NC Newsline – Since taking office Jan. 20, President Donald Trump has issued executive orders that forced businesses, schools, universities and state and federal agencies to dismantle all diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
Describing Black America as in a “state of emergency,” the National Urban League said the directives show the federal government is “determined to sacrifice its founding principles—equality, liberty, and justice—rather than accept the truth of a diversifying nation and deliver equitable opportunity for all.’’
The National Urban League, a civil rights and advocacy organization focused on economic empowerment of Black and other underserved communities, is scheduled to release its annual State of Black America 2025 report Thursday morning at 8:30 at its conference in Cleveland.
In an executive summary, it credits the Voting Rights Act of 1965 with the “true birth of American democracy.” But the federal government under Trump has “set fire to policies and entire departments dedicated to protecting civil and human rights, providing access to an equal education, fair housing, safe and effective healthcare, and ensuring that our democratic process is adhered to across the nation,” the executive summary said.
Yet despite those actions, Americans bolstered by the civil rights community are pushing back. The group pointed to lawsuits filed across the country by state attorneys general, governors and civil rights groups, including the National Urban League, NAACP Legal Defense Funds and Lambda Legal. As of May 23, 247 cases challenging Trump administration policies had been filed in federal courts.
“There is a state of emergency in Black America, and our report this year is a warning and rallying cry as civil rights protections are being unraveled,” said Marc Morial, National Urban League president and CEO, during a briefing ahead of the report’s release. “Democracy is under siege. What began as what we thought were fringe attacks on racial equity has now become national policy.”
Since 2013, U.S. Supreme Court decisions have struck down portions of the Voting Rights Act that required federal preclearance in communities with a history of racial discrimination before making changes to voting practices, the report notes. And after a 2023 decision that declared affirmative action unconstitutional in college admissions, the National Urban League said the ruling threatens the ability to sue over racial discrimination in voting and to challenge district maps. Other voting-related practices from mail-in ballots and early voting to requirements to provide voting materials in languages other than English are at risk, the group said.
The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, once a protection against discriminatory practices, is now seen as a threat to enforcement of civil rights laws that could become a “tool of retribution,” the report summary said. Harmeet Dhillon, a Trump attorney and election denier, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in April to serve as assistant attorney general of the Civil Rights Division, one of the largest at Justice. Dhillon also opposed the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act Amendment in an op-ed which would have restored the landmark law, the executive summary said.
The group defended the value of diversity, equity and inclusion, saying that it “protects and advances democratic ideals.” But the Trump administration has targeted colleges, universities and businesses “for simply having the words diversity and inclusion as part of their mission,’’ adding that Michigan and Columbia universities were forced to end their programs.
“In short, DEI policies don’t just level the playing field in education and employment; they fortify democracy itself. By expanding opportunities, ensuring equitable access to information, and creating leadership pipelines, DEI helps guarantee that every American—not just the privileged few— can contribute to the nation’s future,’’ the group said in the summary.
‘Dividing America’
The report also notes how hate and extremist views are more prevalent on social media that began to increase after the COVID-19 pandemic and the acquisition of Twitter (now X) in 2022 by billionaire Elon Musk. The summary said that a day later, right-wing accounts on the platform jumped while those with progressive views dropped. And two years later during the election, accounts of progressive candidates were “banned without explanation.”
A study published in February by researchers from the University of Southern California’s Viterbi Information Sciences Institute showed that general hate speech increased by 50% and transphobic slurs increased by 260%. The study analyzed posts between January 2022 and June 2023.
“People have become very adept at misinformation, disinformation. But my mother called it something different: She said it was lying,” Morial said.
One way to counter that, he said, is increasing voter turnout in next year’s midterm elections and in local elections this year such as mayoral races in Atlanta, New York City and New Orleans.
“I think people should host town hall meetings. I think people should make their voices known on social media,” Morial said. “All of this is important to building a bulwark of resistance. What are we resisting? We’re resisting [a] dividing America. We’re resisting an America where the agenda is white supremacy or white nationalism. But it also is the fight for a multiracial American democracy.”
The report includes nearly two dozen contributors such as congressional officials, attorneys and civil rights activists with a focus on the official name of this year’s report: “State of Emergency: Civil Rights, Democracy & Progress Under Attack.”
Beth Lynk, executive director of the When We All Vote initiative established by former first lady Michelle Obama in 2018, wrote an essay in the report entitled, “A Revised Movement for Democracy – On the Ground and in the Culture.”
“Voting rights is the foundation of all other rights in this country,” she said in an interview Monday. “This essay is really a call to action understanding that we can empower Black Americans to shape the next chapter of our democracy, as we always have from the ground up, by reimagining voter education and registration.”
Lynk noted how Maryland has crafted policies to protect voting rights, crediting Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Maryland), chair of the state’s Legislative Black Caucus, who worked with other caucus leaders. One topic missing from the National Urban League’s executive summary this year: reparations. For the first time, the Maryland caucus officially endorsed the creation of a Reparations Commission in a bill that passed this year. Maryland became one of the few states in the nation to assess “appropriate benefits” for those affected by “historical inequity.”
But Gov. Wes Moore (D), the nation’s only Black governor, vetoed the bill in May. With the caucus’s backing and a Democratic majority in the General Assembly, legislators and advocates are confident that a veto override will take place when the legislature returns in session.
“We strongly believe that it’s essential to see this commission through [and] bring it to fruition, especially at a time like this as we’re seeing the most grave attacks and threats to our freedoms since Reconstruction,” Wilkins said. “Now is the time for us to boldly go forward here in the state of Maryland around repairing harms, while we continue to fight back around the present attacks on our freedoms.”
