Author: Willy Blackmore    Published: 6/3/2025   Word In Black

The president hasn’t declared the tornado a federal emergency, leaving people in hard-hit Black neighborhoods without assistance from FEMA.

One of the most destructive tornadoes in recent years tore a 23-mile path across urban St Louis on May 16, causing an estimated $1.6 billion in damages and killing five people. While it was not quite as powerful as the 2011 tornado that leveled much of Joplin, Mo., the St Louis twister is drawing comparisons.

But despite the scale of the devastation, President Trump has yet to declare the tornado a federal emergency — leaving those whose lives have been upended by the historic storm, many of whom are Black, without any support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

RELATED: Will Changes at FEMA Make Disaster Aid Worse?

Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a St. Louis native, explained in an Instagram post that: FEMA isn’t showing up “not because people aren’t willing to show up,” but because the Trump Administration “fails to recognize what it is that they need to prioritize, which is the people.”

The tornado, an EF3 with wind speeds around 150 miles per hour, mostly cut through the northside of the city, including neighborhoods that many Black residents were segregated into starting in the early 1900s through a combination of redlining and other racist real estate tactics like racial covenants. Wells Goodfellow, a neighborhood just a few miles south of Ferguson, was particularly hard-hit; residents were nearly 95% Black in 2020, according to Census data.

Following the Joplin tornado — the deadliest tornado in the U.S. since 1950 — a federal emergency declaration was made by then-President Barack Obama just two days after the storm hit on May 22. Obama also visited Missouri to tour the destruction just a week after that twister touched down.

In August of 2005, when Hurricane Katrina was barreling toward Louisiana, President George W. Bush made the first in a series of disaster declarations in the days before the storm made landfall. While FEMA can be a damaging force in its own right following a disaster, as was certainly the case in New Orleans after Katrina, an emergency declaration started the flow of federal support even before the levees failed.

It’s now been over two weeks since the St. Louis tornado touched down, and there is still no formal federal response to the storm. FEMA investigators have surveyed the damage, but emergency declarations can only be made by the president, and Trump has yet to say anything about the storm.

On May 23, the president made an emergency declaration for a pair of smaller tornadoes that struck the Greater St. Louis area back in mid-March. Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe, a Republican, made a formal request on May 19 for a federal emergency declaration to the resident for the St. Louis tornado and storms in southeastern Missouri that struck on the same day, killing two additional people. Both of Missouri’s Senators, who are also both Republicans, have urged the president to make an emergency declaration, too.

Sen. Josh Hawley asked Secretary Kristi Noem, the head of the Department of Homeland Security (which FEMA is a part of), to push for federal aid for Missouri, and she said she would expedite the FEMA response once President Trump made a disaster declaration. But until that declaration is made, there can be no federal response to the storm.

Of course, both Trump and Noem have suggested getting rid of FEMA entirely, and the emergency-response agency has been cut significantly by the administration.

“FEMA is shifting from bloated, DC-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens,” a FEMA spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.

The Administration’s hope is to eventually shift the responsibility for disaster response over to the states entirely, which is effectively what’s happening in Missouri now, and it’s not going well.

Author: Alvin A. Reid    Published: 6/2/2025    St. Louis American

Churches across the region are coming together to help the community recover the shock and wreckage of the May 16 tornado.

The Church of God in Christ Women’s International Convention continues this week in St. Louis, and it has brought together hundreds of representative in St. Louis and many joined with faith, healthcare, and community leaders to respond with compassion and action on Wednesday at Williams Temple Church of God in Christ, 1500 N. Union Blvd.

COGIC, in partnership with the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Affinia Healthcare, and Deer Valley Home Health, hosted an Emergency Tornado Relief Giveaway to provide immediate assistance to families affected by the storm.

Relief items included food, bottled water, clothing, hygiene kits, medical and home healthcare resources, and more — available free of charge.

“As the community recovers from the recent tornado outbreak, this event is a collaborative response to meet the urgent needs of those displaced or impacted by the storms,” Bishop J. Drew Sheard, Presiding Bishop, Church of God in Christ, said in a release.

“By joining forces, local faith leaders, nonprofit organizations, and healthcare providers are delivering relief, hope, and essential services to the families who need them most.”

Other clergy efforts include:

Grace United Methodist Church is collecting donations of clothing, food and supplies.

Catholic Charities is offering assistance for those affected by the storms. Visit their website to request help.

The American Red Cross has opened four shelters. Identification is not required:

• Friendly Temple Outreach Center: 6356 Dr. Martin Luther King Dr.
• 12th & Park Recreation Center: 1410 S. Tucker Blvd.
• Refresh Community Church: 829 N Hanley Rd.
• Peter & Paul Community Services: Garfield Building, 2612 Wyoming St.

Centennial Christian Church has established a GoFundMe fundraising drive for the church and for the Fountain Park neighborhood.

The Post-Dispatch reported that more than $18,000 of its $500,000 goal had been raised.

Bread of Life has also set up a GoFundMe account. It has raised received than $7,000 of its $9,000 goal.

Word In Black religion writer Dorothy Boulware writes this week that the Bible still holds the title as the best-selling book in history, with an estimated 5 to 7 billion copies sold worldwide.

The King James version, with over 1 billion copies sold, is still the most popular version globally, while the New International Version (NIV) is the best-selling translation in the United States. And in the United States, it’s estimated that Bible sales top $425 million annually.

But with so many copies being sold all the time — 88% of American households own at least one copy, and the average household owns four — the question is whether or not they’re actually being read.

It turns out, only 11% of Americans report reading it daily. Is it difficult to fit Bible reading into our daily schedules? Is the Bible too hard to read? Does it not hold our interest?

Boulware posed these questions on Facebook, and several people weighed in. Sherry Hunt replied that she’s reading the Bible right now, specifically, the book of Judges, “Whew! Pray for me,” she requests.

J.C. Ryle, a 19th-century Anglican bishop, said, “Knowledge of the Bible never comes by intuition. It can only be obtained by diligent, regular, daily, attentive reading.”

Theologian A.W. Tozer, in complete agreement, said, “Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.”

Dr. Howard-John Wesley, senior pastor of Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, famously encourages all who listen that reading the Bible will make you a better Christian.

And there’s hope: “Our youngest adults show signs of interest in the Bible, curiosity about it, and transformative interaction with it,” ABS Chief Program Officer John Farquhar Plake, editor in chief of the “State of the Bible” report, told Religion Unplugged. “Last year, 50% of Gen Z adults (ages 18-27) agreed that the message of the Bible has transformed their lives. This year, that number rose to 54%.”

A 2016 Lifeway Research Study revealed that about 20% of Americans say they have personally read the entire Bible at least once, with 9% saying they’ve read it more than once. But do folks read it cover-to-cover?

“I have NOT read the Bible cover-to-cover although I am a committed student of the Bible. I have preferred to study as I have been led, rather than reading sequentially because I am strengthened by a method of study to which I feel called,” says Charlene Ndi.

Ndi also says that reflecting on Bible-reading habits “prepares us to give account for the spiritual lives we live.”

Rusty Saunders, Minister of Music and Arts on The Hill, said he hasn’t read the Bible cover-to-cover, “But I’m sure I will be attempting this task again in the future.”

Juanita Shields says she’s tried several times, “And I’m going to try again and get back to you!”

This post appeared first on St. Louis American.