The federal government often gives less help to Black disaster survivors than their white neighbors. That’s a challenge for President Biden, who has vowed to fight both inequality and climate change.
How Disaster Aid Favors White People
Federal money is widening racial inequality as climate change gets worse.
June 9, 2021, 11:13 a.m. ET
Also this week: A United Nations agency that has repeatedly
delayed and watered down climate regulations, and a Trump-era law that could
force President Biden to sell drilling leases.
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By Christopher Flavelle
The two cases were remarkably similar: Hurricane Laura sent pine trees crashing through the roofs of two modest houses not far apart in Southwest Louisiana. Neither homeowner had insurance, and each sought help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
But that’s where the similarities end. Despite suffering roughly the same amount of damage, one homeowner, Roy Vaussine, who is white, got $17,000 in initial assistance from FEMA. The other couple, Charlotte and Norman Biagas, who are Black, got $7,000.