In a little over a week, the nation will mark five years since George Floyd’s murder. It is a sobering reminder of the long and painful history of violence and terror against African Americans. It is also an occasion for the National Urban League and our 92 affiliates across the country to reaffirm our enduring commitment to equitable justice.
To commemorate this somber anniversary, the Urban League is releasing a report, “George Floyd Five Years Later: Was It a Moment or a Movement?”
Floyd’s murder shook the world, but shaking the world is not enough. The report asks the essential question in the half decade aftermath: Did we seize the moment to build a lasting movement, or did we squander the chance for transformative change?
This report examines the ways government, institutions, advocates and the business community mobilized to advance policing reform and racial justice. It also traces the rise of political and cultural backlash that has challenged, and in some cases reversed, that progress — offering a clear-eyed view of the moment we are experiencing and the movement still required.
The report, which will be released during Urban League’s annual Legislative Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. Thursday, examines the shifts in American attitudes on race across the last three election cycles — perhaps best illuminated by the current administration’s unrelenting attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion.
We also track the progress and setbacks of police reform efforts at local, state and federal levels, as well as corporate and institutional commitments to racial equity and the impact of those commitments on Black communities.
A year after Floyd’s murder, Fortune 1000 corporations pledged over $66 billion for racial justice. These commitments included increased funding for minority-owned businesses, supplier diversity programs and DEI initiatives. Standard & Poor’s 100 companies grew their U.S. workforce by more than 323,000 in 2021 — and 94% of their new hires were people of color.
But in the backlash that followed, DEI job postings declined 44% from 2022 to 2023. Major companies like Google and Meta cut DEI programs supporting Black talent. Anti-DEI rhetoric gained traction, and anti-equality activists like Edward Blum mounted successful challenges to racial equity programs.
By 2024, many corporations reversed their racial equity commitments, disbanding teams and slashing budgets.
Federal policies followed a similar trajectory. President Joe Biden issued an executive order immediately upon taking office, directing all agencies to create racial equity plans. The administration partnered with the Urban League and civil rights groups to develop racial equity policies to pass the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, including direct aid to cities and vaccine access for underserved communities; the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which elevated the Minority Business Development Agency to cabinet-level; the Inflation Reduction Act, which funded Black farmers, and invested in climate resilience for communities of color; and the CHIPS and Science Act, which included $52 billion to increase research and development access for historically black colleges and universities.
Under Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke, the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, convicted more than180 police officers for civil rights violations and investigated 12 police departments and launched prison abuse investigations. Biden issued an executive order to track police misconduct, chokehold and strengthen de-escalation training.
Stronger, more determined
The Trump administration eliminated all DEI initiatives across the federal government on Day One. It rescinded Biden-era executive orders, including those advancing voter registration and equitable Census outreach. It froze all open DOJ civil rights investigations, jeopardizing consent decrees in Louisville and Memphis.
The administration’s hostile crusade against racial justice has sparked legal challenges, protests and civil rights community mobilization, while promoting anti-equity rhetoric nationally and the corporate retreat from DEI.
The Urban League has not retreated. In fact, we have grown stronger and more determined.
As Americans rose up in the days following Floyd’s murder demanding justice, the Urban League met the moment by establishing a new division — Equitable Justice and Strategic Initiatives —to advocate for a fair justice system and equal access to participation in democracy and civic processes.
We developed “21 Pillars for Redefining Public Safety and Restoring Community Trust” as a national framework for police reform. We organized national advocacy days, grassroots campaigns and policy briefings to support racial equity and policing reform. We launched the Urban Expungement Program, which has reached more than 1,500 residents in Ohio to remove barriers to opportunity.
We developed a new phase of civil rights and social justice advocacy and activism, “D3,” based on three guiding principles — Defend Democracy, Demand Diversity and Defeat Poverty. An extension of the “Urban League Fights For You” initiative launched during the COVID-19 crisis, D3 elevates and enhances the Urban League’s historical commitment to employment, education, housing, healthcare and equitable justice in the face of renewed threats.
Immediately after Inauguration Day, the Urban League convened the Demand Diversity Roundtable, an emergency strategy session to confront immediate threats posed by Trump 2.0’s anticipated attacks on civil and human rights. Represented by the Legal Defense Fund and Lambda Legal, we and co-plaintiffs National Fair Housing Alliance and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago filed a lawsuit. We launched the Fair Budget Coalition to advocate for an inclusive federal budget.
The livestream announcement and full report will be available Thursday on the Urban League’s website, at NUL.org.
Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League and was mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002. He writes a twice-monthly column for the Sun-Times.
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