Meet Tremikus Muhammad | Organizer/Activist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tremikus Muhammad and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tremikus, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
We work to develop projects that help the communities we serve to become more self sufficient and aware of the power we have to solve many of the problems we face when we work in unison, from establishing gardens to combat food apartheid and educating our own children through black centered education to deal with the constant trauma of white supremacy and racism that we face through more traditional education. We know that building up our community in this way helps to change our world for the better.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My work over the last 6 years has been the most significant work of my life. It has been to first establish the Phoenix Local Organizing Committee for Justice or Else as an organization, then grow it while building a structure to sustain our work in the community. Our focus has been on building on the ideas of self reliance not just asking the government to give us the Justice we so deserve, but determining our own reality and relying on our own talent, skills and resources to build that reality. I am most proud of the work we have done to establish our community garden to help fight food apartheid in our community and teaching other community members how to grow in their own homes, I’m also proud of the businesses we have helped to support including establishing Grassrootz Bookstore, Our the expansion of or Cash Mobs(collective community buying events) with the Be Ready business capital readiness program and most recently our Summer Education program to teach our young children.

This has not been an easy road, it has had many obstacles but my faith in my Creator and the understanding that He has provided both the resources and people we need to be successful has helped along the way. I have had to overcome health issues, that lead to the loss of everything for me and my family, personal struggles and even self doubt but through it all I was blessed to persevere and now we are here. My advise to anyone is that the darkest hour is before dawn, so don’t give up on your goals and aspirations. Be patient with yourself and the circumstances surrounding your life because they are making you into something greater than you could ever imagine. Doing good doesn’t mean that life will be easy, but it does mean that you have a Worthy goal that’s worth fighting for.

I would like the world to know that great Black freedom fighters throughout the diaspora did not fight and die in vain. We who believe in Freedom, Justice and Equality from Furgeson to Palestine have a responsibility and a duty to not just “say their names” but also to pick up the mantle that they left and complete the work that they started. That is what we are doing in the Phoenix LOC.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would first take them to our community garden to allow them to feel and work in that space to ground them, then I would take them to Grassrootz Bookstore ar Afrisoul Marketplace, in Eastlake Park, and Straw and Wool so they could feel the sense of Community that we have here surrounding Black Business and economic development as well as learn the history of Black struggle in Phoenix. We would eat at some of the areas Black Owned restaurants like Caribbean Sensation or Nacho Express, then we would take a walk along Tempe town lake before heading to Sedona for some spiritual rejuvenation while all along meeting friends and family that represent the rich diversity of this city with it’s many Black transplants from around the world.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to thank the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam for their guidance and teaching to reform my life, my mother for her immense care and tutelage and instruction through out my life. My wife for her patience in my growth and aid in my development and my Phoenix LOC family for their love and patience and support.

Website: thephxloc.org

Instagram: Brother_Tremikus and Phxloc

Twitter: BrotherTremikus

Facebook: Brother Tremikus

Youtube: Brother Tremikus

Other: IG: @GrassrootzBookstore @Phxloc FB: Phoenix Local Organizing Committee for Justice or Else FB group: Phoenix_LOC