Thirteen Ways of Looking at Katrina: Human and Civil Rights Left Behind Again

Abstract

Katrina unveiled countless civil and human rights abuses and showed the nation the faces of those left behind when the disaster struck. Thirteen examples illustrate what is yet not done on the agenda to make liberty and justice for all a reality. This civil and human rights perspective on Katrina indicates that the people left behind when Katrina hit are being left behind again now. The recovery, such as it is, prioritizes property owners, privatizes public service, and is allowing the institutions needed for the common good to deteriorate through demolition by neglect. Unless there is massive change, the families left behind will never return.

Keywords: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, human rights, civil rights