --> 00:46:41.648
- You can tell a lot
about what we care about

00:46:41.648 --> 00:46:43.690
by where we're putting
our money.

00:46:43.690 --> 00:46:47.982
People want those resources
to be at standby

00:46:47.982 --> 00:46:52.773
in case they are experiencing
an earthquake

00:46:52.773 --> 00:46:55.690
or a fire or a flood
or a hurricane,

00:46:55.690 --> 00:46:58.149
because they can imagine
that happening to them.

00:46:58.149 --> 00:47:01.440
A white person cannot
easily imagine what it is

00:47:01.440 --> 00:47:05.023
to be a person of color
in a community

00:47:05.023 --> 00:47:09.565
that doesn't have access
to good food or medical care.

00:47:11.731 --> 00:47:13.481
- Have you ever had
a mammogram?

00:47:13.481 --> 00:47:14.190
- No, no.

00:47:14.190 --> 00:47:16.315
- Are you interested
in having a mammogram?

00:47:16.315 --> 00:47:17.315
- No.
- Okay.

00:47:17.315 --> 00:47:19.690
Is there any specific reason?
You mind me asking?

00:47:19.690 --> 00:47:24.107
- No, I just don't...

00:47:24.107 --> 00:47:25.023
want to have one.

00:47:25.023 --> 00:47:28.439
I just--I got plenty
going in my life.

00:47:28.439 --> 00:47:29.439
- Too much already.

00:47:29.439 --> 00:47:30.898
- Yeah, that's enough.
- Okay.

00:47:30.898 --> 00:47:32.315
- I'm uninsured.
- Okay.

00:47:32.315 --> 00:47:33.439
You don't have to worry
about that.

00:47:33.439 --> 00:47:36.315
We have state-funded programs
that will pay for the cost.

00:47:36.315 --> 00:47:37.815
- When the last time
you had a mammogram?

00:47:37.815 --> 00:47:40.190
- What I came to learn
is this:

00:47:40.190 --> 00:47:43.107
communities that are
most vulnerable every day

00:47:43.107 --> 00:47:45.523
are forced to rely
on their own ingenuity

00:47:45.523 --> 00:47:49.439
and very meager resources
to respond to the crisis

00:47:49.439 --> 00:47:52.149
that most everyone else
ignores,

00:47:52.149 --> 00:47:53.439
like the community
health workers

00:47:53.439 --> 00:47:55.648
from the Sinai
Urban Health Institute,

00:47:55.648 --> 00:47:57.439
who spend their days
reaching out to women

00:47:57.439 --> 00:48:01.898
who suffer breast cancer
deaths at a rate 40% higher

00:48:01.898 --> 00:48:05.565
than the white women
on the other side of town.

00:48:05.898 --> 00:48:07.815
- Every day,
I go into an exam room,

00:48:07.815 --> 00:48:10.690
and I work with people
that have medical conditions,

00:48:10.690 --> 00:48:15.107
much of which could have been
prevented or at least made

00:48:15.107 --> 00:48:17.357
much easier to deal with
if they had

00:48:17.357 --> 00:48:21.232
the structural conditions
they need to stay healthy.

00:48:21.523 --> 00:48:23.523
- Which is a problem
that Orrin Williams

00:48:23.523 --> 00:48:26.439
and Chicago's first-ever
urban organic farm,

00:48:26.439 --> 00:48:30.648
Growing Home,
were trying to help tackle.

00:48:32.940 --> 00:48:34.357
Someone said to me it's easier

00:48:34.357 --> 00:48:37.439
to buy a gun around here
than a tomato.

00:48:38.648 --> 00:48:41.940
- I wouldn't say that,

00:48:41.940 --> 00:48:43.898
although it's true.

00:48:43.898 --> 00:48:47.648
Standing where we are now--
let me see.

00:48:47.648 --> 00:48:50.315
Where would you go
get a tomato?

00:48:50.315 --> 00:48:55.439
Okay, I have to think
about that long and hard.

00:48:58.481 --> 00:49:02.274
Some people describe
communities on the South Side

00:49:02.274 --> 00:49:03.232
as food deserts.

00:49:03.232 --> 00:49:07.439
The problem in our communities
is, there's food there,

00:49:07.439 --> 00:49:08.815
but it's low-quality.

00:49:08.815 --> 00:49:11.023
[cash register beeping]

00:49:12.439 --> 00:49:15.399
[indistinct chatter]

00:49:15.399 --> 00:49:17.440
- Do what I tell you, now.
- Okay.

