Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian resigns and urges board to replace him with Black candidate

“I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership from people in power right now"

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has resigned from the company, urging bosses to replace him with a black candidate.

Ohanian, husband to tennis player Serena Williams, shared the news in a new blog post.

The news comes in the wake of the death of George Floyd, 46, who died in Minneapolis last week (May 25) whilst in police custody. Floyd, who was African American, was killed when a white police officer appeared to kneel on his neck as he lay on the ground during an arrest.

Officer Derek Chauvin has since been sacked and charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. Three of his colleagues, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J Alexander Keung are now all facing charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder, and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Since Floyd’s death, protests have erupted in the US and around the world.

Ohanian said: “I co-founded Reddit 15 years ago to help people find community and a sense of belonging. It is long overdue to do the right thing. I’m doing this for me, for my family, and for my country,” he said, announcing his resignation.

He continued: “I’m writing this as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: ‘What did you do?'”

View this post on Instagram

I co-founded @reddit 15 years ago to help people find community and a sense of belonging.
 It is long overdue to do the right thing. I’m doing this for me, for my family, and for my country. I’m saying this as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: “What did you do?” I have 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, and I’m starting with a pledge of $1M to @kaepernick7’s @yourrightscamp
 I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership from people in power right now. To everyone fighting to fix our broken nation: do not stop.

A post shared by Alexis Ohanian Sr. (@alexisohanian) on

 

He continued: “I have 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.

“…I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership from people in power right now. To everyone fighting to fix our broken nation: do not stop.”

Ohanian added that he would be donating $1 million to former NFL player and activist Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp. You can see his announcement below:

Earlier this week, Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey also donated money to Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp.

Posting on Twitter, the tech mogul said he gave “$3m to Colin @Kaepernick7’s @yourrightscamp to advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization to elevate the next generation of change leaders.”

The significant sum came from Dorsey’s Small Grants fund, through which he has pledged to give away nearly one-third of his wealth, having recently pledged $1b of shares to the fight against coronavirus.

Kaepernick, a former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, attracted global attention in 2016 after he began the movement of kneeling on one knee during the US national anthem to protest against police brutality and racial injustice.

The symbolic gesture has since been re-adopted in the wake of Floyd’s death.

A large number of names from across the worlds of music and entertainment have publicly called for justice for George Floyd following his death, including Killer Mike,Beyonce, Ice Cube, Janelle Monae, Billie Eilish, Jay-Z, Adele and Travis Scott.

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