Wichita man works to recreate Black Wall Street

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – A dream is planting a seed to sprout success.

One voice amplified is creating a chorus of continuous force, inspiring and uplifting the current and next generation of Black leaders.

“I knew I wanted to own a barbershop after I went to barber college and things of the nature and that I wanted to franchise,” said Bryce Graham, owner of Shock Barbershop.

He took notes from the history books.

“When I first learned about Tulsa, the Black Wall Street, it just expanded my mind as far as what was possible and what I was capable of doing and what we have done as a people,” said Graham.

After World War I, the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, received national recognition for its affluent African American community with thriving businesses called “Black Wall Street.”

“Once I got the opportunity to come into this space and additional units became available, we kinda started the process of building a mini–Black Wall Street,” Graham said.

The barbershop is the core of a strip mall, home to several Black-owned businesses, on East 13th Street.

“You have got doctors, lawyers, attorneys, insurance guys, business owners, you name it, they come a get a haircut at the barbershop, so it becomes this community hub where you can build this synergy, and you can come and get recharged and refreshed even from a mental health aspect,” said Graham

That comfort allows people to speak freely.

“We talk about it all; nothing is off limits at the barbershop,” said Graham. “We put legs to legs to the conversation, so we are not just talking about things or complaining about things.

Graham says violence in schools, with an increase in homicides and shootings, sparked conversation, leading to questions of concern, answered with action.

“We said let’s host a community event where people can kinda come in and share their thoughts,” said Graham. “From that meeting, that initial meeting, there were micro-groups that met after that, that had a specific pathway to success that they had in their mind, and since then, there have been things implemented that sprouted from that group to try to rectify those situations that are going on in the schools.”

The focus is kept on learning. The ICT Launchpad Program offers tremendous help to all ages.

“I started working with the young kids, the kindergarteners, first graders. Who do they look up to? Second and third graders. I started working with them. They are looking at the fourth and fifth, and so on and so forth, where it got to the point that some of the older kids, some of the middle and high schoolers were looking up to all their cousins and brothers, early 20s, so I work with young adults,” said Graham.

The model used in the program is also teaching him a lesson.

“You can’t just take one piece of the environment and attempt to change it and expect it to trickle through everything else, so with the Launchpad, our emphasis is on the youth, but we do also have, where we host community events for adults,” Graham added.

From the Launchpad, they started the Lift program, which stands for Level Up Your Life Today, focused on mentorship and counseling.

“I just try to help give them all the things that I wish that I had when I was their age,” Graham said.

Inside the room where most of the community meetings take place is a banner with the mission statement, “we will help launch our youth into the orbit of success.”

“This thing has to outlast me,” Graham said. “I want to give it all, all that I can give it while I’m here, but I don’t want it to die with me. I want the legacy, the thoughts, the ideas that have come into the Launchpad, and the youth in the launch pad just to continue to grow and develop long after I’m gone.”

In the summer of 2022, Graham says the organization hosted a camp where 10 authors took 10 students through the process of creating their own books, and they now have 10 published young authors.