Alphonso David: Why Principles Matter in Inconvenient Times

The journey of a true civil rights leader often begins not with a choice, but with a challenge – a formative and catalyzing moment that proves to be incendiary and puts someone on the path to justice. Can you imagine fleeing your home country as a child under political violence, only to become one of the world’s leading voices for change and equity? What does it take to turn that kind of trauma and experience into the leadership needed to fight today’s most urgent threats? That type of firsthand experience breeds the unique perspective we need now more than ever as our nation continues to navigate uncharted territory. That’s why I was privileged to welcome Attorney Alphonso David, a nationally recognized civil rights attorney, policy advisor, and the current President and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum (GBEF), to The Legal Lens Podcast as a first-time guest!

In this captivating discussion, David offered a unique and globally-informed perspective on the state of democracy, the systematic attacks on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), and what it took to defend the crucial Fearless Fund from a legal challenge. For a deeper, more convenient dive into these critical topics, listen to our 40-minute discussion on the Legal Lens Podcast. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Simplecast, and everywhere you get your podcasts, or you can listen in below:

Fighting Autocracy: Alphonso David on the Global Fight for Civil Rights

I am confident you will be both enlightened and inspired by this candid and riveting discussion with Alphonso David, a leader whose life mission is rooted in the law’s power to advance the interests of marginalized communities. Here are relevant timestamps and topics covered:

3:10 – Alphonso David’s Traumatic Journey Fleeing Liberia’s Coup

6:25 – Why America is Now Effectively Living in an “Autocracy”

11:15 – The Global Black Economic Forum: Its Three-Arm Mission

22:25 – The Fearless Fund Lawsuit: Fighting for Black Women’s Access to Capital

31:20 – The Overlooked Threat to the Constitutional Right to Privacy

35:27 – A Powerful Message of Hope, History, and Principles

From Possible Future Surgeon to Civil Rights Advocate: Alphonso David’s Journey Fleeing Liberia

Alphonso David’s path to civil rights law was forged in political trauma. Born in the U.S., he moved back to Monrovia, Liberia, as a child, where his parents were notable political figures. In 1980, a military coup overthrew the democratically elected government, which he witnessed as a child.

“I was born here in the United States, but I left when I was a year old. My parents moved back to Monrovia, Liberia, which is where they were both born and raised. They came here to the United States for school and had me. We lived in a fairly, I think, traditional democracy for ten years, and in 1980, there was a military coup. The democratically elected government was overthrown by military rebels who went in and assassinated my uncle, who, at the time, served as the President of Liberia, arrested my father, who served as the mayor of Monrovia, which is the capital city, and effectively placed us under house arrest. For me, that was, of course, a traumatic and transformative experience being a 10-year-old child and grappling with concepts of violence, indifference, and dictatorship, and understanding the core tenets of freedom,” reflected David.

David went on to reflect on the meaning of freedom, especially with how often the word is used.

“When your freedom is taken away, when you’re restricted from doing things that you take for granted, you really understand what freedom is and how critical it is to a functioning democracy,” Alphonso David reflected.

Initially planning to be a surgeon, the experience shifted his focus entirely to law after the First Liberian Civil War. The law, he realized, governs everything, from schools to travel to civic participation.

His mission became clear: to use the law, which has historically been used to oppress, to now empower and advance the rights of marginalized communities.

“For me, using the law to advance the interests of marginalized communities became and still is my life’s mission because the law has been used historically to oppress marginalized communities for centuries. So, how do you use the law to empower and advance the rights of marginalized communities? That is what I focus on doing now,” said David.

Protecting American Democracy & Freedoms

Having lived through a transition from a democratic nation, Alphonso David offered a sobering assessment of the current state of the United States. He warned that we often miss the early signs of autocracy because we assume it means losing everything overnight, but it’s really a series of concessions.

