A Conversation with Marc Morial—President of the National Urban League (Part 2)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Still broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. Welcome back
to Civic Cipher. I am your host, Rams's joh To
Ward in the building as well, and we are in
the middle of a fantastic conversation with the one only
the President of the National Urban League, Mark Moreal, and
we will get back to that in just to quick
take a whole lot more fetistick around for But right

(00:20):
now we are going to do something a little special.
We're going to combine our Ebony Excellence along with our
Bob Bob Become a Better Ally feature and tell you
about seven black women who have launched campaigns for the
US Senate in twenty twenty six, which is making a
surge that could shatter long standing representation records. So I

(00:43):
will share from the bin. Only five black women have
ever served in the Senate. Currently, only Angela also Brooks,
the Democrat from Maryland, and Lisa Blunt Rochester, the Democrat
from Delaware, whole Senate seats, making this the first time
two black women have served simultaneously. Even one victory in
twenty twenty six would set a new record, according to

(01:06):
the BN. Among the candidates who could make history in
the Senate is Representative Jasmine Crockett. We've talked a lot
about Hershey is the Democrat from Texas, also a second
term congresswoman and a vocal critic of the Trump administration,
who is challenging Senator John Coryn, the Republican from Texas.
A victory would make Crockett Texas's first ever black US Senator.

(01:27):
In Illinois, both Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, the Democrat and
Republican Robin Kelly, a Democrat sorry and Representative Robin Kelly,
a Democrat, are running for the open seat of retiring
Senator Dick Durbin. Either would become the first black woman
to represent Illinois in the Senate since Carol Moseley Braun,
who left office in nineteen ninety nine. State Representative Pamela Stevenson,

(01:50):
the Democrat from Kentucky, a retired Air Force colonel, is
seeking to succeed retiring Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican. A
win would make Stevenson Kentucky's first black member of Congress.
In Mississippi, Priscilla Williams Till, the Democrat, a social justice
activist and the cousin of Emmett Till, another person we've

(02:12):
mentioned on the show before. She is challenging Senator Cindy
Hyde Smith, the Republican. The state hasn't elected a black
senator since reconstruction in the eighteen seventies, so that obviously
would be special as well. Nikaila Jasmine Thomas, a Democrat,
has launched a bid in Oklahoma against Senator Mark Wayne Mullen,
a Republican. If elected, she would be Oklahoma's first black Senator.

(02:36):
Catherine Fleming Bruce, a Democrat, is seeking South Carolina Sea,
challenging Senator Lindsay Graham, the Republican. With the victory, Bruce
would make history as the first black woman to represent
the state in the Senate. All seven candidates will have
to compete in Democratic primaries, with general elections set for
November twenty sixth. Civil rights and women's advocacy groups are

(02:56):
already mobilizing around fundraising and voter registration hopes of yielding
historic twenty twenty six election results. And so this of
any excellence and baba for what I would imagine would
be obvious reasons. The aveny excellence part, obviously these are
all black women. The baba because you know, if you

(03:17):
feel aligned with the values of any of these women,
and you are in the various states of these women,
then you have an opportunity to support. If you find
yourself aligned with their vision, you can be an ally
to them. I think it is largely understood that the
majority of these women at least are aligned with a

(03:37):
more progressive agenda, and that is typically true of people
that will donate for the ideas that they espouse. And
so it's all there for you. And obviously the names
have been mentioned, so you can check out more at
the various websites. But now it is time to get
back to our conversation with Mark Moria. I want to

(03:58):
ask your opinion on the impact of tariffs on the
country at large and on black business businesses specifically.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Because the the tariff is a sales tax. Okay they
call it a tax.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
It's a form of a tax because it is a
tax on goods that come into the country. It's taxed
at the point of entry into the country, not a
tax like most sales taxes that are imposed at the
point of an end user of final sale. It's a

(04:35):
bit of what in Europe they used to call a
vat value add.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Attacks in any respects it has had an impact for
Black consumers. It will make items that they purchase more
expensive because the importer either has to eat the cost
of the tariff and it eats into their profits or
passing on to the end user who's the consumer. So

