raceAhead: Williamson Tries the Reparations Math

On culture and diversity in corporate America. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. follow Subscribe Send Tip July 31, 2019 CNN's first of two presidential debates went off without a hitch (or much drama) last night. In many ways it was business as usual: a convening of all white candidates with no women of color as moderators.  A recent TIMES UP report notes that 86% of the presidential debates since 1996 have had no women of color asking questions. Since black women are a vital and deeply engaged part of the Democratic party, and the democratic system, the absence seems particularly notable. Race was part of the conversation, however.  Big applause went to author Marianne Williamson for calling the country's legacy of race and enslavement, "an injustice that continues to form a toxicity underneath the surface, an emotional turbulence that only reparations will heal."  And, she sort of had a plan for that.  "If you did the math of the 40 acres and a mule, given that there were four to five million slaves at the end of the Civil War, it would be trillions of dollars," she said, referring to the radical post-war plan to provide physical reparations to the formerly enslaved, with a little property appreciation magic thrown in. "I believe that anything less than $100 billion is an insult," she said. It was a clear differentiator, I'll give her that.  Race-fluency is going to be an essential skill in this presidential campaign. The incumbent candidate is centering white grievance in increasingly dangerous ways, and the political media, along with establishment politicians, seem wholly unprepared to lead or course-correct the conversation.  It's like a long, national test about race that everybody now has to cram for: Understanding how to engage without becoming complicit; how to surface issues and solutions without pandering; how to listen and learn in real time; and how to confront hatred, bigotry, and xenophobia without triggering an explosive reaction. We're all going to need a bigger boat. While Williamson deserves credit for using her platform to represent, she's not quite the mathematician she thinks she is. And she's accused of being dangerously "anti-science" in the past, including referring to vaccine mandates as "draconian." She's since apologized, saying she misspoke. I will also give her credit for calling out the infrastructure problems in Flint, Michigan; she was right when she said that they would never have happened in her former stomping grounds of Grosse Pointe. (See below.) But on the issue of reparations, she's got company. Other candidates, including Senators Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren, along with former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, have also signaled support for the idea—in Warren's case, they must include Native Americans. Along with Senator Sanders, they all agree that a serious process to study them is required.  It's a complex issue, and simple slogans or formulas won't work. But complexity doesn't play well in tweets, 30-second debate bites, or for long-shot candidates. While it's important that issues of racial equity are coming up in the primaries, it's everyone's job to keep the conversation going both in the general election, and in our lives in general.  . . On Point Ronald Reagan's racist conversation with Richard Nixon It's odd to have 49-year-old breaking news, but that's life on the race beat. In this case, it's a newly released audio of a taped phone call between Governor Ronald Reagan and President Richard Nixon. It was October, 1971, and Reagan had called to vent about the countries who failed to support a key U.N. resolution. "Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did," Reagan said . "To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they're still uncomfortable wearing shoes!" Nixon laughed. History professor Tim Naftali notes that the racist portion of the exchange had been withheld to protect Reagan's privacy; he asked the National Archives to review the issue and they released the full version. "The most novel aspect of President Donald Trump's racist gibes isn't that he said them, but that he said them in public," writes Naftali. The Atlantic A Fortune 40 Under 40 star has a new sports sponsorship deal Allyson Felix just signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Athleta, the first ever for Gap's athletic wear brand. Felix, an Olympic champion and one of the most celebrated track and field athletes in history, is now equally known for her gender equity creds. In May, she published an op-ed in the New York Times accusing Nike of wanting to pay her 70% less after she gave birth. The opinion piece came on the heels of similar revelations from runners Alysia Montano and Kara Goucher. No terms have been disclosed, but we now know what brand Felix will be wearing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. CNBC A grim diversity report for State Supreme Courts Here's the breakdown: State courts hear 95% of all cases filed in the U.S. White men make up less than a third of the U.S. population. More than half of all state court justices