Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action in college admissions, backlash to diversity, equity and inclusion is on the rise. Right-wing figures are leading an "anti-woke" charge that threatens to undo gains made by people of color in recent years. The Fearless Fund, a venture capital firm helping women of color, is one of the latest targets of litigation.

Financial District

The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that concluded affirmative action in college admissions has ignited an increase in opposition towards diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. This backlash is significantly influenced by right-wing personalities who are advancing an "anti-woke" movement, emphasizing a resistance to previously made progress in social inclusivity. Among those affected by the mounting litigation and criticism is the Fearless Fund, a venture capital firm dedicated to supporting women of color, indicating a broader challenge against initiatives aimed at fostering diversity within the corporate sector.



How diversity became a dirty word in corporate America

The Black Lives Matter movement really had a resurgence after the murder of George Floyd. We saw a really big impact on corporate America. Companies like J.P. Morgan said that they would increase the number of black and Latino homebuyers by 40,000. Citigroup pledged a billion dollars to help close the racial equity gap. Target and Walmart joined a coalition of companies that said they wanted to hire and promote one million black workers by 2030. We looked at 2020 as a baseline and then what 2021 looked like for these 100 companies or so. In that year, they added about 300,000 new employees. That's everyone who came and went. Of those, 94% were people of color. Clearly the biggest gains were at the country level positions. But across the board, there were gains. We looked at mentions of DEI and diversity in the corporate setting and conference calls and earnings calls. And you can see in the trajectory that there was a big spike as we went through the era of George Floyd. And that's been on a downward trend. And then it's only accelerated since the Supreme Court ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court sharply limiting the use of race as a factor in university admissions. The SCOTUS ruling really opened the floodgates of attacks against DEI policies. It essentially ended affirmative action at the college level. That means that schools can no longer take race into consideration when making admissions decisions. The big question is whether the SCOTUS ruling for college admissions also applied to American corporations on some level. Diversity has certainly become a bit of a dirty word in corporate America. The backlash to DEI kind of falls into this broader pushback around being woke that we're seeing on the right. The backlash seemed to start with a speech that Mike Pence gave where he kind of just brought out the idea that ESG is ruining America. Ron DeSantis made that a really big part of his campaign. This year, more than 20 states across the U.S. either considered or approved laws attacking DEI. This very targeted attack is all part of Trump 2.0. They've been very effective. DEI is clearly the boogeyman right now on the right. Harvard systematically raises the bar for Asian Americans. Edward Blum is a conservative activist. He was involved in the Harvard lawsuit, a group that he had created had been trying to get affirmative action banned for some time. Edward Blum has turned his attention from academia now to corporate America. His latest target is a venture capital firm called the Fearless Fund. Being a recipient of a lawsuit is now what racial opposition can look like. This tactic of using litigation to erase diversity, it's still the same underlining systemic issue. Ariane Simone is CEO of Fearless Fund, which is a VC firm that invests in businesses run by women of color. Blum is using an 1866 law designed to protect former slaves and turning that against Ariane Simone and the Fearless Fund. The stats in the area of funding for black women and women of color are alarming. Women of color combined, black and brown, receive .39% of venture capital funds. That's a fraction of a percent for combined races and ethnicities. That is disturbing when women of color make up 20% of the population. Edward Blum's comment is that any program should really go through the shoe on the other foot test. If a program like this that was only designated for white men wouldn't be allowable, then it shouldn't be allowable for underrepresented groups. We are not the focus here, we're really just the lawsuit. The focus here is to dismantle and get rid of funds that go in the hands of people of color and women as a whole. We have been able to deploy over $26 million in investment capital to women of color businesses. We have been able to award over 350 plus grants to women of color. We just believe that this work matters and we believe in fighting for this and that's why we are here. But we have definitely taken the hits along the way.

A former immigration detainee has been bailed after allegedly threatening police with a knife in Melbourne. It follows the recent violent home invasion allegedly committed by another released detainee in Western Australia, leaving a grandmother with horrific injuries. Pressure is mounting on Federal Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to be held to account.

Canberra

Pressure mounts on Immigration Minister after latest detainee incident

Mexican authorities have reportedly discovered a fourth body near the cliff site where Perth brothers Jake and Callum Robinson disappeared, along with their American friend Jack Carter Rhoad. The Australian family of the brothers are en route to Mexico. The bodies are yet to be formally identified.

Ensenada

Fourth body discovered in Mexico search for Australian brothers

Ukraine is eagerly waiting for Western aid as Russia racks up more victories on the battlefield. Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on a visit to Kyiv gave Ukraine the go-ahead to use British weapons to strike directly at Russia.

Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion

U.K. allows its weapons to be used on Russian soil

Canadian police have charged three Indian men with the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year and said they were probing whether the men had ties to the Indian government.

Surrey

Canada police charge three with murder of Sikh leader

China has launched an uncrewed spacecraft on a nearly two-month mission to retrieve rocks and soil from the far side of the moon, the first country to make such an ambitious attempt.

Wenchang

China launches mission to far side of the moon

Britain's opposition Labour Party won a parliamentary seat in northern England on Friday (May 3) and control of several councils, inflicting heavy losses on the governing Conservatives to pile more pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

London

U.K.'s Labour claims big early win over Conservatives

Turkey has announced that it is halting trade with Israel, worth $7 billion a year, until a permanent ceasefire and humanitarian aid are secured in Gaza. Israel denounced the decision as breaking trade agreements.

