A conservative group has successfully appealed a court decision refusing to block a grant program for Black women entrepreneurs. The Fearless Fund, an Atlanta-based company founded in 2019 to increase resources for Black women in the business world, is at the center of this legal dispute.
The American Alliance for Equal Rights requested the blocking of the Fearless Fund grant. According to their website, the not-for-profit organization is “dedicated to challenging distinctions and preferences made on the basis of race and ethnicity."
The alliance argued that the Fearless Strivers Grant intended exclusively for Black women violates Section 1981 of the U.S. Code. Section 1981 guarantees equal rights for all people to make and enforce contracts within the jurisdiction of the United States, without favor or discrimination based on race.
This appeal overturned the ruling just a week prior from Georgia Federal Judge Thomas Thrash, Jr. where he rejected the efforts to block the Fearless Fund grant.
Referring to the appeal, dissententing judge Judge Charles Wilson said “It is a perversion of Congressional intent to use 1981 against a remedial program whose purpose is to ‘bridge the gap in venture capital funding for women of color founders’ – a gap that is the result of centuries of intentional racial discrimination."