“All Americans are entitled to live with the confidence that the law enforcement officers and agencies in their communities will live up to our Nation’s founding ideals and will protect the rights of all persons. Particularly in African American communities, we must redouble our efforts as a nation to swiftly address instances of misconduct.” — Presidential Executive Order on Safe Policing for Safe Communities, June 16, 2020
None of us can forget the moment we saw the murder of George Floyd unfolding before our very eyes.
The sight of a white officer’s knee squeezing the life from a helpless Black man in handcuff as he begged for mercy shocked the nation – a nation that had already seen police kill at least 17 other unarmed Black people just five months into the year.
I know what I felt at the time, and I’m sure you know how you felt. But let me share the immediate reaction of someone else:
“It should never happen, should never be allowed to happen, a thing like that. I understand the hurt. I understand the pain. The family of George is entitled to justice, and the people of Minnesota are entitled to live in safety … Americans will honor the memory of George and the Floyd family … It’s a horrible, horrible situation.
Those were the words of President Donald Trump.
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, President Trump issued an executive order to reform policing. It included a directive to create a publicly searchable database of substantiated misconduct and excessive force claims against federal police officers. It tightened use-of-force rules, banned chokeholds, and encouraged law enforcement to better address the needs of vulnerable populations.
Five years later, with Trump once again in the Oval Office, that commitment to accountability not only has dried up, but reversed itself with a vengeance. Last month he issued an executive order to “unleash” violent police, and his supporters are urging him to pardon George Floyd’s murderer.
At this critical moment, the nation must ask itself the essential question: Did we seize the moment to build a lasting movement, or did we squander the chance for transformative change?
The National League’s new report, George Floyd Five Years Later: Was It A Moment, Or A Movement? examines the ways in which government, institutions, advocates, and the business community mobilized in the five years since George Floyd’s death to advance policing reform and racial justice.
It also traces the rise of political and cultural backlash that has challenged, and in some cases reversed, that progress.
During the first year after the murder, corporations pledged more than $66 billion to racial justice. These commitments included increased funding for minority-owned businesses, supplier diversity programs, and DEI initiatives. S&P 100 companies grew their U.S. workforce by more than 323,000 in 2021 – and 94% of their new hires were people of color.
But in the backlash that followed, DEI job postings declined 44% from 2022 to 2023. Major companies like Google and Meta cut DEI programs supporting Black talent.
Anti-DEI rhetoric gained traction, and anti-equality activists like Edward Blum mounted successful challenges to racial equity programs.
The second Trump Administration eliminated all DEI initiatives across the federal government on Day One. It rescinded Biden-era executive orders, including those advancing voter registration and equitable Census outreach. It froze all open DOJ civil rights investigations.
It is of the utmost urgency that we rise to defend not only the progress made in the years immediately after George Floyd’s murder, but of the last 60 years.
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. The fight for justice, safety, and dignity is far from over—and the stakes for our democracy could not be higher.
Marc Morial is National Urban League president and CEO