Katrina Victims: 6 Years

Over Winter Break, I spend a week in Little Rock, Arkansas- place I have been many times before in my life. Little Rock is a community where gossip and scandal thrives. Most recently, there has been an influx of crime: Little Rock is the 23rd most dangerous city in the country. Many people I know who live there are apalled and upset by the crime, but have no problem placing the blame. Several times I have heard people claim the crime is due to the migration of Hurrican Katrina Victims.

Katrina Victims. Those whose homes were taken from them and lives were destroyed just 6 years ago?

This inspired me to take a longer look at Katrina Victims today, and how the nation is continuing to handle the situation. How long should victims be treated as such? How could they be grouped together and stereotyped based simply off of their experience of a natural disaester?

Today, Katrina Victims lives are still not easy. They are fighting of FEMA debts, where all victims are being required to pay back Federal Aid received after the tragedy. It is incredible to me that aid to a tragedy has an expiration date on it, while this disaester affects these peoples for the rest of their lives. On top of this, Katrina victims are facing issues with housing. The federal goverment has made little effort to ensure that middle to low income families are housed and given the federal disaester aid they are entitled too.

And on top of this they are being lumped together as a group of trouble makers and criminals, when they have barely been given the opportunity to get back on their feet?

I am not seeing it.