The Greening of a Black Panther: Aaron Dixon runs for the U.S. Senate

Posted on September 04, 2006

Aaron Dixon; Photo: BRADLEY ENGHAUS

Parts I and II reprinted from the Beacon Hill News

The mid-term senatorial election is fast approaching, and the field of candidates is larger than you may realize. This November's ballots will feature five candidates from as many parties vying for Democratic incumbent Maria Cantwell's seat. On that list will be South End resident and Green Party candidate Aaron Dixon.

A Beacon Hill resident, the 57-year-old Dixon is a father of six with a well-established history of community activism. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dixon was a crucial, organizing member of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party. During his time with the BPP he advocated for the civil liberties of black students at Rainier Beach High School, started the Free Breakfast for School Children program, and helped open a free legal clinic and a community medical clinic, which is still operational as the Carolyn Downs Clinic located off of East Yesler Way.

Today Dixon juggles the responsibilities of a statewide political campaign with his North Seattle nonprofit organization, Central House, which he founded in 2002 to provide transitional housing for homeless young adults as well as a base for a youth leadership project that currently operates in four Seattle high schools.

In part one of a two segment series, Dixon discusses his reasons for accepting the Green Party's offer to run as their senatorial candidate, his experience working with the Washington Green Party's fledgling infrastructure, and his reception outside of Seattle.

Why did you decide to run?

"I was approached by the Green Party in December or early January. I had never had any inclination to run for political office. I always said if I was asked, I'd always say no."

Did you have specific reasons for not wanting to run?

"I don't like being in the public eye. I'm really a private person. I've never had too much faith in politicians. It was something I never really wanted to be."

Did that surprise you when they approached you?

"Yeah, I was surprised, but I had been thinking, before they came to visit me, how important it is that we started working toward putting really progressive, or even revolutionary people, into political office. I had been in Brazil and Venezuela, and I was very aware of the political changes taking place in South America. It's a worldwide movement where people are looking out of their traditional political rings to elect really progressive people to office.

"I know a lot of people were really fed up with Republicans and Democrats alike, really fed up with the current group of politicians, and past politicians, that we've had. So I thought the timing was good for them to ask me because I was feeling that it was time this country started moving in that direction."

You called the Green Party's network a 'shell'? How do you feel about the infrastructure now that you've been campaigning for several months?

"They told me, when they talked to me, that their statewide apparatus was not that well intact, but we have a lot of volunteers that have signed up to be on my campaign. We have a lot of young people, a lot of old people, a lot of people of color. We have quite an apparatus here in Seattle. Also, we have organized campaign committees in Bellingham, Tacoma, Spokane and Olympia.

"Also, on several college campuses throughout the state we have Aaron Dixon for U.S. Senate committees: Western Washington, University of Washington, Evergreen, Seattle Central, Shoreline Community College and we're looking to develop committees at Washington State and Gonzaga."

Do these committees exist side-by-side with a functioning Green Party network or is this new?

"Well, we've kind of incorporated the Green Party into those committees to work together."

After the campaign, when your name is no longer associated with those committees, do you feel they'll survive?

"One of the things that needs to be done in this campaign is to develop a grassroots movement and develop some kind of statewide apparatus that connects grassroots organizations all over the state so that we're working more closely together."

Have you campaigned out of Seattle?

"I've been to Bellingham, Tacoma, Olympia and Spokane. Tomorrow [8/16] I fly to Spokane for a series of meetings and to pick up a mobile home donated to the campaign to use for our statewide tour. The tour is kicking off toward the last week of August."

What has your reception been like in Spokane?

"I haven't really met people in Spokane yet, but let me tell you about going to Enumclaw. I went to the county fair. My campaign manager and I were looking for a place to park. There was a big, burly white guy with sunglasses on that was trying to get people to park in his yard for $3. So, we pulled in and I handed him a brochure and told him I was running for U.S. Senate. We just started talking about my campaign and a lot of things that are happening in the country.

"We talked for about 20 minutes, and after we finished he said, 'you know what? I'm going to vote for you, but my wife's a Republican, but she doesn't know what I do when I go into the voting booth.'