00:49:17.440 --> 00:49:19.149
- Didn't I call you,

00:49:19.149 --> 00:49:22.315
and I told you to come
do what I want?

00:49:22.315 --> 00:49:23.440
- Hey, the vegetable man
is here!

00:49:23.440 --> 00:49:26.439
- How much is those?
- These here are 75 cents.

00:49:26.439 --> 00:49:30.065
- Growing Home is responding
to multiple problems,

00:49:30.065 --> 00:49:33.439
not just the lack of fresh
affordable vegetables

00:49:33.439 --> 00:49:35.149
and the disease
that goes with it

00:49:35.149 --> 00:49:39.232
but job training for people
who've served time in prison

00:49:39.232 --> 00:49:40.439
and the isolation of seniors,

00:49:40.439 --> 00:49:44.190
who often feel at risk
in their own communities.

00:49:44.190 --> 00:49:47.232
On top of that,
the gardens are beautiful

00:49:47.232 --> 00:49:50.440
and can even help
cool the neighborhood,

00:49:50.440 --> 00:49:51.982
all of which makes
a difference

00:49:51.982 --> 00:49:54.439
in the midst of any disaster.

00:49:54.439 --> 00:49:57.315
Would you call this
a heat emergency plan?

00:49:57.315 --> 00:50:00.439
- No, I think the term
"human emergency"

00:50:00.439 --> 00:50:02.731
is the most appropriate term.

00:50:03.065 --> 00:50:05.898
- I left Orrin
feeling somewhat hopeful.

00:50:05.898 --> 00:50:07.065
- This one,
you'd never like it.

00:50:07.065 --> 00:50:09.606
- And then,
about two miles away...

00:50:09.606 --> 00:50:10.523
- Take this home.

00:50:10.523 --> 00:50:12.023
- On the other side
of Englewood,

00:50:12.023 --> 00:50:14.690
I saw this disaster unfolding.

00:50:14.690 --> 00:50:17.440
- Stop!
Come on, stop!

00:50:18.773 --> 00:50:20.439
- Come on,
where are y'all going?

00:50:20.439 --> 00:50:22.898
- Anybody that can walk,
walk towards me!

00:50:22.898 --> 00:50:26.440
[percussive music]

00:50:26.440 --> 00:50:29.439
- We got number 26.

00:50:29.439 --> 00:50:31.439
- Abrasions,
left arm, left hand.

00:50:33.439 --> 00:50:35.815
Puncture wound
to the right abdomen.

00:50:38.690 --> 00:50:41.606
- Chicago firefighters
are working around the clock

00:50:41.606 --> 00:50:44.481
preparing
for a massive tornado.

00:50:44.481 --> 00:50:45.940
It's a drill to simulate

00:50:45.940 --> 00:50:50.439
a tornado wiping out
part of the South Side.

00:50:51.481 --> 00:50:54.232
- This rare training drill
was made possible

00:50:54.232 --> 00:50:58.523
by a $250,000
Homeland Security grant.

00:50:58.523 --> 00:51:00.232
They're drilling in Englewood,

00:51:00.232 --> 00:51:01.773
which has become
rather notorious

00:51:01.773 --> 00:51:04.023
as one of the most
dangerous neighborhoods

00:51:04.023 --> 00:51:05.023
in the city of Chicago,

00:51:05.023 --> 00:51:06.690
and this is actually
a good opportunity for them

00:51:06.690 --> 00:51:10.439
to show off how great they are
at strategic planning

00:51:10.439 --> 00:51:12.315
in the event of a disaster.

00:51:12.315 --> 00:51:13.648
It's kind of neat,
right, guys?

00:51:13.648 --> 00:51:14.773
- Yeah, it really is.
- Mm-hmm.

00:51:14.773 --> 00:51:16.523
- Thank you, Tammy.
- All right.

00:51:18.439 --> 00:51:20.565
- I couldn't believe
what I was watching:

00:51:20.565 --> 00:51:23.857
a lavishly funded
disaster drill

00:51:23.857 --> 00:51:27.773
taking place at a former
public housing complex

00:51:27.773 --> 00:51:32.274
literally on top of
the disaster in slow motion.

00:51:32.274 --> 00:51:35.439
[somber music]

00:51:35.439 --> 00:51:38.982
- All right, then we're gonna
put some straps on you, okay?

