Two "Must Read" Reports on Hurricane Katrina

As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches on August 29, President Bush told the press yesterday that we should not attach too much importance to it. Both the NAACP and Oxfam America have just issued reports for the anniversary that argue strongly against the president's statement.

These reports build a strong case that the failures and inequalities in the year-long recovery process are so serious that we need to pay much closer attention to what is happening or not happening in Louisiana and Mississippi. Both reports are key to understanding how fundamentally class and race have affected people's struggles to rebuild and how it has been people's own organizations and the faith community that have really come through for people on the margins.

Oxfam America's report, "Forgotten Communities, Unmet Promises" focuses on the story of three places hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- Plaquemines and Vermilion parishes in rural Louisiana, and Biloxi in Mississippi -- and details how the recovery has been marked by “unequal access to opportunity, institutional neglect, false assurances, and broken promises.”

The UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Relief Fund cofunds key grassroots organizations in two of these communities, the East Biloxi Center for Coordination and Relief, and in Plaquemines, the Zion Travellers Cooperative, along with Oxfam America. This report clearly sets out the struggles of these communities, and the challenges they are facing after Katrina, particularly the way that poor policy decisions, at all levels, continue to push low-income families to the side and fail to address the needs of the region’s poorest residents.

The NAACP report gives a comprehensive look at the key factors in the recovery and reconstruction of Mississippi, including federal response, the insurance crisis, predatory lending, the issues around equitable economic development, low-income housing, human rights, and the role of the faith community. It is an excellent resource to understand the enormous complexities behind the often-repeated phrase "build back better."