ABSTRACT
When the U.S. government’s levee system failed after Hurricane Katrina and tens of thousands of homes were devastated across the New Orleans area because of flooding, citizens were obviously devastated and outraged. As community activists reflected on the issues, they recognized that the government was spending more of its resources on the “war on terror” and wars against other nations than on important, lifesaving infrastructure in its own country. These activists had broken through the mainstream frame, which affirms that the dangers to citizens lie outside of the country’s borders and that solutions mean putting resources into the military and other institutions that are designed to protect people from external threats. The new framework, which came to be exemplified by the chapter-opening quotation, has been an important rallying cry as citizens go about advocating for their community’s needs. Arguing that the safety and well-being of citizens should be ensured through investment in public infrastructure from roads and levees to schools and housing, these activists reframed what they perceived to be a damaging social construction. Although crafting catchy phrases is not an end in itself, reframing social issues is a fundamental element of any kind of social change activity.
