Atlanta firm sued over grant program for Black women enlists prominent civil rights attorneys to fight back

Ayana Parsons, right, and Arian Simone, of Fearless Fund attend a during a news conference Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in New York. Attorneys for an Atlanta-based venture capital firm being sued over a grant program investing in Black women have vowed to fight back against the lawsuit calling it misguided and frivolous. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Attorneys for an Atlanta-based venture capital firm being sued over a grant program for Black women vowed Thursday to fight back against the lawsuit, calling it misguided and frivolous.

At a New York news conference, the attorneys also announced that prominent civil rights lawyers, including Ben Crump, would join the defense for the Fearless Fund, which was founded in 2019 by three Black women.

The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, was brought by a nonprofit founded by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum, the man behind the Supreme Court cases that led to the dismantling of race-conscious college admissions programs across the U.S.