Nathan Young, the Minneapolis ad strategist who worked to spark industrywide progress on diversity and inclusion, announced this morning he is resigning as president of 600 & Rising, the advocacy group he co-founded after the police killing of George Floyd.
Young faced vocal criticism from his fellow diversity advocates after tweeting on July 29 that another, more established equality organization, Adcolor, is “completely divorced from reality.” While some on Twitter expressed agreement with his criticisms, many others rallied to defend Adcolor and its founder, Tiffany R. Warren.
As the debate played out on Twitter as well as private conversations and group chats, it added a discordant tone of division to a previously unified movement whose name was derived by the more than 600 Black advertising professionals who signed an open letter to agency leaders titled A Call for Change.
On July 31, 600 & Rising’s board of directors released a statement supporting industry efforts, citing Adcolor by name. “We want to collaborate with the groups, like Adcolor, that have been doing the work to make diversity a reality, long before 600 & Rising was created,” the group wrote. “We want to uplift the voices of Black women whose contributions to the cause cannot be overshadowed.”
Today, Young posted a series of messages on his Twitter account announcing he is stepping down from 600 & Rising and saying that the group will be shifting to what he described as a “inclusive & democratic bottom-up structure.”
After a considerable period of reflection, I have decided to step down from my role as President of 600 & Rising. Though I still deeply believe in the mission and purpose of the movement, leading it demands more time, energy, and discipline than I am prepared to give.
— Nathan Young (@notnathan) August 7, 2020
Splitting time between my day job and this movement in the middle of a pandemic has placed enormous stress on both me and my family. It has caused me to make critical errors in judgement, and candidly, feel more irritable and unhappy than I have ever felt in my entire life.
— Nathan Young (@notnathan) August 7, 2020
This has caused me to lash out at folks who didn’t deserve it and transform into a person I did not recognize. My goal has always been to effect positive change in this industry and I cannot do that with a negative mindset.
— Nathan Young (@notnathan) August 7, 2020
From the beginning, I realized that this movement was bigger than any one person. It’s why the letter was signed by 600 signatories instead of a handful of advertising’s elite. But in my haste to stand up an organization, I basically became 600 & Rising.
That cannot stand.
— Nathan Young (@notnathan) August 7, 2020
With my exit, the board has moved to dissolve the current top-down structure in favor of a totally inclusive & democratic bottom-up structure lead by the people. Those of you who have signed up to become Members & Allies will be receiving a communication from the board shortly.
— Nathan Young (@notnathan) August 7, 2020
This is what the movement always should have been and I am excited to see it grow.
I know this is tough to hear. It is tough for me to do. But but the success of this movement is more important than my leading it.
All power to the people ✊????
— Nathan Young (@notnathan) August 7, 2020
Young’s co-founder at 600 & Rising, Bennett D. Bennett, has not commented publicly on the change in leadership structure or whether it will change his position.
On July 30, Bennett tweeted that he did not support Young’s statement about Adcolor and described the incident as “counter to why the open letter in June was written and against why the organization exists in the first place.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates throughout the day.