A war has been declared in this country. The fight isn’t just for diversity, equity and inclusion or for fair economic and criminal justice practices. It’s for the soul of America. It’s to determine which of us will have an opportunity not to prosper, but merely to survive in a future clouded with uncertainty at every turn.

It’s for the fundamental right of Americans to protect themselves against predatory corporate practices, destructive environmental policies and state-sanctioned violence by vigilantes and uniformed officers alike. And it’s for the right etched in the very fabric of what it means to be an American — the right to vote in a fair and free democracy where every vote is counted and every vote matters.

That is the war brought to the feet of every American and the doorstep of the civil rights community at the start of this year. It’s the war being waged in courtrooms across the country, from local jurisdictions to the Supreme Court.

It is no secret that we are in a state of emergency. The hard- fought victories of the civil rights movement, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, equal employment opportunity laws and the establishment of the Department of Education, are being systematically dismantled.

But as we stated in our D3 framework, we doubled down on our advocacy on Capitol Hill and at the White House, and moralized in the 49th edition of the State of Black America report, State of Emergency: Democracy, Civil Rights and Progress Under Attack, the National Urban League movement is not backing down.

We are defeating poverty through every program offered by our affiliates. We’re defeating poverty through the work of our Equitable Justice and Strategic Initiatives division to correct a discriminatory and punitive system that keeps our people economically and civically disadvantaged and causes our communities irreparable trauma.

We are defending our democracy through every action taken by our Washington bureau to hold elected officials accountable for their actions and inactions in this moment. We are demanding diversity through the collaborative work of our Demand Diversity Roundtable and by suing this administration for an outright racist executive order that is undermining our democracy, eroding trust in our systems and dismantling our government.

For the Urban League movement, this state of emergency and scourge on our nation and community is a call to action. 

This week at our national conference in Cleveland, we convened affiliate leaders, community advocates and thought leaders from across the country with one mission and a unified message: We are not backing down.

We shared economic strategies to equip our communities and partners with the tools needed to help navigate an employment landscape that has become increasingly hostile toward people of color, especially Black women. We provided support and training for entrepreneurs and small-business owners to thrive in the face of changing economic headwinds.

We invested in our young people at our annual youth summit as a reminder that even in a state of emergency, their dreams and ambitions are worth investing in and fighting for. We developed civic engagement action plans to prepare our communities for the 2026 midterm elections and support grassroots and civic engagement groups with the resources they need to fight back against rapidly expanding discriminatory voting laws.

We are taking the time to recognize every single person in this fight, thanking them for their contributions and reminding them why we do this work. 

The Urban League movement is banding together to weather the storms to come, fight for our freedoms and democracy in the face of tyranny, and equip our leaders every day to build a nation that reflects its values and its citizens.

The writer is a former mayor of New Orleans and president of the National Urban League.