My People Are Rising

May 28, 2012
The cofounder of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party shares his personal journey through 10 years of the party’s rise and fall, tracing the Black Power movement from 1968 through the late ’70s. At age 18, inspired by Stokely Carmichael and Bobby Seale, distressed over the murder of Martin Luther King Jr., and rebellious, Dixon was swept enthusiastically into a leadership role in the party that fed his passion for political education and helping the black community, while allowing him to participate in stockpiling weapons and fighting against both local white police “pigs” and a U.S. government that saw the militarized Panthers as a serious threat. Dixon paints an intense picture of the party’s next decade, from youth recruitment, through the purge of members involved in criminal activities, and finally to the split between those who wanted to work within the political system and those who felt it was time for a violent revolution. Dixon’s deeply personal writing humanizes the movement: his pride in the success of social programs like free breakfast for school children coexists with his disillusionment and disappointment as top members are lost to incarceration, murder, and especially to internal disagreements and corruption, threatening both the survival of the organization and Dixon’s personal ideals. Photos.

July 1, 2012
Dixon was 19 when, finding himself face-to-face with Bobby Seale in San Francisco in April 1968, he told the Black Panther cofounder, We want a Panther chapter in Seattle. Dixon does a fine job detailing the circumstances of his life that led to that moment and the consequences that would follow from it. The account seems strangely free of any judgment the 63-year-old Dixon might now have for the actions, criminal or otherwise, of his younger self. And the events are portrayed so vividly that they might have happened 5, not 40, years ago. As such, Dixon lays out the social context in which his anger at the establishment was forged and weapons brought to bear; the push-pull of a loving family and secure home life versus Dixon's need to correct social injustices, even at the risk of his personal safety; and the web of Panther alliances that he continually had to navigate. If the Seattle and Oakland settings seem limiting to a national audience, Dixon's story itselfand Dixon has remained active in Washington State politicsshouldn't be.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)