Is this a moment or a movement?
Marc Morial, the President and CEO of the National Urban League joined us on Life Style Business on #LPTV the day after he testified before congress on the Justice in Policing Act of 2020. Marc was in a reflective mood after walking through Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington DC the previous evening. The NUL's mission is "to help African-Americans and others in underserved communities achieve their highest true social parity, economic self-reliance, power and civil rights." We were grateful to have him join us with as the media spotlight is shining on the importance of the mission of the organization he leads. This needs to be the "beginning of a movement, not just a moment," he remarked, and this stuck with me throughout the interview. The civil rights movement is as old as America herself, but perhaps we are opening a new chapter that will lead to real change, not just a media moment. We focused the conversation on the need for economic transformation for the African-American community, in Marc's words, helping people access "the system." "During a crisis we can go big." We talked about the turning the crisis into opportunity, not simply settle back into an economy running "on the fumes of 20th century ideas." There is a willingness to create new programs to drive economic equity for African-Americans, and Marc emphasized the need to go big and imagine new programs. We have the capacity to move quickly we are in crisis, we've proved that with the SBA PPP loan program. Could we create a 1% loan program to provide access to capital to business owners of color? We also discussed privilege. It doesn't have to mean being born with a silver spoon in your mouth to have opportunity that many African Americans have not. Two critical moments in life where privilege helps a person create generational wealth happen more frequently for white families. Parents who are able to help you pay for college Parents who are able to help you with a downpayment on a first house. These two moments are ways that generational wealth is passed down to give children a head start on building economic security for their families. Wouldn't it be great if all Americans could afford this. As Marc reflected, there is an "appetite for new ideas" right now. We've always believed that entrepreneurship is the way to create agency and wealth in your life. We're eager to work with the Urban League to bring this model to new cities. We very much enjoyed the conversation and look forward to working together to make sure this is a movement, not just a moment. Marc Morial is a former Mayor of New Orleans, President of the United States Conference of Mayors and Louisiana State Senator. He is known as a giant in American political and civic leadership circles. As president and CEO of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Urban_League (National Urban League), Marc has led the nation’s largest historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization since 2003. He’s here today to talk with us about the work he’s doing to empower black and brown communities in the face of today’s pressing issues around justice, reform, equity and protection of rights.