Ankara

Turkey to stop trade with Israel until Gaza ceasefire

Media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders warned of declining government support for press freedom as it unveiled its annual world rankings on Friday, highlighting Argentina among the countries where the situation has deteriorated.

Paris

States doing less to support press freedom, says watchdog

Arizona's Democratic governor signed a bill overturning an 1864 law banning abortion, a month after the state's supreme court said the Civil War-era rule was valid.

Arizona

Arizona governor signs bill repealing 1864 abortion ban

U.S. President Joe Biden said that both freedom of speech and the rule of law must be respected in protests at college campuses over Israel's war in Gaza. In response to a reporter's question, Biden said that the campus protests had not forced him to reconsider his policies in the Middle East.

Washington

Biden breaks silence on protests at University Campuses

From suspensions to expulsions to criminal charges, college students across the U.S. involved in these pro-Palestinian protests could face life-changing consequences. Some are demanding amnesty for these protesters.

New York

More than 1,000 student protesters arrested across U.S.

English voters are heading to polling stations to pick mayors, councilors and a new lawmaker in the last electoral test for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before a national vote later this year.

Voters head to polls in last test for U.K.'s Sunak

The US State Department accused Russia of having used a chemical weapon against Ukrainian forces in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, while also announcing fresh sanctions against Moscow. In addition to the chemical agent chloropicrin, Russia also used "riot control agents (tear gas) as a method of warfare in Ukraine, also in violation of the CWC," the department said in a factsheet.

Zaporizhzhia

U.S. accuses Russia of using chemical weapons in Ukraine

There are grave concerns for Perth brothers Jake and Callum Robinson who are missing on a surf trip in Mexico's Baja region. The pair have failed to arrive at their accommodation and are not responding to contact from their families.

Council of the City of Sydney

Grave fears for brothers missing on Mexico surf trip

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has kept open the prospect of tax incentives in the budget as business warned that changes to foreign investment laws. It comes amid criticism that budget spending could prompt further inflation and prompt rate rises.

Government hints at further tax incentives in Budget

Colombian President Gustavo Petro says his country will break diplomatic relations with Israel. He's criticised Israel's conduct since the start of the war on Gaza. Petro requested to join South Africa's case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide.

Bogotá

Israel-Gaza War

Colombia ends diplomatic relations with Israel

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, pushing to get more aid into Gaza, while urging Hamas to accept a deal that would halt fighting and bring some hostages home from the enclave.

Jerusalem

Blinken pushes for sustained aid into Gaza during Israel trip

Police in Georgia fired teargas and rubber bullets at protesters demonstrating against a bill that would require organizations – including media and NGOs – that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as agents "pursuing the interests of a foreign power." The bill has been dubbed the "Russian law" by its detractors.

Tbilisi

Thousands protest against Georgia's 'foreign influence' bill

A diplomatic push is underway to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, with the U.S. exerting pressure on Hamas to agree to Israel's terms. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to attack Rafah in southern Gaza, whether there's a ceasefire or not.

Netanyahu vows to invade Rafah 'with or without' ceasefire deal

Qantas has apologised to customers after its app exposed personal passenger data. The airline blames a technical disruption and says the data breach was not a cyber security incident.

Qantas app data breach exposes customer data

The International Court of Justice has ruled against issuing emergency measures over German arms sales to Israel as requested by Nicaragua, which had argued that there was a serious risk of genocide in Gaza amid Israel’s assault on the Palestinian territory.

The Hague

ICJ rejects measures over German arms exports to Israel

New York police have entered Columbia University and arrested protesters barricaded inside a building who have been calling on the New York school to divest itself from companies associated with Israel.

Police enter Columbia University, arrest protesters

A smiling and healthy-looking King Charles returned to public duties on Tuesday (April 30) for the first time since he was diagnosed in February with cancer, paying a visit to a treatment center for the disease in London.

King Charles returns to public duties, visits cancer center

A 14-year-old boy is dead and multiple people injured after a daylight sword attack in Hainault, in east London. The alleged attacker tasered and arrested by Police shortly afterwards.

Hainault

Teenage boy killed in London sword attack

Brittany Higgins has failed in a bid to delay a defamation trial brought against her by Senator Linda Reynolds over social media posts made in July last year. Fiancé David Sharaz, also named in the case, calling for the Senator to drop the case.

Brittany Higgins fails in bid to delay defamation trial

Since taking office four months ago, Argentina's new president Javier Milei has slashed public employment in an effort to cut the country's deficit. So far, 24,000 people have been let go, and Milei has said he wants that figure to hit 70,000, about 10 percent of overall government employees.

Buenos Aires

Argentina's Milei slashes 24,000 government jobs

A Russian missile attack on an educational institution in a popular seafront park in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa killed at least five people and injured 32, local officials said. Odesa has been a frequent target of Russian missile and drone attacks, particular port infrastructure.

Odesa

Russian missile attack kills five in Ukraine's Odesa

Scotland's leader Humza Yousaf resigned, further opening the door to the UK opposition Labour Party regaining ground in its former Scottish heartlands during a national election expected to be held later this year.