
“What Did You Do?” - erickhill
https://alexisohanian.com/home/2020/6/5/what-did-you-do
======
alain94040
Instead of everyone here nitpicking on how this action is too little, or not
meaningful enough, or misguided, or whatever other criticism you can think of,
just acknowledge that he is trying to do something. He is not seeking your
approval or accolades. But actually doing _something_ is more than posting
comments on HN, so there's that.

~~~
pwinnski
As I write this, there are 12 comments here, and every single one other than
yours is disgusting. It seems Reddit isn't the only collection of self-
centered people lacking empathy or any drive at all to understand the world
around them.

~~~
simonkafan
It is irrational to compensate a negative event now incoherently with positive
discrimination.

It's like saying: Germany started World War 2, now Germany must send soldiers
to stop Syrian war to compensate its bad karma.

~~~
happytoexplain
"Irrational" is becoming something of a synonym for "I don't agree". Also,
that's an awfully dramatic analogy.

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

The rationalisation here is crazy. Dude with a black wife and a black daughter
espouses some sort of moral requirement to quit his board role? There is no
sense there. If there is a perspective here that makes sense; it needs
elaboration.

It seems more likely he is dropping off the board for a different,
unmentioned, reason.

~~~
whichquestion
Why does it seem more likely?

Part of the problem of systemic racism is lack of representation. If you
aren’t getting representation for your community then your issues are less
likely to be addressed.

Why can’t he feel a sense of moral obligation to have members of our community
be represented in seats of power?

~~~
roenxi
Traditionally when someone invokes their family while stepping down from a
board it means there was either a major screw up, a sex scandal or a health
crisis. It is normal not to get a straightforward reason for why someone
resigns a powerful position.

> Why can’t he feel a sense of moral obligation to have members of our
> community be represented in seats of power?

His family is blacker than something like 80% of American families. He is
"urging" a black replacement rather than identifying "this is the black
candidate we have decided to replace me with". His daughter is going to be one
of the American elite - this "able to answer" business is a transparent
emotional play. She will crush everyone in this HN thread with the
opportunities and material comforts that she will enjoy.

The blog post doesn't quite mesh. Balance of probabilities; there is more to
this story that is not obvious. It isn't a basic moral decision.

------
simonkafan
Wait, isn't exactly this discrimination? Selecting or not selecting someone
based on his/her skin color?

------
afarrell
> "I have urged them to fill my seat with a black candidate"

Wait I'm really missing something about the "why?" here.

\- He didn't have an idea of how he could orient the organization he had built
toward solving problems?

\- He didn't have any black leaders within the organization he could think of
to elevate who would both have a more keen lived-experience sense of the
nature of the problem _and_ know reddit culture enough to apply that
understanding?

Maybe not and we don't have the full story here.

But systemic racism isn't some bad-apples good-apples issue any more than the
787-MAX was brought down by a pair of bad pilots. It is not really an issue of
replacing people if they are under the same pressures. It's an issue of
_systems_.

What systems does this refactor or dismantle?

------
honksillet
He is worth 10s (hundreds?) of millions of dollars. This costs him nothing.
What he is suggesting reddit do is illegal.

~~~
KenoFischer
> What he is suggesting reddit do is illegal.

Are board appointments considered hiring? Honest question. I have no idea how
the law works here, but I just figured the shareholders could choose whoever
they want.

------
svnpenn
Why is it just a black nothing as the picture?

~~~
PopeDotNinja
From an Instagram thread where I asked my friend the same quesiton...

Me: "Hey there, you're latest post is all black. Is that a reference to the
civil unrest & injustice in the USA at the moment? I'm a bit out of the loop
being out of country."

My friend: "It is - in short, people are “muting” themselves on social media
to stand in solidarity with our black peers and to amplify black voices right
now"

------
pxndxx
Too little, too late. Reddit had a chance to ban T_D and other hateful
subreddits many years ago and didn't.

~~~
honksillet
So T_D quit reddit and went over to theDonald.win not because of reddit's
censorship?

~~~
nuclearnice1
I’m not sure I follow. Could you rephrase?

I think you’re trying to say: Reddit’s partial censorship has been effective.
For example, T_D is abandoned.

------
Bostonian
"I have urged them to fill my seat with a black candidate"

Board positions are paid well, and racial discrimination in hiring is against
the law. Ohanian should not be encouraging it.

