A Houston mayoral appointee ignited fierce backlash after posting inflammatory videos criticizing a Texas summer camp where young girls perished in catastrophic flooding, then reportedly blaming Donald Trump for the tragedy that has claimed at least 82 lives.
Sade Perkins, a member of Houston’s Food Insecurity Board, posted a series of TikTok videos calling Camp Mystic a “whites-only Christian camp” just hours after devastating floodwaters swept through the facility in Hunt, Texas, on July 4, leaving multiple children missing.
“I know I’m going to get cancelled for this, but Camp Mystic is a white-only girls’ Christian camp,” Perkins said in the video as rescue operations were still underway. “They don’t even have a token Asian. They don’t have a token Black person. It’s an all-white, white-only conservative Christian camp.”
Mayor’s Swift Response
Houston Mayor John Whitmire moved quickly to condemn the remarks, announcing he would take immediate steps to permanently remove Perkins from the city board.
The comments shared on social media are deeply inappropriate and have no place in decent society, especially as families grieve the confirmed deaths and the ongoing search for the missing,” Whitmire said in a statement Sunday.
The mayor clarified that Perkins was not a City of Houston employee but had been appointed to the Food Insecurity Board by former Mayor Sylvester Turner in 2023. Her term had expired in January 2025.
Doubling Down on Controversy
Rather than apologizing, Perkins reportedly intensified her rhetoric, allegedly blaming President Trump, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick for what she called a “totally preventable” tragedy.
According to the initial report, she complained about becoming “the scapegoat to cover up for the f***up of a flood,” arguing the disaster was caused by “of course your friendly MAGA Trump up there in the White House.
I did not cause the flood, nor did I cause the failure from the National Weather Service and FEMA. Those were done by design, by the Lieutenant, and by the Governor, and your f***ing President,” she allegedly stated.
Defiant Response to Criticism
After Mayor Whitmire’s public rebuke, Perkins remained unrepentant, according to multiple sources.
“You people are fking crazy, you people are insane,” she reportedly said of her critics. “And the video is still up and I still stand behind – 10 toes down on the motherf*ing ground.”
She allegedly continued: “That st is racism and white supremacy, period. If it was Hispanic kids, if it was LGBTQ kids that got swept away y’all wouldn’t give a fk and them same MAGA people would be saying they deserve it and that it’s God’s will, so f**k all y’all.”
Addressing the mayor directly, Perkins reportedly said: “Mayor Whitmire is a piece of s**t.”
The Devastating Flood
The controversy erupted as Central Texas grappled with one of its worst natural disasters in recent memory. The Guadalupe River rose more than 20 feet in less than two hours early Friday morning, overwhelming Camp Mystic and surrounding areas.
As of Sunday evening, officials confirmed 82 deaths across several counties, including 68 in Kerr County alone. Among the deceased were 40 adults and 28 children, according to Sheriff Larry Leitha.
At Camp Mystic, where approximately 750 girls were staying when the floodwaters struck, at least 10 campers and one counselor remained missing as of Sunday night.
Heroic Camp Director Among Victims
Among those who perished was Richard “Dick” Eastland, 70, the longtime owner and director of Camp Mystic. Family members confirmed he died while attempting to rescue campers from the rushing waters.
“If he wasn’t going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way—saving the girls that he so loved and cared for,” his grandson George Eastland wrote in an Instagram tribute. “That’s the kind of man my grandfather was.”
Eastland and his wife Tweety had owned and operated Camp Mystic since 1974. Many viewed him as a father figure at the camp.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all that his last act of kindness and sacrifice was working to save the lives of campers,” Paige Sumner, a former camper, told the Kerrville Daily Times.
Young Victims Identified
Several young victims have been identified by their families:
- Renee Smajstrla, 8
- Janie Hunt, 9
- Sarah Marsh, 8
- Lila Bonner, 9
- Eloise Peck, 8
- Anna Margaret Bellows, 8
- Lainey Landry, 9
Camp counselor Chloe Childress was also among those confirmed dead.
Janie Hunt was the great-granddaughter of late billionaire William Herbert Hunt, whose brother founded the Kansas City Chiefs.
Historic Camp’s Legacy
Camp Mystic, founded in 1926, was preparing to celebrate its centennial year. The camp has a distinguished history as the summer destination of choice for many prominent Texas families.
Notable alumni include former First Lady Laura Bush, who served as a counselor there, and the daughters of multiple Texas governors. The camp has hosted generations of Texas political elite, with Lady Bird Johnson reportedly attending closing ceremonies when she was elderly.
Governor Greg Abbott visited the devastated campsite Saturday, describing the scene on social media as “horrendously ravaged in ways unlike I’ve seen in any natural disaster.”
“The height the rushing water reached to the top of the cabins was shocking,” Abbott wrote on X. “We won’t stop until we find every girl who was in those cabins.”
Emergency Response Continues
Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd warned Kerr County residents to prepare for additional rainfall as a “wall of water” threatened the already flood-ravaged region.
Officials urged residents in central Texas to move to higher ground as flash flood warnings remained in effect due to rain falling on saturated ground.
The National Weather Service reported that Hunt, in Kerr County, received about 6.5 inches of rain in just three hours early Friday — classified as a 1-in-100-year event with about a 1% chance of happening in any given year.
Federal Disaster Declaration
President Trump signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County on Sunday morning at Governor Abbott’s request. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem indicated the administration would honor the federal disaster declaration to help direct relief to Texas.
Search and rescue operations continued around the clock, with Texas Air National Guardsmen deploying military drones typically used for surveillance to aid in the search for missing persons.
Community in Mourning
The tragedy has devastated the tight-knit Hill Country community and Camp Mystic’s extensive alumni network. Former campers described the camp as “my favorite place in the entire world” and struggled to comprehend how such devastation could strike a place they considered a refuge.
Photos from the scene showed cabins with shattered windows, interiors covered in mud, and campers’ belongings scattered in disarray. The summer camp’s grounds were completely ravaged by the historic flooding.
As rescue efforts continue and families await news of missing loved ones, the inappropriate timing and nature of Perkins’ comments have only added to the community’s anguish during an already unbearable tragedy.
Follow for more updates on Britannia Daily