(05:00):
it's gonna affect black It's can affect all consumers. Second
way it affects black businesses is if you're a black
business that imports things from anywhere in the world, you
could be importing and tax and a tariffsman imposed on
those countries. It's going to be more expensive for you
to bring those things in and resell them in the

(05:22):
United States. Or if you're a business that relies on
component parts pieces. Suppose you sell belts, but you make
the belts here, but you get the buckles someplace else, right,
then it's going to make your product more expensive. And
I think the tariffs are not well thought out by

(05:44):
the Trump economic team because they put, for in one hand,
they put tariffs on foreign automobiles. On the other hand,
they put tariffs on components like aluminum steel that domestic
auto manufacturers have to buy to make cars here in
the United States, therefore impacting the domestic automobile manufacturer that

(06:07):
you thought you were healthy.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
It's nice.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Look this tariff regime that the administration is a man
I call it shoot ready a yeah where I've always
been a believer of a tariff as a tool to
level the playing field in the arena of trade. But
when you run out and you just shot gun tariff

(06:33):
all these countries with a thought that you could leverage
them into deals, we see that's not worked. And what
the administration has been quietly doing over the last sixty
days is eliminating or reducing many of these tariffs because
they know they know now that in many respects, this
is a failed economic policy.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Okay, well, how about this? When Donald Trump says tariffs
are bringing in tons of revenue and Americans are going
to get money from it, and you know that that
sort of thing that he does, how do you respond, it's.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Exactional, one check, one check is not long term economic growth. Okay,
you're basically trying to, you know, bribe the public. They
just gave the farmers twelve billion dollars. Okay, what happens
when that money's gone? Are we going to keep subsidizing

(07:30):
the farmers because of the impact of the tariffs was
at one time. These are not sustainable policies. This is
run shoot from the hip, yeah right, I mean this
is not a sustainable policy. We gave the government gave
our checks in a pandemic because we were in an

(07:53):
health emergency and people were required to stay at home
to keep cod it from being more contagious and killing
even more people. So yeah, with everybody like a check. Okay, fine,
you get a check. What about next year? What about

(08:14):
the year after? Because the only reason you're giving a
check is because your policies are failing. And I thought
you were going to take the COVID money and pay
down the deficit. I mean, not the COVID money, the
tariff money paid down the deficit. Now you say, oh no,
I'm gonna give it back to the American people. I
mean these policies, you know, they just smack of, you know,

(08:37):
a little bit of what I call a pickup game
of basketball. Okay, you kind of make it up as
you go along, saying out the football, huddle, huddle, go out,
go to the tree, take a left, All right, Oops,
you didn't catch the ball. Next time, I want to
go to the garbage can and take a right. It
feels to me. You know, yeah, yeah, you're right. Basketball
is saying a lot of football, Uh just come on,

(08:59):
huddle and draw to play in the same and you know,
sometimes you that's good, but you can't run a whole
season drawing every play in the same sure, and expect
to be a championship team. Yeah, and so I think
the policies have been instinctive. Uh not Cohen. That's why
TARIFFA on, no TARISA off. Negotiations are on. The negotiations

(09:22):
are off, We're gonna have a deal in a week,
and none comes. Yeah, That's what I've heard for most
of twenty twenty five. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
Well again, I think your point is well made. When
you talked about the stimulus checks during COVID, there might
have been maybe two of those, and I do remember
Donald Trump fighting to get his name printed on those.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Biden didn't put his name on it, and it hurt
Biden because everyone remembered the Trump check, not.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
The Anxiety check exactly. And where I was going with
that is, uh, you know, Q and I we talked
about this recently too. Now you mentioned that the president
is trying to send seventeen hundred and seventy six dollars
to you know, military personnel, but that money was also
already approved as like a housing voucher or something like that.

