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Legendary Black Panther Elmer Dixon Sits Down With RARE

/ October 23, 2024

Seattle legend Elmer Dixon, who along with his brother Aaron, co-founded the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1968, was RARE’s Open Discussion guest on the evening of September 23. Mr. Dixon took questions and spoke for a riveting 90 minutes in what was RARE’s fourth Open Discussion of 2024.

Elmer and Aaron Dixon founded the second chapter of the Black Panther Party and the first outside of the state of California in 1968. Elmer was 17 years old at the time. The founding came at a time of racial unrest in Seattle, brought on by red-lining, discriminative social and economic policies, and police brutality often unleashed on Black folks in the predominantly Black Central Area.

In the 56 years since, Mr. Dixon has, among other endeavors, traveled the world as an equity and diversity consultant. He recently published a memoir: DIE STANDING: From Black Panther Revolutionary to Global Diversity Consultant.

Mr. Dixon was introduced to the RARE Open Discussion audience by TaRessa Stovall, RHS Class of 1972 who, like Elmer, grew up in the Central District and also has written about her experiences in an engaging memoir, Swirl Girl. TaRessa shared a litany of Mr. Dixon’s work and accomplishments, noting he is defined by “a revolutionary spirit, grounded in integrity that tirelessly worked for a more just and humane world.”

One of the many beneficial feats that he and other Black Panther Party members accomplished was the establishment of armed patrols protecting citizens of the Central District at the height of racial tensions and police harassment in Seattle. They also started a free breakfast program and free medical clinics that nourished and served thousands of Seattle’s youth and adults. They brought attention to and helped fund resources aiding in the fight against sickle cell anemia, an often-deadly disease disproportionately affecting Black people.

Since the height of the Panthers, Mr. Dixon has worked successfully in the Seattle Parks Department to expand recreational activities in predominantly Black neighborhoods. While working for the Parks he was responsible for the implementation of its first anti-sexual harassment policy. In 2010 he was named Director of Executive Diversity Services and has since had a hand in training over 100,000 various employees of major companies in DEI training.

As he did in his memoir, Mr. Dixon began the Open Discussion with a narrative of his youth, growing up in Chicago in the same neighborhood where Emmett Till lived before his brutal murder while visiting Mississippi horrified the nation and became the catalyst for the modern Civil Rights Movement. His parents, he said, embraced history. Later, after moving to Seattle, the Dixon home often served as a meeting place for Black Panthers and other activists while Mr. and Mrs. Dixon went about their business.

Elmer recalled his father having a poem published about Emmett Till in one of Chicago’s Black newspapers. Below is a stanza from that poem:

I’ll never forget you, Emmett Till

And how you horribly died

I’ll never forget the smiling jurors

And how the lawyers lied

As in his book, Mr. Dixon spoke about growing up in Seattle’s multicultural Madrona neighborhood where he had friends of various ethnic backgrounds. “I had my first matzo ball at 12,” he said. He and his mates lived the life of young teens, talking music, playing sports, and engaging in mostly benign high jinx. He got involved with music and later joined the Garfield band.

But it was becoming a revolutionary that became Elmer’s main passion in high school. The turbulence of the 1960’s, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers and the bombing at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama that took the lives of four Black girls, all had taken root deep in Elmer’s consciousness.

It was Stokely Carmichael who brought them to the forefront.

Elmer recounted the day when Carmichael, an activist and key leader in the development of the Black Power movement, spoke at Garfield. “We had been brainwashed into thinking black was bad. The bad guys wear black hats, the good guys wear white hats. If somebody called me black when I was a kid, those were fighting  words…. Stokely Carmichael taught us to love ourselves.” It was, Elmer said, a politically conscious moment.

In his first activist role, Elmer helped establish the first high school Black Student Union on the West Coast – though not without a struggle. He recounted being kicked out of Garfield several times during his efforts. It was a multi-ethnic boycott of the school that made the principal relent, and Garfield’s BSU was born. It was soon to be followed by the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party.

As he did in his memoir, Mr. Dixon spoke about life as a young Black Panther. A life that included meetings with legendary Panthers Bobby Seale and Huey Newton.

It was a life of activism that often included high-powered weapons, body guards, binding camaraderies, FBI informants, and constant danger.

When asked about his parents’ concerns for his and Aaron’s safety at the time, Elmer said that he and his siblings were raised to be “independent thinkers and doers”. He recounted one particular threat on his life. It came from a middle of the night phone call to his parents’ home. His mom answered. A voice said, “We’re gonna kill that n——- son of yours”, whereupon Mrs. Dixon said, “Go ahead and try” before going back to sleep.

Though his work today is less dangerous than that of his youth, Mr. Dixon has for decades since his Panther days strove for a more just and equitable country and world. He lamented the current attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts, but has no doubt that they will prevail in businesses.

“The data is there,” he said, “when you have a diverse team in any organization, they will constantly outperform homogeneous teams, over and over again.”

His DEI work has taken him all over the world, speaking to businesses and various organizations.

But it’s at the schools where he has most enjoyed his audiences.

DEI work is fine with students, but what the young kids really want to hear about was the Black Panthers. One enthused elementary student wanted to know what it was like being on Police Alert Patrol. Mr. Dixon said that his parting advice for all the young people with whom he has met was to question everything. Be prepared to challenge all they are taught. Always try to capture the moment.

RARE Chair Joe Hunter asked Mr. Dixon what he,  at age 74, would tell the 17-year-old Elmer.  Mr. Dixon recounted those Panther days in what could be construed today as insane times for any 17-year-old. Despite being targeted by the police and the FBI, and despite all the threats and the number of Black activists that had been killed, Mr. Dixon said he was never scared. Such was his zeal; he was prepared to die standing. But it was more than that. “We were living in the moment, staying alert, and being aware of our surroundings.” He would tell 17-year-old Elmer the same thing. And he added what he would tell all young people of today: “Be true to yourself.”

RARE is grateful to Elmer Dixon for joining its September ’24 Open Discussion.

A video of Elmer Dixon’s appearance is on the RARE website as well as links to past Open Discussion events.


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