As of the writing of this article, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is still shut down. The National Urban League (NUL) and allied organizations have made it clear that there should be no funding for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agencies— which are part of DHS —without critical immigration reform and guardrails.

The Trump Administration and congressional Republicans have refused to agree to anything beyond the most minimal reforms. As a result, we are now in the longest partial shutdown in U.S. history (the previous record was 43 days—the first shutdown of Trump’s second term).

A government shutdown, which is defined as a lapse in appropriated funding, requires most federal agency operations to cease, except for those deemed essential. Even employees who must work because they are performing critical functions to protect life and property are generally not paid until after the shutdown ends because there is no legally authorized funding with which to pay them. Some agencies may rely on other funding sources, such as mandatory funding streams, fees, or receipts from functions the agency performs, to pay employees.

For example, the so-called “Big Ugly Bill”, H.R. 1, allocated record amounts of funding for ICE that the Trump administration has used to keep it operating during the shutdown. This shutdown began on February 14 and lasted until March 27, when he would start paying Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, following mounting concerns about increasingly long and disruptive airport security lines.

However, the legality of this move is unclear; it is also unclear how long this alternative funding source will last and why these measures were not implemented from the beginning.

Also, it is important to remember that thousands of DHS workers remain furloughed or working without pay, including employees at FEMA, the Coast Guard, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (not a great time for this agency to be short-staffed while we are at war with a nation – Iran – known for cybersecurity attacks).

Before departing for a two-week April recess, both the House and Senate engaged in a flurry of legislative activity, with both chambers passing different versions of DHS funding legislation —neither of which meaningfully advances the proposed reforms to ICE and CBP. There is now talk that this shutdown could last into the summer.

Some Republicans have indicated they are no longer willing to negotiate with Democrats and instead plan to pursue funding for DHS in a budget reconciliation bill, which would allow legislation to pass the Senate with a simple majority rather than the 60-vote threshold typically required. In other words, they do not want to engage in a bipartisan process.

A recent announcement by House Speaker Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Thune that they have an agreement with Trump to pass funding for all of DHS and pursue funding for ICE and CBP seems to follow this path and may be what breaks the impasse, but that is not certain. Critically, that agreement does not contain the reforms and guardrails needed in ICE and CBP.

In fact, Republicans are looking at including several issues in a reconciliation bill (or bills) that clearly only have the support of a minority of voters, including

• Billions for the war in Iran;

• Providing funding for all of DHS for up to 3 years without immigration reform/guardrails;

• Some SAVE Act provisions—perhaps funding for states to adopt ID requirements (what amounts to a poll tax to vote);

• Addressing what they are calling widespread “fraud” in means-tested basic needs programs—in other words, they will be taking more funding from SNAP, etc. to pay for the bill; and

• Providing money for farmers but not addressing the harm done to the SNAP program in the Big Ugly Bill.

Stay tuned to see how all of this resolves and how it will impact the midterm elections.

In the meantime, learn more about how we’re fighting against the SAVE Act and how you can contact your members of Congress to protect access to the ballot.

Maybe it’s walking into the career fair and watching someone shake a recruiter’s hand with the kind of quiet confidence that comes from a fresh headshot, a mock interview, and the knowledge that someone in this building actually has their back. The deep sigh of relief when you hear a speaker say something you’ve been turning over in your mind for months. Or on the dancefloor at Urban League Live, when the music kicks in, and 15,000 people remember that joy is also part of the work.

There’s a woman behind the magic, and her name is Rhonda Spears Bell.

The Making of a Movement Gathering

As the National Urban League’s Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, and executive producer of the conference itself, Rhonda Spears Bell has spent more than a decade transforming what was already the nation’s largest civil rights gathering into something more: a homecoming.

Her path to this role has roots in the places that shaped her, including Clark Atlanta University, the City of New Orleans communications office under then-Mayor Marc H. Morial, and the United States Conference of Mayors. By the time she followed Morial’s vision to the National Urban League, she had already built a career around the idea that how you tell a story changes what that story can do in the world.

Over the years, she’s expanded the programming footprint, sharpened the conference’s identity, and deepened its ability to meet people exactly where they are. It has grown to become, at once, a policy summit, a professional development engine, a cultural celebration, and something much harder to quantify. In this place, Black America and our partners can be vulnerable, honest, and strategize with each other before going back out to do the hardest work in the country.

More Than a Conference. A Reunion.

There’s a reason people come back year after year. The National Urban League Conference is not a trade show or a rally; it’s a family meeting. The kind where you don’t have to explain where you’ve been, because everyone in the room already knows.

Our goal is for you to leave recharged and reminded that the affiliate director in Cleveland, the policy advocate in Atlanta, and the young professional in Houston are all fighting the same fight, just in different ZIP codes.