(10:14):
You knows a little bit more about it than I do.
But Trump is simply rebranding that and then connecting it
with tariff revenue, and that way the American people look
at him like, oh, he's doing this great deed. But
I think that the economics that you laid out speak
volumes to the practicality of it. In the first place,
it's a one time payment. It is not a sustainable

(10:38):
life altering adjustment to our economic philosophy, and so well said,
I appreciate you kind of clarifying that, you know, for
our listeners and people that don't follow those things as closely.
I do want to get your thoughts before we part
about DEI, because this is something this is this is

(10:59):
a a fight that has been long fought by you.
In fact, Q and I we take notes from you,
and you know, there's a there's a little bit of
a positive story out there saying that there's a study
that has found that DII is not dead according to
both Republicans and Democrats that were surveyed, And you know,

(11:23):
I just wanted to get your thought.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Let's take a step back, and what is diversity equity
inclusion sure to route is the Civil Rights Act of
nineteen sixty.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
Four right exactly, and.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
Discrimination and employment based on race, creek, color, religion, sex
slash gender, national arts. Diversity, equity and inclusion like affirmative action,
or a set of steps policies undertaken in the public
and private sector to implement the Civil Rights Act in

(11:53):
nineteen hundred and sixty four, and the terminology diversity equity
inclusion is a term of art. What the right has
sought to do is the same thing the right tried
to do in the seventies, and that is to suggest
that when you commit to equal opportunity, you are committing

(12:13):
to a preference program in favor of those that are
historically been locked out, left out. Let me say this
clearly and on ambiguously. It's a damn lie, it's a
misrepreted station, it's a fabrication, and it's a smear campaign.
Well diversity. When you see diversity, equity inclusion, its synonym

(12:33):
is equal opportunity and fairness. And all of this is
about is leveling the playing field so that everyone that
has merit has a chance to apply, to be interviewed
and to get the job and get the promotion, or
to get the business opportunity, or to get the loan.

(12:57):
The effort to miss character diversity equity inclusion has backfired
on its attackers. Case in point, recent public opinion poll
that my team can get for you demonstrates that diversity
equity inclusion d and I have a seventy percent approval

(13:18):
rating must the American people, and that the more vigorous
the attacks are, the stronger the support's become. So we
need I want to make sure you have that poll, yes, please,
because it underscores that loud noise and smoke should not
distract us, that loud noise and smoke does not reflect

(13:43):
the sentiment of the American people. And now, while there
have been many businesses in have pivotal way, there are
also those that have remained committed. And there are also
those that have tweaked but remained committed a year later.
The campaign of intimidation is a campaign by the government
by the administration intimidate universities, intimidate businesses, intimidate nonprofit institutions.

(14:14):
When it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion. It's about fairness.
It's about equal opportunity. That's the synonym. When people here diversity, equity,
and inclusion. They are to understand that what it is
about is the basic principles that this country was founded on.
We hold these troops to be self evident, that all

(14:34):
people creating people, that no one should be treated differently
under the law, and historically we did and people had
no chance. And when you start creating a chance, creating
an opportunity, somehow that's wrong and that's bad. Those that

(14:56):
promote this are playing mind James, twisting logic, twisting the truth,
and twisting words no one wants. It's not about a
preference for anyone, right. And I'll give you an example
of why discrimination is stark and real. There's a case

(15:17):
out there from an African American woman. Let's call her
Cynthia James. And Cynthia James is a black woman at
a LinkedIn page with all of her credentials on a
LinkedIn page, Cynthia decided to change her name to Emily James.

(15:41):
I saw this, yeah, and become a white person with
the same resume she gets thirty times m M, I
saw that. Okay, If that's not an indication.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Of what that's a real story.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah, in America, this is so real. People visually see. Oh,
they visually see and they respect notwithstanding the exact same credentials. Right.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
Well, yeah, that that we covered that on the show.
That's actually not the only version of it, but the
LinkedIn one certainly did make a lot of headlines. So
I appreciate you bringing that up to make that point,
because a lot of people were indeed susceptible to the
notion that diversity, equity and inclusion efforts could harm white men,

(16:33):
which is not what it was intended to do, nor
did that actually result in any mindingful harm.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Yes, if white men had a ninety five percent of
one hundred manager jobs at company A, and five years
later white men have eighty of the jobs, white women
have ten of them, and black and latinos ten of them,

(17:02):
has that white man been discriminated against?

Speaker 1 (17:04):
And that's the point. Your point is well made, exactly,
So I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
And and and sometimes people think just oh or less
qualified they see a See this is where I know
the stereotypes work very very powerfully in American life. And
for many white men, there's.

