National Urban League to Biden and Harris: Prioritize Pandemic Control and Economic Stimulus
NEW YORK (November 11, 2020) – In a letter to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial urged them to place top priority on comprehensive economic relief for Americans devastated by the coronavirus epidemic.
“As you assume the Presidency and Vice Presidency, Americans are standing in food lines, missing mortgage and rent payments and trying to keep the lights on,” Morial wrote. “This pandemic has upended their lives. For them, relief now is imperative.”
Morial suggested a two-pronged approach: an immediate stimulus-response package of no less than $3 trillion, as well as a $2 trillion economic recovery and infrastructure package with a
specific emphasis on providing job opportunities for Black and Brown workers who have been battered by the COVID recession and left out of previous relief programs.
Additionally, Morial called for the immediate development of a vaccine distribution plan that targets the communities where the virus has flourished, and a commitment to appoint a slate of cabinet officers and advisors that reflects the nation’s diversity.
“The last four years have seen a dramatic rollback of civil rights protections, a surge in racially motivated hate crimes, a deterioration of trust between police and the communities they serve, and the stark exposure of entrenched health and economic disparities,” Morial wrote.
He suggested a set of fundamental principles on racial justice and equity to guide the Biden Administration’s first 100 days and beyond:
- Fundamentally transform the criminal justice system
- Protect and defend voting rights
- Achieve economic parity for African Americans
- Advance equity in educational opportunities
- Promote a healthier nation by prioritizing testing, treatments, and cures for COVID in communities of color.
“The National Urban League, the nation’s largest and most effective historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization of its kind in the nation stands ready to partner with you in the fight for civil rights, voting rights, fair housing, health care, education, and employment which have always guided our work,” Morial wrote.
Read the letter here.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Teresa Candori
212-558-5362 | tcandori@nul.org