Rhonda has made fostering that sense of community and nurturing those connections part of the conference experience.

Under her leadership, the conference has developed an increasingly sharp eye for the gap between what partners put their name on and what they actually put into the communities we serve. When corporations show up at the NUL conference, she has worked to ensure they are not just slapping logos on sessions but showing up as partners in the fullest sense, shaping resumes, taking headshots, conducting mock interviews, and helping attendees land life-changing jobs at the career and networking fair. The conference floor becomes, quite literally, a site of transformation.

Honoring the Women Who Move Us Forward

No element of the conference better reflects Rhonda’s editorial vision than the Women of Power Awards.

Held as part of the annual conference, the Women of Power Awards recognize women leaders whose work advances communities toward greatness across civil rights, corporate America, the arts, journalism, politics, and public life. Past honorees have included names like Tamron Hall, Susan Rice, Laila Ali, and vaccine scientist Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett. At the 2024 conference in New Orleans, the awards luncheon marked the 20th anniversary of recognizing Black Miss Americas, a tribute to the women who broke barriers that once seemed unbreakable.

These awards remind us that women are not a footnote to this movement, but its architecture.

Nashville, 2026: Coming Home at 250

This July, the movement comes to Nashville. From July 29 through August 1 at the Omni Nashville Hotel and Music City Center, the National Urban League will convene its 2026 Annual Conference, and the gathering carries more weight than most.

It arrives in the middle of a national conversation about what America actually means at 250 years old. It arrives alongside the 50th edition of the State of Black America® report, which asks plainly: Is the American Dream dead? It arrives at a moment when the communities we serve are navigating economic uncertainty, threats to voting rights, and the erosion of hard-won protections, and doing it, as always, without waiting for permission to persist.

Rhonda has built the conference over the years to be exactly for this kind of moment. A place serious enough to hold the weight of everything and warm enough to remind you why the weight is worth bearing.

There will be hard conversations in Nashville. There will be policy and strategy, and the kind of honest accounting that happens when you stop performing for anyone outside the room. There will also be music, laughter, and the electric feeling that comes from 15,000 people choosing together to believe that the work is worth doing.

If you walk through the day feeling something existential about this year, yearn to make a difference, or are simply searching for a safe place to check out of anxiety and check in to empowerment, join us in Nashville.

Register for the 2026 National Urban League Annual Conference today at conference.iamempowered.com

They were born into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Their earliest memory of politics was the 2016 election, when they heard a Presidential candidate jubilantly say, “Grab ‘em by the p****” and win the White House anyway. They finished elementary school watching students’ lives be lost in Parkland, Florida. And by the time they entered middle school, they were separated from their friends and family during the COVID-19 pandemic and forced to learn online. At the same time, political rhetoric and conspiracy theories flooded the internet.

As an organization committed to fighting for equity for Black and marginalized communities, we also recognize the weight of the 2010s on the people we serve every day.

The disproportionate impact of the financial crisis on Black homeownership. Families who had to explain to their children the dangers of being Black in America after the murders of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. And a Black Lives Matter movement that pushed a generation of young people to fight for equity in schools and workplaces across the country.

The fruit of that led to a racial reckoning across America during the pandemic after the murder of George Floyd.

That same year, we launched a capstone voter engagement, education, and registration campaign, Reclaim Your Vote.

For the past four election cycles, we’ve knocked on doors, cut through the online noise, and mobilized people across the country to channel their frustrations into their votes. This November, we are showing up for our communities again, at a time when it’s needed more than ever.

Showing Up in the Face of Growing Backlash

When COVID-19 upended the 2020 election cycle, the campaign adapted quickly to push early voting and mail-in ballots. We reached millions of Americans and registered tens of thousands of voters through digital outreach, phone banking, and peer-to-peer texting.

Then came the backlash.

After the 2020 election, election deniers began a coordinated effort to suppress the voices of voters in our community. Across the country, polling places have closed in communities of color. Voter rolls have been aggressively purged. Strict voter ID laws and restrictions on early voting continue to make it harder for many Americans to participate.

At the same time, younger voters and first-time voters face a different challenge. Many want to participate, but they lack the information, resources, or encouragement needed to take that first step.

As a response, we’ve ramped up voter education to combat disinformation, with a particular focus on voters ages 18 to 40, who have historically had lower participation rates. We also made it a point to target states where Black voter participation has historically played a decisive role in national elections.

The Impact in 2024

During the 2024 election cycle, Reclaim Your Vote organizers and volunteers made more than 1.3 million voter contact attempts. They knocked on nearly 250,000 doors, sent over 1,000,000 text messages, and made more than 58,000 phone calls. Community organizers hosted 143 voter engagement events and recruited hundreds of poll workers.

