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\"...when you cannot evacuate those in danger, or provide them food and water\r\nyou are neither as powerful as you think or as caring and kind as you say\r\nyou are...When it comes to Katrina we have abandoned our idea of American exceptionalism. We can no longer think of ourselves as a \"city on a hill\". David Cohen, The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: Coming to Grips with a Failed State\r\n\r\nOn August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina rolled into the Gulf Coast. \r\n\r\nOn September 6, 2006, one thousand law students will roll into Washington to present a comprehensive legal case before Congress and the American Public that the federal government is responsible for the disaster that followed, and to demand the necessary and proper legislation to restore American governmental accountability, rebuild the levees, wetlands, and Mississippi River system, and renew the lives and infrastructure of the Gulf Coast recognizing it\'s necessity to the whole country.\r\n\r\nWe are the Student Hurricane Network, one thousand law students from over 70 of the nation\'s finest law schools who traveled to New Orleans and other affected areas of the Gulf Coast to provide legal services between semesters and springs breaks. We have been to the source. We have born witness to the incredible effects of the greatest \"failure of state\" in American history, and we are deeply concerned. Now, we are calling on the legal resources of the nation to build a single, complete case to prove responsibility, force accountability and demand a comprehensive and sustainable solution. \r\n\r\nKatrina revealed the darkest realities and deeply entrenched failures of American society: shameful economic exploitation, medical \"un-care\", sustained poverty, systemic racism, environmental degradation, governmental unpreparedness, incompetence, nepotism, corruption, misprioritization, incompetence, deferral of responsibility, and total homeland security vulnerability. These issues pre-existed and have been perpetuated by Katrina - they are not an exception but rather the accumulation of a history of the deliberate choices of American society. Further, these issues are not isolated to a single city or region, but are emblematic of America\'s long-hidden wounds which devastate lives, economy, and security across the United States. \r\n\r\nWhen one American suffers, we all suffer. The devastation and governmental failure in New Orleans is still affecting every Congressional constituency in the 50 States. We feel for the people when we see suffering on TV but we also feel it in our wallets, in the crime rates in our cities, in the quality of our air. For instance, the habitat (and thus much of the economy) of Canada and Washington State could not exist without the Louisiana Wetlands. The goods that come through New Orleans, the largest cargo port in the country, are needed for every element of our nation\'s trade. Prices on gas have skyrocketed in the North East since the government failed to protect the nation\'s largest oil resources along the Gulf Coast. AIDS is predicted to rise across the country as homeless refugees are unable to find basic medical care. Of course, homelessness, poverty, and disease breed crime. The Federal Government\'s failure in the Gulf Coast hurt not only those Americans that experienced Katrina but our entire country. Further, by denying accountability, our government is exposing a frightening weakness and an unwillingness to solve problems that we, as a country, face today and will face in the future. \r\n\r\nAmerican Government is not a charity organization asked to help the people in times of crisis; American Government is the institution created democratically of, by, and for the people to serve the people at the most fundamental level. We are not asking for charity from our democratic representation - we are demanding a government which has the courage and the confidence to recognize its most shameful failures, take responsibility for them, and move to ensure that these failures do not occur again. \r\n\r\nThe Student Hurricane Network is the face of a new generation of leaders who refuse to allow such dysfunctional leadership. We refuse to watch our country fail and are here to foster the creation of a solution to the problems in Louisiana and the United States that will work for today, tomorrow, and for our grandchildren. A solution to the problems faced in the Gulf Coast is not going to be easy nor will a single action work, but we are here to contribute. The problems in New Orleans are not the only large problems facing our generation. We are here representing some of the best resources our generation has to offer and are here to say, now is the time to start finding real long-term solutions to these problems before we leave our children with a world too polluted, flooded and scarred by our own mistakes for them to enjoy life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. \r\n