Black History Today 2024: Deionte Petty, glorifying his community through humble service
/Black History Today, created by Marcus Harden in honor of Black History Month, pays tribute to the living legacy of Black history in our community and beyond and recognizes the people among us who are boldly shaping the future.
“The greatest mistake of the movement has been trying to organize a sleeping people around specific goals. You have to wake the people up first, then you’ll get action.”
By Marcus Harden
A simple, profound parable tells us that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Of course, the teachers among us quickly realize after we’ve “appeared” in a student’s life that these relationships are not entirely what we’d expected. Believing at first that it is you who will be doing the teaching, developing and mentoring, the truth is always a bit different, and those lines become so blurred that you wake up one morning and realize it was you who received so much more than you’ve ever given.
I have had the privilege of knowing Deionte Petty since he was four or five years old (time flies, indeed), and even as a little boy, his zeal for life and excitement for helping others were evident. Every one of us who has been blessed enough to speak into his life and share in his space – as he’s grown from an imaginative and patient boy, into a well-rounded, community-building man – has experienced the phenomenon of learning much from someone we expected to teach.
Born in Seattle to a caring mother and carrying Northwest pedigree in his last name, Deionte spent many days soaking up knowledge and being around young adults who were still finding themselves on this journey called life. He was always beyond his years – young enough to be treated like a child yet wise enough to know when to just be around to listen – and those gifts have traveled with him into adulthood.
As Deionte grew into his own through adolescence, his natural gifts and curiosity started coming to the forefront. A talented athlete, he is also a thoughtful musician, artist and composer, and like many of our greatest leaders, though he could walk into many places and be lauded for his accomplishments, his effervescent humility would always shine through.
As Deionte grew, and as his knowledge of the world around him grew, he became more and more the mentor figure he’d often sought, attending Seattle University and obtaining his BA in Strategic Communication (no irony there). Deionte would soon find himself melding his gifts and his passions into his greatest cause: service.
Whether serving as a music composer, engineer, producer or artist, whether being a recreational leader at local community centers, or whether leading through curiosity and faith, Deionte grew to become a man who would skillfully spend his time ensuring that success wasn’t his alone, but that his glory belonged to the community.
His latest and greatest contribution is in his leadership around stewardship and entrepreneurship for the Black community with the Seattle Urban League. As the director of entrepreneurship, Deionte recently played a lead role in the launch of the Entrepreneurship Center & Cultural Office, which provides programs and services for small businesses in Seattle to flourish and thrive.
Life always spins full circle. Now, the same boy who many watched grow would tell you his proudest moments are the ones he spends with his own family and his own children. You would witness him cherish the moments when he can pass on his hunger, humility and honor to the next generation, to both his biological family and to the larger community he serves with constant purpose.
Deionte is now the teacher – maybe he always was – and the community in which he dutifully serves is his classroom. His greatest lessons are in how he lives his life – through light, faith, music, thought-leadership and family. He has grown into an incredible man that the community should be proud of, and for what is now and for what is to come, he is, indeed, Black History Today!
Original artwork created by Devin Chicras for the South Seattle Emerald.