In cities such as Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Charlotte, Urban League affiliates hosted voter registration drives, early-voting rallies, debate watch parties, and community education events. They partnered with faith organizations, historically Black colleges and universities, and grassroots groups to reach voters where they live and work.

The goal was simple. Help people make a plan to vote.

Mobilizing the Marginalized

Reclaim Your Vote also focuses on reaching communities that have historically been left out of the democratic process.

Across the United States, hundreds of thousands of people held in local jails still retain the legal right to vote because they are awaiting trial or serving misdemeanor sentences. Because Black Americans are disproportionately represented in local jails, these barriers have an outsized impact on political participation in our communities.

We’ve worked with local officials and community partners to provide voter education and registration resources to eligible individuals in detention facilities while also advocating for policies that make voting more accessible for incarcerated voters.

Reclaiming the Vote

Every generation faces its own test of democracy. Our ancestors marched, fought, and died for the right to be heard. And believe it or not, after the murders of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the assassination of President Kennedy, and yes, a recession younger than some of our parents back in the 1970s, many of us felt the same way you may feel now. Helpless, tired, and that feeling of “it doesn’t matter anyway.”

But it does.

Out of that same frustration came new art forms like Hip-Hop and media that told our stories and changed the landscape of America. In the 90s, a city rioted to resist racist police, and men joined arms and marched on Washington to remind our government of who we are and what we deserve from this country. It wasn’t long after that that this country elected a community organizer raised in that same era as the first Black President.

Civic engagement does not begin and end on Election Day.

There are many ways to help strengthen democracy in your community.

You can volunteer with your local Urban League affiliate to help register voters, canvass neighborhoods, or participate in phone and text banking efforts. You can serve as a poll worker and help ensure elections run smoothly. You can help friends and family check their voter registration status and make a plan to vote.

And we will be there with you every step of the way. Fighting to ensure that every eligible voter has the opportunity, the information, and the encouragement to participate.

That is the work of Reclaim Your Vote. And that work continues.

Learn more at reclaimyourvote.org

The headline on the front page of the New York Times, 61 years ago this week, read, “Alabama police use gas and clubs to rout Negroes.

The eighth paragraph: “John Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was among the injured. He was admitted to the Good Samaritan Hospital with a possible skull fracture.”

The Selma Voting Rights Campaign had been going on for more than nine weeks at that point. Day after day, Black citizens tried to enter the Dallas County Courthouse to register to vote. Day after day, Sheriff Jim Clark and his deputies blocked their path. Hundreds were arrested, and many were beaten. But the campaign had, so far, failed to attract the widespread sympathy of the nation.

“The world doesn’t know this happened because you didn’t photograph it,” Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., told Life magazine’s Flip Schulke, who’d put down his camera to assist a child who’d been knocked to the ground. “I’m not being cold-blooded about it, but it is so much more important for you to take a picture of us getting beaten up than for you to be another person joining in the fray.”

On March 7, 1965, photographers and network television captured the violence on the Edmund Pettus Bridge and changed the course of American history.

At 9:30 p.m., ABC interrupted the broadcast of Judgment at Nuremberg, an acclaimed 1961 film that explores Germans’ individual and collective responsibility for the Holocaust, to show the brutal footage.

“The juxtaposition struck like psychological lightning in American homes,” journalists Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff wrote in The Race Beat, an account of the role newspapers and television played in the Civil Rights Movement.

Photographs of an unconscious Amelia Boynton – one showing a trooper wielding a billy club above her, another with a fellow marcher trying to lift her off the ground -- were splashed across the front pages of newspapers and magazine covers not just in the United States but around the world.

On March 9, President Lyndon Johnson released a statement “deploring the brutality with which a number of Negro citizens of Alabama were treated when they sought to dramatize their deep and sincere interest in attaining the precious right to vote.”

On March 15, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was introduced in the U.S. Senate, jointly sponsored by majority leader Mike Mansfield, a Democrat, and minority leader Everett Dirksen, a Republican. President Johnson signed it on August 6, with Lewis, King, Rosa Parks, and other civil rights leaders standing alongside him.

For decades, the Voting Rights Act enjoyed the full support of both parties. But around the moment Black voting rates started to reach parity with white rates, the Supreme Court in 2013 gutted the Act to remove a provision that voting changes in states with a history of suppression must be approved by the Justice Department. Subsequent Supreme Court decisions have further weakened the Act, and states have rushed to enact racially-motivated restrictions on voting.

Last year, Rep. Terri Sewell – whose district includes Selma -- reintroduced the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Among other provisions, the legislation would require federal review of specific voting practices known to discriminate against voters of color and restore voters’ ability to challenge racial discrimination in court.

