Welcome, ACLU
sama, I hope you will consider temporarily withdrawing YC's involvement (as an entity) with the ACLU.<p>I know that you mean well, and that you want to help. Your work on voteplz, and your blog posts during the election (and since) all demonstrate that.<p>However, this announcement -- especially now, with the ACLU raising $24 million over the weekend -- feels like "whitewashing" to me. The announcement lacks a number for the amount funded, so it must not have been big enough to be material (probably $XX,000).<p>I am not comfortable with Peter Thiel's involvement with the Trump campaign. And, by extension, I am not comfortable with sama's and YC's position to continue working with Thiel. I don't feel safe, given the current political environment. I feel like this announcement sounds like a way to "make up" for not cutting ties with Thiel. Basically, it looks like a PR move in YC's interest instead of the ACLU's interest -- something like the Ronald McDonald charity, or Google donating Chromebooks to schools, or an oil company donating to a charity that replants the rainforest. I worry that many others (especially immigrants, women, and people of color) may feel the same way.<p>I don't expect sama or YC to cut ties with Thiel -- sama has already given reasons why he doesn't wish to: <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/787834428064083968" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/sama/status/787834428064083968</a><p>But I believe that, so long as Thiel continues to be involved with YC, that YC being associated with the ACLU will harm the ACLU, its brand, and its ability to fundraise. And -- even with the brightest minds in SV -- I'm not confident in YC's ability to help the ACLU enough to offset that harm.<p>I really wish that I didn't feel this way about the announcement. We really need to be working together to fight to protect our democracy.<p>(Edit: Rewrote they -> I in Paragraph 4.)