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“LIKE A PENDULUM”: HOW AMERICA’S RACIAL RECKONING UNRAVELED  
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Delano Massey , Russell Contreras , Zachary Basu
May 22, 2025
Axios
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_ In the five years since Floyd's death, dozens of cities and states
have passed bans on no-knock warrants, expanded crisis response teams
and introduced civilian review boards — wins drowned out by public
fatigue. _

Black Lives Matter protesters march outside the Pennsylvania State
Capitol on Sunday, June 7, 2020, (Capital-Star photo).

 

The America that marched for George Floyd
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years ago is gone, buried beneath a backlash that has hardened —
for now — into a new political and cultural order.

WHY IT MATTERS: Floyd's murder by a Minneapolis police
officer shocked the national conscience
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But what looked like historic momentum
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racial justice has collapsed — eclipsed by a reactionary movement
backed by the full force of the U.S. government.

* Still, activists aren't giving up
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They're recharging and refocusing their efforts — shifting from mass
protest to defending what remains, and planting the seeds for what's
next.
* The fight has moved from the streets to the margins: In
courtrooms, classrooms and city councils, a quieter form of resistance
is taking shape — often out of the spotlight, but no less
determined.

ZOOM IN: Civil rights groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center,
Urban League, and NAACP are investing in long-term infrastructure —
working to build durable political power and economic resilience in
Black communities.

* Angela Rye, a political strategist and former adviser to the
Congressional Black Caucus, is leading a 12-city "State of the People
Power"
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by over 200 local and national partners.
* Rev. Jamal Bryant's boycott of Target over its rollback of DEI
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— which dented the retailer's Q1 sales
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shows how economic pressure is becoming a central tool of resistance.
* Selwyn Jones, George Floyd's uncle and co-founder of the Justice
929 Organization [[link removed]], is launching the MYTH app
this summer to help record police interactions and alert emergency
contacts in real time.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: "Progress isn't a straight line. It swings like
a pendulum," NAACP president Derrick Johnson told Axios.

* "And for some people, especially younger folks, it can feel like
we're going backward. But the truth is we're still perfecting
democracy, and the Black community has always been at the center of
that work."

FLASHBACK: While the killings of Breonna Taylor
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Arbery
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anger and protests in early 2020, it was Floyd's murder on May 25 —
captured on camera and seen around the world — that ignited a global
uprising.

* Statues toppled. Streets filled. Cities pledged reforms. Fortune
500 companies embraced diversity initiatives.
* For a moment, it felt like transformative change was coming.

FIVE YEARS LATER, the pendulum has swung hard in the opposite
direction.

* DEI: On his first day in office, President Trump ordered a
government-wide purge
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DEI programs and offices — the opening salvo in a systemic effort
to dismantle the racial justice agenda that emerged in 2020.
* CIVIL RIGHTS: The Trump administration has moved aggressively
to unravel President Lyndon Johnson's civil rights legacy
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including by reorienting DOJ priorities to focus on "anti-white
racism."
* HISTORY: Trump ordered a federal review
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Confederate monuments toppled during the 2020 protests, targeting what
he called a "concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation's
history."
* POLICE REFORM: Days before the anniversary of Floyd's murder, the
Justice Department scrapped proposed consent decrees for
the Minneapolis and Louisville
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departments — and dropped nearly a dozen other investigations into
alleged police abuse.
* REFUGEE POLICY: The administration has effectively ended most
refugee programs — except for one tailored to white South African
farmers
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justified by Trump's false claims of "white genocide
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ZOOM OUT: The racial justice backlash hasn't been confined to
government.

* Major corporations
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once championed diversity initiatives have slashed DEI staff, removed
racial equity language from mission statements, and dropped even the
appearance of activism.
* Open racism, antisemitism, and white nationalism have flourished
online, with viral incidents — like the cases of Shiloh Hendrix
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Anthony
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fueling toxic tribalism and fundraising.
* Prominent MAGA influencers have even launched a campaign
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convince Trump to pardon Derek Chauvin, the police officer convicted
of murdering Floyd.

THE BIG PICTURE: Advocates, experts and Floyd family members tell
Axios that the 2020 racial reckoning has a mixed legacy, with
victories often overlooked amid today's backlash.

* Most Americans say the heightened focus on race and racial
inequality following Floyd's death
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not_ _lead to improvements for Black Americans, according to a
February survey by the Pew Research Center
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* But civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who has represented the
families of Floyd, Taylor, and countless others in the Black Lives
Matter era, argued there has been incremental progress — especially
in police accountability.

IN THE FIVE YEARS SINCE FLOYD'S DEATH, dozens of cities and states
have passed bans on no-knock warrants, expanded crisis response teams
and introduced civilian review boards — wins drowned out by public
fatigue.

* The NAACP's Johnson acknowledged that fatigue
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but he pushed back against the idea that people have stopped fighting.
* "No one is resting," he stressed. "We've earned the right to
reflect. But we are still organizing, still fighting — because not
only do our lives depend on it, this democracy does too."

* George Floyd
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* Black Lives Matter
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* DEI
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* Racism
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* Trump Administration
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