by WorldTribune Staff, November 12, 2024  Contract With Our Readers

The Federal Emergency Management Agency supervisor fired for directing staff to skip hurricane-ravaged homes that had Trump campaign signs has charged it wasn’t an “isolated” incident.

Marn’i Washington gave an interview with YouTube podcaster Roland Martin on Nov. 11, in which she said she followed a widely-understood FEMA policy of avoiding “politically hostile” homes.

“FEMA preaches avoidance first, and then de-escalation. This is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance,” said Washington. “Not just in the state of Florida. You will find avoidance in the Carolinas.”

A FEMA official confirmed Washington’s claims, adding that “the agency’s practice of skipping Trump-supporting houses — or avoiding ‘white or conservative-dominated’ disaster zones altogether — is an open secret at the agency that has been going on for years,” according to a New York Post report.

“I have heard from other entities who are serving in North Carolina that there was clear guidance saying to be ‘mindful’ of the types of people who are in Western North Carolina — they’re largely Republican, very conservative — very derogatory sorts of references in their culture,” the official said.

The employee, who requested anonymity, said the unwritten policy was upsetting for staffers with altruistic motives for their work.

“I’m sad … because emergency management is something that you don’t just stumble into … it’s something that you have a passion for because you believe in the mission space across the board,” the source said.

The FEMA source told the Post disaster assistance teams skip openly Trump-supporting houses in the name of DEI.

The unofficial policy is to “prioritize the most under resourced, marginalized communities first,” the source said.

  Fired FEMA official says she followed widespread agency policy