Gulf Coast Advocacy

Well before August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, the fact that New Orleans was no more than a breached levee away from a catastrophe of historic proportions was well known and documented. While public and private interests pursuing "development" continued to take actions that increased the city's vulnerability, resources that might have shored up levees or reduced the risks in other ways were directed elsewhere.

As Katrina neared landfall, government officials prepared no plan to evacuate the most vulnerable people, those who lacked the wherewithal and/or the ability to get out of the city center. For the media, those residents — predominantly black and poor — became "those who chose to stay." It is no accident that they have also become the victims, pariahs, and heroes of a most unnatural disaster. Today, many are still struggling to rebuild their lives.

That this crisis is human-made only adds to our collective responsibility to respond. Join with UUSC as we continue to raise our voices to demand that the government respond to this tragedy and respect and protect the basic human rights of those who continue to bear the weight of this disaster.