There are several different reasons African Americans decided not to evacuate during Katrina. There were income restraints, lack of knowledge in a timely fashion and race bias.
The mayor made it confusing for some and they were unaware that it was a mandatory evacuation until two days before the hurricane hit, and they were unaware of the severity of the storm. The mayor had stated on television if they didn’t want to go they didn’t have to go, anywhere.
Many have a lack of cash on hand which made it hard to evacuate. Most of the people that decided not to evacuate were in an income range from $15,487 to $18,851. They also didn’t have any children and were in the age group around 49