The United States, and Black people in particular, are living in a “state of emergency” as the Trump administration and many in corporate America seek to obliterate diversity, equity and inclusion gains, speakers at the opening session of the National Urban League’s annual conference said Thursday.

Marc H. Morial, national president and CEO of the civil rights and urban advocacy organization, referenced the anti-DEI executive order President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office. The Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing directive not only terminated government programs but also sparked similar policies in business, higher education and among other employers.

“This is not about taking opportunities away from anyone,” Morial said during his speech at the Huntington Convention Center. “It’s about expanding the table of opportunity. We have a $30 trillion economy in this nation, and I believe that with a $30 trillion economy, there’s a seat at the table for everyone.”

The session focused on the Urban League’s annual State of Black America report. “State of Emergency: Democracy, Civil Rights and Progress Under Attack” was released Thursday. The image on the cover of the report shows a raging red flame rising from a trash can. Among the longstanding programs and policies being burned?  DEIA, or diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, which includes people living with disabilities. The 1965 Voting Rights Act. Freedom of Speech. Medicare.

National Urban League report covers disturbing trends

The report covers trends the Urban League finds alarming. They include the transformation of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division from “a guardian of justice” focused on ending discrimination into one seeking to roll back gains under the “false guise of reverse racism.” The report looks at how the loss of fact-checking and other guardrails have encouraged hateful rhetoric to thrive on digital profiles.  

State of Emergency says that “the war on woke” is “fueling systemic oppression and the assault on civil rights.” Woke has several meanings, including referring to a person who acknowledges the existence of social inequalities such as racism and sexism.

“It started as a war on woke and has become a war on truth and a tool to dismantle voting rights and other rights,” he said.

Morial said the Urban League and others are fighting back against what they characterize as attacks on democracy, civil rights and progress.

“This work is hard,” he said. “This work is going to take a long time. This work is going to require our ongoing commitment.”

The National Urban League conference continues through Saturday, with several free public events. 

Morial’s speech was followed by a panel discussion moderated by journalist Ed Gordon. The panelists were: Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Kimberlé Crenshaw, co-founder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum, and Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Below is a sampling of what the panel discussed. Comments were edited for brevity.

Is the United States becoming a government controlled by one person with absolute power?

Maya Wiley: We’re here, y’all, we’re here. We are here in what is called competitive authoritarianism. That is just the fast track to autocracy by a different name, and we have to acknowledge it.

What role does race play in what some perceive as efforts that are undermining democracy?

Kimberlé Crenshaw: Anti-Blackness is at the core of the effort to destroy our democracy. The fact that we [Black people] are sort of the first community to experience the thing that’s going to happen to everybody else is a reflection of a long, long standing historical reality that is [based on] anti-Blackness.

The vast majority of white folks who fought to maintain slavery didn’t own slaves and didn’t even benefit from it. They were willing to give up their lives for it. Why? Because of anti-Blackness, because of the ideology that as long as I’ve got my foot on your throat, I’m doing OK. 

Where should people look for leadership in addressing concerns about democracy?

Melanie Campbell: You’re the leader you’re looking for. Everybody in here has a role to play in this. 

Should demands be placed on the business community as well as the government if people believe democracy and civil rights are under attack?

Melanie Campbell: To the corporate leadership: We need you to step up. What environment can a free market survive in without a democracy? Corporate America …[must] step up in the ways that you can with the understanding that there is no way of appeasing a dictator. 

How are voting rights under attack?

Maya Wiley: Right now, we are confronting using the federal government to disenfranchise over 20 million legal voters by demanding a birth certificate or a passport for federal elections. Why do I use that particular example? That is not about free and fair elections. That is about controlling decisions, including by just simply blocking people’s access to the ballot box. 

Is there an undercurrent of tension between the Black community and white allies?

Kimberlé Crenshaw: We get allies who have movements and marches, and they have a whole list of issues to bring people out. But if you look at it from the perspective of the Black community, you don’t see our issues really listed in the progressive coalition. 

Some of the biggest fights that I’ve had recently are with some of our allies who say, ‘Well, you know what? We need to go with the issues that most people are prepared to hit the streets on. We need to go with the issues that most people are on the same page.’

And of course, we all know the issues don’t have to do with the questions of affirmative action, DEI, anti-Black policing. They say that was 2020 [during the racial reckoning following the police killing of George Floyd.] That’s not 2025.