For the past couple weeks, Chicago based Groupon has handed over its social media audience of 22 million to African American entrepreneurs, activists, and leaders to amplify their voices during the Black Live Matter Awakening that has taken place across the nation and the world since the murder of George Perry Floyd at the hands of policemen. Groupon calls the effort #PassTheMic.
When Groupon approached CPAA President, Troy LaRaviere, about taking over their social media feed, he suggested he use the opportunity to teach a mini-course on “Dismantling American Racism.” It’s probable that this is the first time anyone has ever attempted to teach a course--or even a lesson for that matter--tweet-by-tweet, 280 characters at a time. Groupon’s leadership and social media staff loved the potential of the idea and the challenge it offered.
"We've been blown away by the critically important messages that have been shared––and continue to be shared–– and the conversations that have been inspired through our social channels by Troy and other black voices and hope that they can play a role in helping local communities heal and creating positive change around the world,” said Corey Flournoy, global head of inclusion and diversity, Groupon.
“The staff at Groupon has been incredible to work with,” LaRaviere said. “We all worked diligently behind the scenes to make this happen.” The content was based on a three-part 20-page primer LaRaviere developed entitled, Dismantling American Racism. “As I deconstructed that primer into tweet-friendly excerpts, their staff worked diligently behind the scenes to create videos, imagery, text threads, and linked resources to optimize those excerpts for social media. I think that what we’ve done is absolutely original and a great contribution to America’s Black Lives Matter Movement.”
The three-day course culminates today--Juneteenth. The first day was focused on the origin, history, and purpose of racism. The second covered the structure and function of racism. The Juneteenth lesson will cover how to fight and dismantle racism.
“Juneteenth is—in part—about freedom delayed,” said LaRaviere in a tweet. “Today, complete freedom for Black people is still delayed. This three-day course will conclude on Juneteenth and its aim is to help people understand and dismantle the root cause of that delay: Racism and the greed that produced it.”
“All too often, conversations about racism go nowhere because they start nowhere,” LaRaviere added, referring to the fact that people often have conversations about race without knowing the history of racism, the purpose for which it was created, or even having a common definition of the term. He hopes this course will change that.
Check LaRaviere’s introductory video here and see the course and imagery that the Groupon team created with him on Groupon’s Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram feeds.
