Over the summer, several of my peers and I visited New Orleans to perform volunteer work. From the brochures and newsletters I received prior to the trip, I was under the impression that we would be putting the finishing touches on some already renovated homes. More than two years after the hurricane struck, one would expect the government to have taken an aggressive role in rehabilitating the area’s losses and crippled infrastructure. What we came to discover, however, were blocks upon blocks of abandoned homes and archaic graffitied X’s over doorways, symbolizing the number of survivors and the number of dead which had been found. It is very clear that Hurricane Katrina is still haunting the city of New Orleans.

St. Bernard’s Parish, situated just beyond the levee, was the most highly devastated county hit by Hurricane Katrina. The untold neglect of the federal government in aiding the people of this area I would scarcely have believed had I not witnessed it for myself. Refugees of the storm have been herded into cramped trailer park municipalities adjacent to a leaking septic line. The motor homes contain asbestos and the ‘FEMA’ water distributed by the Red Cross tastes like aluminum ore, which I can personally attest to. Suicide has reached epidemic proportions in the parish, and to some extent, anarchy still exists in the nearby French quarters. The working class and lower income individuals of America, such as those living in the parish, have always been treated as the ‘sick men’ of America. Too often their contributions go unrecognized and they are unfairly treated simply because they lack the power of the almighty dollar. The colossal oil refinery situated in the center of the parish appears untouched and seems to offer evidence of where revitalization priorities lie. It towers above the Gulf as great an economic generating machine as ever.

The most powerful nation in the free world has been grossly inadequate in delivering the proper relief to the people of New Orleans, often appearing as temporal apparitions. The parish has relied heavily on the contributions of volunteers. Federal relief must be significantly escalated to provide simple utilities, food rations and the restoration of homes to these people. Additionally, the return of the Red Cross is imperative to New Orleans, which is still very much a disaster zone. While the goal I am proposing is not a difficult one, it will require the expenditure of significantly more time and more money. It is within the power of our politicians to step up and restore the spirit of New Orleans. We must all defer to an egalitarian standard of caring for our fellow man when he is in need.