FLASHBACK: Kamala said in 2022 that disaster aid should be based on 'equity'

Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris has advocated that disaster assistance be provided to Americans on the basis of “equity.”

“It is our lowest income communities and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions and impacted by issues that are not of their own making,” she responded to a question specifically dealing with how the United States should deal with hurricane devastation in the future.

“And so we have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality, but we also need to fight for equity, understanding not everybody starts out at the same place. And if we want people to be in an equal place, sometimes we need to take into account those disparities and do that work.”

Harris made the comments at a Sept. 30, 2022 event organized by actress Priyanka Chopra. Her disaster relief philosophy is perfectly in tune with her own administration’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) which also advocates that “equity” be paramount when considering how to administer assistance in times of disaster, such as the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

In its 2022-2026 strategic plan, FEMA lists its first goal as a desire to “instill equity as a foundation of emergency management,” the second as a plan to “lead the whole community in climate resilience” and the third being to “promote and sustain a ready FEMA and a prepared nation.”

As counties in North Carolina were flooded with people scaling their roofs to escape the waters and a town in Florida virtually wiped “off the map,” some media have questioned why President Joe Biden spent the weekend at his Delaware beach house and Harris indulged in campaign fundraisers.