Speaker 4 (17:23):
A presumption of competence, a presumption of qualifications.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
For many black people, there's a presumption of incompetence, sure, presumption.
You've got to prove to me that you can do
this job. I'm not even going to give you the
benefit of the doubt or shadow of that. Now. I'm
not gonna say. That's why I'm not gonna say. I'm
not gonna I don't. I don't call this out in
every employer or in every corporation. I want people to understand,

(17:51):
that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying if it happens
in one or two employees, that's one or two too many.
We're trying to get. We're going to get to a merrittocracy.
That it's true meritocracy is gonna look like America. Yes,
because there's merit in the white community. There's merit among blacks, men, women,
you know, every community has got merit talent. Uh. And

(18:15):
I meet you know, I tell people, I meet so
many talented people from all backgrounds. And I meet people
who I don't think are talented. Some white, some are black,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
Some women, Well, before we let you go, Uh, you know,
there's there's a lot of people that we interact with,
they they call up, they send us messages, all that
sort of stuff, and they understandably have a very bleak

(18:48):
outlook of in terms of, you know, what the future holds.
You know, the Supreme Court is one of the things
that keeps people from becoming more optimistic or from looking
toward the future. Obviously, the current administration's heavy handed approach
to you know, education, to you know, the economics, to

(19:12):
you know, civil rights, et cetera. There's a lot of
things that people are dealing with. So before we let
you go, what's one piece of advice you would give
to our listeners to keep them, you know, fortified and
in the fight to you know, make the world you
know better for nothing.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
And I what fortifies me is history. Okay.

Speaker 5 (19:37):
You know, our ancestors, fathers, mothers, grandfather's, grandmothers, you know,
led a freedom movement and had no votes. They were
locked out of mainstream America. But they led a fight.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
To create an environment where a civil Rights Act, the
Voting Rights Act, and a fairhousing law and a war
of poverty became a law of the land. And imagine
the difficulty of those times. We cannot give up. We
cannot give in uh, and we have to be inspired

(20:17):
by those that lived before us. Sure, and that's the best.
I mean, it's the only thing that's tangible and real
and understand. Life ain't no crystal stay. Life ain't no party.

(20:38):
These are difficult times. These are tough times, but we've
got to we've got to work and we've got to fight.

Speaker 4 (20:43):
And you know that time was also associated with what
you talked about earlier, and that is where in the
fifties and sixties and seventies people's economics standing no matter what.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
Class they were in roles in America. And I also
think that when people are active and involved in the work,
involved in politics, involved in community affairs, involved in professional association,
you're going to have a lot more affirmation because you're

(21:16):
part of the work to change things. So my appeal
to people is not to be a spectator, not to
be in the grandstand, not to just be an observer
and a watcher. Get yourself involved. Yeah, I like that.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
Well, appreciate you. You're an inspiration. As always, I'm looking
forward to seeing you. I'm hoping on the ground again
at the National Conference National Urban Leaguer.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
If you ought me to mark the twenty second of
January at the National Press Club, the Demand Versity Round
to twenty second at the National Press Club, the Diniversity
round Table is going to have its second meeting, and
so front and center will be all of the issues
we've discussed today.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Okay, all right, well then we will be on the
in attendance. When when you send over the study, make
sure to include that and we're there. It's it's not
a problem at all. Mister President Mark Moreal, the President
CEO of the National Urban League, thank you for your time.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Thank you, God blessing, Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and happy
quantsa Mark, We love you, Love you guys. All right,
take good care. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
We'll see some and that's going to do it for
us here on Civic Cipher. We appreciate you tuning in.
If you want the supplemental materials that are being sent
over by the National Urban League, we will publish them
on our fan base. If you don't have a fan
based account, sign of for fan base. You can find

(22:43):
us at Civic Cipher. You can also find us at
Civic Cipher on all other platforms as well. You can
also find me at Rams's job on fanase, fan base
and elsewhere. Same with you and do us a favor.
Hit the website Civiccipher dot com if you have any questions,
any topics you want us to cover, if you want
to make a donation. The show is absolutely growing with

(23:03):
your support, and we will continue to grow with your
support and continue to bring you conversations like the one
we just had with Mark Moreal. You can also download
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(23:25):
it right here. We appreciate everyone in tuning in and
until next week, y'all. Peace,

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}A Conversation with Marc Morial—President of the National Urban League (Part 2)