Elmer Dixon was born in Chicago and moved to Seattle at age 7 when his father took a job at  Boeing. Dixon  grew up in Seattle’s Central District, attending Garfield High School.

While at Garfield High, Dixon helped  organize the school’s Black Student Union in 1968. That  same year, with his older brother Aaron Dixon, he co- founded the Seattle Chapter of the Black  Panther Party. He served the Chapter as its Field Marshall as well as  the Breakfast Program  Coordinator. When the Seattle Chapter closed its office and some of its core members  moved to  Oakland in 1972, Elmer, under parole and unable to move to Oakland, stayed in Seattle and  reorganized the Chapter. He worked to sustain the Party's breakfast program and health clinic,  maintaining the  Panther organization until 1976 and some programs into the 1980s.

Elmer Dixon now works as a diversity  consultant. His avatar in Second Life is Deacon Ahren.