Local youth and teens learned about Black History and the lessons it can teach them as Citizens National Bank held its annual Black History Month celebration Thursday at The Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience.

 

The financial institution has been holding the celebration for several years, said Citizens Meridian President Neil Henry, but previously geared it toward realtors, bankers or other adult professionals. This year, he said, the bank decided to focus on children to help set them up for the future.

“We like to celebrate Black History Month. We like to engage different groups and learn from them,” he said. “This is an opportunity for us to learn, and highlighting our youth, it can’t be any better than that.”

 

Meridian and Mississippi have a rich history of producing outstanding Black artists, athletes, activists and more, who rise to national and international fame, Henry said, and sadly the state also has a history of horrific acts motivated by race. It is important for today’s youth to understand how they got to where they are now, he said, and realize the opportunities that lay before them.

 

“There are many, many scars that our country, we’re not proud of, that anybody in this room would not be proud of,” he said. “But there’s also a lot of great things to be proud of, and we’re all about looking forward, about progress and success.”

 

Tyeisha Smith, community development officer for Citizens National Bank, talked to the students about Black Wall Street, a street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that grew into a hub of commerce for Black Americans during segregation in the early 1900s. At its peak, she said, the street consisted of more than 100 Black-owned businesses.

 

Those business owners had a dream, and they worked hard to make their dream come to fruition, Smith said. Those same opportunities available for people today, she said, and youth who have those dreams of being business owners can make it happen with discipline, integrity and hard work.

 

“If you want it, you can achieve it right now,” she said. “You have control over your own future.”

 

In 1921, a white mob leveled Black Wall Street in one of the nation’s worst race-related massacres in history. More than 700 people were injured and dozens were killed, Smith said. Part of the motivation behind the attack was jealousy, with white business owners losing customers to the growing Black business community.

 

Now, as then, she said, jealousy is a poison pill. Black Wall Street was successful because the Black community came together to support each other and helped contribute to the benefit of all. Jealousy doesn’t have to be about race, she said, but no matter what it is about, it erodes that sense of community and drives wedges between people who should be working together.

 

Meridian’s youth have unlimited potential, Henry said, and it is up to them to seize the opportunities that present themselves and grow into the future leaders the city needs them to be.

 

“Go be great and be the next success story in Meridian, Mississippi,” he said.