In a report published this week, the National Urban League detailed what it said is a “deliberate, coordinated campaign to reverse decades of progress for Black Americans” at the direction of the White House.
The report, first written about by The Associated Press on Thursday, said the Trump administration has hindered the goals of the Civil Rights movement, and talked about efforts to “dismantle civil rights protections, suppress voting access, and strip away diversity initiatives.” The report also addressed changes made at the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights division under President Donald Trump, saying it has been “hollowed out and repurposed.”
“The notion that we are living through a ‘state of emergency’ is not rhetorical flourish. It is an honest reckoning with a government increasingly determined to sacrifice its founding principles — equality, liberty, and justice —rather than accept the truth of a diversifying nation and deliver equitable opportunity to all,” Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, wrote in the report’s foreword.
To combat this, the National Urban League said, it is undertaking a campaign of legal challenges, advocacy and community organizing.
A White House spokesperson, in a statement to the AP, criticized diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and said: “The Trump administration will always promote equal treatment under the law for every American.”
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