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.
In August we commemorate Black August to honor Black Freedom
Fighters and Black Resistance. This year, in addition to lifting up those
fighters killed by the state and our political prisoners, we focus on a key
demand of our movement, Reparations.
On August 15, thousands across the US, with support from allies in the Caribbean, Africa and Europe will participate in National Reparations Day. The Day was called by the December 12th Movement to recognize two critical events in our just struggle to be made whole from the damage and destruction of slavery. In 2001 at the World Conference Against Racism the delegates declared that the Trans- Atlantic Slave Trade and slavery were crimes against humanity. The second marker was the August 17, 2002 Millions for Reparations National Rally held in Washington, D.C. the 117th anniversary of the birth of Marcus Garvey.
On Saturday, August 31, 2019 more than 100
activists from across North Carolina —
especially from the eastern area — marched in
Greenville to condemn the policies and
direction of the Trump administration and in
solidarity with the four newly elected congress-
women (2018) under attack by the Trump regime.
In a statement published by the organizers in the
weeks preceding the march and rally, the
reasons for the call to action were outlined, “The
Sexual Predator on Pennsylvania Avenue in his
recent vicious attacks on “The Squad”: Ilhan
Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib, told these women of
color to ‘go back to their crime-infested
countries’ . All of these women are American
citizens. All of these women are proud of their
heritage and work for their respective communities. All of these women are being attacked because they fight for the working class, challenge white supremacy and patriarchy and because they are women. They dare to be women who have political convictions around their support of Palestine, their support of Venezuela, and their denunciation of border camps.”
Greenville, North Carolina was also the site for a Trump
Campaign Rally in July this year where screaming Trump
supporters yelled “send her back”, specifically targeting
Ilhan Omar, a Somali native and American citizen newly
elected to Congress along with hundreds of others in the
2018 Congressional election.
The Call for the March and Rally also commemorated the historic lynching of 14 year old Emmett Till who was murdered by white supremacists in Money, Mississippi on August 28, 1955. Emmett Till’s heinous and vicious murder was a catalyst for the emerging civil rights movement of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
The solidarity march and rally was organized by a
coalition of activists and organizations in North
Carolina including the Black Workers for Justice
Women’s Commission; the Greenville NC Coalition
Against Racism; the Racial Justice Group, Rocky
Mount, NC; the Spirit House of Durham, NC; Muslims
for Social Justice; Compeneras Compesinas of
Raleigh, NC; Action NC Rage; the North Carolina
Black Women’s Roundtable; Movement to End
Racism and Islamophobia; and many others.
More than 70 women of color, leaders, and activists
nation-wide signed on and endorsed the Call to
Action, March, and Rally.
For more information, questions, or comments email: bwfjwc@gmail.com or call (919) 749–1692
The shootings and killings at the Mother Bethel AME Church
in Charleston, SC, at the Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA and the recent shootings in Texas and Ohio
among others, are terrorist acts by racist white nationalists. We must be
concerned and prepared for this repressive political climate.
Black, Latinx and Indigenous peoples should be very
concerned about white nationalist terrorism because we are targeted as non-white
communities and populations, blaming us for the economic and social crisis
facing the millions of people across the US.
Racist white nationalism has continued following the Civil
War and has been looking for opportunities to emerge as a national movement to
unite the various racist tendencies and groups. They are hoping to influence
the direction of the white working-class. This included intimidating them to
silence any support for demands of Black and other oppressed sections of US
society.
The police killings of Black and Brown people and the mass
incarceration has been a major factor in criminalizing Black people, turning us
into the crime source and describing immigration of Latinx and African
descendants as an invasion into the US.
The Obama administration inherited and continued the
economic and international policies of previous administrations without major
changes. However, as a Black man in the highest office of the land his presence
provided an opportunity for the emerging racist white nationalism.
The Tea Party and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) began implementing a corporate financed and driven strategy to take over state governments. and formed a Tea Party Caucus in the Republican Party to further consolidate the most reactionary sections of the US ruling-class influence and control of US imperialist state power. These state governments used gerrymandering, forms of voter suppression, cut vital social programs and passed laws that reduced legal options for challenging corporations that violate workplace health and safety and community environmental justice conditions. The Trump Labor Board is establishing policies that not only place restrictions on unions, it is attacking the very right of workers to use concerted actions to engage in repeated strikes against employer injustices.
Trump took the political changes made by the Tea Party and
previous administrations and added the racist rhetoric targeting any semblance
of Black political power and Black resistance to the capitalist crises. His
birther campaign claiming that Obama was not American born was an opening shot
of his racist white nationalist campaign.
When Trump became president, he provided a platform for the
emergence of racist white nationalism as his social and political base and a
fascist social movement. Some of Trumps initial
cabinet appointments and aides, were fascist who helped to shape his
presidential campaign and first term in office.
Over the years since the Civil War various white supremacists
groups have formed. Most were armed and they had some divisions among
themselves on how to establish white political, economic and cultural power.
White nationalism became a framework for uniting the various white supremacist
tendencies under the Trump slogan of Make America Great Again (MAGA) and his
continuing racist attacks on Black and Brown people.
Trump’s presence in the white house helps to further promote
this racist and fascist white nationalism. Demanding the impeachment of Trump
before the 2020 presidential elections is critical for the Black and other
oppressed peoples. Impeach Trump Now!
should be our political mantra to
put pressure on the Democratic Party. Defeating the fascist demagogues in the
white house that give legitimacy to the rising and consolidation of white
nationalism should be viewed as part of the struggle against rising US fascism.
This will not only have national significance it will have
international significance. It will help to build national confidence among the
Black masses, organize pressure on Black Congressional representatives and
expose those not speaking out in favor of impeachment.
All major periods of struggle against the forces of
oppression, must consider the state of the Black liberation movement and what
they mean for unifying the various organizations toward resolving the
fragmentation that stops us from becoming an organized and powerful force with
strong bases in working-class areas to challenge critical aspects of capitalism
and state power.
Racist white nationalist terrorism appears to be targeting
social, religious and movement institutions.
In the case of Walmart this is a location where the majority of working-class
and poor people of color shop.
Community security is a must, including knowing who is entering
our communities, religious and social institutions and political programs.
Every Black family should have a legal firearm they can use
in their homes. There should be security at community meetings and at our
social and religious institutions. Above
all we need a united and strong Black liberation movement that aligns with
other movements of the oppressed, including white working-class and poor people
ready to oppose white nationalism.
We Need a Black United Front and Broad
Peoples Front Against White Nationalism!
A Call to Labor and Community Organizations from the Southern Workers Assembly
On August
7, the US Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted raids on Workers in 7
food-processing plants in six Mississippi cities.
These
workers came to the US to try to earn an honest living, because conditions in
their home countries prevented them from living in peace and supporting their
families. They faced danger from military and social violence and climate
change impacts. US foreign policies in Latin America, the Caribbean
and Africa contribute to the conditions faced by the majority of these
immigrant workers.
The BWFJ is an organization of Black workers formed in December of 1982 out of a struggle led by Black women workers at a K-mart store in Rocky Mount, North Carolina against race and gender discrimination. After organizing a boycott of the local K-mart store and reaching out to workers at other workplaces and communities, Black workers and community activists from 10 counties met at the First Missionary Baptist Church in Fremont, NC in December 1982 to form BWFJ as a statewide organization.
