National Urban League's Marc Morial: Coronavirus No Excuse For Abandoning Federal Civil Rights Protections

NEW YORK (March 28, 2020) -- National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial has called for an immediate reversal of a U.S. Labor Department order suspending equal opportunity requirements during the coronavirus crisis.

“It’s appalling that the Trump Administration would exploit a crisis that disproportionately burdens Americans of color in order to further restrict their rights,” Morial said. “It serves absolutely no legitimate purpose and must be reversed at once.”

The U.S. Department of Labor earlier this month said that companies that contract with the federal government to provide coronavirus relief efforts do not have to comply with equal-opportunity requirements.

“It’s well-established that Black and Latino workers are the most likely to be sidelined from their jobs as a result of the coronavirus crisis,” Morial said. “As a result, they need more protection, not less, from the federal government.”

Morial said the move represents an abandonment of the federal government’s traditional duty to safeguard American workers from racial bias.

“If we are to survive this crisis as a nation, we need to pull together and look out for one another,” Morial said. “Pitting people against one another is a recipe for disaster.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:           Teresa Candori
                              (212) 558-5362 | tcandori@nul.org

 

The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities. The National Urban League spearheads the efforts of its 90 local affiliates through the development of programs, public policy research and advocacy, providing direct services that impact and improve the lives of more than 2 million people annually nationwide. Visit www.nul.org and follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @NatUrbanLeague.