When I returned from New Orleans, I was a bag of mixed emotions. \"I can\'t believe I\'m leaving, I can\'t believe I\'ve been gone a whole week, and I can\'t believe it\'s over.\"\r\n\r\nBut that\'s the thing. It\'s not over, is it? The people of New Orleans are still scattered, and Louisiana the criminal justice system is still criminal. Amy, Denice, J.J., Hilary and Jeanette can testify to the lingering problems of evacuees scattered across the southeast, and those of us who worked on Project Triage here in New Orleans carry with us the story of those forgotten, the prisoners. The workers Chris and Laureve spoke to are still being taken advantage of, the businesses Anna and Christine signed up for Second Wind still suffer from a lack of traffic and empty promises from government agencies.\r\n\r\nWe are all holding an incredible repository of knowledge, first-hand accounts of the personal and physical devastation of Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath. The storm not only destroyed homes and businesses across Louisiana and Mississippi, but it forever changed the lives of people living in that area. In Louisiana particularly, it seems to have laid bare the incredible inadequacies of that state\'s ability to protect its constituents, of its ability to protect those who need it the most - those without resources.\r\n\r\nI fall short of calling the entire system in New Orleans or Louisiana corrupt because I have an inherent belief that individuals, when given an honest choice, will act with compassion. The people who sent prisoners to locations far and wide are just that: people, making decisions in what surely was one of the most confusing and emotional times in their lives and the lives of those around them. People make bad decisions -- that\'s one of the unfortunate realities of being human. What I can\'t forgive is the amount of time that these bad decisions were allowed to stand. I can\'t forgive the lack of humanity in allowing people to suffer unnecessarily. Maybe that\'s looking at the world through rose-colored glasses, but that\'s what I have to do to walk down the street everyday.\r\n\r\nWe 19 students have seen and heard things that make us angry, give us hope, and motivate our choices. We have an opportunity to reach out to you, the people of our community, and explain to you why you should care abut the future of the Gulf Coast. The story of the people of New Orleans is now my story to tell, and I plan on telling it to anyone who will listen. I carry it with me, and the responsibility for educating you about it falls on my shoulders.\r\n\r\nI do hope that all of you who can will join us in Subotnick on April 18th to hear our stories. It\'s only one of the many ways we hope to educate you on the realities we\'ve experienced.\r\n\r\nOriginally posted: http://bls-shn.blogspot.com/2006/03/returning-home-and-preparing.html