Katrina Victims: Justice is Coming

Just when you thought that the government could not inflict any more gratuitous suffering on Hurricane Katrina victims, CNN exposes another scandal.

This time supplies intended for families still suffering from the tragic flooding and wind damage have been given to various Mississippi agencies with no connection to victims. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/07/mississippi.katrina/index.html

Millions of dollars worth of clothing, shoes, towels, cleaning supplies, pillowcases, dinnerware, coffee makers, plastic containers and other essential household items went to the Mississippi prisons, state government, colleges, and other agencies. But Mississippi flood victims—among the hardest hit during Hurricane Katrina—got nothing.

This revolting disclosure comes on the heels of CNN’s revelation last month that FEMA hoarded $85 million worth of household items in warehouses for two years, did not give them to thousands of needy victims, and declared them “surplus” to give away to federal agencies and 16 states. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/11/fema.giveaway/index.html#cnnSTCText

Photo:  Devastation in Biloxi, Mississippi after Katrina

Victims’ advocates are outraged.

“You would have to be living under a rock not know there is a need,” said Cass Woods, project coordinator for Coastal Women for Change.

In fact, almost three years after Hurricane Katrina, such supplies are “needed even more now than right after the storm,” noted Robert Avila, director of the Mississippi Coast Interfaith Disaster Task Force.

While FEMA investigates itself for the umpteenth time, local public officials are indignant.

“And when I hear people stand up and just beat their chest and say we’ve got everything under control, that’s when I want to slap them upside the head and say, ‘Get a grip, get a life!” declared Bill Stallworth, a Biloxi city councilman.