The post-Hurricane Katrina era continues to expose the racial and social fault lines in this country. While most Gulf Coast residents have moved on from the immediate needs of survival to the long-term issues of recovery, too many continue to be left behind.

Although we have seen some notable glimmers of hope, three years after one of the nation’s worst disasters, the cities and towns of the Gulf Coast states have yet to regain their former strength. Thousands of people remain displaced, some perhaps permanently. Even for those who have been able to return, the painstakingly slow process of rebuilding in what has largely become a market-driven recovery effort is simply depressing.

And, while pre-Katrina circumstances were certainly no utopia, over the last three years Gulf Coast residents have borne witness to the re-creation and creation of new institutions and structures that are increasingly less inclusive and less responsive. What The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF) has seen in our post-Katrina litigation and advocacy efforts has confirmed this trend.

For every pocket of hope, there are much larger pockets of despair. Seriously misplaced priorities of federal, state and local officials have stalled progress and provided precious little justice for the people of the Gulf Coast. And all the while, people who have returned to the Gulf Coast and storm survivors who are scattered throughout the country (collectively, the Katrina Diaspora) still struggle, many in disbelief that this nation’s leaders would permit their continued suffering.

The remedies for problems on the Gulf Coast region mirror what LDF does to provide opportunity, equity and inclusion for all Americans. Instead of leaving to chance whether struggling communities will succeed, we will continue to implement common-sense measures to correct inequalities that markets cannot fix.

If this nation can do right by the Katrina Diaspora, then perhaps we can begin to address the much broader problem of structural inequality and injustice in America writ large. To this point, the promise of such equalizing initiatives has remained unfulfilled. So, like the Katrina Diaspora, Americans continue to wonder whether they will be forced to wait yet another year for simple justice.