A Profile in Courage - Naeema Muhammad

 A Profile in Courage - Naeema Muhammad

Naeema Muhammad is a veteran social justice organizer based in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Sister Naeema is the founding member of North Carolina-based Black Workers for Justice (BWFJ), an organization dedicated to building Black working-class movement for racial, economic, and other forms of justice. Since 2001, Sister Naeema has been a community organizer for the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network. She served as a community organizer working with communities fighting to stop waste caused by industrial hog operations in eastern part of North Carolina, among other environmental injustices. Sister Naeema has used her skills as community organizer to collect data on health impacts due to swine lagoons, conduct environmental justice education, and organize community members against environmental racism.

Members of People's Power Lab visited Sister Naeema in June 2023, and collected the following information. A native of Rocky Mount, NC, Sister Naeema was married to Br Saladin Muhammad, a veteran Black radical organizer who passed away in October 2022.  They lived briefly in Philadelphia, before moving to Rocky Mount in the late seventies. Sister Naeema and Br Saladin joined Black working class leaders in establishing Black Workers for Justice (BWFJ) in the early 80s. BWFJ organized Black workers during organizing campaign at a Kmart store in Rocky Mount, challenged racism at Rocky Mount City Council, organized against an industrial disaster - Hamlet Poultry plant fire in 1991, and other campaigns. BWFJ members established many organizations over time, including North Carolina Public Workers Union or UE Local 150, NC Environmental Justice Network, Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center, Fertile Ground Food Co-op, Communiversity Black Radical Library and Resource Center, and other organizations. Sister Naeema played a leadership role in advancing campaigns with NC Environmental Justice Network, including support/rehabilitation of folks impacted by Hurricane Floyd, fighting pollution by industrial hog producers, challenging Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) in eastern NC, and establishing a broad coalition of environmental justice organizations that is led by Black, rural, and working class community members.

Organizers like Sister Naeema have a wealth of information for younger generation of activists and organizers. We need to preserve and popularize their ideas and continue their work to bring a long term change.

 

People's Power Lab Volunteer, Najam Cheema, with Naeema Muhammad. June 2022

  

Naeema Muhammad and Saladin Muhammad 
 
Sister Naeema speaking at EJ Clinic by Vermont Law School in September 2022


 
Sister Naeema interviewed by Democracy Now on May 3, 2017. Watch HERE


 



 

 

 

 


Comments

  1. James" Munir " Perry11 September 2023 at 09:42

    Naeema and her husband, Salain Muhammad have dedicated their lives to environmental justice, Black liberation, and social justice for working class people. Thank you for sharing this article about Naeema and her work. I hope future generations remember her and her fight for environmental justice in Eastern North Carolina.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Crisis of Public Education in North Carolina

Image
  North Carolina public schools are facing multiple crises. NC General Assembly's reactionary policy privatizing education through vouchers for charter schools is increasingly bankrupting the public schools. A significant number of Black, Brown, and working class students, who make up more than 50% of public school population (source: NC Newsline, February 24, 2022 ), attend deteriorated public schools since funds have been siphoned to private schools in the form of vouchers (source: Public School First NC, September 2022 ). The draining of funds is also putting already underfunded Pre-K Schools and child care centers (where low income families are eligible) on the verge of closure ( Source: WUNC August 30, 2024).   On top, NC teachers’ salaries are consistently declining (source: CBS17, May 2, 2024 ), forcing many teachers to quit (source: WRAL, April 3, 2024) . Teachers who remain in the profession operate with scarce resources and support, spending a record $1300 annually ...
Read more

Climate Change and the Global South

Image
  Climate Change and the Global South  By Sameer Cheema * Global warming and climate change, two terms used interchangeably yet both point towards an impending doom, are the perfect example of what happens when the US and other affluent countries are left unchecked in their relentless pursuit of economic growth. Powerhouses of industrialisation such as the US, China and Russia are also mass emitters of greenhouse gases, which are the main culprit of climate change, due to their heavy use of fossil fuels and unsustainable consumption patterns. Therefore, it is heartbreaking to see these countries, that have unjustly and disproportionately benefited from their actions, clearly neglect the global crisis that they have largely caused. Climate Change and the Refugee Crisis In light of this, the need for affluent countries to open their doors to refugees escaping the effects of climate change has never been greater. It is not only a moral obligation, but a matter of basic human dece...
Read more

The Story of My Life, by Afsa Kimbi

Image
My name is Afsa Kevine Kimbi. Here is the story of my life. My story before I moved to the USA I was born in a small city called Bujumbura. It is located in Burundi, East Africa. I lived in a refugee camp called Kavumu with my whole family: my mother, father, my big brother, three sisters, and one little brother who passed away when he was 3 years old. Living in a refugee camp was very horrible because how we had to exchange food just to buy a different food . There is a group of people called UNHCR who help everybody by giving food away like beans, rice, oil, and soybeans. Coming here was very difficult because I had to take a lot of shots and take a lot of medicine and my parents had to sign a lot of papers.  They would send this big bus called OIM-IOM to take refugees from the camp to the city. From there they asked us questions to decide which state to send us to. My father has one brother and one sister in Congo; and two brothers and one sister in Burundi. And in my mother’s f...
Read more