A year after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, the nation seemed mired in a state of willful forgetfulness. Promises for aid and recovery had been broken or forgotten. Elections seemed structured to undermine black political power. Black victims were demonized, and through it all, a deafening silence seemed to descend on issues related to New Orleans. A war dragged on, and other more manageable domestic political conflicts pushed Katrina out of the national political discourse.