“It’s interesting. Having lived in the United States since I was a teenager, I’ve had a very different perspective, only because of my experience, obviously, and the information and knowledge that I was able to attain in Liberia. We take this concept of democracy and freedom for granted, but it is incredibly fragile, and I never thought we would be in this position. But here we are,” said David.

For many nations that have lived through these moments of turmoil and upheaval, these are hard-learned lessons and, potentially, lessons that you can only learn the hard way.

He cautioned that we are allowing the fundamental constitutional principles that protect all of us to be stripped away, and the only recourse is speaking up, engaging in advocacy, and mobilizing with other communities now.

The Global Black Economic Forum and The Fearless Fund Defense

As President and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum (GBEF), Alphonso David is doing incredible work advancing economic opportunity for the Black Diaspora globally.

“We are an international enterprise that focuses on advancing the economic opportunity for marginalized communities and specifically the Black Diaspora all over the globe, so we do that in a number of different ways,” explained David.

The organization has a three-pronged mission:

Summits and Conferences: Convening global summits and public conventions to engage on issues like healthcare, wealth generation, and democracy, with the most significant summit being the Essence Festival of Culture.
Leadership Development: Through the Academy for Advancing Excellence, GBEF partners with companies and entrepreneurs to advance inclusion within business spaces.
Policy and Litigation: Drafting battle-tested policy for government, nonprofits, and businesses, and driving impact litigation, most notably, the defense of the Fearless Fund, which David wasted no time diving into and unpacking!

Battling the Misinformation Around DEI

We discussed the “elephant in the room” – DEI. David clarified the current landscape around DEI, stating there is a vast amount of misinformation, including the myth that it is illegal.

“Many people believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion are illegal. They are not. There is no law that prohibits diversity, equity, and inclusion in the business space, whether it’s in the not-for-profit space or the for-profit space. The President is entitled to issue Executive Orders, and he has issued over two or three hundred, but those Executive Orders are not law, and that’s important because Executive Orders have to comply with Federal Law. And, as many people may know, several Executive Orders have been challenged in court and successfully stopped from being implemented,” David asserted.

He offered three core arguments for why companies should maintain their DEI commitments, noting that anti-diversity shareholder initiatives have universally failed. Alphonso David explained that “not only is the law on their side” when referring to business owners who implement DEI initiatives, but business practices, profit, innovation, and consumer support are on their side as well:

Legal Protection: DEI programs were originally created after the 1960s Civil Rights laws to protect businesses from discrimination claims by demonstrating an effort to diversify. Eliminating DEI exposes a company to greater legal risk.
Business Case: Diversity drives innovation and revenue; consumers overwhelmingly support inclusive businesses.
Policy Integrity: Presidential executive orders against DEI are not law and must comply with the U.S. Constitution.

The Fearless Fund Lawsuit: Fighting for Black Women’s Access to Capital

The most prominent example of the GBEF’s litigation work, Alphonso David explained, is the defense of the Fearless Fund, which was sued for providing grants specifically to Black women.

“We represented the Fearless Fund in Federal District court, and they were sued for trying to provide support to marginalized communities and under-resourced entrepreneurs who are largely black and brown and were looking for resources,” explained David.

Alphonso Davis provided a recap of the suit and highlighted the startling disparity the fund was created to address: Of the $288 billion allocated annually in the venture capital space, less than 1% goes to Black people, and a minuscule 0.036% goes to Black women.

“So, two years ago, the Fearless Fund was sued for providing grants to Black women. The Fearless Fund is both a venture capital company and a not-for-profit organization – it was created seven years ago now with the express goal of addressing a disparity in the venture capital space,” explained Davis.

The Fearless Fund ultimately settled the challenged program to preserve the organization’s mission, refusing the plaintiff’s demand to make all its programs race-neutral, with Davis proudly saying that he and the team he assembled were successful in defending them.

“The case was about whether we can invest in our communities where others are not, where we are being denied opportunities to advance our businesses, and whether we can look within and create systems to advance our businesses. That’s what the case was about, and that’s why we fought so hard to defend them,” explained David.

