The National Urban League has released a new report examining the progress and setbacks in the fight for racial justice in the five years since George 
Marc Morial
The report, titled "George Floyd Five Years Later: Was it a Moment or a Movement?" traces the trajectory of racial justice initiatives since May 25, 2020, when Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. It details how initial outrage and corporate pledges of more than $66 billion for racial justice programs have faced increasing backlash, culminating in recent executive orders eliminating federal diversity programs.
"History will judge us – not by how we responded in the days after George Floyd's death, but by what we are building five, ten, and twenty years later," said Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League. "The fight for justice, safety, and dignity is far from over—and the stakes for our democracy could not be higher."
The report chronicles how Floyd's murder ignited what it calls "one of the most significant calls for racial justice in generations," with protests spanning from Minneapolis to Madrid demanding police accountability and government action to address systemic inequities.
While the initial response was robust – with corporations, higher education institutions, philanthropy, and nonprofits pledging billions to confront systemic racism – the report documents how commitments have significantly eroded. Data revealed that DEI job postings declined 44% from 2022 to 2023, and major companies like Google and Meta scaled back programs supporting Black talent.
The report details a pattern of progress and regression across several administrations. Under President Biden, the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, led by Kristen Clarke, convicted more than 180 police officers for civil rights violations and investigated 12 police departments. President Biden's executive order on safe policing created a national database to track police misconduct and banned chokeholds for federal officers.
In stark contrast, the report notes that the second Trump administration "eliminated all DEI initiatives across the federal government on Day One" and "froze all open DOJ civil rights investigations."