"We went into the county fair and we got some really good response, and it was quite surprising. When we came back to get our car, this guy's wife was sitting out in the driveway and she said, 'I want you to give me one of those yard signs because my husband tells me you're a good man, and we're going to vote for you.'

"Now, these are working class white people who are Republicans, and they feel the same way that a lot of people feel. They are really tired and really fed up with our current political system and with the current leaders that we have."

It sounds like you're looking forward to the mobile home tour?

"Oh, yeah! I am looking forward to that because I've always said, from the beginning that we have people here in our community - the African American working people - that have a lot in common with other working people throughout the state.

"We all want the same things. We all want good schools. We want good paying jobs. We want to be able to raise our families in safe, nice communities. We want to be able to know that when we get old, we'll have resources to take care of ourselves, that we'll have a good, decent life.

"We want to know that there aren't going to be wars and conflicts that we have to worry about sending our kids off to be killed. We all want the basic things. It's just a matter of being able to talk to people and helping people understand that we're a fear-based society and a fear-based culture.

"We have to learn to put our fears aside because that's what perpetuates a lot of the divide between people: being afraid that somebody is going to take their job or somebody is going to mess their community up or some evil entity is going to bring disorder on our city and our country.

"Our media plays on fear, and all through our history fear has been used to keep people divided, to keep people of color separated from other people. It's just a matter of breaking those barriers down because we're all part of the human race and, like I said, we all want the same things."

Controversial stands have been an intimate part of Aaron Dixon's life since he was a boy. At the age of 13, Dixon marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during a Seattle visit the famous Civil Rights leader made to highlight the area's housing discrimination. He was also one of the first volunteers to participate in the busing program intended to integrate the Emerald City's schools.

In 1968 at the age of 19, Dixon was appointed Captain of the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party, the party's first organized affiliate outside of California. Locally, the Black Panthers made their intentions to end discrimination known by facing police brutality and racism with armed patrols to monitor the actions of Seattle officers as well as by organizing a free breakfast program for impoverished children and a free medical clinic targeting minorities, which exists today as the Carolyn Downs Clinic located off of East Yesler Way.

Now, nearly 44 years after Dixon's initial involvement with the Pacific Northwest's civil rights struggle, the 57-year-old father of six who calls himself a "really private person" is again gearing up for a political fight. However, this time his weapon of choice is the voting ballot and his affiliation lies with the Green Party.

Last week's segment featured Dixon discussing his reasons for accepting the Green Party's offer to run as their senatorial candidate, his experience working with the Washington Green Party's fledgling infrastructure, and his reception outside of Seattle.

In part two, Dixon explores his campaign's anti-war message, the effect of big money in politics, and the United State's two-party political system. He also addresses recently breached character issues addressing his child support payments, traffic fines and his local voting record.

During the recently held Connecticut Democratic primary, Senator Joe Lieberman lost to anti-war challenger Ned Lamont, and people are drawing parallels to the Washington Senate race. Do you feel that's a stretch?

"No, it's not a stretch at all because the war in Iraq is one of the key issues that American people are concerned about. Sixty-seven percent of American people say that they want those troops home. Seventy-two to 75 percent of American troops that are over there say that we should be out of Iraq. The fact that our politicians aren't listening to us and they're continually trying to push this war forward and maintain that we need to stay there, and at the same time trying to create threats and the threat of attacking Iran - which many of our senators including Maria Cantwell and Lieberman have supported - is a flash point.

"The war is a flash point, and the fact that Lamont ran as an anti-war candidate against an incumbent who is pro-war speaks volumes because Cantwell is pro war. She has voted for every single allocation of funding to continue this war, and she continually supports the war. I'm an anti-war candidate. She's a war candidate. The parallels are very similar.

"Now, I'm not a millionaire like Lamont, and, unfortunately, that speaks to what is really wrong with our political system. Both the people that I'm running against, Cantwell and McGavick, are millionaires and they're both pro-war.

"That is the big problem with our political system: for the most part you either have to be very wealthy or you have to have access to large amounts of money in order to really get into political office, particularly offices in the Senate and in the Congress."

How is your fundraising going then?

"It's a grassroots fundraising effort, but it's going good. We could use more money. If we had more money we would be able to get our message out even broader. We don't have that, but we're doing extremely well with what we have, and we're doing very well with raising money when we need it."

