BUCKiT® #34-Burnell Cotlon: ”Hurricane Katrina Survivor and Local Hero” Rebuilding the Lower 9th Ward Brick by Brick

On August 28, 2005, Burnell Cotlon was at work, ignoring repeated phone calls from his mother.  He finally picked up and heard his panicked mother cry ‘Katrina is going to be ugly, please come and get me.’ He grabbed three pairs of jeans, the shirt on his back and wallet and drove 18 hours to reach a shelter less than 250 miles away.  His brother didn’t make it out. Gathered around one small television with dozens of people, he saw the city go underwater and watched as people hung out of windows and clung to each other on rooftops, begging for rescue.  Like thousands of others, he had lost everything -- except the will to rebuild the neighborhood that was badly wiped out yet, but he loved so much.  In 2010, Burnell Cotlon returned to his beloved Lower 9th Ward and did the impossible with his mother and wife – breathe life back in to the 9th Ward, brick… by brick…by brick.