00:51:38.982 --> 00:51:40.399
[saw buzzing]

00:51:40.399 --> 00:51:41.815
- I'm not suggesting
we do away

00:51:41.815 --> 00:51:44.439
with disaster preparedness
training.

00:51:44.439 --> 00:51:47.149
No one wants
EMTs and firefighters

00:51:47.149 --> 00:51:50.690
Googling how to use
the Jaws of Life

00:51:50.690 --> 00:51:53.440
while trying to cut someone
out of a car.

00:51:54.481 --> 00:51:57.857
But I looked up deaths
from tornados in Chicago,

00:51:57.857 --> 00:52:02.190
and the average
is about one person a year...

00:52:02.190 --> 00:52:05.648
while some 3,000 people die
each and every year

00:52:05.648 --> 00:52:07.439
from preventable diseases

00:52:07.439 --> 00:52:11.648
within about a five-mile
radius of this drill.

00:52:11.648 --> 00:52:14.440
♪

00:52:14.440 --> 00:52:18.315
It had never been more obvious
to me how deeply flawed

00:52:18.315 --> 00:52:22.149
and immoral
our national priorities are.

00:52:22.149 --> 00:52:25.357
[stark music]

00:52:25.357 --> 00:52:28.190
♪

00:52:28.190 --> 00:52:30.023
I started this film
questioning

00:52:30.023 --> 00:52:33.065
our very definition
of disaster,

00:52:33.065 --> 00:52:34.232
and I'm ending it

00:52:34.232 --> 00:52:37.440
convinced that if we just
enlarged that definition,

00:52:37.440 --> 00:52:40.399
we could address
the underlying conditions

00:52:40.399 --> 00:52:44.232
that are literally killing
people every day.

00:52:45.023 --> 00:52:46.439
Because the word "disaster"

00:52:46.439 --> 00:52:49.274
typically moves people
to respond quickly,

00:52:49.274 --> 00:52:53.523
with courage, compassion,
and cold, hard cash.

00:52:53.523 --> 00:52:56.982
And if we responded
to slow-motion disaster

00:52:56.982 --> 00:53:00.940
the way we do
a sudden natural one,

00:53:00.940 --> 00:53:02.606
the odds of saving a life,

00:53:02.606 --> 00:53:04.773
just in the city of Chicago,

00:53:04.773 --> 00:53:08.439
would be at least 3,200 to 1,

00:53:08.439 --> 00:53:10.232
no matter the weather.

00:53:12.481 --> 00:53:16.315
So what's the best way
to prepare for disaster

00:53:16.315 --> 00:53:19.399
or, for that matter,
recover from one?

00:53:19.399 --> 00:53:21.648
[fireworks booming]

00:53:21.648 --> 00:53:24.606
I guess it depends
on where you live

00:53:24.606 --> 00:53:28.439
and the kind of world
we want to live in.

00:53:28.439 --> 00:53:35.315
♪

00:53:35.315 --> 00:53:38.731
[booming continues]

00:53:54.731 --> 00:53:57.940
[lively music]

00:53:57.940 --> 00:54:05.274
♪

00:54:28.982 --> 00:54:37.399
♪♪

00:55:02.190 --> 00:55:04.357
announcer: This program
is made possible in part

00:55:04.357 --> 00:55:06.439
by the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting,

00:55:06.439 --> 00:55:10.065
the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation,

00:55:10.065 --> 00:55:11.439
the Wyncote Foundation,

00:55:11.439 --> 00:55:13.357
the National Endowment
for the Arts,

00:55:13.357 --> 00:55:16.439
and from contributions
from viewers like you.

00:55:16.439 --> 00:55:17.815
Thank you.

Citation

Main credits

Helfand, Judith (film director)
Helfand, Judith (film producer)
Doremus, Fenell (film producer)

Other credits

Editors, Simeon Hutner, David E. Simpson; music, T. Griffin; cinematography, Tod Lending, Stanley J. Staniski, Keith Walker.

Distributor credits

Producer: Judith Helfand, Fenell Doremus

Director: Judith Helfand

Editors: Simeon Hunter, David E. Simpson
Original Music: T. Griffin
Cinematography: Tod Lending, Stanley J. Staniski, Keith Walker
Executive Producers for ITVS: Sally Jo Fifer, Lois Vossen
A co-production of Judith Helfand Productions, Kartemquin Films and Independent Television Service (ITVS) with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)