Conservative group sues Black Atlanta (The Mecca) VC firm for racial discrimination

[UberEatsDriver]

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Fearless Fund, an Atlanta-based venture capital firm that invests in women of color, has been sued for alleged racial discrimination by a group affiliated with a conservative activist at the center of litigation that led in June to the U.S. Supreme Court striking down affirmative action in college admissions.

In the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Atlanta federal court, the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) alleges that a program awarding $20,000 small business grants to Black women violates the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The complaint says the conservative group “has members who are being excluded from the program because they are the wrong race.” AAER bills itself as a non-profit, membership-based organization “challenging distinctions and preferences based on race and ethnicity.”


Fearless Fund was founded in 2019 by three Black women: entrepreneur Arian Simone, organizational consultant Ayana Parsons and actress/businesswoman Keshia Knight Pulliam, who is best known as Rudy on “The Cosby Show.” Fearless Fund did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, which was first reported by Reuters.

But in an Instagram post Friday afternoon, Fearless Fund said, “We are fearless. We are Black women.”

“We are descendants of slaves. We represent women of color,” the post said. “We are in a position to provide economic opportunity and freedom to women of color and will continue to do that work.”

Venture capital funding for Black-owned startups is a fraction of what is invested in tech firms started by white-founders. The disparity is especially true for businesses founded by Black women.

Between 2009 and 2017, only 0.0006% of VC funding went to businesses started by Black women, according to nonprofit advocacy group Digitalundivided. Fearless Fund aims to help bridge the gap.

In 2021, record levels of funding for Latina and Black women improved things slightly. Their combined share of venture capital rose above 1% for the first time, according to the 2022 Project Diane report from Digitalundivided.

Fearless Fund has raised more than $25 million and invested in more than 40 companies over the past four years, including Slutty Vegan, Partake Foods, Live Tinted and The Lip Bar. In June, the firm announced it had received multi-million dollar follow-on investments from Bank of America, Costco and Mastercard.

But that’s a small drop in the bucket of VC funding nationally, which totaled more than $70 billion in 2023 alone, not including certain corporate investments, according to Crunchbase. Less than 1% of that sum has gone to Black-founded companies so far this year.

The Fearless Fund also runs a range of training and financing programs. This year, the firm announced its third annual Fearless Strivers Grant Contest in partnership with Mastercard. This contest is the program at the center of AAER’s lawsuit, though Mastercard is not named as a defendant.

Edward Blum, president of AAER, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his group was first contacted by a woman-owned business asking for legal representation to challenge Fearless Fund. In total, three white and Asian women business owners are part of the lawsuit, alleging the Fearless Strivers Grant Contest is “racially exclusive, thus violating our nation’s civil rights laws,” Blum said.

Blum is also behind another group, Students for Fair Admissions, that successfully challenged affirmative action in college admissions policies.

 

[Alix217]

 

[jwinfield]

 

[Rollie Forbes]

Every time Black people pool our resources and build something for US, by US, the white man comes through on some ol'

When we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, they take our boots. I wish they would leave us alone, for real.

 

[Kyle C. Barker]

Despicable

 

[Secure Da Bag]

Better start making groups and VC based on lineage.

 

[Kingofthereal]

Every time Black people pool our resources and build something for US, by US, the white man comes through on some ol'

When we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, they take our boots. I wish they would leave us alone, for real.

Black people gotta learn to keep the silent part silent. These white folks dont bluntly say they’re only giving money to white folks yet we know they are. I’m sure they’re still gonna give grants to black folks but probably will be quiet about it now like most black people should. No need to broadcast you’re only helping black folks…. Just do it.

 

[Piff Perkins]

Black people better leave that performative bullshyt in the bushes going forward, and start moving like white people move: just give shyt to your people without announcing it from the mountain tops. Less IG/twitter headlines and likes but you'll get more shyt done. You want to give grants to black women? Go where black women live (salons, churches, schools, etc) and find them. Or announce you're giving out grants to everyone...and then only select black women. Or select 80% black women, 20% white women if you're scared about optics. Either way, you avoid court cases.

 

[BaggerofTea]

Black people better leave that performative bullshyt in the bushes going forward, and start moving like white people move: just give shyt to your people without announcing it from the mountain tops. Less IG/twitter headlines and likes but you'll get more shyt done. You want to give grants to black women? Go where black women live (salons, churches, schools, etc) and find them. Or announce you're giving out grants to everyone...and then only select black women. Or select 80% black women, 20% white women if you're scared about optics. Either way, you avoid court cases.

Yup, black people need to know how to move silently.


We are too quick to over compensate by being loud

 

[hashmander]

everything you all are saying is true, but it doesn't just apply to the private sector. all i hear is that candidates need to state in clear and unambiguous terms how they will help black and only black people. the minute you say well X program helps predominantly or disproportionately black people, someone from the back shouts "well this group or that group got some too."

 

[At30wecashout]

I see waaaaaay too many poor takes in here.

1. White people don’t move silently, they move in majority. You can dictate things when you are in a majority.

2. Most things are made public with public declarations because people otherwise don’t know they exist. You can only back-channel so many things. This sentiment misses the point and puts the onus on Black people to not be abused by bad actors for doing smart business.

3. For the lineage argument, it doesn’t fly. Why this meme keeps being floated like a cureall is wild. When the media says “Rural voters “ we know it means white people. When they say “suburban women” we know it means white women. What can you say that helps black people that is super covert enough that someone cant sus it out and legally challenge it? Gotta hold pieces in the system, not constantly work to circumvent it.

 

[Problematic Pat]

Black people gotta learn to keep the silent part silent. These white folks dont bluntly say they’re only giving money to white folks yet we know they are. I’m sure they’re still gonna give grants to black folks but probably will be quiet about it now like most black people should. No need to broadcast you’re only helping black folks…. Just do it.

It seems they wanted to be known more for being the Black group giving money to Black female businesses than actually just giving money to Black female businesses so they can thrive.

 

[Buddy]

Conservative groups are ones constantly pulling this shyt and yet we STILL have b*stards talking about what they have to offer specifically for us You mean like the shyt they try to TAKE AWAY and they don't even get any smoke for it. This thread is pathetic. Let @JohnnyElbow3837 log into Twitter tho and suddenly the computers 'putin

 

[Neuromancer]

No one cares. We have fighting chance with Trump allegedly.