Episode 08: Defending The Pathways For Black Economic Advancement with Ayana Parsons, Co-Founder Fearless Fund

Historically, from slavery to present day, efforts to create black economic advancement have been stunted continuously either through violence, such as the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, or through systemic barriers and policies responsible for creating and maintaining the racial wealth gap.

In August of last year, Edward Blum, the president of The American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), and the man behind the efforts to overturn affirmative action, filed a lawsuit against The Fearless Fund, claiming its Strivers Grant program violated the Civil Rights Act of 1866, by discriminating against non-black women. In response, Race Forward’s Senior Vice President of Finance and Operations Kerry Mitchell Brown authored an op-ed titled “The Fight Against The Fearless Fund Is A Fight Against Black Economic Advancement,” which reflected on the lawsuit brought against The Fearless Fund, whose mission is to invest in women of color-led businesses seeking financing by bridging the gap in venture capital funding for women of color business founders.

With the conservative majority of Trump-appointed Federal Judges and a Supreme Court that ruled against affirmative action in higher education, is this lawsuit the beginning of the latest frontier in halting black economic advancement, and more specifically, black female economic advancement?

On this episode of Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast, Kerry Mitchell Brown speaks with Ayana Parsons, co-founder of the Fearless Fund about her trailblazing work, and the next steps in the fight for black economic advancement.

Resources:

The Fight Against Fearless Fund is a Fight Against Black Economic Advancement (via The Atlanta Voice)

https://bit.ly/498ufvD

Is DEI, DOA? (via Today Explained) [Podcast]

https://bit.ly/4beimGf

The True Cost of the Tulsa Race Riot, 100 Years Later (via The Brookings Institution)

https://bit.ly/3u481Mx

The Racial Wealth Gap: A History of Inequity (via Reuters)

https://bit.ly/3SgI7x9

The Four Most Common Challenges Facing Black Women Entrepreneurs (via Stearns Bank)

https://bit.ly/3u6ka3s

Business Prowess: Black Women are Powering the US Economy (via Black Enterprise)

https://bit.ly/498NN36

About Race Forward:

Race Forward catalyzes movement building for racial justice. In partnership with communities, organizations, and sectors, we build strategies to advance racial justice in our policies, institutions, and culture. Race Forward imagines a just, multiracial, democratic society, free from oppression and exploitation, in which people of color thrive with power and purpose.

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Executive Producers:

Hendel Leiva, Cheryl Cato Blakemore

Associate Producer & Editor: Freddie Beckley