Promote racial justice continues 5 years after George Floyd’s murder
WASHINGTON: Shareeduh McGee is fighting to maintain the memory of her cousin George Floyd to life. Millions took to streets throughout the world to protest the cops murder of Floyd, a Black Minneapolis guy that gasped “I can not breathe,” soon prior to passing away after an officer stooped on his neck for numerous minutes in Might 2020. His appeal came to be a rally cry for the protest activity, which required authorities accountability and racial justice. Firms pledged significant amounts of money towards addressing systemic discrimination. And discussions concerning structural racism were thrust into the limelight. Yet, exactly 5 years after Floyd’s murder, the nation has seen a drastic reversal of support for racial equity efforts. Commitments made by company America and the government have been called back or eliminated. Variety, equity and inclusion plans and programs remain in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s administration. Several of these rollbacks precede his Oval Office return.
Floyd’s murder “was an ultimate sacrifice, and I believe if you don’t develop possibilities for individuals to learn from it, if we don’t have adjustments that take place due to that significant loss, after that it was in vain. His death was in vain,” McGee claimed at a Houston occasion Thursday memorializing Floyd’s life, adding she’s disappointed however not stunned by the rollbacks and the Department of Justice’s decision to drop oversight spurred by Floyd and the police murders of various other Black Americans. Supporters say the nationwide promote racial justice has proceeded despite the lack of significant reform. However, they recognize the road ahead is tough, characterizing it as an intense reaction to diversity efforts and civil rights.
“( George Floyd) was an understanding by many across the country that this open murder was something that was not just terrible but it brought cycle the inquiry of the treatment of Black individuals, particularly Black men, in this nation,” claimed NAACP President Derrick Johnson. “Yet the opposite of that story exists is an unfavorable fatigue in this country.” Professionals state periods of backlash aren’t new. Throughout American history, including after the civil rights movement, the country has experienced periods of “racial exhaustion” or bitterness after progress was made towards securing civil rights for marginalized groups.
“To see the downfall of a beginning of a racial reckoning in less than five years, when it took 12 years and numerous national elections to obtain us to the Jim Crow era, the low point of Black national politics after Reconstruction, it moved really swiftly this time,” claimed Nadia Brown, a Georgetown professor of government and chair of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. “Five years later, I believe that sense of optimism is gone.” A May 7 Pew Research Center study found that 72 percent of adults in 2025 said the focus on racial inequality did not bring about change that helped Black Americans. It also found that 67 percent of Black Americans felt skeptical the country would ever achieve racial equality. “There’s been growing doubt in the last five years,” said Juliana Horowitz, co-author of the report and Pew Research’s senior associate director of research.
Discussion in corporate America Americans remain split about the value of companies making statements regarding politics or social issues, according to Pew’s report, after a number of companies have either scrapped their DEI plans altogether or continued to quietly support them. Rev. Al Sharpton, who delivered Floyd’s funeral eulogy and marked the anniversary with Floyd’s family Sunday in Houston, is in the midst of organizing a major August march Wall Street. “We can hold the economic sector accountable because they cannot afford the withdrawal of our dollars,” said Sharpton, the founder of National Action Network, who has met with a number of corporate CEOs urging them to reverse their DEI rollbacks or maintain their policies.
Civil rights advocates have called on corporations to increase minority leadership representation and invest in underserved communities. Kevin McGary, a conservative and founder of Texas-based nonprofit Every Black Life Matters, said after Floyd’s murder, some companies were under pressure to make commitments to advance equity in hiring practices. While civil rights advocates say DEI ensures qualified minority candidates have equal opportunities, McGary and other critics have labeled the efforts as not being merit-based, “everyone should be pressed to have an excellent standard,” he said.
Movement ‘at a crossroads’ Some have questioned the impact of the Black Lives Matter protests amid a lack of sweeping reforms. Yet experts told Reuters the movement shifted the national conversation and the narrative. It changed “Americans’ vision of Black people and to look at things through a systemic lens of understanding how race and racism operate in the USA,” Brown said. — Reuters
