National Urban League CEO on Minnesota protests: There's a 'renewed awareness' of corporate social responsibility

Protests are escalating in Minnesota over the death of Daunte Wright. National Urban League CEO and President Marc Morial joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss.

Video transcript

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- Welcome back to "Yahoo Finance Live." Minneapolis, St. Paul, and a few surrounding suburbs once again enforced curfews last night in the wake of another police shooting involving a Black motorist. This time, Daunte Wright killed in what was labeled an accidental discharge by police. And it comes as the same community awaits the outcome of the Derek Chauvin trial, the officer facing second and third degree murder charges stemming from the killing of George Floyd less than one year ago.

Those cases and others have been top of mind for a lot of leaders in corporate America and beyond as stance is on civil rights inside the C-suite are increasingly being made clear. And for more on that, I want to bring on Marc Morial, CEO and President of the National Urban League, the nation's largest historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization. Mr. Morial, great to have you on with us. Thanks for taking the time.

MARC MORIAL: Thank you for having me.

- I just kind of want to step back because obviously, it's been an emotional time. But it seems like a sea change really when we talk about corporate leaders finally taking a stance on civil rights. What's been your reaction to seeing that all play out?

MARC MORIAL: Well, thank you for having me. There's been a renewed awareness about the notion of corporate social responsibility and what it means at this point in American history. The killing of George Floyd last summer I think prompted this examination. I think the steps that the Business Roundtable took under Jamie Dimon's leadership to expand its thought that corporate America should be about stakeholder capitalism and stakeholder value and stakeholder advancement, as opposed to only shareholder value and shareholder advancement, which is an element of stakeholder capitalism, has prompted I think many corporate leaders to want, in this moment, to be a voice of reason, a voice of judgment, and a voice of principle.

When you see America's corporate leaders speak out forcefully on an issue of democracy and voting, notwithstanding threats that might come from some elected officials, I think what you're seeing is a new resolve coming from C-suites in America. I welcome it. And I've certainly encouraged it and pushed for it. And I hope we'll see more of it.

- Marc, the fact that we are talking about another police shooting, another protest, right in the middle of Derrick Chauvin's trial. I mean, it feels like a lot of progress hasn't been made, despite the huge movement we saw over the week-- over the summer with Black Lives Matter. When you talk about corporate responsibility, I mean, how much pull do you think companies actually have in setting the dialogue and pushing forward with reform?

MARC MORIAL: I think companies can have an impact. But trust me, when you look at Daunte Wright and you look at this unnecessary killing, and you look at the protest and the outrage, what is missing is substantial public policy change. That's why I'm a strong supporter of the Justice in Policing Act. It's passed the House on two occasions. It has the support of the new president, President Biden.

But the stubbornness in the filibuster in the Senate is in the way of something that the vast majority of American people support. And that is a new federal approach to police accountability, to banning choke holds and no-knock warrants, to requiring there be a database of offensive and bad police officers. What we have to have is policy change.

The state of Maryland took an important step but just last week, which demonstrates that even a state who wants to address this issue can advance progressive public policy. And it was done in Maryland notwithstanding the fact that the governor vetoed. So the governor vetoed the bill in Maryland, and then a supermajority of Maryland's legislators overrode the governor's veto. That, I think, is a demonstration of how strong the interest is and the need is for there to be substantive public policy change at the local level.

Six years ago, we didn't have the proliferation of body cameras. Now, the last two cases-- the Daunte Wright case, as well as the case with the army officer in Virginia-- both were captured, if you will, on video. What does that mean? You and I, the American public, can use their good judgment and good reason to form an opinion as to whether the police tactics were offensive, obnoxious, unconstitutional, whether the use of force was excessive in those cases.

And I think the new awakening is that the public is awake. Corporate America is awake. Politicians and lawmakers must follow and reform policing and re-envision policing.

- Marc, you've got more than 40 states considering some kind of legislation to restrict voting. You had Ken Frazier from Merck, as well as Ken Chenault, formerly with American Express, come out calling on executives to take a stand on this issue. And we have seen reversals from companies like Delta and Coca-Cola. What are the conversations you're having with some of these executives? And what are you advising them to do specifically on the issue of voting rights?

MARC MORIAL: And a great kudos to Ken Chenault and Ken Frazier and many other African American executives who started this effort, which now numbers over 100 companies who've signed strong statements. I think what American business can say is that voting restrictions, voter suppression, is not partisan. It's basic to America. It's what we learn in civics, that unfettered access to the ballot box and the right to vote is something that should be protected without regard to partisanship. And that these steps, coming in the wake of the highest turnout election in American history-- an election in 2020 which for the most part was error free-- just smacks as being punitive, smacks as being a blatant effort to cancel the votes of people of color in places like Georgia, places like Texas, and places like Arizona.

So what business America and their voice can say is, we understand partisanship. This is not partisanship. This is wrong. It's anti-democratic. It's inconsistent with the kind of America we all want to live in.

And that's why it's the voice of corporate America plus the voice of activists. The vast majority of the American people do not support these punitive, blatant voter suppression laws. And we're going to battle them at every turn. And the momentum is building, and people are joining. And I expect more business leaders will step up and speak out on this crucial issue.

- Well, Marc, it's great to have your voice as part of that discussion today. Would love to have you back on the show again. Marc Morial, National Urban League CEO and president.