Alexis Ohanian has handed in his resignation from the board of Reddit, the company he co-founded 15 years ago.
Instead, he’s asking the other board members to fill his position 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. He also shared that he’ll be pledging $1 million to Colin Kaepernick’s youth campaign Know Your Rights Camp.
In another tweet, Ohanian said he reached this conclusion “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 continued. “To everyone fighting to fix our broken nation: do not stop.”
Ohanian’s resignation arrives amid nationwide and international protests calling to defund and abolish the police. Protestors in the U.S. have also asked for some government leaders—such as Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio—to resign, as the police act increasingly violent towards civilians who are peacefully demonstrating in those cities.
While some applauded Ohanian’s effort, others are wondering what can be done to address the bigotry that can be found in Reddit's many subreddits.
