ABSTRACT
When Hurricane Katrina came ashore on the morning of 29 August 2005, it left behind horrific images of people trapped throughout the city of New Orleans. Other parts of the southeastern Gulf coast were also devastated, but it was the pictures of the suffering in a flooded New Orleans that captured the hearts of many people in this country-at least for a few short hours. Suddenly poverty and desperation, especially among minorities, were all too visible. That is unusual in America. For the most part, Americans have long suffered from “historical amnesia” when it comes to poverty (Kilty, 2006). But every now and then, poverty becomes visible, even if for just a little while.
