As concerns mount, experts warn that Black and other disadvantaged communities stand to suffer the most in the event of any oversights or missteps from the Trump administration.
When David Richardson, the acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, commonly known as FEMA, told staffers on Monday that he was unaware that there was a hurricane season, it ignited a wave of concern about the leadership of the U.S.’s disaster agency and its preparedness to administer natural disaster relief.
Though a FEMA spokesperson and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Richardson was “joking” at the time of his reported remarks, former FEMA officials who spoke to theGrio said that it’s no laughing matter.
“I don’t understand why any leader at FEMA would joke talking about hurricane season. Hurricane season is one of the most significant risks that this country has. Hundreds of people die every year as a result of hurricanes,” Michael Coen, former chief of staff at FEMA during the Biden-Harris and Obama administrations, told theGrio.
As concerns mount, experts warn that Black and other disadvantaged communities stand to suffer the most in the event of any oversights or missteps from the Trump administration.
“The FEMA that people have come to rely on may not be there when they need them, so they should be taking the steps now to get prepared today,” Jeremy Edwards, former FEMA press secretary and director of Public Affairs, told theGrio.
Edwards, who worked for the Biden-Harris administration, pointed to several actions and statements by President Donald Trump and his administration that give him pause for FEMA’s ability to meet the moment as hurricane season begins this week and ends in late November.
Since taking office, Trump has called for the elimination of FEMA; about 2,000 full-time staffers–a third of its entire workforce–were either terminated or voluntarily left the agency amid concerns about its future. Trump also fired the acting FEMA administrator Cameron Hamilton last month, after Hamilton publicly disagreed with Trump’s plan to dismantle the agency.
Edwards scoffed at the administration’s decision to fire Hamilton during Hurricane Preparedness Week, which was intended to raise awareness about the threat of hurricane season to communities, as well as other actions like scaling back or sunsetting programs and initiatives intended to reach Black and brown communities.
A federal door-to-door canvassing program in disaster areas was terminated by the Trump administration in May. A FEMA official called the program “wasteful and ineffective,” however, experts say it was critical to reaching vulnerable populations.
“The Trump administration, because they have viewed [some programs] as equity and DEI as a bad word, apparently they’re wiping that stuff out,” said Edwards. “The actions aren’t matching the words. It’s like you’re taking steps to kind of undermine the preparedness of the agency.”
Whether or not acting administrator Richardson, who Edwards described as “completely lost on the job,” was joking about his cluelessness about hurricane season, experts say the Trump administration isn’t doing enough to engage and warn communities—particularly Black, brown and poor communities.
“Those groups that are already being underserved are going to probably be hit the hardest by this stuff,” warned Edwards. “We’ve seen it in places like Rolling Fork, Mississippi. These communities are starting kind of at a disadvantage already, so when those disasters hit them, they’re not going to be as well resourced to come back and get on their feet.”
Referencing one of the nation’s most deadly hurricanes, Katrina, which disproportionately impacted Black residents in New Orleans, Edwards explained, “There’s nothing necessarily special about what made Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Katrina, beyond the fact that that community, our country, at that time, was not prepared for that storm.”
Trump further alarmed FEMA officials in April when he approved millions of dollars in disaster assistance for Virginia after historic flooding and winter storms; however, FEMA was not notified about the approved funding–which is administered by the agency–until four days later. The lack of communication resulted in a delayed response.
“When the White House isn’t even working with FEMA, I’m very concerned. During a real crisis, a significant catastrophic disaster hours make a difference between life and death for vulnerable populations,” said Coen.
Coen said he was “very proud” of the work that FEMA did during the Biden administration to better reach and serve Black and other disadvantaged communities, like updating documentation qualifications to apply for FEMA assistance. Many Black homeowners encounter barriers proving their ownership because their names are not on the deed. Historically many African Americans in the South have left properties to their children or spouses through informal transfers. The Biden administration, with that cultural awareness in mind, moved to include other forms of documentation as proof.
Though experts worry that the Trump administration is undermining disaster preparedness, they are heartened by the White House requesting increased FEMA funding for the 2026 fiscal budget year totaling a record-high $26.5 billion–an about-face from Trump’s threat to eliminate the agency.
“If the federal government isn’t going to have the resources to respond politically that would have an impact on the Trump administration,” said Coen, who noted that the administration didn’t “publicize” their budget request for FEMA.
Referencing the new acronym “TACO”–which stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out” and is associated with the president’s backing down on his tariff threats–Edwards said in the case of Trump’s reversal on FEMA, it’s a good thing.
“It shows that the President kind of understands that the agency needs more resources, not less,” he told theGrio. “If this is a TACO moment, and he’s backing down on his threat to eliminate the agency or ‘return the permanency to the states,’ whatever that means, if that’s going to mean that FEMA ultimately ends up getting the resources that it actually needs, I’m fine with that.”
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Originally sourced via trusted media partner. https://thegrio.com/2025/06/05/fema-joke-chief-disaster-preparedness-in-black-communities/
