National Urban League calls its report on the state of Black America 'a warning'

The National Urban League’s annual report The State of Black America, published Thursday, offers a pessimistic look at the state of civil rights protections in the United States and warns “that our country is on the brink of a dangerous tilt toward authoritarianism.”

The report, which has been an annual barometer on civil rights progress in the United States since it first appeared in 1976, details the onslaught of attacks to voting rights, civil rights protections and the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives intended to provide parity for Black Americans and other gender and racial minorities.

“There is a state of emergency in Black America, and our report this year is a warning and a rallying cry as civil rights protections are being unraveled (and) democracy is under siege,” the nonprofit’s CEO and president Marc Morial told reporters at a media briefing days before the formal release of the report.

“What began as what we thought were fringe attacks on racial equity has now become national policy,” he continued. “We are in a state of emergency, and the National Urban League has a fundamental obligation to stand up for democracy, to stand up for diversity, and stand up for economic policies that defeat poverty.”

The report highlights the legal backlash against DEI, from a flurry of lawsuits dismantling affirmative action in college admissions to targeting Black-owned businesses using their capital to support other Black entrepreneurs. Now, the report says, anti-DEI has become part of the federal doctrine and is attacking universities and corporations.

The report also highlights how under the current Department of Justice leadership, the Civil Rights Division has been completely repurposed — “transforming it from a guardian of justice to a tool of retribution.” It’s now been instructed to target corporations and universities with DEI programs.

“This is a deliberate coordinated campaign to reverse decades of progress for the American people, decades of progress for black America,” Morial said.

On Thursday, at the National Urban League’s conference in Cleveland, the threats detailed in the report were discussed during a panel that included National Coalition on Black Civic Participation CEO Melanie Campbell, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights CEO and president Maya Wiley, and Kimberle W. Crenshaw, co-founder and executive director of The African American Policy Forum.

Campbell, a Florida native, said the country is in a different place than it was five years ago despite the gains made during social justice movements in the wake of the George Floyd killing. She noted the creation of “Alligator Alcatraz,” the immigrant detention center that was built in the Florida Everglades, and the arrests of elected officials in California and New Jersey who voiced concerns about ICE raids.

“We also can’t let fear block us, but we have to be strategic,” she said. “This time we are really at an existential threat on the very fabric of what this nation is supposed to be about, which is democracy.”

“They’re trying to rationalize dismantling the government, [whose] intention is supposed to help us all be able to solve problems our communities have,” Wiley said. “It doesn’t mean that we have to agree. That’s not about partisan politics. That’s not about Democrat or Republican. That’s about an extremist ideology that is now playing out in government, and it is playing out in our courts.”

The report highlights the legal battles being waged against the Trump administration including one filed by the National Urban League and others against anti-equity executive orders. But Morial encouraged people to host townhalls to discuss plans of action and how to tackle issues they’re seeing locally. “I think people should make their voices known on social media,” he told reporters. “I think elected officials should be called to account by how they’re resisting these efforts. We are in a tough, tough situation, and so we’ve got to fight with our voice.”

Campbell said that Black people need to prepare for midterm elections next year in key states such as Florida, including in South Florida where U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R‑Fla, will be up for reelection. She emphasized that key elections are opportunities to flip Republican districts to Democratic, but said that it’s important to focus on where you are investing your money to push back against policies. That could mean donating to your local museum to preserve history, she said. Campbell also added that corporate leadership also has to step up and push back against harmful policies instead of retreating on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. “There is no such thing as a free market society without a democracy,” she said.

But not everyone agrees with the national chapter’s focus. T. Willard Fair, the Urban League of Greater Miami president and CEO, said he was not attending the conference and was critical of the national organization’s focus, calling them “out of touch with reality,” and instead believed they should be focused on closing the achievement gap. In Florida, for example, 45% of Black students passed the state’s standardized Languages Arts tests, while 67% of white students passed.

The local affiliate has focused its efforts on educational programs such as its Achievement Matters SAT/ACT Test Camp and We Rise Reads programs, according to a 2024 Urban League Census.

“If you become educated and pass the bar exam, you can become the attorney general, if you want to be,” Fair said, adding that the organization should not focus on the past and stop focusing on the emotions of other people about the conditions of Black people. “I think we have proven that you can be whatever you want to be if you are qualified to be what you want to be,” he said.

Fair also said the negative attitudes Black people have about themselves need to change. “At the Miami affiliate, we’ve proven that nothing stops us but us, and when we have a plan … then we are successful.”

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