National Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial speaks during a news conference last year outside the U.S. Capitol. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
For Marc H. Morial — who grew up with Ku Klux Klan threats aimed at his family during the civil rights era — this moment doesn't feel unprecedented. It feels familiar.
"I've seen this movie before," he says. "In the '60s they stood up. In the 2020s, we've got to stand up."
Morial is the former mayor of New Orleans and the current CEO and president of the National Urban League.
Zoom in: Morial says this administration's conviction to pursue what he calls "repressive policies" is not necessarily going to abate.
"It's a moment where people understand that the nation is being damaged, that our future is being taken away, that the American Dream is being stolen, that we're on the brink of tyranny and authoritarianism."