When urging Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act in 1965, President Johnson said, “Rarely, at any time, does an issue lay bare the secret heart of America itself. Rarely are we met with a challenge, not to our growth or abundance, our welfare or security, but to the values and the purpose and meaning of our nation.”

Sixty-one years later, we face that challenge once again.

“We’ve got to have people who believe that education belongs to everybody. The future is education for our kids, starting early. Let them know about Blacks who made history and did it from their own belief in themselves, and belief in that we have to make a change.” - Dr. Norman C. Francis

There are times in history when we are called to meet the moment. During the Civil Rights Movement, the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. dimmed a lot in the eyes of many who had exalted him for courage in the face of violence and racism. For Dr. Norman C. Francis, who began his presidency at Xavier University of Louisiana on the day of Dr. King’s assassination, it was a call to build something greater.

It was a call he answered for nearly five decades.

Dr. Francis did not simply lead a university; he opened doors to higher education and professional advancement that were systematically closed to Black Americans. He widened them and then insisted they remain open.

Under his leadership, Xavier became a national model of excellence, particularly in science and pre-medical education, producing generations of doctors, pharmacists, and scientists who now serve communities across this nation.

But the impact of that work cannot be measured solely in numbers or rankings. Dr. Francis understood something fundamental: health equity is not a niche issue. It is a national imperative. By investing in STEM education long before it was fashionable and by building world-class programs at a historically Black university, he not only expanded opportunities for Black students but also strengthened America’s health infrastructure.

The physicians trained at Xavier treat patients of every race, in rural towns and urban centers, in community clinics and major hospitals. The path he paved has improved outcomes not just for one community, but for all Americans.

That clarity of vision did not emerge by accident. Raised in a segregated New Orleans, educated in Catholic schools, and formed by service in the U.S. Army and at Loyola University Law School, Dr. Francis understood both the cruelty of exclusion and the power of institutions to transform lives. He chose education as his battlefield and excellence as his strategy. He believed deeply that when you prepare people to lead in medicine, science, business, and civic life, you are advancing justice in its most practical form.

He also understood that leadership requires steadiness. For nearly half a century at the helm of Xavier, through economic downturns and the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, he modeled disciplined, values-driven stewardship. His singular intellect and devotion to service were matched by humility and humanity.

Today, as we face an adversarial government and renewed threats to equity, opportunity, and truth itself, Dr. Francis’s example feels less like history and more like instruction. We are once again called to meet the moment. The forces that would roll back progress are organized and emboldened.

As this administration and its supporters continue their assault on access to health care, voting rights, educational opportunity, and economic mobility, we need courage. We need leaders who understand that building institutions is one of the most powerful forms of resistance.

Dr. Francis showed us what that looks like.

He demonstrated that fighting for equity does not always mean shouting the loudest. Sometimes it means preparing the next generation so thoroughly that they cannot be denied. Sometimes it means constructing pipelines where none existed. Sometimes it means holding steady when others falter.

The Urban League movement honors Dr. Norman C. Francis not only for what he accomplished but for how he accomplished it, with integrity, foresight, and an unwavering commitment to service. As the National Urban League rightly observed, his impact will resonate for generations.

That resonance is our responsibility now.

We will honor his legacy the only way that truly matters: by fighting for what is right. By defending access to quality education. By advancing health equity. By insisting that opportunity in this country is not the privilege of a few, but the birthright of all.

Dr. Francis answered the call on one of the darkest days in modern American history and spent a lifetime building light. In this moment of challenge and uncertainty, may we find the courage to do the same.

For more than six decades, Rev. Jackson stood at the center of the struggle for civil rights, economic justice, voting rights, peace, and human dignity. As a teenage protégé of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he bore witness to history at its most triumphant and its most tragic, including the assassination of Dr. King in 1968. In the aftermath of that unspeakable loss, when many wondered whether the movement could endure, Jesse Jackson’s voice thundered forth—undaunted, unapologetic, and unwavering—carrying the clarion call for justice into a new generation.

Rev. Jackson’s tireless advocacy reshaped America’s moral and political landscape. Through the founding of People United to Serve Humanity—Operation PUSH—in 1971, and later the Rainbow Coalition, he created enduring institutions dedicated to economic empowerment, corporate accountability, and multicultural coalition-building. The Rainbow PUSH Coalition became a blueprint for inclusive democracy, proving that progress is forged not in isolation, but through unity across race, class, faith, and geography.

“The National Urban League and Rainbow PUSH Coalition have long shared a common mission and a deep bond of purpose. Together, we have fought to expand opportunity, dismantle systemic barriers, and ensure that African Americans and other marginalized communities have a fair shot at the American Dream,” said Morial. “Jesse Jackson understood, as we do, that elected office is not merely a seat of power, but a platform to advance justice and improve lives.”

