Black History Today: Derrick Wheeler-Smith
/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 shaping the future.
Presented in collaboration with the South Seattle Emerald.
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
By Marcus Harden
It’s become a bit cliché lately but still stands true: you want to surround yourself with people who say your name in spaces and rooms that you aren’t in.
We all need people who champion us, champion causes and spend their time understanding that there is truly enough sun for everyone to shine.
Derrick Wheeler-Smith nearly transcends all of those notions. Born into what some would consider Seattle Black Royalty, his bloodline in the greater Puget Sound area – from his parents, to his siblings, to his in-laws and extended family – have literally helped shape the hearts and minds of so many Seattle children and families.
Derrick’s special place in that lineage is as something of an alchemist, mixing and calculating all parts of himself – education, community-building, spirituality and business – to build bridges across disciplines. And he does it all in the name of change.
Derrick is a proud graduate of Franklin High School in Seattle (we won’t hold this against him) and studied at Northwest University. His true master’s and doctorate, though, is being a professor of the people. From leading numerous youth organizations and initiatives to being an amplifying voice for community need, he is constantly in service to and for others.
Derrick’s greatest leadership asset is his courage to trail-blaze whilst walking beside people, constantly putting others first. Whether assisting his equally talented wife in leading girls high school basketball teams – setting an example for how men can show up in support of all women – or co-organizing community-changing marches to bring awareness and action to racial injustice, Derrick defines being the wind beneath the community’s wings.
His shining achievement is to be found in his ongoing role as an adoring husband and father, where Derrick is always modeling a level of balance many leaders can learn from.
Derrick has recently been named to serve as an advisor for the newly elected mayor, a fitting role for a man who advised and served long before the big leather chair called his name. Derrick is the definition of servant leadership, a carrier of the struggle so we all can progress, and those qualities among many more are why he is, indeed, Black History, Today!
Original artwork created by Devin Chicras for the South Seattle Emerald.