What is your most effective tool when faced with lack of funds?

"One of the tools that we use for really reaching out to the people is the house party and promoting the concept of people hosting a party. They invite their friends and relatives and neighbors and invite me over and have a meeting and an opportunity to talk with people face-to-face. Towards the end we do a fundraising pitch and ask for contributions."

You recently stated that a win for Mike McGavick would not make you unhappy. Would you expand on that statement?

"I think that, because we only have a two-party system, a lot of politicians take their constituents for granted. One of my primary reasons for running is to put that in people's minds that we must have a multiparty system.

"Most of the modern, industrialized countries in the world - most of the countries in the world period - have a multi-party system. They are able to elect different types of candidates, different types of people, so that when they president gets elected he has to build coalitions with a lot of different groups and organizations. This adds more diversity. This brings in new ideas, fresh ideas.

"Unfortunately we don't have this in our country. We don't have any choices. We've got Democrats and Republicans, and for the last 10 years their ideas have been very similar. As a matter of fact, we've seen the Republican party move more to the right and we've seen the Democratic party move toward that direction as well.

"So it's been extremely frustrating for a lot of people that we don't have any choices. That's why a lot of people have not voted. That's why voter turnout is so low because there's nobody to vote for but the same old people. It's really ridiculous that people become so embedded to the ideologies of their parties, whether they're Democratic or whether they're Republican.

"The Republican Party, they have an ideology that's aggressive and in-your-face. The Democratic Party, their difference is they're not aggressive, but they're still perpetuating the global machine. They do it more quietly, more undercover. It was Bill Clinton that pushed the North American Free Trade Agreement through. NAFTA has had an extreme impact on the poor countries in Central and South America. That is why we have so many immigrants that are coming into this country.

"If we are going to save this world, if we are going to save this country, we're going to have to get out of that mentality of being so dedicated to the ideology of these two parties who really resemble a one-party system."

Cantwell took a stand against Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska.) to help stop oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but McGavick is for drilling ANWR. That seems like a big difference.

"That is a misnomer about ANWR. They're still moving forward with drilling. People really need to do more research and realize that Cantwell didn't really stop ANWR.

"The other thing is that if she's so pro-environment, why is she so much in support of a war that has created tremendous ecological destruction in Iraq? By our troops using depleted uranium, that country is totally environmentally destroyed. You have babies that are being born in Iraq that are badly deformed because of the depleted uranium. It's just unconscionable. You have U.S. soldiers that are exposed to depleted uranium coming home and exposing their wives and newborn kids to that. It's a disaster that we're going to see in the next three to four years.

"It's contradictory to say you're for the environment and you're a proponent of this devastating war. Also, I don't think that Cantwell has a strong enough stand on the environment.

"To me, the environment is the number one issue because if there's no world here, if we cannot live and breathe and be half-way healthy, nothing else matters. I do not see where Democrats in Washington have stood up strong enough to George Bush to let him not sign the Kyoto Agreement and let him overturn environmental regulations."

Is there going to be a debate between you, Cantwell and McGavick?

"I don't see that. Cantwell is not going to come out and debate me and probably is not going to debate anybody. I would love to get in a debate with McGavick and Cantwell. I know there have been people trying to set something up, but to no avail."

Campaigns are as much about images as ideas. Recently some issues have come up about your personal life: criminal charges, primarily traffic related, and subsequent unpaid fines; you've never voted in King County; you're not legally married to your wife; and you owe child support. Can you address them?

"I have never been behind in my child support. What that came from is my daughter's mother and I were paying for her childcare, and I became unemployed. I wasn't able to continue paying for the childcare. So she attached them to my [amount owed]. It increased my child support payments, which I made, but on the record it looked like I was in arrears."

As for not being legally married?

"I've been trying to get a divorce from my former wife for some time, and she has not been cooperative. We split up about 10 years ago, but I did not want to get a divorce because it was very sensitive to my kids. I raised my two daughters as a single parent, and it was very difficult for them that we weren't together. The divorce is going through now, and it will happen in October."

About the criminal charges and fines?