His historic presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988 were watershed moments in American politics. They were not symbolic gestures—they were transformative movements that expanded the electorate, elevated progressive ideas, and shattered long-standing barriers. I was proud to serve as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in both years and to cast my vote for Jesse Jackson.

“His 1984 keynote address, calling on our nation to 'feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, teach the illiterate, and provide jobs for the jobless,' inspired a generation of leaders, including myself, and continues to resonate today,” said Morial.

By finishing third in 1984 and second in 1988, Rev. Jackson laid the groundwork for future leaders and future victories, helping to make possible what once seemed unimaginable. His impact is woven into the fabric of American democracy.

Of the generation that took up the mantle directly from Dr. King, Jesse Jackson stood among the last standard-bearers, relentless in his pursuit of justice, fearless in speaking truth to power, and resolute in his belief that America could be better than it was. He created what he often called “productive tension,” forcing the nation to confront its conscience and act.

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. was more than a civil rights leader. He was a mentor, a movement builder, a coalition maker, and a moral compass for our nation. His legacy lives on in the millions he inspired, the institutions he built, and the doors he helped open for generations to come.

On behalf of the National Urban League, we extend our deepest condolences to the Jackson family, to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and to all who were touched by his extraordinary life. As we honor his memory, let us recommit ourselves to the unfinished work he so powerfully advanced

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When Claudette Colvin died this month, too many Americans learned her name for the first time in an obituary.

That alone is an indictment.

At 15 years old, nine months before Rosa Parks, Colvin refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. She was arrested, handcuffed, and taken to jail for insisting she had the same right to sit in public as anyone else. And when the movement took its case to federal court, Colvin was one of the young women who put their lives on the line as plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the case that ended bus segregation.

But history has a cruel habit. It elevates the version of a story that is easiest to package, easiest to teach, easiest to celebrate, while pushing the rest into the margins.

That is why Colvin’s passing lands as more than a sad headline. It is a warning.

Because while we mourn one civil rights icon whose contributions were too often minimized, we are also watching something more deliberate unfold: the active removal of public memory meant to tell the full American story. In Philadelphia, the National Park Service removed slavery-related exhibits at the President’s House site, an installation that honored the nine enslaved people George Washington held there and confronted the contradiction at the nation’s founding.

This is what erasure looks like in real time. Not only forgetting the past, but stripping away the tools that help the public remember it.

It is happening alongside other symbolic ruptures. President Trump initially declined to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day with the traditional proclamation or public recognition, issuing one only after public backlash.

Some will dismiss these moments as politics as usual. But taken together with the administration’s broader push to police how history is told, they point to a deeper project: controlling national memory by narrowing it.

Erasure is not passive. It is a policy choice.

There is a difference between a story fading over time and a story being pulled off the wall.

The actions in Philadelphia were tied to a wider federal directive that framed certain historical narratives as divisive or anti-American. That directive has triggered reviews of interpretation across national parks and museums, including Smithsonian institutions, with pressure to remove or revise material that does not align with a preferred version of American history.

But narrative control is not only about what gets taken down. It is also about what gets rewritten.

Inside the White House itself, official language about the nation’s first Black president has been altered. Descriptive plaques accompanying President Barack Obama’s portrait were revised to reflect a more politicized assessment of his presidency. At the same time, information about prior administrations has quietly disappeared or been rewritten on WhiteHouse.gov, reshaping how recent history is presented to the public.

Just this week, the President posted an AI-generated meme of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes and still refuses to apologize for it.

These are not neutral edits. They are reminders that even the most official spaces of national memory are vulnerable to manipulation.

If that sounds abstract, consider what is at stake in plain terms: whether future visitors, especially children, will be allowed to encounter the honest complexity of our past, or only a curated version that flatters power.

This is why public commemoration matters. Holidays. Museums. Historic markers. School curricula. The naming of buildings and streets. These are not side issues. They are the infrastructure of memory. They teach people what a society values and whose struggles count as part of the national inheritance.

For children in particular, learning an honest history is not about shame or division. It is about belonging. When young people can see themselves in the American story, including its struggles and progress, they are more likely to feel pride in their country and a sense of responsibility for its future. Shielding them from the truth does not protect them. It leaves them unanchored, more vulnerable to fear, misinformation, and the repetition of past injustices. A nation that wants cohesion must first be willing to tell its children the truth.

When that infrastructure is dismantled, the losses compound. Icons vanish not because their lives mattered less, but because fewer people are given the chance to learn them. Truth becomes optional, treated as ideology rather than a baseline for citizenship. Progress gets rewritten, as if it happened effortlessly, without conflict, courage, or sacrifice.

