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.
