Failing the Victims of Hurricane Katrina

We, the victims of Hurricane Katrina, have looked to the wrong people for help. It is not our government or extensions of our government that are giving the needed help for all victims as promised. It is really hard for us to accept that humanitarian aid and money can go to other countries in need when the U.S. cannot help their own. It has been almost 2 years since the devastating hurricane hit the coast yet there are people who still live in poverty without basic needs that we would not expect anyone to go without.

Yes monies have been collected and distributed to some. However are these the only people that experienced this disaster.? In the early stages of promising help and all the posturing that was televised stating that the committment was there to help all victims we believed that this was true. Now two years later we know it is not. There were millions upon millions collected for hurricane relief, yet there are thousands of us still living in FEMA trailers. Who by the way are not the most popular people even among our own. We have been referred to and treated like scum, trash, and trailer trash. The cities we live in don't want us, but they don't know what to do with us.

For some this has been the last straw. Suicide rates in Mississippi are up. Some people are just tired of fighting. They did not expect this to go on for as long as it has. Hope still prevails among some, but how long will this last? As has been said before and will be said again, we are not looking for a hand out, just a hand up.

I personally have never felt so disconnected as I do now. I don't belong anywhere. I have been uprooted 3 times since August 29, 2005. I am lucky. I still have a job with the same company that I had pre-Katrina. But how many people do not? One of the worst feelings in the world is to yearn desperately to go home and know that you do not have a home. Back to normal. What exactly does that mean?

Now we find out that one of the top organizations in the U. S. has had monies to help the victims of Katrina since last year and did not want anyone including the victims to know. The contributors of this money gave with the intention that it would go to us, the victims. Why didn't it? Are we so uncaring that help that is desperately needed cannot be had because of greed, coverups, lies, and more lies.? What has become of this country that many of these victims fought to protect in times of war? Now that they are in need, backs are being turned. What if they had turned their backs when their help was needed?

We live in the land of plenty. We can help anybody in the world that needs help with the exception of our own people. This is not the only example of the failure. Before Katrina we had already failed many. There were homeless, not as most people think of them, but women, children, families that through not fault of their own had nowhere to live. We spend billions of dollars on foolishness. Why not spend it on our most precious asset. People. For without the brave people in this country of ours, there would be no freedom, no workers, no economy, no one to clean up the messes that continue to be made of our finances, our lands, our hopes, and our dreams.