“Change the changeable. Accept the unchangeable. Remove yourself from the unacceptable.”
Derrick Black, or “Double Nickel”, is 55 years old and he grew up in Harlem, NY. The community has shaped him into the person he is today. He is a reverend and is in his process of writing his own book that will also consist of his life inspiring acronyms. Growing up in a community where drugs were exposed, he saw many of his friends going down that road and didn’t make it because of bad decisions. As he stated, “There is no can’t, it is can not. You have the power to do what you want.” A life changing experience he went through was when he was diagnosed with sarcoidosis disorder, a disease that affects the lungs, which made him view life from a different perspective. He stopped smoking ever since then. “No test, no testimony. You gotta go through the fights. You live and you learn.” He loves to continue to engage with the youth in helping them bring positivity into their lives. His personal advice on how can we make a difference for the youth is, “We’re sitting here and we’re spring boarding off of each other because isolation is the best work of the enemy. When you got nothing to do, that’s when stuff happens. Young people are very smart, like I said, and they just want an opportunity. Sometimes they just want somebody to listen to them, to talk to.”
Derrick Black’s Words of Inspiration “MAD: Making A Difference” “We had youth call. We had each other. We used to go outside and play with each other.”
“It’s all about influence. Young people are very smart, but sometimes things are very easy to get exposed to.”
“Not many people have left this community and many have not even seen Yankee Stadium” “Change the changeable. Accept the unchangeable. Remove yourself from the unacceptable.”
“You have to be yourself. Everybody else is taken.” LISTEN: SILENT Work with the kids. The education starts at home, but we have to reach them with opportunity like what we are doing now.
What is your legacy? “No test, no testimony. You gotta go through the fights. You live and you learn.