Vice President Kamala Harris faced backlash online Friday afternoon after saying that the Biden administration was prioritizing giving disaster related resources to minorities for the sake of “equity” because the administration wants everyone to end up “in an equal place.”
Harris made the remarks during a discussion with leftist Priyanka Chopra at the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C.
“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,” Harris claimed. “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 everyone starts out at the same place.”
She added, “And if we want people to be in an equal place, sometimes we have to take into account those disparities and do that work.”
Kamala on Hurricane Ian relief:
The Biden administration will focus on “giving resources based on equity” by directing funds to “communities of color” pic.twitter.com/uixPpyQWdU
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 30, 2022
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates later said the vice president’s comments related to a general Biden administration policy of distributing “climate resilience” resources around the country.
Many commentators related the general policy Harris was discussing to disaster relief in Florida, which had been battered by Hurricane Ian.
AEI fellow Sadanand Dhume responded, “Why do they make everything about race and gender?”
“If a hurricane hits a state, we should expect the government to help all those affected: black, brown white, purple, green,” he added. “And there’s no such thing as ‘communities of color.’ Real people don’t talk like this.”
Political commentator Ken Gardner tweeted: “This has to violate at least a dozen federal and state anti-discrimination laws. Not to mention the 14th Amendment.”
“Again, it’s not that we have moronic, insane, despicable people. Every nation has those,” radio host Jesse Kelly tweeted. “It’s that our worst people now lead all our institutions. Honestly not sure how a nation can survive that.”
“This is pretty much the definition of racism. . .” American Majority CEO Ned Ryun tweeted.
This article has been updated to clarify the Biden administration policy regarding aid related to natural disasters.