By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
The Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) was established in the spring of 1968, making it the first authorized chapter outside of California and the second on the West Coast. Unlike many other chapters, the Seattle chapter survived until 1978, and had a significant impact on the region. Committed to armed self-defense against police brutality and violent racism, the BPP members donned leather jackets and black berets.
While some feared the organization, they served as role models for many others, signaling that the struggle for racial justice had evolved beyond persuasion and nonviolent protest. The BPP started free breakfast programs for children, distributed free groceries for families, opened health clinics and schools and most important provided safety patrols to protect the Black community from abuse by the police.
In the late 1960s, young Black men and women in Seattle, including Aaron and Elmer Dixon, Larry Gossett, Anthony Ware, and Gary Owens, transitioned from being members of a high school Black Student Union and University of Washington students to becoming Black revolutionaries. This transition, along with current events surrounding Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the erasure of Black history, forms the foundation of a new book authored by Elmer Dixon, co-founder of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party.
The book, ‘Die Standing: From Black Panther Revolutionary to Global Diversity Consultant,’ chronicles the journey of Dixon, his brother Aaron and their cohorts, as they took matters into their hands at the height of civil unrest during the Civil Rights era.
The book explores the developing mindset of young Black people who decided turning the other cheek was not sufficient in bringing about the necessary change needed for Black people to experience their definition of freedom.
Dixon says that former members of the Black Panther Party must share their stories given the abundance of literature that is available, and a number of misconceptions as it relates to BPP.
According to Dixon, the process of telling the truth about the BPP and addressing current events has been a decade in the making.
“This is really a combination of telling the truth about the BPP as well as addressing current events,” says Dixon. “This has actually been a process of ten years in the making at least. I’m often asked to write my story as I speak around the globe for the last twelve years. People always saying you have an interesting story that needs to be told.”
“One of the strong impetuses for [writing the book] is that there is so much misinformation and misconceptions about who the Black Panther Party was and what we stood for,” continued Dixon. “With all of the literature that exists it is important for former members of the Black Panther Party to tell their stories. So, the people understand who we were, the commitments that we made, the sacrifices that we made and that is what my book is about.”
During an interview with The Seattle Medium, Dixon recalled a moment that prompted him to write the book. Upon returning from Europe, where he had been delivering speeches, he was approached by two young individuals, and to his surprise, one of the young women referred to the Black Panther Party as “the Black KKK.”
“Two students were sent to greet me, one of them Black, the other was white,” Dixon recalls. “They asked as I approached them “are you the former Black Panther that is going to speak to our class,” and I said yes, I am. And they asked, “what is the Black Panther Party,” and the Black student asked, “was that like the Black KKK?” So, I found that to be ironic that here in the U.S. a young Black student at a college would equate the Black Panther Party to the KKK, while we were celebrated for the work that we did in Europe, and this was in 2010.”
Dixon’s pathway to the Black Panther Party began in 1967 when Stokely Carmichael came to Garfield High School to speak to the young people of Seattle. Carmichael’s commitment, bravery and oratorical skills inspired the young 17-year-old Dixon at the time and changed the trajectory of his life.
When17-year-old Bobby Hutton had been killed by Oakland police in a shootout in which Party leader Eldridge Cleaver was also wounded, the young Dixons met with BPP Chairman Bobby Seale, that meeting moved and inspired them and their journey to securing safety, self-sufficiency, pride and political power within Seattle’s Black community began.
“This was about me growing up in America as a Black boy, with my siblings during the Civil Rights movement and being aware of what was going on but not being political conscious until Stokely Carmichael came to visit in 1967 and that is where a lot of the Black activist in Seattle were activated,” said Dixon.
“We were enlightened and inspired by Stokely’s speech and became engaged in different ways in the Black power movement in the late 60s,” continued Dixon. “The book is the reason why the information about who we were needs to be out there more widely so that people can really get beyond the myths, the lies that have been perpetuated throughout our history.”
A powerful memoir, with a forward by former Black Panther Party Chair Bobby Seale, this book looks to set the record straight about the altruistic purpose of the BPP, whose image has been tarnished by media and movies.
Die Standing offers Dixon’s inspiring story and action-oriented teachings to help propel the social justice movement by creating a world where Black and Brown people are safe to live, learn and prosper with equality and justice for all.