Claudette Colvin’s life shows how easily even the bravest contributions can be sidelined. Today’s removals show how quickly sidelining can become a strategy.

There is another truth worth naming. The public is not asking for this erasure.

Research on public opinion shows that Americans remain broadly aligned with the values that powered the civil rights movement. Urban League research on public support for diversity, equity, and inclusion shows strong majorities continue to support equal opportunity and inclusive approaches that strengthen communities and expand access.

That matters because it means the fight to preserve honest history and honor civil rights icons is not fringe. It is mainstream. It is unifying. And it is deeply American.

If we do not want Colvin’s story, and countless others, to vanish, commemoration must be treated as action, not sentiment. That means protecting public history from political purges, expanding whose stories are told, investing in museums and archives that preserve living memory, and naming the pattern when history is stripped away under the guise of unity.

We do not build a stronger country by hiding its scars. We make it by telling the truth about how we got here and who paid the price.

Claudette Colvin is gone, but her courage remains. The question is whether we will preserve the places, texts, and teachings that allow the next generation to meet her where she stood, certain of her dignity and unafraid to claim it.

Because when we allow civil rights icons to be erased, we do not just lose history.

We lose the roadmap.

Go Tell It On the Mountain.

Failure to acknowledge the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday by the White House in 2026

There’s a throughline between the decision to ban each of these timeless classics from our schools and the decision to ignore a holiday celebrating the most prominent leader in the Civil Rights movement. It sends a message to Black America: your story is no longer welcome here.

And to be clear, when we say our story, we mean the journey from enslavement and Jim Crow to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, which laid the foundation for the America we know today.

We mean the long history of systemic exclusion from equal access to the labor market, colleges and universities, housing, healthcare, and, at one time, even water fountains.

The message that our story had become synonymous with being “un-American” and “anti-white” began as a swift response to the commitments to diversity, equity, & inclusion from institutions and companies after the murder of George Floyd. It quickly grew into a movement led by right-wing influencers and politicians with an agenda to erase the fundamental civil rights that made them possible in the first place.

On day one, this Administration issued a series of executive orders attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion, including Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing, which terminates all diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities across the federal government.

These actions set the tone for a relentless agenda to roll back civil rights and dismantle DEI, triggering a sweeping wave of rollbacks and ushering in a year of sustained federal attacks on America’s diversity and hard-won civil rights protections.

The response from the civil rights community was swift. The National Urban League partnered with the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and Lambda Legal to file National Urban League v. Trump, challenging three anti-equity executive orders from President Trump related to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and transgender people.

When companies retreated from their commitments to equal opportunity and dismantled teams dedicated to diversifying their workforces, we amplified calls for boycotts and buycotts.

And last January, the National Urban League hosted its first Demand Diversity Roundtable. The table of civil and human rights organizations, civic engagement leaders, faith voices, business and economic institutions, media, academic leaders, and democracy partners gathered to devise a strategic response to the unprecedented wave of federal actions targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion across government, the workforce, and public life.

Ahead of our second convening on Thursday, January 22, 2026 (join us virtually), we’d like to share some of our victories since last January.

Expanded Partnership and Commitments

• Launched the Demand Diversity Pledge and campaign to mobilize partners on the ground and build grassroots momentum, securing 422 pledge commitments following the inaugural convening.

• Established a partnership with the Leadership Center for Attorneys General Studies (LCAGS) to advance DEIA efforts, integrating the Demand Diversity Roundtable into LCAGS’ DEIA Working Group and “Liberty, Justice, and Opportunity for All” campaign.

• Met with U.S. House leadership to discuss a joint legislative and advocacy strategy to push back against the Trump administration’s unwarranted attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

• Expanded the Demand Diversity Roundtable’s impact internationally through a trilateral partnership with Canada and Mexico, advancing cross-border collaboration on equity and civil rights. As part of this effort, the National Urban League participated in and presented at the National Conference on Equity and Racial Justice Across Canada, highlighting the Demand Diversity Roundtable model and its role in strengthening democratic institutions.

Lawsuits

• Freedom Network USA v. Trump – Challenging Executive Order 14151, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” and Executive Order 14173, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity”, which had the practical effect of prohibiting Freedom Network USA, the largest non-profit coalition of advocates, service providers, and survivors, from fulfilling its mission to fight human trafficking and protect survivors through equity-driven training and direct services.

• NAACP v. U.S. Department of Education- challenging the enforceability of the Department of Education’s February 14, 2025, Dear Colleague letter, which was sent to all preschool, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational institutions that receive federal financial assistance, asking them to certify that their educational institution no longer uses diversity, equity, or inclusion in training, programming or disciplinary practices. Filed on April 15, 2025, in DC by LDF.

