NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – On the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) will publish an essay series, Living in the Wake: The Enduring Legacy of Hurricane Katrina, detailing the lasting effects of Hurricane Katrina on the lives of New Orleans residents impacted by the storm.
The storytelling project provides a comprehensive examination of the damage caused by the massive storm and how it is still impacting residents. The project starts by offering recommendations on how policymakers can prevent future disasters and includes testimonies from survivors.
“As we see all too often, this natural disaster was compounded by human disaster,” said Bryan Fair, interim president and CEO of the SPLC. “Decades of government neglect, systemic inequality and divestment from public services in Black and low-income communities left people reeling and without access to lifesaving resources in their time of greatest need.
“Now, 20 years later, climate disasters are occurring with more frequency than ever before across the Deep South and the nation. Two decades later, and our elected leaders haven’t learned from tragedies like Hurricane Katrina. We urgently need to act, and if we don’t, consequences will continue to fall hardest on Black, Latino, Indigenous, low-income and rural communities.”
In the coming days, the SPLC will release a collection of powerful essays, starting with “From Katrina to Today: Connecting Past Lessons to Future Policy Priorities,” “Abandoned: A Case Study of the New Orleans Jail” and “Can Hurricanes Discriminate? Examining Economic Justice in Disaster Response.” Additional essays that will be released include:
- “The Case for Voter Resilience in the Face of Disaster”
- “The Far Right Exploits Natural Disasters”
- “Making Recovery Last: A Season for Radical Reconstruction”
- “Hurricane Katrina Exposes Gaps in Disaster Relief and Need for Federal Funding”
- “In the Path of a Hurricane, We Need Human Rights Protections to Help Vulnerable Communities Weather the Storm”
- “The Picture of Prejudice: Media Portrayals of Black Survivors in Katrina’s Wake”
In addition, the series will include videos featuring Hurricane Katrina survivors and people working toward New Orleans’ recovery.
“Twenty years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall, the residents of New Orleans have yet to fully recover from one of the most consequential natural disasters in American history,” said Delvin Davis, interim policy research director at the SPLC. “The storm exposed and highlighted the racial inequities and economic disparities in Louisiana. It forced us all to gaze into the blurring light and face what the long-term consequences of divestment in public services look like. The SPLC aims to reflect on the past and provide next steps with this new project. Reconciliation cannot be done in a day. It requires a lifelong dedication to addressing the harms done, ending inequity in Black and Brown communities and preventing future failures from occurring.”
The full project is available here.
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About the Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people. For more information, visit www.splcenter.org.