Life After Katrina in 2010: Human Rights on the Gulf Coast

“I am tired of living like this. They were not even listening to my crying. They think it’s a joke but it’s really not.”

—DeBorah W., hurricane survivor and resident of New Orleans, describing her struggle to find a new home after suffering severe respiratory problems while living in her public housing unit.

RaceWire - years on, the storm still rages. Amnesty International has compiled a grim list of human rights violations witnessed on the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricanes. The storm itself was tragic, but the worst suffering was wrought by humans: the widespread demolition of homes, traumatized survivors left without medical or mental health services, the brutalization of residents under a draconian criminal justice system. Read more.