On Thursday's edition of CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish interviewed Marc Morial, head of the National Urban League, regarding its publication of a report on the fifth anniversary of the death of George Floyd. Morial claimed that "the loud voices that you hear in opposition [to DEI] are not representative of the majority of the American people." In response, Cornish sympathetically observed: "But they are in control right now in a lot of ways."
That teed up Morial to say, "They are in control, and that's why we've got to activate those of us who believe that equal opportunity is the American value we've got to fight for."
Cornish began the segment by saying the death of Floyd "ignited a firestorm." But the only footage she ran was of protesters merely yelling at Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for his refusal to defund the police -- although he did call for a "full structural revamp."
Cornish failed to display the literal firestorm that rioters unleashed in Minneapolis, as here and here.
She also lamented with Morial that corporations were also ditching DEI:
CORNISH: You also called 2024 the year of reversal of corporate commitments.
MORIAL: Yes!
CORNISH: And you said that it's "opening the floodgates for racist rhetoric to go mainstream, that it's become commonplace for pundits to crudely refer to the acronym of diversity, equity, and inclusion, saying people didn't earn it."
How big a deal is that kind of corporate cultural rollback as it relates to these communities?
MORIAL So, Audie, the corporate cultural rollback is troubling.
Morial misled about the meaning of DEI and of public support for it. He twice described DEI as standing for "equal opportunity." The reality was precisely the opposite.
The 'E' in DEI stands for "equity." Not equality of opportunity but equality of outcome. That's why DEI advocates were outraged by the Trump administration's move to ban "disparate impact liability" -- the theory that any rule that results in different outcomes for a racial or gender group was proof in itself of discrimination.
Morial also claimed that polls show majority public support for DEI. But as this article reveals, such polls deceptively describe the nature of DEI. When Americans are asked "if they would like their company to hire and promote individuals based on race, gender or sexually based categories, 66% of all Americans said no, including 54% of Democrats, 71% of Independents and 76% of Republicans."
Here's the transcript. Click "expand" to read:
CNN This Morning
5/15/25
6:22 am EDTAUDIE CORNISH: You know, it's hard to believe, but it's been nearly five years since George Floyd was murdered by then Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin. Floyd's final moments captured on cell phones, seen around the world, ignited a firestorm.
CLIP OF PROTESTERS YELLING AT MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR JACOB FREY: Go home, Jacob! Go home! Go home, Jacob! Go home!
CORNISH: It also forced a conversation over race, policing, and justice into the national spotlight. Now, the pushback to those changes from those times, it's been swift and furious. There's been deep cuts to diversity programs and some corporate diversity offices are closing altogether.
Many are asking whether those calls for change were a moment or basically a lasting movement. That question is the focus of a new report from the National Urban League. It's called "George Floyd Five Years Later." And joining me now is Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League.
. . .
You also called 2024 the year of reversal of corporate commitments.
MARC MORIAL: Yes!
CORNISH: And you said that it's "opening the floodgates for racist rhetoric to go mainstream, that it's become commonplace for pundits to crudely refer to the acronym of diversity, equity, and inclusion, saying people didn't earn it."
How big a deal is that kind of corporate cultural rollback as it relates to these communities?
MORIAL So, Audie, the corporate cultural rollback is troubling. It's in some ways almost insulting. But I also want to lift up some, a Jamie Dimon, a Roger Goodell, a number of corporate leaders, and there are other companies like Apple and others who've stood up to this attempted assault, like Costco, who stood up to this attempted assault.
So what I find in corporate America is that the retrenchments are troubling because there should be none.
But I also want to highlight those that have said, look, diversity, equity, and inclusion, really equal opportunity, is important for my company, it's important for my customers, and it's important for the nation.
So we can't let the headline be the only story in this moment. This conversation's gonna continue. But the report is designed to say, look, in 2020, we thought that it was a very significant step when people confronted many of these long-term challenges. Now we see retrenchment. Any retrenchment is not good for the long-term health and vitality of this nation.
Let me just say this. 60 to 70% of Americans support diversity, equity, and inclusion. Poll after poll after poll. The loud voices that you hear in opposition are not representative of the majority of the American people. We've got to keep that in mind.
CORNISH: But they are in control right now in a lot of ways, so --
MORIAL They are in control, and that's why we've got to activate those, those of us who believe that equal opportunity is the American value we've got to fight for.
CORNISH: All right. Marc Morial, thank you so much for coming in. Appreciate your time.
