The famous actor Wendell Pierce revealed in a tweet that he was recently denied the right to rent an apartment in Harlem by a white landlord, despite meeting all the requirements.
Pierce, 60, shared the anecdote after ranting about a federal appeals court panel, which he called part of a ‘MAGA agenda,’ which suspended a venture capital firm’s grant program for black women owners. of companies.
The court concluded that a conservative group that is bringing a lawsuit against the Fearless Fund, alleging discrimination, is likely to succeed.
‘Racism and bigots are real. There are those who will do anything to destroy the journey of black life. When you deny our personal experiences, you are just as vile and despicable,’ The Wire star wrote.
‘For those of you who do not understand my righteous anger; I am in 2 television series, ELSBETH and RAISING KANAN. I’m filming SUPERMAN. Two years ago I finished the fourth season of JACK RYAN. Last year I finished a run on Broadway with DEATH OF A SALESMAN.
Wendell Pierce shared his experience in the wake of a recent court decision that forced the Fearless Fund to end a program that benefited Black women.
Pierce, 60, listed just a few of his credits when describing how he was denied an application to rent an apartment.
Pierce participated in his in-depth rant about X on Monday
The actor also brought up what he considered equally dark moments in black history, including the Black Wall Street fire in Tulsa.
‘Even with my proof of employment, bank statements, and real estate holdings, a white apartment owner DENIED my application to rent the apartment… in Harlem, of all places. “Racism and bigots are real.”
‘There are those who will do anything to destroy the path of black life. When you deny our personal experiences, you are just as vile and despicable,’ Pierce continued.
The ruling against the Atlanta-based Fearless Fund is another victory for conservative groups waging an expanding legal battle against corporate diversity programs that have targeted dozens of companies and government institutions.
The case against the Fearless Fund was brought last year by the American Alliance for Equal Rights, a group led by Edward Blum, the conservative activist behind the Supreme Court case that ended affirmative action in college admissions.
Blum applauded the ruling, saying that “programs that exclude certain individuals because of their race, like those designed and implemented by the Fearless Fund, are unfair and polarizing.”
Pierce had a very positive opinion of the court’s decision.
‘Private investment in black businesses is blocked with laws in place to prevent discrimination against black businesses. Racist irony. The racist, bigoted, fascist Americans who burned down Black Wall Street in Tulsa 100 years ago are still alive and well,” he continued.
The actor then mocked the supposed conservative ethos of removing the government from civilians’ daily lives.
The Fearless Fund co-founders and CEOs Arian Simone, center left, and Ayana Parsons, center right, speak to reporters outside a federal courthouse in Miami.
Anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum defended the lawsuit that ended the Fearless Future program.
Pierce was one of the stars of the groundbreaking HBO series The Wire, shown here in an iconic scene with the late Michael K. Williams.
“The GOP, right-wing and MAGA agenda are making it clear that their vision for America does not include Black people having the same rights guaranteed by the Constitution,” he said.
“In your United States we are even allowed to exercise our right to self-determination and build businesses with your intentions to destroy them.”
“It sickens me how far they will go to destroy our ability to live our lives in peace and prosperity.”
“Attacked in schools, attacked by police, attacked for expecting to live the stated values of this country, and attacked when they are successful in business,” he said.
‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: all men are created equal. For generations we have accepted that lie while the violence against our community demonstrates the opposite. It is increasingly difficult to remain in denial. America,” Pierce added.
Fearless Fund CEO and founder Arian Simone said the ruling was “devastating” for the organizations and women it has invested in.
“The message these judges sent today is that diversity in corporate America, education or anywhere else should not exist,” he said in a statement. “These judges bought what a small group of white men were selling.”
Alphonso David, legal counsel for Fearless Fund and who serves as president and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum, said all options were being evaluated to continue fighting the lawsuit.
The legal effort to dismantle workplace diversity programs has also suffered some setbacks, reflecting polarized opinions between liberal and conservative justices on the issue.
Last week, for example, a federal district judge in Ohio dismissed a lawsuit against insurance company Progressive and fintech platform Hello Alice that challenged a program that offers grants to help Black-owned small businesses purchase commercial vehicles. .
Similar lawsuits against Amazon, Pfizer and Starbucks have been dismissed.
In a 2-1 ruling, the panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami concluded that Blum was likely to prevail in his lawsuit alleging that the grant program violates Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act. 1866, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in enforcing contracts.
The Reconstruction-era law was originally intended to protect formally enslaved people from economic exclusion, but anti-affirmative action activists have been leveraging it to challenge programs intended to benefit minority-owned businesses.
The appeals court panel, made up of two judges appointed by former President Donald Trump and one appointed by former President Barack Obama, rejected the Fearless Fund’s arguments that the grants are not contracts but rather charitable donations protected by the right to liberty. of expression of the First Amendment.
“However, the fact is that Fearless simply and flatly refuses to consider requests from business owners who are not ‘black women,’ the court’s majority opinion said, adding that ‘any act of racial discrimination’ would be considered expressive conduct under the Fearless Fund argument.
Judge Robin Rosenbaum, an Obama appointee, disagreed in a resounding disagreement, comparing the plaintiffs’ claims of harm to football players trying to win by “falling on the field, faking an injury.”
Rosenbaum said none of the plaintiffs showed they had any real intention to apply for the grants in what she called “boilerplate statements” that were “thin and lacking in substance.”
