FEMA: Disaster Relief No Longer About Emergency Response, It's About 'Disaster Equity'
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is supposed to be the government’s premier emergency relief organization in times of disaster, like the situation now faced by victims of Hurricane Helene’s aftermath in North Carolina and Tennessee.
But according to the FEMA website, the agency now places higher priority on instituting Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity guidelines than on easing the suffering of Americans displaced by disaster.
We just released our 2022-2026 Strategic Plan.
— FEMA (@fema) December 9, 2021
“We will remain focused on increasing equity in our programs & policies, leading resilience in a changing climate and strengthening the emergency management workforce."-- @FEMA_Deanne
Read it here: https://t.co/pB2xz1zZ32 https://t.co/u3ww7ofhu8 pic.twitter.com/kuTOhskcSA
Among the goals listed in FEMA’s strategic plan are to:
Instill equity as a foundation for emergency management
Lead whole of community in climate resilience
Promote and sustain a ready FEMA & prepared nation
What does that look like in action?
Here’s an example of a FEMA disaster preparedness meeting where participants discuss how LGBTQIA individuals were suffering disproportionally before the storm compared to other disaster victims.
Notice how the focus shifts from doing the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people to ensuring that they are promoting “equity in disaster relief.”
FEMA Disaster Preparedness Meeting:
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) October 7, 2024
"We should focus our efforts on LGBTQIA people… they struggled before the storm"
"FEMA relief is no longer about getting the greatest good for the greatest amount of people…. It's about disaster equity." pic.twitter.com/IqXeKI8OTT
FEMA released a document in 2023 titled “Equity in Disaster Relief” – Achieving Equitable Recovery: A Post Disaster Guide.
Among the aims of that document is an explicitly stated goal to ensure “equitable” distribution of aid.
Both flood victims and those desperately trying to get aid to them have raised serious concerns about FEMA taking control of, or confiscating private aid that is being brought to the disaster area.
Vice President Harris’s explanation of equitable distribution seems to vindicate the concerns being expressed.
FEMA - The Helene Response
— The Constitutionalist 🇺🇸 (@WeWillBeFree24) October 6, 2024
The reports coming from victims and volunteers on the ground that FEMA is blocking aid, and commandeering donations in North Carolina is not hyperbole. This is what they don't want you to see. I'll explain.
In 2023, FEMA released a document:
"Equity… pic.twitter.com/HBA4G1lUjc
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell’s defense of the agency’s woke strategic plan has a similar ring to the DEI efforts of former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle who resigned following the July assassination attempt on former president Trump in Butler County, Pennsylvania.
In both cases, the essential reasons for which both agencies exist, namely, providing food, shelter and care for disaster victims or protecting dignitaries, are being downplayed in order to promote woke left-wing goals.