Editor’s Note: The John A. Hartford Foundation is collaborating with ASA to advance equity in aging by supporting ASA RISE, a 20-week social justice and leadership program for rising leaders of color in aging, and via the development and dissemination of equity-related, partnership-based thought leadership through ASA’s Generations platform. This blog post is part of that series.
For the past week, I’ve been in a haze—not the literal kind, but a media-induced sleep-like stupor, consumed by the flood of evacuation alerts, and images of destruction from the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires. Frustration, anxiety, disbelief—these are just a few of the emotions I’ve wrestled with, wondering, “Is this real?”
I am too close to the devastation unfolding in Los Angeles. My Santa Monica office is only a few miles from the Palisades, and my home just a few miles further south. That’s far too close for comfort, if there’s any comfort to be found in this situation.
On the afternoon of Jan. 7, as the fires ignited, we sat at work, saying, “This is bad … really bad.” But we had no idea what was ahead of us. Seven days later, we know all too well.
While national news covers every tragic detail—lives lost, homes destroyed, looting, and, thankfully, the beauty of communities coming together—another narrative is creeping into the local and national conversation.
When the fires broke out, I described the scene as “bedlam”—a state of extreme chaos. Little did I know that this word would resonate so profoundly, especially in the current climate of disinformation and division. In a time when misinformation thrives, I feared that some would exploit this crisis to push ideological agendas.
And that’s exactly what’s happened. As images of destruction flooded the media, finger-pointing, shaming, and an underlying blame for these fires is being leveled at Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies and the “woke” culture.
‘Fire doesn’t care about race, gender, age, or sexual orientation. It doesn’t vote, either.’
Disaster information is always fluid, confusing, and often incomplete. Yet some are exploiting the chaos with soundbites and clickbait, signaling DEI as a root cause for the at least 25 fatalities and the destruction of more than 12,000 homes and businesses.
Fire doesn’t care about race, gender, age, or sexual orientation. It doesn’t vote, either. While policies can influence resource allocation, these fires impacted a broad swath of the Los Angeles area, from wealthy beachside communities to areas with a wider range of income levels.
Whether the victims are celebrities, older adults on fixed incomes, struggling actors, working families, or anyone else, the fires had one goal: destruction. Homes, lives, businesses, memories, heirlooms, security, and mental stability were torn apart in a matter of hours.
As some use this moment to push anti-woke agendas and roll back DEI policies, let’s consider what we’ve truly lost—losses that have affected older adults of all races and income levels:
- Volunteers who work with older adults, displaced by burned homes
- Counselors for older adult tax prep and Medicare, due to homes destroyed
- A beloved local bagel shop, which donated more than 5,000 bagels annually to older adults in our area
- Homes of colleagues’ families
- Jobs, especially for caregivers and local businesses
- Houses of worship, reduced to rubble
- Schools and older adult centers, destroyed
- Assisted living facilities, demolished
- Health due to poor air quality
After about a week of healthy eating and rest, energy levels should stabilize. It’s day 7 for me, and as I emerge from my figurative sleep, I reflect on what has become of my city—home to five generations of my family and a vibrant, diverse mix of Angelenos of every race, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic background.
I return to the definition of “woke”—to cease being asleep, to be aware of danger, to notice beforehand. If being anti-woke is the “new” agenda, America will have learned nothing from history. We risk becoming insensitive, as Marie Antoinette was when she uttered the words, “Let them eat cake”—a phrase now synonymous with privilege and arrogance. In our case, we may soon hear “Let them eat bagels”—a symbol of callousness toward the older adults who have lost everything.
Southern California is one of the most beautiful, desirable places to live and visit, and it will rise from this tragedy. But I ask: how can anyone blame DEI or the woke agenda for fires? Is the real agenda to perpetuate an outdated, exclusionary mindset that goes against the foundation of our nation?
As the preamble to the U.S. Constitution reminds us: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…”
The real disaster is to stay asleep. Let’s do better. Stay woke!
Nikki Davis, MBA, is vice president, Program Administration, at Wise & Healthy Aging in Santa Monica, CA, and an ASA RISE alum.
Photo caption: Palisades fire in Los Angeles, January 2025
Photo credit: Shutterstock/Fernando Astasio Avila
