Category Archives: Black Liberation

Justice for Tyre Nichols! Stop the War on Black America

When Dr. King was murdered, Nina Simone, in song, raised the question “are they men or are they beast?” On January  7, 2023, the Memphis PD Scorpion Squad once again answered the question. They, representatives of a racist system,  are monsters in service  of controlling oppressed communities, defending the social order and the profits of the capitalist class. Policing in the US is a  system that has grown out of the history of slave catchers (paddy rollers) and the enforcing of  Jim Crow chain gangs. This is what colonialism looks like. Continue reading →

Saladin Muhammad, Black Workers for Justice Founder and Leader Joins the Ancestors

It is with great sadness and profound loss that we announce the passing of our exemplary revolutionary warrior and leader, Comrade Brother Saladin Muhammad.   Saladin passed this morning after a long battle with illness.   His wife, Naeema and son Muhammad were with him as he transitioned.  He fought until the end.  They described him as being at peace.Saladin on courthourse steps

Brother Saladin leaves an outstanding legacy of revolutionary commitment, leadership, consciousness,  and direct organizing of our people’s struggle for liberation.   He was a commander-in-chief of revolutionary forces throughout the Black Liberation Movement and a staunch fighter for the Black Working Class.   He worked tirelessly and with phenomenal energy to organize, guide, and lead our people’s fights and battles against oppression.   He was an internationalist, upholding the world-wide struggle against capitalism and imperialism.   His intellect, insight and analysis was outstanding in the theory and practice of organizing class and revolutionary struggle and the tactics and strategy of social transformation, national liberation, and socialism for the African American people.

Saladin’s unmatched organizing skills led to the formation of the Black Workers for Justice, UE Local 150, and the Southern Workers Assembly, just to recognize only a few of his impactful accomplishments.   And these organizational formations of the Black working class were built in the context of North Carolina, a state widely recognized for it’s anti-unionism and racist history and in the US South where the lack of a strong, progressive labor movement in the southeast region has been the Achilles heel of the US national labor movement.   The struggle to build a “new trade unionism” in the US South must continue.

His leadership and guidance, upon which thousands around the country and the world relied, is irreplaceable and will be sorely missed by all of us.  Saladin was active in the struggles for justice and liberation  for more than 50 years.

Saladin Muhammad, PRESENTE!!!

The Executive Committee,Black Workers for Justice

Celebrate Black Workers for Justice 40th Anniversary

For online purchase of tickets: https://bit.ly/3ESyjlV /For virtual attendance: https://bit.ly/3rYA0c9

 

Dr. King Supported the Struggle of Black Workers

The following remarks were made by BWFJ member Ajamu Dillahunt during a Martin Luther King Holiday event sponsored by the Raleigh & Durham Workers’ Assemblies.

Good morning, Brothers and Sisters, comrades, and friends! Welcome to this important event at a critical time in the history of the US. I want to express my gratitude to the Raleigh & Durham Workers Assemblies for asking me to share a few thoughts about Dr. King and his support for Labor.

Every year in January since 1986 we are confronted with what I call the struggle for Dr. King’s legacy. The corporate media, the corporations themselves, the schools and the religious institutions serve up a version of Dr. King that stripped him of the analysis and vision that propelled him through decades of struggle. The focus on his “I Have A Dream” speech and his advocacy of non-violence ignores, if not buries, his view on labor, the economy, war and so much more that is relevant to our struggle for survival, much less social transformation.

Our friend, Charles McKinney, one of our most important historians in this moment suggested that these institutions are “Killing King Again.” James Earl Ray’s bullets took his life on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel and today a well-financed and orchestrated assassination of his body of work has taken place. Charles calls it Martin Luther King, Jr. 2.0. For people seeking the truth and those seeking to end exploitation and oppression, we have to ground ourselves in King 1.0 and enter this struggle for ideas and even more important, take ACTION.

We say that for Workers the best way to celebrate Dr. King’s Legacy is to Organize, Fight for A Union, For Dignity at Work. So let’s briefly put that in context. Continue reading →

Black Human Rights Organization Demonstrates Black Community Support for Southern Amazon Workers

February 20th witnessed support actions across the country in support of the efforts of Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama to be represented by the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union. In total, there were 23 across the South and between 50 – 55 nationally. The broad support for this organizing is encouraging and an indication of how much people across the country understand the need for unions and are willing to get involved.

Organizations representing and advocating for oppressed communities have historically taken a stand in support of the right to organize understanding the importance of organization for all workers in general and Black workers in particular. Black civil rights and Black Liberation organizations have always engaged in or supported efforts to build the power of workers on the job and in the community

Continue reading →