He clarified a crucial point: The Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling a number of years ago that, essentially, said “colleges and universities cannot rely on race as the primary basis in determining who gets in or who’s denied admission into a college or university” only applied to higher education and has nothing to do with employment, contracting, or charitable giving.

“It was limited to education, and what our opponents have done is tried to take that decision and claim it applies to everything else, and it doesn’t because there are different legal principles that apply to education than to charitable giving, and different legal principles that apply to employment and contracting,” explained Davd.

David stressed that charitable organizations like the Fearless Fund have a First Amendment right to issue grants consistent with their mission.

“If you are a charitable organization, you have a constitutional right that you don’t have if you are an educational institution, and that constitutional right is to issue grants consistent with your mission. So, think of all the charitable organizations that exist in this country, those that provide services to certain communities. They can still do that. Why? Because they have a First Amendment right to provide grants and services consistent with their mission. That is no different than what the Fearless Fund was doing,” said David.

Silent Threat to the Right to Privacy

Beyond economic and voting rights, Alphonso David listed some key issues that our audience and nation should be paying attention to, warning that any fundamental right connected to the constitutional right to privacy is under serious threat, citing the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

“I think anything that relates to the fundamental rights that we have under the right to privacy is under attack, so for folks who may not know, there’s a fundamental right to privacy that the U.S. Supreme Court has acknowledged for decades. And within that right to privacy is the right to abortion, the right to contraception. It’s the right to marry; it’s the right to keep your extended family together. All of those rights are envisioned within our right to privacy, and now, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down the right to bodily integrity and the right to get an abortion. By doing so, we need to keep in mind that all those other rights are connected, and they’re all in danger when the right to privacy is in danger,” David explained.

He emphasized that, when these fundamental principles that we’ve taken for granted are stripped away, the impact is disproportionately negative for Black and Brown people, people who are marginalized.

Related Podcast Episode: Michelle Hudgins on Voting Rights, Civil Rights, and More

A Powerful Message of Hope, History, and Principles

Attorney David closed our conversation by grounding his message in history, reminding us that we are the descendants of those who fought through circumstances far more trying than those we face today.

“I often say principles only mean something if we stick by them in inconvenient times. And when we think about what our principles are, let’s always look at them through the lens of history. They fought under circumstances that were much more trying than the circumstances we’re fighting today,” David asserted.

His hope is not blind optimism, but a call to action fueled by the legacy of giants like Ida B. Wells and Fannie Lou Hamer. He reminds us that it is incumbent upon us to advocate and to stand up in these times, using our history as a fuel to get us through.

Do You Want to Hear More Powerful Insights from Legal Experts Like Alphonso David? Subscribe to and Download the Legal Lens Podcast Today!

We are sure you will enjoy our captivating discussion with the eminent Attorney Alphonso David. This conversation serves as a crucial reminder that our principles must be absolute, not convenient. From his personal journey fleeing a dictatorship to his work defending the economic empowerment of Black women in the Fearless Fund case, David provided the urgent, informed perspective required to navigate this era of autocracy and fight for our most fragile rights. Attorney David closed our conversation by grounding his message in history, reminding us that we are the descendants of those who fought through circumstances far more trying than what we face today. To follow the work of the Global Black Economic Forum, visit their website and follow them on all social platforms.

At a moment when our democracy faces unprecedented challenges, staying informed and engaged is more important than ever. Listen to this episode of the Legal Lens Podcast on Streamcast to hear Alphonso David’s full perspective, and subscribe to never miss a critical conversation.

Also, to learn about all things Legal Lens, follow me on Instagram @iamangelareddockwright.

For media inquiries, please reach out to josh@kwsmdigital.com.

This communication is not legal advice. It is educational only. For legal advice, consult with an experienced employment law attorney in your state or city.

Alphonso David on the Global Black Economic Forum, Protecting Democracy and Civil Rights, and Why Principles Matter in Inconvenient Times