The legal battle between Fearless Fund and a conservative anti-woke-anti-DEI-anti-everything-else group has come to a disappointing settlement. The Fearless Fund, an Atlanta-based grant firm catering to minority-owned businesses, came under fire last August by the American Alliance for Equal Rights.
The nonprofit claimed the fund practiced racial discrimination in their Fearless Strivers Grant Contest. The contest, sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Mastercard, allotted $20,000 in grant money exclusively to four Black women entrepreneurs who entered the bid, per The AP. Basically, Fearless Fund was accused of erring by disqualifying non-Black business folk.
Fearless Fund clapped back, claiming Alliance lacked grounds for a lawsuit because the terms of the contest were protected by the First Amendment and the organization could not show they suffered “irreparable harm” to justify injunctive relief. However, in a June decision, three judges in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Alliance would be likely to win a discrimination lawsuit, court documents show.
Though, in a Wednesday ruling, the fund backed down from pursuing litigation and settled following a motion to dismiss the case…and at a troubling cost.
Read more from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
“As of today, the Fearless Fund has permanently closed the grant contest and will never reopen it,” the Alliance said in a statement.
Fearless Fund confirmed the settlement in a statement, though did not disclose the terms.
“From the moment the lawsuit was filed, I pledged to stand firm in helping and empowering women of color entrepreneurs in need,” Fearless Fund CEO and co-founder Arian Simone said. “Our overarching mission remains focused on helping and empowering entrepreneurs who have been historically overlooked in the venture capital marketplace.”
Rather than appeal, last month, Simone said she and her team decided to settle because if they lost, the decision would apply nationwide.
All is not lost for the Fearless Fund. The firm can continue making investments and offering charity opportunities to underserved businesses as they operated before. Actually, backing down from holding the contest any further to avoid attacks of diversity and inclusion-based resources on a larger scale.
“By strategically avoiding a Supreme Court ruling that could have eliminated race-based funding, we protected vital opportunities for the entire Black and brown community,” said civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who represented the firm, via AP News.