are white men. A quarter of states have never  had a black supreme court justice. These are just some of the findings of a new report from the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. Small and steady gains in representation haven't been enough to close the gap. "It matters tremendously for the public legitimacy of our courts when the judges that are making these really important decisions don't look anything like the people who are affected," says the Center's managing director. Mother Jones On Background How Grosse Pointe stayed so white  In 1960, the Grosse Pointe Brokers Association (GPBA), which served the tiny Detroit suburb, was sued for their questionable practices vetting potential homebuyers. First, a private investigator to make sure they were "Americanized," and had good "general standing." Then, a point system was applied. "The screening process was not required for persons of Northern European ancestry, e.g., Anglo-Saxons, Germans, French, Scandinavians, etc. Out of a maximum 100 points, Poles had to score 55 to pass, Southern Europeans 65, and Jews 85. Negroes and Orientals were not eligible for consideration, their disqualification being automatic." Brokers who sold to unacceptable people had to forfeit their commissions. You'll never guess what the court decided! History News Network Lizzo's Tiny Desk Concert will be good for what ails ya  You don't have to be an established fan to get the glory she exudes. The gushing intro to her mini-concert is well-deserved. "In rehearsal, Lizzo belted out 'Cuz I Love You,' the title track from her wonderful new album, with nothing off her fastball; if you were standing six feet away at the time, you'd swear the gale force of her voice was blowing your hair back." No lies detected. If you've not seen one, the Tiny Desk series is a lovely conceit, an intimate performance that takes place at a truly "tiny-ass desk" in NPR's offices. It's amazing to see what artists do to make use of the space. Chance was a poet, Adele kept her gloves on , and Lizzo will never evah evah evah EVAH EVAH BE OUR SIDE BITCH! Damn. NPR An apology to Anthony James Williams raceAhead is a huge fan of Williams' work, so it was particularly upsetting when we inadvertently misgendered them while referencing a comment they made in a piece about living with mental illness in The Outline. We've apologized to them directly, and promise to do better. Here are some resources everyone can use to make sure they're up to speed. The transgender language primer can help you unpack some common (and offensive) terms; the LGBT Resource Center at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee has a helpful gender pronoun usage guide; the Human Rights Campaign has a terrific resource on handling gender and "gender expansive" identities in the workplace. In addition to being an excellent writer and researcher, Williams is also a power on the social—they co-created #MasculinitySoFragile and #BlackWomenDidThat. Anthony James Williams Tamara El-Waylly helps produce raceAhead. . Content From SAP Here's How The Thrive XM Index Can Help Your Company Reach Next-Level Success A first-of-its-kind diagnostic tool that connects the dots between people, experiences, and business performance. Watch the video . . Quote "When such violent dehumanizing words come from the President of the United States, they are a clarion call, and give cover, to white supremacists who consider people of color a sub-human 'infestation' in America. They serve as a call to action from those people to keep America great by ridding it of such infestation. Violent words lead to violent actions." —The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington; The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, Dean of Washington National Cathedral; The Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas, Canon Theologian of Washington National Cathedral . Email Us Subscribe share: . This message has been sent to you because you are currently subscribed to raceAhead. Unsubscribe Please read our Privacy Policy, or copy and paste this link into your browser: https://fortune.com/privacy/ FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. For Further Communication, Please Contact: Fortune Customer Service 225 Liberty Street New York, NY 10128 Advertising Info | Subscribe to Fortune

Term Sheet: Jul. 31, 2019

Our daily brief on deals and dealmakers. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. follow Subscribe Send Tip July 31, 2019 Carlyle Group is moving to a 'one vote, one share' model. The investment giant said it will abandon its existing partnership structure and become a corporation with a single class of shares.  This model will give shareholders a bigger say in how it's run.  