Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian resigned from the board of Reddit on Friday, asking fellow board members to replace him with a black candidate.
“I’ve resigned as a member of the Reddit board, I have urged them to fill my seat with a black candidate [and] I will use future gains on my Reddit stock to serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate,” Ohanian wrote in a Twitter thread, adding that he will be pledging $1 million to Colin Kaepernick’s youth campaign Know Your Rights Camp.
I've resigned as a member of the reddit board, I have urged them to fill my seat with a black candidate, + I will use future gains on my Reddit stock to serve the black community, chiefly to curb racial hate, and I’m starting with a pledge of $1M to @kaepernick7’s @yourrightscamp
— Alexis Ohanian Sr. ? (@alexisohanian) June 5, 2020
Ohanian wrote that he made the decision “as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: ‘What did you do?’”
“I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership from people in power right now,” he added. “To everyone fighting to fix our broken nation: do not stop.”
— Alexis Ohanian Sr. ? (@alexisohanian) June 5, 2020
Ohanian’s decision comes after international protests over the police killing of George Floyd and police brutality against black Americans. Protesters around the country, in an effort to defund and abolish law enforcement, have urged police officers to leave the force and for certain government leaders — including Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles and Mayor Bill De Blasio of New York — to resign, following accounts of widespread police brutality and unnecessary force against peaceful demonstrators in those cities.