About this Event
Elmer Dixon, co-founder of the Seattle Black Panther Party.
Langston Performing Arts Institute
Friday, July 15
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm PST
This lecture is free.
The Institute for Common Power
Elmer Dixon shares the story of why the organization called for a revolutionary movement and how that holds relevance for us today.
Elmer Dixon is a long-time activist involved in social change since the “Black Power Movement” of the 1960’s. He was born in Chicago and at age 7, moved to Seattle where his father relocated the family in search of a more promising life. Elmer grew up in the turbulent times of the civil rights movement living with his family in Seattle’s Central District, in Madrona, a melting pot neighborhood. It was there that he and his siblings learned to respect people from all races and ethnic backgrounds and were taught by his parents to judge a person by their character not by the color of their skin, a philosophy emphasized by Dr. Martin Luther King. In 1965 he and his brothers, along with their parents, marched with Dr. King in a demonstration for the rights of poor and oppressed communities.
After meeting Bobby Seale co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, in the sping of 1968 he co-founded the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP). As one of the co-founders, Elmer served as the Chapter’s Deputy Field Marshall. The Seattle Chapter organized Police Alert Patrols which were intended to monitor and halt police abuse was the first, followed by the Children’s Free Breakfast Program, Free Medical Clinics and the Free Food Programs. Many other programs followed along with the initial awareness building around Sickle Cell Anemia, a blood disease primarily affecting the Black community.
He later worked as the Director of a Girls and Boys club in Tacoma’s Hill Top continuing his desire to work in disenfranchised communities to bring them better services. Following that experience, he began working with Walt Hundley at the Seattle Parks Department initially as training manager and EEO Officer responsible for ensuring the rights of women and minorities. He was then appointed to the Mayor’s Cabinet serving as Director of the Citizens Service Bureau. This work, along with his earlier experiences in the Party laid the foundation for him to eventually do work in the field of diversity and inclusion.
Continuing his passion for social justice, Elmer has worked in the field of Human Rights, Multiculturalism and Inclusion for the past 35 years and now serves as President of Executive Diversity Services. He has designed and delivered diversity/inclusion, cultural competency and multi cultural training sessions for government agencies, non profit organizations and major US corporations. He has worked with executive teams assisting them in identifying the Business Case and Best Practices for Diversity and Inclusion. In addition, he has conducted team building sessions for multi-cultural work teams and company executives, while also serving as advisor to leaders on strategic diversity and inclusion initiatives.
As a former activist and current diversity consultant, he has served as a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator for a variety of US organizations including Illinois Police Chief’s Midwest Security Conference, SIETAR US, and SIETAR Europa across Europe, and SIETAR France. Elmer guest lectures annually at JAMK University of Applied Sciences in Jyvaskyla, Finland on topics related to Strategic Diversity Management, Unconscious Bias, Intercultural Conflict, Cross Cultural Competence and Team Development and has taught regularly at Espeme, an undergraduate program of the Edhec Business School in Lille and Nice France.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Langston, 104 17th Avenue South, Seattle, United States
USD 0.00 to USD 50.00