Throughout history, we can see how Black Americans in the Great United States of America have been treated. We can unequivocally determine that through policies created we were disproportionately affected from lack of wealth, as others ran forward, we had ropes pulling us back the harder we tried to catch up. Our communities thus became our only safe haven until it wasn’t anymore due to outside interferences that don’t like the fact that we even exist as a people. I know that statement in itself is harsh, but it can be said through the actions of all those in charge since the “Emancipation Proclamation” in 1862 which went into effect in 1863. Black Americans had Jim Crow laws created against them as a deterrent to prevent them from getting ahead.

There were a select few who built wealth through the Jim Crow era such as Bernard Garret, an African American born and raised in the South who understood the surest path to improving conditions for black Americans was by achieving economic freedom (Clark, 2020). We should understand that it did not come easy, and it’s known that starting a business is not easy but when you have racial discrimination working against you it makes the path that much harder, know that before you preach “Make America Great Again”. Let’s discuss the reality where a lot of this began and that is in education or the lack thereof.

Sir Francis Bacon once said that “Knowledge is Power” (Bacon, 1996). Discouraging Blacks to learn dates back to the 1800s with North Carolina passing a law that forbade teaching slaves to read and write, stating that literacy has a “tendency to excite dissatisfaction in their minds and to produce insurrection and rebellion to the manifest injury of the citizens of this state” (Sneed, 2014). The lack of knowledge will lead you down a path of destruction because a person can’t see an outlet and acts in a way representing what they’ve been exposed to. Without true knowledge you act to the knowledge that you witness on a daily basis and in some Black communities, it’s that of violence and civil unrest. In most cases that can come with great progress if there is an understanding of what happens afterward. In the circumstances where there are no plans, the only outcome is that of leftover destructions and us left to rebuild until the next time. In this episode, I will talk with Tamika Day as we discuss “The Road to Black Economic Development: Tackling the School to Prison Pipeline”.

Tamika Day is a successful entrepreneur and educator. She has dedicated her career to promoting excellence in business and mentoring stylists/barbers to succeed in the beauty industry.  Her business takes pride in motivating and inspiring others to excel beyond the chair. Tamika's passion for education has guided her career in the industry as a highly sought-after industry expert in the world of beauty and business consultant.  Tamika's goal is to enhance and empower professionals to excel in business, life skills, and career strengths.

She possesses a B.A in Mass Communications/Marketing from the State University of West Georgia and a Master’s in Education with a concentration in Instructional Technology from Cambridge College in Boston, MA.  Her knowledge gained has helped her to build upon her strengths as a successful entrepreneur, mom, and wife.

She is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and I welcome her to the show to discuss the path forward.

Bacon, F. (1996). Meditationes Sacrae and Human Philosophy. Kessinger Publishing.

Clark, A. (2020, March 20). The Black Businessman Who Built an Empire Despite Jim Crow Oppression. Retrieved from History.com: https://www.history.com/news/bernard-garrett-banker-jim-crow

Sneed, L. (2014, 08 21). Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's "Learning to Read".