FILE - Co-founders and CEOs of The Fearless Fund Arian Simone, center left, and Ayana Parsons, center right, speak to journalists outside federal court in Miami, on Jan. 31, 2024. A U.S. federal court of appeals panel suspended the venture capital firm's grant program for Black women business owners, ruling that a conservative group is likely to prevail in its lawsuit claiming that the program is the discriminatory. – A U.S.
“The fact remains, though, that Fearless simply —and flatly — refuses to entertain applications from business owners who aren’t 'black females,'" the court's majority opinion said, adding “every act of race discrimination” would be deemed expressive speech under the Fearless Fund's argument. But Alphonso David, Fearless Fund’s legal counsel who serves as president & CEO of The Global Black Economic Forum, called the ruling “the first court decision in the 150+ year history of the post-Civil War civil rights law that has halted private charitable support for any racial or ethnic group.”"This is not the final outcome in this case; it is a preliminary ruling without a full factual record. We are evaluating all of our options,” he said in a statement.