Following a recent appeals court decision, Arian Simone, the Founding Partner and CEO of the Fearless Fund, is calling on President Biden to take executive action to protect diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
This appeal comes in the wake of a ruling that bars the Fearless Fund from issuing grants exclusively to Black women-owned businesses.
Simone’s appeal to the president follows a June 3 ruling by the 11th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals.
The court’s decision upheld an injunction from a lawsuit brought by conservative activist Edward Blum, preventing the fund from continuing its race-specific grant program.
The decision marks a significant setback for the Atlanta-based Fearless Fund, which aims to increase venture capital funding for Black women and could have broader implications for similar race-based initiatives.
Speaking to CNN’s Abby Phillip from Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, Simone expressed her deep concern over the ruling.
The castle, historically used as a holding place for slaves, served as a poignant backdrop for her interview.
“Right now, I would like to send a signal and a request to the United States of America to issue an executive order to stand up for DEI,” Simone stated.
She said it has become an urgent need for an executive order and a directive to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to protect funding for marginalized communities and address racial disparities.
The court’s decision came after judges voted 2-1 to uphold the injunction, reversing a previous federal court decision that had found the lawsuit unlikely to succeed on First Amendment grounds.
The ruling determined that the Fearless Fund’s grant program violated Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1966, a law originally intended to protect the rights of Black Americans to enter into contracts post-slavery. Simone criticized the ruling, arguing that the law is now being misused to dismantle diversity efforts.
“They have flipped this law on its head,” she said. “It was clearly put in place to protect and provide, and now it’s being used, through court systems, as a way to dismantle diversity.”
Simone highlighted the broader implications of the ruling, particularly as DEI initiatives face increasing challenges across various sectors, including education and corporate America.
She pointed out that Black and Brown women are the fastest-growing entrepreneurial demographic but receive a disproportionately small share of venture capital funding.
“If you were to ever stop an organization like the Fearless Fund, this means that you now have precedent to stop others, and we cannot allow that,” she warned.
Simone’s call for executive action underscores the urgent need for legal and policy measures to support DEI efforts amid growing opposition.
