Leader: The storms had names - Katrina, Rita, Wilma - but the faces of the storms were on every newscast - the underbelly of a nation's sin: our broken responsibility for the least among us.

People: we will repair the breach; we will raise the foundations again; we will restore the streets and make them livable again.

Leader: They left trails of heartaches and tears, our houses and our hopes shattered.

People: we will repair the breach; we will raise the foundations again; we will restore the streets and make them livable again.

Leader: We saw the deaths; mostly poor, mostly very elderly, mostly very young, mostly people of color; as also we saw the scattering. Who will respond?

People: we will repair the breach; we will raise the foundations again; we will restore the streets and make them livable again.

Leader: Years of neglect floated up in the floods that followed, uncovered our shame as a nation.

People: And we are witnesses.

Leader: We vexed the poor and needy; robbing them of dignity and looting them of pride.

People: And we are witnesses.

Leader: Walk lightly in the streets where our kin have floated into history; the streets are sacred, as also are the memories.

People: We will honor the lives of the dead and the living by acting in justice.

Leader: Speak softly in the bars where our kin have disappeared; the music is holy, as also are the memories.

People: We will honor the lives of the dead and the living by acting in justice.

Leader: we have been charged to repair the walls, to stand in the gaping holes of our society, to cry out and to do justice.

All: We will repair the breach; we will raise the foundations again; we will restore the streets and make them livable again.