The residents of Maui, Hawaii, are still recovering from the tragic wildfires that raged across the island on Aug. 8. The fires reportedly took the lives of at least 99 people. America‘s deadliest wildfire in over 100 years came about from nonnative grass planted on the island to feed livestock.
Multiple current and former Black Hawaii residents have shared their experiences over social media. On X, formerly known as Twitter, John Murray saluted a pair of Black men for their swift action to the news.
“Shout-out to Floyd Mayweather for helping over 60 families in Hawaii with food, hotels, plane tickets and clothes,” Murray posted on X. “The fire did much damage on Maui but the pain is also felt on Oahu. Over 1,000 people still missing.”
Oahu is over 100 miles away from Maui. Murray is the father of Atlanta Hawks star guard Dejounte Murray.
“Also a huge shout-out to Rayford Young for checking on me and my family to see if we were affected by the wildfire,” Murray posted about Young, Trae Young’s father. “I appreciate you, bro.”
“All love, bro,” Young replied. “I haven’t been to Hawaii since college, so I didn’t know how close you were. Glad you and the family are good.”
While Murray has shared other people’s videos from the destruction, he has also recently posted videos from where he lives and said he’s still praying for Maui.
Beautiful Day on the island 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾 Still praying for Maui. pic.twitter.com/OdKYoWe9UH
— Mr. Murray 🏁 (@TeamMurray05) August 13, 2023
A famous former Black resident of Hawaii also publicly shared his reaction. Barack Obama encouraged people to donate to the affected families on the island through a video on X.
“As someone who grew up in Hawaii, as someone who has taken my family to enjoy the incredible beauty of that island and the hospitality of the people of Lāhainā, we now find ourselves mourning the lives that have been lost, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families that have lost so much,” Obama said in the video. “The thing about it is, though, thoughts and prayers in a moment like this are not enough. We have to step up.”
Obama then posted a Red Cross link for people to donate.
It will take all of us coming together and doing what we can to help those in need in Maui and Lāhainā right now. I hope you’ll join me in donating to the Hawai'i Red Cross today: https://t.co/CPtVJ8fGSq pic.twitter.com/yvIDCG15MP
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 15, 2023
Oprah Winfrey, who owns a home in Maui, said she’ll make a donation after all of the “smoke and the ashes have settled here and we figure out what the rebuilding is going to look like.” She said she’s spent time at the shelters and asked residents what they needed.
Oprah, who owns a home on Maui, says: “At some point I will make a major donation after all the smoke and the ashes have settled here and we figure out what the rebuilding is going to look like.”
The video comes after Oprah visited a shelter in Wailuku with a camera, but was… pic.twitter.com/T2tUtjdHTD
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 14, 2023