• Chicago Women in Trades v. Trump – Challenging Executive Order 14151, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” and Executive Order 14173, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” Approximately 70 percent of CWIT’s participants identify as Black and Latina women. As a recipient of federal grant programs, CWIT is directly threatened by the recent executive orders, which could eliminate its ability to continue its critical role in expanding economic opportunity and mobility for women. Filed on Feb. 26, 2025, in Illinois by the National Women’s Law Center & Lawyers Committee.

Legislation Endorsed by the National Urban League

• Equity in Government Act (HR 4524) - Introduced by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), this legislation seeks to ensure that federal agencies continue their work to promote equal opportunity for all, including people of color, women, rural communities, individuals with disabilities, and others who have been systemically excluded from participating fully in economic, social, and civic life.

• AI Civil Rights Act (S.3308/HR 6356) – Introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), this comprehensive legislation is designed to prevent companies from using biased, discriminatory AI-powered algorithms in critical decision-making systems.

For the Urban League movement, demanding diversity means standing up for fairness, opportunity, and representation in every space, our workplaces, schools, and communities. It’s about ensuring everyone has a seat at the table and the chance to thrive, regardless of race, background, or identity.

As the administration ramps up its assault on diversity, equity, and inclusion by pressuring our institutions through lawsuits, targeting racial minorities with violent, illegal immigration enforcement, and failing to recognize leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we are building a multipronged coalition to fight back.

Learn more about our fight to protect America’s promise to be a nation of liberty, life, justice, and the pursuit of happiness for all on nul.org and join our next Roundtable on January 22nd.

There is something almost inevitable about the present moment.

Uncertainty and anxieties fill our days and blind our vision of the future like a pall. Reckless decisions made by world leaders leave millions feeling unseen, unheard, and unrepresented. And digital escapism and doomscrolling numb us into submission as we desperately search for connection and community amid unprecedented isolation.

If you’re feeling this, you’re not alone.

When the National Urban League decided to establish a presence on Substack, our goal was to re-establish a connection to the community.

For over a century, we’ve stepped up to serve when policy has failed us and our leaders denied our humanity. We created job programs and demanded that the very country we built with our blood, sweat, and tears provide us with equal opportunities for economic self-reliance and the ability to lead lives of dignity.

We’ve combatted redlining, helping first-time homebuyers establish roots and communities after centuries of being locked out of the American Dream. We’ve created pathways for our young people to reach their educational and professional dreams and fought against health disparities to improve life outcomes.

And at this moment, when technology is transforming the workforce at an unprecedented pace and global conflicts are reshaping the balance of the world, the National Urban League remains committed to demanding diverse participation in the economy of the future, defending our democratic ideals, and defeating poverty at its root everywhere.

This Substack will tell our story. Capture the work we do in the 92 markets, serving cities and urban and rural communities where our affiliate movement serves over 3 million Americans every day.

It will document the times we are living in and provide our readers, partners, and communities that we serve with guidance on how to mitigate harm and resist tyranny and extremism.

It will provide levity in times of heaviness by highlighting our victories and celebrating our culture.

And it will outline our vision for a brighter, freer, and more equitable future.

We invite you to join us on this journey and take this as an opportunity to build community with us. The road ahead may be arduous, but as history shows us, there is no storm we cannot weather and battle we cannot win together.

As a civil rights organization deeply committed to justice, democracy, and international law, the National Urban League strongly condemns the unilateral use of extreme military force against another sovereign nation without authorization from the U.S. Congress and in direct violation of the United Nations Charter. Our Constitution places the power to declare war and approve acts of military engagement squarely in the hands of Congress; bypassing that process undermines both our democratic system and the rule of law.

Such actions violate the UN Charter’s clear prohibition against the threat or use of force, unless sanctioned by the Security Council or taken in lawful self‑defense. By proceeding without either, we set a dangerous precedent that erodes global norms and weakens respect for international institutions.

We must also acknowledge the grave concerns caused by the Maduro regime. Widespread human rights abuses, the radical suppression of dissent, and the devastation of Venezuelan democracy. His actions have inflicted real suffering upon the Venezuelan people and undermined regional stability. Addressing this tyranny is both necessary and urgent—but the means matter as much as the ends.

True leadership calls for a strategy grounded in legitimacy, not lawlessness. We must rally support in Congress, leverage international bodies like the UN, and build a coalition committed to upholding democratic principles, rather than simply resorting to brute force. This approach not only preserves our legal and moral standing but also strengthens the global effort to restore freedom and human dignity in Venezuela.

Read more on nul.org.

Like many of you, we can picture where we were and what we were doing on the morning of January 6, 2021.

In New York, our program teams hit the ground running to expand our work supporting entrepreneurs, job seekers, and aspiring homeowners.

