Elmer Dixon grew up in Seattle’s Central District. While attending Garfield High School, Elmer and his older brother, Aaron Dixon, organized Garfield’s Black Student Union in 1968. In the same year, Elmer and Aaron founded the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party. Elmer has served as the field lieutenant, breakfast program coordinator, and Seattle Chapter leader. Transitioning from a fearless freedom fighter and community organizer, Elmer now works as a principal owner of a leading diversity consulting firm as well as a community leader who continues to strive for human rights, inclusion, and empowerment.
I have been assisting Elmer with his memoir, conducting in-depth interviews with him and close family, friends, and fellow Panther leaders and conducting archival and internet research. A few months before beginning work with Elmer, I moved to the Central District. Though I had grown up on the Eastside, the CD is likely the Seattle neighborhood I frequented most as a child; these visits were part of the efforts my immigrant parents made to surround my siblings and me with a community that resembled us. Such representation was otherwise rare in my childhood, particularly in my suburban neighborhood.