The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) fired a supervisor after reports surfaced that she told workers to avoid the houses of Trump supporters after Hurricane Milton. Now, former supervisor Marn'i Washington is speaking out against the organization. She said that FEMA turned her into a scapegoat for larger policies and practices.
Reports show that Washington told workers to avoid reaching out to homeowners who had Trump signs in their yards. However, Washington said that she didn't come up with that policy.
"Why is this coming down on me? I am the person that jotted down the notes from my superiors and my notation in [Microsoft] Teams chat was exposed from their search capacity team," Washington said.
FEMA Official Speaks Out
FEMA ended up firing her after the news went public. Washington over saw disaster relief in Lake Placid, Florida. Now, Florida is suing both Washington and FEMA over the alleged discrimination. Daily Wire reported that workers skipped at least 20 homes that had Trump signs in them. Administrator Deanne Criswell fired Washington afterwards, calling it an isolated incident.
However, Washington said that's not true. "This was the culture. They were already avoiding these homes based on community trends from hostile political encounters. It has nothing to do with the campaign sign. It just so happened to be part of the community trend," Washington explained.
Washington said that she was executing FEMA policy. She said, "And it's easy to then say, 'Well, ha ha! it's her name. It's her writing. Make her accountable for it.' But I'm just simply executing again, what was coming down from my superiors."
However, further comments by Washington, suggests FEMA didn't have an anti-Trump policy. Instead, the organization told workers to avoid situations that made them feel unsafe or uncomfortable. It seems that Washington allowed her own personal biases to flavor that policy.
"I know the highlight here is the Trump campaign signage, but if someone is in another like an urban community and it's a different culture and someone feels uncomfortable, we can't go to that home. If you have loose dogs, and someone on the team was comfortable with dogs and another person is not, we can't go to that home because of safety precautions."
