Seven organizations the far right is targeting for diversity efforts post-affirmative action
Last year’s supreme court decision to ban affirmative action in college and university admissions was a watershed moment for far-right conservative activists and groups, who have used the momentum to target not only public institutions, but also private organizations that aim to aid women and people of color.
Many of the targeted groups are being sued by complainants who allege that they have been discriminated against because they do not fit diversity requirements. In some cases, the would-be applicants are engaging in presumptive suing – alleging the organizations have engaged in discriminatory behavior without even applying.
Since the ruling, some companies, such as Zoom, Lyft and Meta have dismantled their own efforts to promote and increase diversity willingly, without any specific legal spur. But several other entities have been forced to do so following legal challenges.Fearless
Fearless Fund, which is based in
Atlanta, became the country’s first VC firm founded by women of color when it launched in 2019. It awards pre-seed, seed-level or series A financing grants to Black women who own small businesses. (A 2023 study by McKinsey and Company found that Black and Latino women entrepreneurs received 0.1% of venture capital funds.) Over the past four years, in partnership with corporations, Fearless Fund supplied business owners $3.7m in grants.
The American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), a non-profit founded, according to its website, specifically to challenge “distinctions made on the basis of race and ethnicity in federal and state courts”, sued Fearless Fund in August 2023, shortly after the supreme court decision. The lawsuit argues that Fearless Fund is violating the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the first civil rights bill in US history, which bars racial bias in private contracts and became an early template of the 14th amendment. As a result of the lawsuit, a judicial panel has blocked the fund from continuing its grant program. All but