Private equity firms that have gone public have typically done so as partnerships, which saved on taxes but precluded them from being included in major stock indexes like FTSE Russell's and the S&P 500. Carlyle's private equity peers KKR, Blackstone, Ares Management Corp, and Apollo Global Management have already made the switch to so-called C-corporations. KKR converted last summer. Under the C-Corp structure, it meant that KKR would pay corporate taxes on all revenue. However, the additional tax burden had become less severe after the headline U.S. corporate tax rate was lowered to 21% from 35%. "The path we've chosen is differentiated and positions us in the best way to drive long-term value," said Carlyle Co-CEOs Kewsong Lee and Glenn Youngkin. "It improves our trading liquidity, makes us more attractive to new investors, provides a fixed dividend that enables improved capital allocation and offers an attractive yield, and enhances shareholder alignment under a new one-share/one vote governance model." 'FINALLY, IPOs:' Silicon Valley Bank's Q3 State of the Markets report starts off like this: "Finally, The IPOs We've Been Waiting For!" It's no secret that 2019 has brought about some serious anxiety: trade turmoil and tariffs, fears of slowing global growth, increased regulatory scrutiny and an inverted yield curve. Yet companies continue to go public and markets continue to reach new heights. Here are some interesting insights from the report: — Capital is becoming concentrated in funds greater than $1 billion in size—representing just under 40% of all fundraising in 2018. So VCs need to pick one of two strategies: raise larger funds or pick a specific focus.  — Despite being only 3% of total venture deals, family offices are willing to accept longer holding periods and to invest in underserved areas. In 2018, 38% of family offices were involved in sustainable investing, with 45% planning to increase their level of investment going forward. — Today's aspiring public tech company typically has raised significantly more capital and boasts much higher revenues. VC-backed tech IPOs hit $230 billion in revenue in the first half of 2019, and raised $174 billion in equity in the same period. See the full report here.  WHAT GETS APPROVED: Two sexual wellness startups — Unbound and Dame Products — have teamed up to bring more awareness to Facebook's advertising guidelines that they claim cater to the sexualities of men versus women, trans and gender non-conforming people. They have launched a digital campaign to bring awareness to the issue and will be staging a protest outside of Facebook's New York headquarters.  Facebook's policy prohibits the promotion of the sale or use of adult products or services except for ads that pertain to family planning and contraception. The policy also states that ads for contraceptives cannot focus on sexual pleasure. Dame Products CEO Alexandra Fine argues that "functionality only matters for one sex." "I think one of the most frustrating things is trying to raise a round and getting pushback around where you'll spend the money," Unbound CEO Polly Rodriguez told TechCrunch. "It's just tough because it's this vicious cycle where we could be growing at the same rate as a Hims or a Roman. It's definitely in the tens of millions of dollars in terms of foregone profits." . . VENTURE DEALS - Lightricks, the parent company of photo editing app Facetune, raised $135 million in Series C funding at a post-money valuation of $1 billion. Investors include Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing and Insight Partners. - Attabotics, a Canada-based 3D robotics supply chain company, raised $25 million in Series B funding. Investors include Coatue, Comcast Ventures, Honeywell Forerunner Ventures and Werklund Growth Fund.  - Vymo, an India-based developer of software for sales automation and field force productivity, raised $18 million in Series B funding. Investors include Emergence Capital and Sequoia India. - Ordermark, a provider of online ordering management solutions for restaurants, raised $18 million in Series B funding. Foundry Group led the round, and was joined by investors including TenOneTen Ventures, Vertical Venture Partners, Mucker Capital, Act One Ventures and Nosara Capital. - Truework, a San Francisco-based identity platform designed to give employers and employees control over their own data, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Sequoia Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Stanford University, Khosla Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and Founder Collective.  - Dgraph Labs, a San Francisco-based cloud-native graph database company, raised $11.5 million in Series A funding. Redpoint Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Blackbird Ventures, Grok Ventures and Airtree Ventures. - Jobble, a Boston-based community of on-demand workers, raised $11 million in funding. Vestigo Ventures and AXA Venture Partners led the round, and were joined by investors including Guardian Strategic Ventures and Harlem Capital Partners. - Superplastic, a Burlington, Vermont-based designer toy brand, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Craft Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Founders Fund's Cyan Banister, Global Village, Betaworks, Index Ventures, Canaan, and Shrug  Capital. - Prevailion, a Fulton, Md.-based cybersecurity company, raised $10 million in Series A funding. AllegisCyber led the round, and was joined by investors including DataTribe. - Altitude Networks, a San Francisco-based cloud collaboration security platform, raised $9 million in Series A funding. Felicis Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Slack Fund, Accomplice, and Alex Stamos.  - Aviso, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based cloud-based predictive insights software for sales management, raised $8 million in funding, bringing its Series B funding to $31 million. Storm Ventures led the extension. - Muzmatch, a Muslim-focused dating app, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Luxor Capital led the round. - DocSend, a San Francisco-based document sharing and tracking platform, raised $5 million in funding. DCM led the round. - NakedPoppy, a San Francisco-based clean beauty site, raised $4 million in seed funding. Investors include Cowboy Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Maveron, Polaris Ventures and Slow Ventures. - Stackin', a Los Angeles-based text-message based financial platform, raised $4 million in Series A funding. Experian Ventures, Dig Ventures and Cherry Tree Investments led the round, and were joined by investors including Social Leverage, Wavemaker Partners and Mucker Capital. - Edge Delta, a Seattle-based analytics startup leveraging federated learning in DevOps and Security, raised $3 million in seed funding. MaC Venture Capital and Amity Ventures co-led the round. - MyPorter, an Atlanta-based valet storage startup, raised $2.2 million in funding. Investors include Wes Matelich and Ken Haines. - Gatsby, a New York-based commission-free options trading platform, raised $1.5 million in seed funding. Investors include SWS Venture Capital, Plug and Play Ventures and Irish Angels.  - Ciara, a Germany-based virtual assistant for inside sales representatives, raised seed funding of a "seven-digit" amount. UVC Partners led the round. HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCES DEALS - Quanta Dialysis Technologies Ltd, a U.K.-based developer of a personal haemodialysis system for patient use in the clinic and the home, raised $48 million in funding. Investors include btov Partners, Wellington Partners and Seroba Life Sciences. PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS - Arcline Investment Management made an investment in Dark Horse Consulting Group, a Campbell, Calif.-based consultancy practice specializing in cell and gene therapy product development. Financial terms weren't disclosed.  IPOs - Dynatrace Holdings, a Waltham, Mass.-based enterprise cloud platform, plans to raise $499 million in an initial public offering of 35.6 million shares (5% insider sold) priced between $13 to $15, an upsized IPO. The firm posted $431 million in revenue for the 12 months ended March 2019 and loss of $166.2 million. Thoma Bravo Fund backs the firm. It plans to list on the NYSE as "DT." Read more. - Capricorn and Golden Grove, mines in Australia, may IPO as a single company alongside other copper mining assets owned by EMR after 2019. EMR backs both firms. Read more. - Central Group, a Thai family conglomerate that helped introduce shopping malls to Bangkok, plans to list its Central Retail unit in a deal valued at between $1 billion to $2 billion. Central Retail combines its businesses in Vietnam, Italy, and Thailand. Read more. EXITS - Microsoft acquired BlueTalon, a Redwood City, Calif.-based provider of unified data access control solutions for modern data platforms. Financial terms weren't disclosed. BlueTalon had raised approximately $27.4 million in funding from investors including Maverick Ventures, Arsenal Venture Partners, Signia Venture Partners, Data Collective, Divergent Ventures, Bloomberg Beta and Stanford-StartX Fund. - Arsenal Capital Partners acquired Seal For Life Industries LLC, a Franklin, Mass.-based provider of corrosion protection and sealing solutions, for $328 million. Berry Global Group Inc was the seller. - Aurora Resurgence sold LandCare, a Frederick, Md.-based provider of landscape maintenance services, to the company's management team and a small group of investors led by Scott Brickman, former CEO of the Brickman Group. Financial terms weren't disclosed.  - Equistone Partners Europe Limited agreed to acquire a majority stake in Bulgin, a U.K.-based developer and manufacturer of environmentally sealed high-performance engineered solutions, from Elektron Technology PLC for £105 million ($128 million). - CVC Capital agreed to acquire Ontic, a Chatsworth, Calif.-based provider of parts for aerospace platforms, from BBA Aviation plc. The deal is valued at $1.365 million. FIRMS + FUNDS - Obvious Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $154.3 million for its third venture capital fund. . PEOPLE - Shawn Xu joined Floodgate as a senior associate. - Origin Ventures promoted Scott Stern and Prashant Shukla to vice president, and Devon Leichtman to director of platform. . Email Us Subscribe share: . This message has been sent to you because you are currently subscribed to The Term Sheet. Unsubscribe Please read our Privacy Policy, or copy and paste this link into your browser: https://fortune.com/privacy/ FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. For Further Communication, Please Contact: Fortune Customer Service 225 Liberty Street New York, NY 10128 Advertising Info | Subscribe to Fortune