Our education team was preparing to support students in navigating their first in-person school year post-COVID-19.

Our healthcare team strategized with partners on how to safely reopen our businesses almost a year into a pandemic that claimed the lives of over 1 million Americans.

In Washington, our advocacy teams developed a list of policy priorities to advance the needs of the communities we serve over the next four years.

​And across the country, our Urban League affiliates began welcoming clients back through their doors to make good on our commitment to help them build the lives they dream of.

Hours into the same morning, the first reports emerged of a sea of angry, emboldened election deniers brutally attacking Capitol police in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election. Watching videos of rioters carrying Confederate flags proudly through the rotunda as they hunted members of Congress felt like a fever dream.

But this wasn’t an illusion or anachronism from a bygone era; it was an attack that marked the beginning of the largest assault on civil liberties since the Reconstruction era.

This piece is more than a reflection on the morning of January 6. It is the story of how those events reshaped our work for a generation to come.

Raising the Alarm on the Threat to Our Democracy

January 6th shifted the tone of nearly all of our work, including our flagship State of Black America report.

Each year since its inception in 1976 under the leadership of our President emeritus, the late Vernon Jordan, the State of Black America Report has painted a picture of the greatest risks facing African Americans and of our progress in this country.

For decades, it has unearthed research and analyzed economic data, health trends, and educational outcomes, frequently overlooked and underrepresented in the story of American exceptionalism.

After the assault on the Capitol, the focus on that storytelling pivoted from addressing the historic disparities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to examining the fragility of our Democracy.

Our research found that the violence we witnessed on January 6th was not a spontaneous or isolated event. It was the culmination of years of far-right extremism brewing in corners of the dark web that contaminated lesson plans in our schools, corrupted elected officials, and infiltrated the culture and practices of law enforcement.

But with contributions from members of Congress, civil rights groups, and policy analysts who stood by our side to raise the alarm about these threats, we also identified a critical opening: the chance to confront extremism through advocacy and policy solutions.

Accountability in the Aftermath

In the months that followed the attack on the Capitol, ​our President and CEO, Marc H. Morial, went on to testify before Congress, demanding action to stop the spread of the rhetoric that continued to divide our country and threaten our Democracy. He also called out the growing threat the communities we serve face from racism and unconscious bias in law enforcement.

In response, the Urban League created 21 Pillars for Redefining Public Safety and Restoring Community Trust, a comprehensive framework to reimagine public safety and rebuild trust between communities and institutions. The plan was informed by the six pillars of 21st Century Policing, developed under a Task Force created by President Obama, which guides modern law enforcement reforms toward community-focused practices.

Our Washington Bureau also worked with members of Congress to fight for the passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act; two pieces of legislation we stand behind to this day.

Fighting Back Against Election Denialism and Voter Suppression

While the attack on the Capitol was the most brazen attempt to suppress the vote, the assault on our Democracy accelerated in its wake.

​According to the Brennan Center, between 2021 and 2022, lawmakers have passed at least 42 restrictive voting laws in 21 states. As of October 2025, suppression continued, with only 25 states enacting laws that make voting easier, the lowest total in the last five years. In the same five-year period, election deniers, including individuals connected to the January 6 Insurrection, successfully sought and won public office. ​

We recognize that protecting our Democracy requires educating voters about what’s at stake when we don’t vote.

We pushed back against this by galvanizing a massive get-out-the-vote campaign called Reclaim Your Vote. In the last five years, we’ve knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors, made millions of calls, and registered tens of thousands through our affiliate movement.

But the work is far from over.

​Ahead of the 2026 midterms, we’re already seeing more aggressive attempts to block the ballot box, including gerrymandering, purging of voter rolls, the appointment of election deniers to federal office, and a Supreme Court challenge to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

As a response, we are mobilizing.

We’re expanding our coalition building with other civil rights groups through work like our Demand Diversity Roundtable. We’re leading state-level criminal justice reform and restoring voting rights to formerly incarcerated people to expand voting rights. And we’re preparing our affiliate movement for an even larger get-out-the-vote campaign in one of the most consequential midterm elections in a generation.

The Road Ahead

This fight won’t be won in a single court decision or change in administration; it’s a generational fight against a movement determined to take America back to a time when freedom was determined by class and skin color.

​Our mission to empower Black and other underserved communities with the tools, resources, and civil rights to build self-reliance will not falter.

We enter this new year committed to this fight and to educating and protecting the most vulnerable among us.

And we invite you to meet us at our Annual Conference in Nashville (July 29 – August 1, 2026), join and support your local Urban League affiliate, engage with us on Substack and our other social media channels at @naturbanleague to understand what we’re up against, how we’re fighting to protect our communities, and ways you can take a stand in the fight for our future.