July 18, 2025
The National Urban League urges for “resistance” against the Trump administration.
The National Urban League has declared a “state of emergency” in response to the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back decades of civil rights advancements.
The National Urban League’s annual State of Black America report, released on July 17, accuses the Trump administration of actively undermining antidiscrimination protections, personal freedoms, and Black economic progress. As a result, the report calls for the creation of a “new resistance” to counter the administration’s agenda, AP reported.
“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,” Marc Morial, National Urban League president and CEO, said 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.”
NUL, one of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations, believes the Trump-run federal government has become “increasingly determined to sacrifice its founding principles” while pushing for “a uniform education system and homogenous workforce that sidelines anyone who doesn’t fit a narrow, exclusionary mold.”
“If left unchecked, they risk reversing decades of progress that have made America more dynamic, competitive, and just,” the report states.
Presented at the group’s conference in Cleveland, Ohio, the report brings attention to the Trump administration’s target of federal agencies that worked to protect civil rights policies. From cutting funding to downsizing staff, the league likens the moves to coordinated conservative-led attacks that work to undermine civil rights policy.
“It is not random. It is a well-funded, well-organized, well-orchestrated movement of many, many years,” Morial said. “For a long time, people saw white supremacist politics and white nationalism as on the fringe of American politics. It has now become the mainstream of the American right, whose central foundation is within the Republican Party.”
The League points to the nationwide pushback against Trump’s attacks on DEI, including lawsuits filed by state attorneys general, governors, and civil rights organizations like the National Urban League, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Lambda Legal. As of May 23, there have been 247 federal cases filed against Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders.
But the League says legal action isn’t the only way to fight back. They highlight the upcoming midterm elections in key cities like Atlanta, New York City, and New Orleans, where boosting voter turnout could spark a major shift.
“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.”
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