"I have a lot of debts in tickets, and a lot of average, working people have the same dilemma. If you are a working person and you get a ticket, you have a choice of paying that ticket or buying some bread. What are you going to do? You're going to buy some bread.

"Then the tickets get to a certain amount and they suspend your license, and if you drive, you get another ticket and it keeps going up. So you're basically being penalized for being poor, for not having the money to pay for those tickets.

"They happened at a time when I was raising my kids by myself. It was an extremely difficult time for me and my kids, and I had to make a choice between paying all these tickets off or trying to provide for my kids and being able to keep a roof over my head. Now, I have since taken care of all those tickets that kept me from having a license.

"That's one of the big things that's wrong with our society and our culture. We want to penalize people instead of trying to create some type of holistic system where we can work with them and solve the problem. Rather than look at the whole situation, we just look at this one particular problem and we penalize for it and that has ramifications that affect the family and the community.

"I still have a large amount of parking tickets, [but] I'm working on it."

How do you expect people to vote for you and engage in the political system when you have not done the same?

"Since that came out, I've been stopped by a lot of people that said, 'you know what? I've never voted either.' Our politicians often resemble cookie cutouts. They're all the same. Why would a person want to vote?

"I was in the Black Panther Party for 10 years. I was a revolutionary for 10 years, and because of my political awareness and my political experiences [including voting for congresswoman Shirley Chisholm [D-N.Y.] in her 1972 presidential bid as well as other BPP supported candidates such as Bobby Seale in his 1974 bid for mayor of Oakland, Calif.], I understand the political arena.

"As a matter of fact, when Gore ran against Bush [in 2000], I voted for Gore. I felt that this country could not take four years of George Bush, but since I had not voted in such a very long time, I did not realize that I had to register beforehand. Whether or not my vote actually went through or not, I made that effort.

"We need people that really want to do some serious change and bring some vastly different techniques and ideas and concepts into the political arena: people that are not bought by big business but are really dedicated to truly bringing some changes and services to the community.

"Unfortunately, those types of people are not able to get elected to cities like Seattle because they don't have the exposure and they don't have the money and they don't have the backing. [They're] going to affect big business. It's going to affect money."

Money buys access to major media. Major media gets the message out to everybody, and people live on the sound bites on all sides of the political spectrum. What do you see as a solution to the money problem in politics?

"There really needs to be a strong finance reform for political campaigns. They need to make it so that anybody who wants to run a serious campaign has access to an equal amount of money."

Do you feel that the money should come from the public as a whole because they're servicing the public? Or do you think that candidates should be able to go out and fundraise with companies?

"I think they shouldn't be able to go out and fundraise with companies. I think it should come from the community and their constituents."

How do you feel your Black Panther Party history has affected your image with voters across the state?

"I was a little worried about my Black Panther past, particularly with people outside of this city. I think that it actually has been more of a positive than a negative.

"The Black Panther Party has been responsible for the development and implementation of a lot of very important social programs that are still around today. People see this and they understand it. Being involved in this campaign has really given me an opportunity to talk about that."

What do you feel are the most important issues facing Washington residents?

"Universal health care is something I would push to come to fruition because the average American doesn't have health care. Our slogan is 'Out of wars into our communities': ending our addictions to war and bringing those resources into our communities so that we can rebuild our communities and rebuild our schools.

"I would fight to end the war on drugs because it has cost the taxpayers billions of dollars and it has imprisoned a lot of people who their only crime was being addicted to drugs.

"I would fight to end the Patriot Act, to end NAFTA and the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

"We're a warring society. We're a warring culture. Every time we want to do something about a problem in our society, we have to say it's a war: war on drugs, war on terror, war on poverty, war on this, war on that. Why does it have to be a war? Why can't we just look at it in terms of a problem we have to solve?"

Do you feel comfortable with what you're doing now?

"I do. I feel comfortable, but it's a lot of work. I have my non-profit that I still have to work on and keep going."

-- Erik Hansen, Beacon Hill News & South District Journal

For more information about Aaron Dixon's campaign, direct your web browser to www.dixon4senate.com.

Erik Hansen may be reached via editor@sdistrictjournal.com.

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The Greening of a Black Panther: Aaron Dixon runs for the U.S. Senate