A flood of reports from organizations ranging from ACORN to the Institute for Southern Studies details how a year after Hurricane Katrina crashed into New Orleans, many survivors have been left high and dry.
The reasons for the painfully slow recovery (and here) include failed leadership (here and here), the lack of a rebuilding plan, and the refusal to honestly address the Crescent City’s racial and class divide (here and here).
As the NAACP reports:
When the winds and water of Hurricane Katrina brought utter devastation to residents of the Gulf Coast region, America promised a rebuilding effort that would surpass the revitalization seen in New York after 9/11. Despite these promises and the commitment of billions of dollars in aid from FEMA, HUD, and Community Development Block grants, the promised reinvigoration of the Gulf Coast region remains unrealized.
As the Gulf Coast region approaches the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the thousands of still ruinous homes in the region are clear evidence that our government's promise has not been fulfilled. Tens of thousands of homes were lost, and cities throughout this nation still host far too many of our displaced residents. Where is the money and what has slowed the return of tens of thousands of displaced residents who are primarily people of color?
Hundreds of millions of the money have been washed away by no-bid contracts awarded to Republican cronies and disaster profiteering. According to CorpWatch Director Pratap Chatterjee:
One year after disaster struck, the slow-motion rebuilding of the Gulf Coast region looks identical to what has happened to date in Afghanistan and Iraq. We see a pattern of profiteering, waste and failure -- due to the same flawed contracting system and even many of the same players.
The process of getting Katrina-stricken areas back on their feet is needlessly behind schedule, in part, due to the shunning of local business people in favor of politically connected corporations from elsewhere in the U.S. that have used their clout to win lucrative no-bid contracts with little or no accountability and who have done little or no work while ripping off the taxpayer.
On the eve of the first anniversary of the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, tens of thousands are drowning on dry land. In the coming weeks, the Katrina National Justice Commission, organized by the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, will release a report of its key findings. For more info, click here.
