Black Panther Park honors Seattle chapter's struggle and legacy

SKYWAY - Elmer Dixon didn't become a Black Panther for glory, but as he sat next to a mural of himself and his brother in Black Panther Park on Sunday, he felt a sense of validation.

It's a reminder that we made some difference," he said. "And by inspiring young people, people of all ages, through a park like this, lets me know the future of our legacy will live, and people will continue to fight the struggle against the oppression."

Nearly a decade in the works, a park honoring Seattle's Black Panther Party was dedicated on Sunday, marking what organizers and former members say is long-overdue recognition of their legacy.

Dozens gathered at the intersection of Renton Avenue South and 75th Avenue South in Skyway to honor the party chapter founded by Elmer Dixon and his brother Aaron Dixon in 1968.

The project was a partnership with Nurturing Roots, King County Parks and Stone Soup Gardens.

Nyema Clark, who founded the nonprofit Nurturing Roots to address food and environmental justice, said the park cost about $560,000. King County Parks gave $466,000 in total toward the project and provided the land, while the Department of Local Services gave $190,000.

Trinity Construction, a Black-owned business based in Skyway, poured the concrete. Volunteers helped plant the vegetation.

The Panthers "definitely influenced my upbringing as a young person, realizing there is a system at play that often doesn't speak the language of the community or doesn't speak the language of the folks that are most impacted," Clark said. "So, for me, I wanted to really dedicate my life to doing something I feel good about."

The Black Panthers in Washington

The Seattle chapter was the first official branch stemming from the original Black Panther Party, which was started by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966 in Oakland, Calif.

The Seattle Chapter, according to the University of Washington's Seattle Black Panther Party History and Memory Project, closely aligned with Oakland.

Newton and Seale founded the group to address police brutality against Black people. They did so by patrolling police, often carrying guns and law textbooks on their outings. But patrolling was only one sector of their work.

Black Panther chapters across the U.S. worked to fill gaps in Black and brown communities that government programs had left behind. They did so through "community survival programs," according to the UW website.

Panthers in Seattle fed hundreds of school children free breakfast in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Seattle chapter also established the Sidney Miller Free Medical Clinic, now known as Carolyn Downs Family Medical Center, at a time when the Central District's population was roughly 90% Black.

Historians have extensively documented how former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and the mainstream press fueled misconceptions about the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in the late '60s and early '70s. These narratives, as well as police raids in cities including Seattle, caused the Panthers to be seen as a threat, ignoring positive work they were doing in the Black community.

"Every day, when we stepped out of our homes or out of the office, we knew that an attempt was made on our lives, but that didn't deter us," Elmer Dixon said Sunday. "We weren't fearful. We never thought about moments like this."

Hoover said in 1968 that the Black Panther Party "without question, represents the greatest threat to internal security of the country."

The Seattle Times called the group a "militant extremist organization" in 1968 while writing about a chapter forming in Seattle. In 1979, a column in The Times compared the Panthers, who disbanded the year before, to the Ku Klux Klan. The paper, in an article talking about the party's good works, also republished a racial slur in reference to the Panthers.

"The press seems to have been ignoring our activities because there's nothing inflammatory to report about," Elmer Dixon told The Times in 1975. "The types of things we're doing now - organizing - and unifying the community - I don't think they're too much interested in that."

In an interview on Wednesday, Elmer Dixon compared the narrative pushed about the Panthers to how President Donald Trump vilifies his adversaries. He said the park dedication was "vindication of our truth."

"We're used to what they used to say about us," Elmer Dixon said. "We're used to what they tried to put in the history books."

A community resource

Black Panther Park is one of several dedications to the group throughout Seattle, including The People's Wall in the Central District. The Seattle Chapter Black Panther Party Legacy Group plans to open an interpretive center in June in Pioneer Square.

Black Panther Park is both a gathering place and resource hub.

At the Renton Avenue entrance, park goers are greeted by a metal panther, a community library and a free food pantry. Up a set of steps lies vegetation and planter boxes surrounding a concrete slab with a black fist. Murals dedicated to Black power are posted throughout the park.

Clark tearfully told the crowd on Sunday that she dreamed of being a Black Panther as a teen. Her admiration fueled her dedication to the park.

Elmer Dixon told Clark that she was officially considered a Panther Cub, a designation typically reserved for the children of a Panther.

"As a Black woman, I also wanted to be able to do something that was foundational," she said through tears. "We birthed the world. And so, for me, I wanted to create something that my babies and all of our babies could see after we are gone.

Correction:This story has been corrected to indicate that King County Parks gave $466,000 toward the park project and provided the land

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This story was originally published April 19, 2026 at 11:33 PM.